Learn to cut your own hair in just five minutes, and save hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars per decade. Music made by 2L&L: / @2l3l Haircutter: amzn.to/2Of1Agi Beard Trimmer: amzn.to/2W5VmlA
Been cutting my own hair for about 30 years now. Spent 8 years as a U.S. Soldier from 1990 to 1998 and buzz-cuts were mandatory on a monthly or bi-weekly basis! I'll even use 2 mirrors to trim the back, have styled with fades, flat tops, etc. With haircuts ranging from $12 back then to about $30 today, I've saved over $10,000! I'm also HUGE on DIY projects, learning plumbing, electrical, septic, yard management, roofing, etc., saving myself and my family tens of thousands of dollars in professional fees over the past 20 years. Live like no one else today, so that later you can live like no one else! On our way to financial freedom and loving our work!
The more I watch your videos the more I get surprised. Although you are living in a developed country, the way you think and live is totally different than the majority of the people in my country. Being raised in a lower-middle-class family I always wanted to be financially free, and I hope your lifestyle advice will be pretty helpful for a lot of people like me. Keep up the awesome work and wish you a very lovely, enjoyable, peaceful and exciting life.
One small trick, doing this for many years now Use machine oil / Clipper Oil on the machine, the blades will continue to cut very well along the years and everything will work well. Don't forget to clean the blades before using the oil, just 3 very small drops of oil, right midle left, turn the machine on for 5 seconds for the oil to spreed, turn the machine off and it's good to use on the next time. My machine cost arround 50€ + 5€ for the oil, at least 10 years already pass and using the same machine and the same bottle of oil, still have oil for at least 5 more years
Whilst in many ways I’m very much still an amatuer Mustachian I just realised I’ve been shaving my own head for about 15 yrs now - more out of convenience than thrift tbh. I do it once a week so I’ve accidentally saved a few thousand £’s. Sadly during most of that 15 years I’ve had the firehose wide open liberally enriching various retailers and other hustlers. About 2 years or so ago I stumbled across MMM whilst on an outrageously expensive Christmas holiday in South Africa - I blasted through the blog on that holiday and experienced one of those truly rare paradigm shifts. By the end of the following year we had sold our large detached house with a big mortgage and bought a much more humble terraced house with the equity we had - instantly mortgage free! The new house is also now a half mile from the unit I run my roofing business from rather than the previous 14 miles!. Our previous monthly house related bills like property tax, utilities, mortgage, tv subs etc was in the region of £2000! It is now around £300! Yikes! I’m not usually much of a one for exclamation marks but this is truly life changing stuff. I find it fascinating that from the outside it could look like we have fallen on tough financial times as we have de-flated our lifestyle by moving to a small house in a less desirable area whilst the reality is that we are wealthier than we have ever been and are getting wealthier by the day. Financial Independence will come naturally in the next few years but I’m not overly fussed as I already enjoy my work. So I reckon a big thanks is in order - THANKS MMM!
That is so rad, dude. Congrats to your now hugely improved life! I had the same epiphany approx 2014. A million thanks to Mr. MM from Germany! Cheers guys
Been doing this for 15-20 years. Saved thousands and i can get it cut whenever. I have often done it myself with two mirrors-slow but definitely doable.
For those that like a super clean square shape in the back I would suggest making a template by cutting a piece of heavy paper (like a manila envelope or a folder) into the desired shape and then taping it inside of a baseball hat, extending down the back of your head. It protects what you don't want cut and lets you get really clean, consistent lines. I've been doing it this way for years with great results!
My husband has cut his own hair with clippers for as long as I've known him and I (a gal) learned how to cut my own hair from RU-vid videos about five years ago. Even women can cut their own hair as long as they're ok with a basic style. I don't think I could stomach $60 or more on a haircut again!
In a related event, the clippers I've been cutting my hair with for a couple decades started binding when cutting. For the first time, I honed the blades (sharpie on mating surfaces to see any high and low spots, then 1000 grit, 4000, and finally an 8000 grit polish stone). Now she cuts like a newly manufactured hair cutting beast, and my Returns Of Unusually high Savings (R.O.U.S.'s?! I guess they DO exist!) are quite high! ;)
Wow, nice job! I agree that sharp (and well oiled) blades are an important thing. I oil or WD-40 this thing before every haircut, and replaced the entire blade set ($15 or so) once in its 20 year lifetime. But sharpening an existing set sounds even more Mustachian.
My clippers started freaking out a few weeks ago after six years of use when I flipped the switch. It turns out the tiny copper contacts got corroded. Simply taking them apart and wiping down the contacts fixed it. Also took the opportunity to take the blades apart and clean way too much oil and hair build up.
Been a longtime reader and fan of your MMM blog, and I do recall reading the article on the UMGD but after seeing this you've convinced me. I've purchased one from Amazon and plan to cut my own hair! Fantastic work.
I've been doing this for my husband and myself since grad school. I'm so glad that when we were broke I taught myself a skill that has saved us thousands. I actually got my confidence with the Flowbee machine :-) ...Remember that crazy cutting device that was attached to your vacuum cleaner :-) but it gave me confidence! Great video MMM!
Insourcing haircuts is a big money saver. I bought a good set of Wahl clippers, a child sized cape and neck strips several years ago, because my sons both got horrible haircuts I paid good money for at the barbershop. I waited until school ended for the year before I attempted my barbering on their hair after watching tutorials on RU-vid. I attempted, got flustered and my husband finished both haircuts. Great results, but I was fired. He still does them monthly, but as teens, he has to spend more time doing them as scissor over comb cutting is required for the longer hair on top. You can save a lot of money cutting the ladies and girls hair at home as well. My husband trims mine every other month with good hair shears only. He does the job right, he does the full sectioning, pinning it up, and trimming it layer by layer. There is no way I would put my hair in a ponytail and saw through it or have him just hack my wet hair straight across the back. I have to have my hair look good. Some people aren’t that willing to put forth the effort. My mother thought it was awesome that my husband did such great work on my boys’ haircuts as it saves me hundreds a year, skipping the barbershop, however while she admitted he does a great job on my hair, which I love but she thinks is too long, she thinks I should go to the salon and spend a lot of money. She had it ingrained in her, that girls and women are supposed to go to the salon and home haircuts were for poor people. That was until she got a really bad haircut at the salon and paid $75 for it. She grumbled about it for months and admitted my husband would have done a better job, and it would have been free.
I started cutting my own hair because I liked going off grid in my RV. The beauty of it is that it only takes 5-10 min. and I never have to wait at the barber for a seat to become available. The only thing that I wish I had done was to invest in a battery razor rather than a cord.
Great video, I've been shaving my hair and beard for years myself, I can't believe the money I wasted before buying a pair of clippers. I'm really enjoying the RU-vid content.
I've been cutting my hair for a while now. It took a few cuts to get the process down, but now I can cut my hair in 10-15 minutes. So much more convenient than going to the barber, not to mention the savings. I use two trimmers: An Oster Fast Feed and a Wahl 5-star t-trimmer. The T trimmer is useful for doing the edging around the ears and neck. I found the Fast Feed a little too bulky for that.
You make this look so easy! I have tried to cut men’s hair in the past but didn’t feel it looked that great. I’ll be sure to swing by for a trim and a lesson one day!
I've been cutting my hair about 75% of the time for the past fifteen years or so, only go to the barber when I want a style change. Generally cutting my own hair was a buzz cut, so not really creative there at all. So this, and a few other YT videos I've seen, give me the confidence to try doing the short on sides, long on top myself. As a recent retiree (15 days in!), less important now to look "awesome" lol at work. True story though from my buzz cut days - once I used a MUCh shorter clipper size than normal (had left the eyebrow trimmer one on!) for my hair - by the time I realized my mistake it was too late, had to go all in. My second graders the next morning were wide-eyed in astonishment at my new look! Ha ha, well, that cut lasted a bit longer than the normal ones...
I joined the self cutting crew earlier this year as my hair has thinned enough it’s not worth paying to go to a barber. Wish I had done it years ago. It’s way cooler plus I can cut it way more often and look clean and tidy more often.
I've been at it for about 5 years after a serious decline in quality from the average men's quick trim and cut shops. The only problem I've encountered was one time my wife used my clippers to trim (err... attempted to trim) our cat's hair which resulted in a very annoyed, half shaven, cat.
Been on board with this for a few years, using an old Wahl clipper from the 70s. Women are always surprised when I tell them I cut my own hair - as soon as I tell them they start examining my head more closely to see if they can tell. It’s really not hard, just takes a little practice.
$25 Wahl clipper set purchased in 2013. 15 minute haircut (includes vacuum clean up afterwards) every 4 weeks which would normally run $10-$15/ea. I've probably saved $800-$1000 in haircuts in the last 6 years. I also use a simple handheld vanity mirror and the bathroom mirror to get the sides and back. I have to be clean shaven every day for work, but a simple soap lather and the cheapest three-blade razor works fine. I got a set of 22 Sam's Club-brand razors two Christmases ago and I'm still working my way through them.
I saw a small part of this clip on the Netflix documentary about money (Get Smart With Money). I implemented it right away. I'm 32 now, but should have started this 15 years ago! It saves me so much time and money! I feel so silly for not having started this earlier. Thank you!
Been cutting my hair for almost 20 years. It is a LOT easier than most people think. Even womens haircuts are easy. It shocked me how easy it was to do a layered haircut when I was shown how.
Self-reliance is Mustachian. Been doing this for 15 years now. It's really easy to do. I also wash my hair beforehand (and after, of course) and find that helps.
I'm not sure everybodies device works this way. But on my tablet if I tap on the video a set of icons appears at the top of the screen (in the video). One of which allows me to adjust playback speed.
I have cutting my own hair since the age of 16, oh and beard. I’m 35, just imagine how much I have saved in the 19 years. I laugh when someone says, I like your haircut. I always say thanks it was free. I have got pretty good at cutting my own hair.
Nice video. I've been doing this for about 3 years now and can't imagine going back to a barber shop. I actually do it the other way, starting with the shortest then transitioning to longer combs. I guess it works just as well either way. Also, if you are concerned about trying to get a clean edge in the back since everything is backwards in the mirror, you can just do a fade - basically buzzing it around the neckline then transitioning to longer guards as you move up. But I just get my wife to do my neckline.
I have been cutting my own hair with a Wahl self hair cutting clipper with guides since 2009. I used to have to pay $26 for a hair cut. It's nice being able to cut my hair every 2 weeks.
Love the “Avengers Style” music for dramatic effect. I was going to a barber as I’d messed up my beard trim a few times but I started cutting myself from February last year when it didn’t feel as safe going to barber, then masks meant it didn’t matter. Cutting myself I’ve saved over $1250 so far. Thanks for the tips MMM!
I buzz my hair super short every 3 weeks. 17 cuts per year x $30 barber fees/gas/time x 10 years = $5100 + hundreds of hours saved!!!!!!!! P.S. A neat trick to save on clean-up: I cut a trash bag at the bottom and side so it is totally flat. Then I tape it to my bathroom mirror over the sink and counter area. Cut your hair over the trash bag and when you're done, you ball up the trash bag and BOOM, ZERO clean up!!!
I've been cutting my own hair since ~2003. Previous that, I'd get a hair cut every ~3 months at $15 each. So I guess I'm up about $60 x 16 years = $1000. If I factored in interest gains on savings plus increased cost of haircuts due to inflation over time, I'm probably up $2k-3k. So not quite MMM level, but not too shabby! Not to mention it takes less time to cut my own hair now than it would to bike to a barber and have them do it and then bike back (by a factor of about 3-4).
Oh my god I need your shirt. 😂 I cut my hair and my hubs hair. Did a video on my channel of me cutting mine extremely unprofessionally! 🤣😂 I’m no expert, but I’ll take the money AND time savings every time!
Haircuts are one of the easiest ways to save money, especially if you have a good eye (and dexterity!). And it seems like with the UMGD, they're almost foolproof. 😁
Oh dear. I got my husband to cut mine. Easy it's a Bob . But I spent a fortune in colouring my hair at home .£6 every 6 weeks. And I had grey roots after two weeks. I looked balding. Si I cut my hair short and then husband used that gadget. We then found out I need a no 1 on the side and a no 2 on too. I let the grey come out and I look stylish now. Unbelievable and my hair seems self cleaning. Wow.
I used to cut my hair to save money. I will start doing it again now. It takes me longer to do it myself, but at least I have more control of how much I want to take off. For women, all you need is a good pair of haircutting scissors and hair cutting comb. You save on tips and gas too.
I was a dumb ass getting that $20 very basic hair cut for ~23 years. Read your article in 2015, face punched myself, and have been cutting my own hair ever since. Est. $900 in savings so far.
Cool. You should warn people about cleaning their equipment too because you can get some pretty bad skin conditions if your gear hasn't been disinfected after use. Those blades need to be lubricated too but you can't just use any type of oil. When you buy clippers it will usually describe how to take care of them. Read and heed. Also, I've been using a safety razor for shaving. The blades go for about 10 cents a piece and can last over a week.
those comb attachments have kind of universal numbers. FYI, I do a #3 on the top and #2 on the sides, good to go. No combs, gels and less shampoo, or in my case just one vegetable based bar soap from Trader Joe's. Man up!
Love the “Avengers Style” music for dramatic effect. I was going to a barber as I’d messed up my beard trim a few times but I started cutting myself from February last year when it didn’t feel as safe going to barber, then masks meant it didn’t matter. Cutting myself I’ve saved over $1250 so far.
I’ve been cutting my own hair for a decade- lots of money saved! Never had anyone help me and I’ve managed to not look like a complete fool. (Or everyone is too polite to say anything) I’ve been trying to tell my friends about this and they always look at me like i have 2 heads!
Honestly, I spend about 13 dollars on my haircut, that I get about once a month. To spend 10k on haircuts would take me 64 years. I'm okay with that. I would love to live the mustachian lifestyle of riding my bike to work, but im in the military and in the middle of nowhere and dont want to bike 13 miles a day to work and 13 miles back home, but I still carpool.Also still saving(and investing) 78% of my take home pay so id say im doing good:D
Because of coronavirus I was forced to try to cut my own hair because all hairdresser saloons were closed here in London, England. I was literally blown away when I discovered I could cut very well my own hair and much better then hairdresser. They usually ended up cutting my hair too much on top front. I cut with scissors on top front of my hair. My son said my hair looks like was done by a professional.
Well, as you said it's all about being happy. Looking good makes me feel happy, that's why I'm not saving on that. Plus, barbers and hairdressers also have to make a living
You make it look very easy to cut the sides and back but in my experience this is quite difficult, it's very hard to tell if you have cut the same level all the way around and you have to fade it using different combs otherwise it looks as if you just cut a wedge out of the side of your hair. I gave up cutting my own hair because getting it right, checking it and cleaning up was becoming stressful and time-consuming, it was easier just to pay £8 to my hairdresser, a lady who keeps prices low by working from home.
Oster makes awesome clippers! Fast Feeds (like yours) or 76’s are a good choice. $25 every 2 weeks saved! Well worth the $100-$200 investment for the average joe! Just like a car you take care of them they last forever!
You are a hero MMM, but a hair cut is something I will always pay for, can't underestimate a sharp cut. its like £10 / $10 at a reasonable barber shop every month or two!
.. which compounds to $10,000 pretty quickly after you include the value of your time and car driving costs! Nothing wrong with spending ten grand, of course. But only if you have genuinely tried your own haircuts and still prefer to purchase them, and the difference is genuinely important to you. Which I find is a rare individual indeed - most people just visit salons because that's what they have always done. And this philosophy applies to ALL of our spending choices.. I just picked haircuts because it's an easy target that makes for a fun video :-)
Cool fast forwarding/editing. Assume the fine work of junior MMM? So did your initial attempts go as well as this or did your mad cutting skillz progress over time? Any mishaps you might warn beginners about? And finally any model you particularly recommend?
It's always been pretty easy to get consistent results. However, one time I did knock off the blade guard between strokes on the back of my head so I got a little temporary bald spot there :-) There is a link in the description to a recommended Wahl cutter set on Amazon that has loads of really good reviews, and it's under $20!
That's just the remote control app for the Sony a6300 camera that I use to record these videos. It made it easy to shoot that sequence, but in real life you'd just use two mirrors.
Hi MMM Pls do a post in the context of ur prev post - kickin arse of 95 prcnt of people... Could u pls elaborate on fitness...as in how to be in the top 5 prcnt of fit people ???.🙏🙏
But you look really good with short hair. That's probably not the case for me and so it's somewhat harder to cut it myself. Maybe I should try, though. I spend R$75 (20 USD approximately) a year anyway since I rarely cut it, so I guess that's fine.
What is the order of your personal investing, 401k, roth, trad ira? or it's not a good idea to contribute to trad ira because of the potential tax trap?
If you apply these principles to your pets, you can save even more. I was paying $60 every month for my dog's haircut until I realized how ridiculous that was. I'm now a proud owner of one of these universal grooming devices instead... Any advice for women's haircuts?
Hey MMM 🔥🔥 hope you're reading this. You're the master so you should know, DO NOT shop on Amazon!! It's a ripoff as is Prime. Ebay offers the same goods from the same or BETTER sellers, more options, and NO ANNUAL FEE. Amazon has become essentially a clearinghouse for these same eBay seller-- and Bezos is charging you a PREMIUM to interact with them, when you could just go over to eBay and learn to search for goods properly. It's easy once you understand some basics. Amazon's claiming it fulfills the order, but the goods are still shipped from China where you can order directly instead and not have it go through Amazon's system of warehouses and underpaid abused workers. If you're going to get something from China, buy it from a Chinese seller or manufacturer on eBay!
And if your used to the Sports Clips MVP treatment sportclips.com/services/mvp-experience you can just wrap a warm towel around your face at home and save another few dollars per cut.
I decided when I was 21 that I would not go to a hair dresser. I got ripped off with the extra charges and they were not transparent . Do you want conditioner kerching, do you want some hair spray kerching. I was so angry. Besides half the time they were c grade at school, had no sense of style and were creepy and laugh behind your back
There is a salon/barber on my block (in San Francisco) and haircuts are $20 + I give $5 for a tip. I go every 6 weeks. That is $216.67 a year. It's totally worth it. I'm supporting a local business. I get to know my neighbors. And I get someone who looks out for my appearance. I'm a professional in a public-facing role. I think it needs to be said grooming is cultural. Being well-groomed is important to many in marginalized communities who do not benefit from certain privileges.
Can any other females here commend a good source/video for cutting your own hair? I know there are loads on youtube but if anyone knows a particularly helpful one that would be great!
