Guest Author: Tanya Doyle

Today, we're hearing from a new writer, not just 'new' as in I haven't known about her for very long, but 'new' as in she hasn't been doing this very long. However, Tanya Doyle is off to a great start with her blog at "Original Thoughts of an Unoriginal Thinker". Here's how she describes herself: "...I'm dreadful at self-promotion. I'm a full time drone in a company of over 40,000 employees. Nothing says Employee ID more than that. I was laid off in September, only to be rehired in September. The good thing about getting fired and rehired almost simultaneously is that you are afforded the opportunity to evaluate yourself and your place in the world without actually losing your home. I started this blog in that time. So doing the math, you can see I'm very green. And going by the useless widgets and whistles I've embedded on blog, you can see that I'm doing this all by the seat of my pants."


Money and Me. We have a complicated relationship. We've never been very close, perhaps because it has been in and out of my life since I was a young child. I've always wanted more of a relationship with it, but it ran out on us long ago. It's funny how, despite the disappointments, I keep coming back for more. Alright, enough bad jokes.



People's relationship with money is a funny thing. For some, the absence of it in childhood motivates them to work harder to have it in adulthood. And once they have it, how they use it sheds light on their psyche. Some spend frivolously, as if to make up for past losses, and others do their best to hoard it. I like to think I've completely shed any hang-ups from my penniless childhood and am fully, financially self-actualized. But the truth is, I'm a tightwad. I can't help it.


Which leads me to today's ramble. I want to talk about hair care, specifically hair cuts. I neither like nor look forward to spending money on hair cuts. Between a husband who would love to get a clean up every 2 weeks and 3 growing, hairy kids, I see money going down the drain every time we step into Fantastic Sams or Supercuts or whatever cheap salon we can find. At $15 to $25 a pop, these places are the thorn in my side that I can't avoid. Because the hair won't stop growing. And the cuts that come out of these places are shameful. My 12 year old came out of Fantastic Sams last weekend looking like Dumb and Dumber. For those who have already forgotten, 12 years old is not the age to have a bad haircut. He was mortified. Desperate, he asked to shave it all off.


Because looking like a thug is obviously better than looking like an idiot.


After talking him off the ledge, I convinced him to let me have a go at his hair. If he still hated it, I promised he could shave it all off. Now, I imagine myself to be somewhat of a renaissance (wo)man, and I've been known to save the day with a pair of scissors before. So I worked my magic, and he was satisfied enough to keep his hair. Disaster averted.


The whole experience reinforced my opinion of this regular expense. Why am shelling out so much money for something that looks no worse than what I can do? If only I really could cut hair, instead of just fixing the bad stuff. Isn't it all just angles and geometry and scissors anyway? I'm good with geometry, and I've got an analytical mind, maybe I can do this. I just need to find a website that gives diagrams and measurements to follow. I already have scissors and a ruler. I might need to invest in a protractor, but I think the upfront investment is worth the potential payoff. I'll be saving buckets of money in no time.

In preparation for this new venture, I did my online research, looking for any documentation that was out there. I was on a hunt for haircutting diagrams. Would I be lucky enough to find a goldmine, similar to the Butterick sewing patterns websites that bound aplenty?


My first search involved the term "haircut patterns". I was pleased to have Google complete my term by adding "for men" to it. Unfortunately, what returned were page after page of Vanilla Ice-etched heads. Not what I had anticipated. I tried various other terms, and none of them returned those elusive blueprints I was searching for. I did stumble across a very cool step-by-step tutorial on cutting women's hair. I wish I had a barbie head to practice this one on.
http://www.hairdressing-training.co.uk/cut/step.htm


The same site offered 4 men's tutorials that I could view for 30 pounds. A quick search of pound-to-dollar conversion told me to bookmark the page and save it for a time when I'm feeling wealthy.


It turns out, there's no such thing as haircut patterns. There should be. For people like me. So for now, the haircutting dream will have to be put on hold, and I'll have to find other ways to pinch my pennies.