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Judging by how hard it is to get hold of a new set of hair clippers online I would say that I can’t be the only one taking up a new ‘hobby’ while in Lockdown. My husband’s hair grows pretty fast – and after almost 8 weeks of staying at home he really needed a haircut and I was the one who would have to do it.

Now, this may not sound like too big a deal, but believe me, it was. Let me take you back to the year 2002. Aged 19 and still not entirely sure of where my real talents lay I convinced my (now) husband to let me loose with a pair of clippers and professional hairdressing scissors. Seriously, how hard could it be?

Turns out, hairdressers make a difficult job look very easy. It happened that I was just as clipper-happy with hair as I was with plants – once I start cutting I can’t stop, and that’s not good.

In the intervening years I have not been allowed near my husband’s hair. Although, I have managed to get hold of my son’s fringe a fair few times to varying degrees of unsuccess (with nail scissors). But the way I see it, a childhood is not complete without at least one dodgy haircut…

Anyway, I nearly fell off my chair when I casually asked Hubby if I could cut his hair this week and he replied, “Yeah, alright then”. Say, what?? For real? I instantly regretted the suggestion. I couldn’t do this! I’m USELESS with a pair of scissors! There was no turning back, however, I’d been badgering him to let me do it for years!

Having obtained some clippers and scissors (but not a comb – I had to use a Tommee Tippee baby comb) I Googled ‘how do you cut men’s hair?’ and sat my husband down. I exuded a confidence far removed from how I actually felt – I couldn’t let him know how nervous I was for fear that he wouldn’t let me do it.

I soon forgot all about the professional scissor moves that I’d only just learnt from YouTube and instead resorted to my old ‘hit and hope’ strategy; a technique that used to work pretty well for me back in my days of playing pool in the uni bar. The result was actually quite good, I’m not saying that our barber needs to feel threatened in any way, but my talents, for now, will surfice.

On a side note – hairdressing is EXHAUSTING. I was on my knees after all that standing and my arms ached and my neck ached and my shoulders ached, not to mention the shakes that were still buzzing through my hands from the flippin’ clippers. Hairdressing is definitely not for me!

This is me rocking my favourite childhood hairstyle circa 1988