You Get What You Pay For

I've been in desperate need of a haircut for a while. My hair was seriously long- most of the way down my back. And when I had time to blow dry and flat iron it, I absolutely loved it. Really, I felt like Rapunzel. But, let's be honest, how often does that actually happen? Once a week, or if I'm feeling really fancy, twice. But on all those other days, it looked like a scraggly mess, so a haircut was in order.
Yesterday the twins finally went back to school after two weeks. Those three blissful hours were going to be the last ones I had to myself until the week after Thanksgiving, so I was bound and determined to get that mop cut. The problem was that payday isn't until Friday, and we've done the majority of the kids' Christmas shopping over the past week, so money was a bit on the tight side. I decided to go the frugal route and get my hair cut at the beauty school. It's only $5, and I've had it cut there before and the girl did a really good job. I'm thinking she was an A student, or a lot more experienced, because yesterday's cut didn't go so well.
I asked the girl to trim about three inches off, leaving it well below my shoulders (I told you, it was really long) and cut some long, loose layers in it. She slooooooowly got started, trimming a tiny section at a time. I didn't mind too much, after all, I wanted her to take her time and do a good job. But I'm pretty sure a snail could cut hair faster. Then she got to work on the sides. After 45 minutes of cutting she says, "Okay, how does it look?" Ummmmmmm, not so good since the right side is a good inch and a half shorter than the left. So she tries to even it up, then tries some more, then tries a little more. At this point I'm starting to get quite worried about the amount of hair she's cut off. We're already way past three inches, and I'm afraid if she keeps trying to make it even, I'm going to wind up with a pixie cut! Then she says, "I'm really sorry- this is not my area of expertise." Wow, so not what you want to hear from the girl that has scissors in your hair. And honestly, if giving the most basic of haircuts isn't your area of expertise, what the hell is???
So I finally told her, "It's okay honey, let's quit while we're ahead." By then, I had resigned myself to paying a professional to fix this mess, but the girl said, "I can get my instructor to help me." I agreed, and the instructor came over to help guide her through this disaster of a haircut. The instructor gave up on coaching this hapless hairdresser within a few minutes and decided, much to my relief, to finish it herself. With obvious, palpable relief, the girl handed over her scissors, and after one hour, six inches and an instructor, my hair was finally even. Then, that crazy girl asked the instructor, "Now how do I go about putting layers in her hair?" I practically leaped from the chair exclaiming, "Oh no, never mind the layers! Really, it's fine. Let's just leave it one length!" Layers, dear God, I would have been bald!
So I got my haircut. It's (significantly) shorter than I wanted it, but I can still put it in a ponytail, and that's all that really matters. But I have learned a VERY valuable lesson. There are many ways to save money, but a $5 haircut shouldn't be one of them!