The Upside: Cost cut your haircut

I'm not a hairdresser, but I am gay, which is similar. So I can say with some authority that you can cut costs by cutting your own hair.

The easiest way is to be born male. Then you just shave your head with clippers. It's sleek, cheap and strangers will rub your head for good luck.

Marc Matsumoto of New York City started cutting his own hair to save money while pursuing his ambition of being a food writer. "It actually looks better," he says, "because now, instead of having it get shaggy at the end of the month before my next haircut, I just cut it myself once a week." Even the New York Times recently ran a photo essay of a laid-off project manager in Vermont shaving his own head, otherwise known as a slow news day.

So what is a woman to do? I consulted a fancy salon stylist and asked him if he had any advice for women cutting their own hair.