Miles Away

Since Jill and I are trying to save up money I came up with an idea that would save about $150 a year (not much but it’s something).  Instead of going to get my haircut every two months (for $20+ each visit), why not cut my own hair at home and have Jill help?  So we discussed it, and Jill thought it was a good idea but suggested we buy an electric hair trimmer. I not wanting to spend extra money (trying to save after all) said that I would look into it and come up with an affordable solution (I was under the impression that a hair trimmer would be $60+ dollars).

The next day on my way home from I stopped at Walgreen and took a look at the hair trimming products they offered (all top of the line I’m sure). I found a product that was not only affordable ($5), but it was non-electric, durable and therefore eco-friendly (I thought Jill would like that).

Conair Hair Trimmer

So basically it is a comb with a razor blade in the middle.  In my not so capable hands what could go wrong.  So excitedly I get home to show Jill my smart purchase.  After I show it to her, she looks at me with a bit of disbelevment, but I assure her it’ll work great.  We head out to the back deck with the new trimmer, a comb and a pair of kitchen sissors and attempt to cut my hair.

Everything goes ok.  Jill gets the hang of the (as we quickly realized) crappy razor-comb and get my hair trimmed to a respectiful length.  I head into the bathroom to rinse my head, while Jill gets ready for a community meeting she has to go to.  While I’m washing my head, the back feels a bit long to me, no problem I think I can handle this.  So I take the razor-comb, and with out any sort of mirror I use it to shorten the back of my hair.  I also shorten my sideburns a bit, and end up taking out a small chunk of hair. “Uh oh” I say out loud.  Jill, knowing that I’ve done something stupid when I say that, comes running to the bathroom where she sees this.

bad hair

Jill begins to laugh so much she nearly pees her pants.  I have her take a photo so I can see what I’ve done, she says I should just shave it off, but I assure her I can fix it.  Jill runs off to her meeting, and I attempt to do my best to fix my hair, again on my own with out a second mirror.  I manage to get it straightened out, but it looks like I have the haircut of a monk (with a few chunks missing).  But I press forward, put on a baseball cap and deal with it.  It’s only hair and it’ll grow back.

For two days I show people my haircut (or hide it from them) and everyone insits that I should shave it all off.  So finally on saturday night I’m watching TV with Jill and Mike, rubbing my oddly cut head and say, “alright lets do it, lets go shave my head”. We head into the bathroom I stand in the tub and using Mike’s electric hair trimmer (He had one under the sink), Jill shaves off my head. It’ll be no big thing I think, it’ll just look like I have a buzz cut.  But when Jill was all done I step out of the tub, look in the mirror and exclaim “Gah! My head!  I look so weird!”.

So it’ll be something I have a few months to get used to (while my hair grows back).  On sunday Mike and I took a trip to costco and I bought a full trimmer set, so by december when I need a haircut we can do it right. (We also ended up buying an ice maker and a mini fridge for our bar, go figure).  It’s not easy trying to be cheap, but it can lead to some fun/funny situations.

Shaved Head