Why I Cut My Own Hair

By Mr. Dr. Frugal Scholar

I hate getting hair cuts. I hate to wait, I hate to have people impinge upon my personal space, I hate paying. I hate it all.

But for many years I put up with it because I had no choice. Ms. Dr. Frugal Scholar is an amazingly accomplished person, but in this sphere she was not much help, except regularly to note that I was beginning to look like Bozo the Clown again. (This is one consequence of your classic male-pattern balding.)

Finally an empathetic stylist, who must have picked up on my discomfort, pointed out that I could cut my own hair if I were willing to go really, really short. I was more than willing, and this was the beginning of a whole new era. I bought a good pair of scissors and medium-priced electric clippers and I was in business. All I need to do is snap the little plastic guide onto the clippers, lean over the sink, and shear away.

So now I am saving huge amounts of money. First, I’m saving on the haircut itself: let’s say $20 twice a month, times 12, equals $480 (even once a month is $240). Second, I’m saving travel: say four miles at $.50 a mile, or $48 a year. Then there’s the time I save—about two hours every month. But I use these hours saved to cut the grass, for a savings (as I demonstrated in a previous post) of $40 a pop. So that’s $960 a year.

So, using my creative accounting techniques, my savings add up to $1,480 a year. Just for cutting my own hair.

And it doesn’t end there. For years I also cut our son’s hair, until the Divine Miss Emm took over. She now also cuts Ms. Dr. Frugal’s hair, which results, as you can imagine, in absolutely astronomical savings.

Perhaps I exaggerate. The point, however, is that small economies add up. For me, however, the savings in personal discomfort would have been worth it even if it cost more to cut my hair myself. Not everything can be reduced to a dollar value.