Bored Panda contacted La Boutique hair salon based in Sydney and asked their team if it’s ever a good idea to cut your own hair. 

Senior hairstylist Joelene Booth told us, “There’s a reason that people go to study hairdressing for three years before they're even allowed to work on their first client and spend their whole life working at improving their craft.” She believes that a good haircut is not something you can learn from a Youtube "how to cut hair" video.

On the other hand, we are now living in unprecedented times. Joelene said that “there are a few tricks hairdressers can teach you to help tide you over until you’re able to see them next, like trimming your bangs.” First, do not bulk cut your hair—instead, try cutting bits at a time. Second, go millimeter by millimeter and don't cut straight lines. "To do this, you use point cutting, which is where you hold the scissors vertically, not horizontally," she explained. 

According to Belinda Jeffrey, the award-winning hair colorist and owner of La Boutique, cutting your dead ends isn’t a priority. She said, “Use this time for treatments to repair the damage from styling and coloring to get it in the best condition you can for when you can return to your normal routine.”

Most importantly, remember that it’s just a haircut. Joelene advised us not to worry about making a mistake: “the hair will grow back before you know it.”

In an interview with Bored Panda, Ryan Forsythe, Senior Director and Head of Education at Trevor Sorbie salon in Covent Garden, London, said that it’s better to leave your hairstyle ideas to the pros.

“We’ve all suffered epic fail haircuts and funny hairstyles as kids and those scars run deep. After 2 months, your hairdresser will have more hair to play with and who knows—you may want to take your style in a new direction.”

“We’ve all suffered bad haircuts and funny hairstyles as kids — those scars run deep. After two months, your hairdresser will have more hair to play with. So, who knows, you may want to take your style in a new direction.”

The enforced time at home is an excellent opportunity to give your hair a much-needed break from blow-drying and styling tools. “Give it the love it needs with the appropriate treatments — moisturizing, strengthening or repair masks. Now you have the time to let products do their work,” Ryan told us.

Have you ever wondered how the professionals do their own hair? Well, it turns out for a DIY haircut that a little goes a long way. Ryan said, “As a guy, the most I’ll do is trim and sideburns with trimmers. I’m not going anywhere so I’m happy to let it grow out a bit. I think that would be the same for most hairdressers.”

While most of the states in the US have allowed barbers and hair salons to decide whether to close for quarantine or not, the UK is now debating the prospect of shutting down all salons.

The conservative MP David Morris, who owned six hair salons himself, urged government to add salons to the list of closed venues. “Hairdressers don't wear gloves when cutting hair. It's impossible to do so," he told the Sun, “and they touch other people on average 1,000 times per haircut."

“I don’t want to see my former colleagues close down but I don’t want them sick either. Hairdressers work with so many clients every week that the issue needs to be addressed now."

Sometimes, an urge to change one's appearance has to do with changing situations amid stressful times. “It’s about people trying to control what they can," said Amy Flowers, a psychologist specializing in stress management and body image.

“A lot of people change their appearance when they have a change of situation. It’s a task, it’s a mission, and that makes us feel good," she explained.

In the end, it’s a painless way to experiment a bit without getting awkward looks from people on the streets. Let’s hope we can all pay a visit to the salon or barbershop again soon.