Clarification on how to cut your own hair...

I'm a little confused: could you extrapolate a little bit on #2? I'm not seeing what you mean - are you cutting a horizontal or vertical line?

I'm cutting a vertical line. I'm pulling all the hair on the sides to the front of my face, and then cutting the line vertically. Next time I do this I'll take pictures of the process so you can see better! In fact, I am cutting a friend's hair on Sunday and I'll get pictures taken of that process in order to explain this better.

On #4, did you put all your hair over your face and cut it or just bend over so that your hair fell past your face?

First I bent over so the hair would all just fall. But I didn't cut it completely bent over, because I wouldn't get as short of a layer around my face, just a nice wedge in the back, so I just grabbed all the hair, stood up, and slightly bent my face forward, and then cut the hair about six inches from my forehead. Again, a picture will help explain this and I'll have that on Sunday!

Actually, I also have a question on #1...how'd you do the U shape? Just freehand or what?

It is not an exact U-shape that I do. I cut about an inch straight across (horizontally), and then start going down on both sides from there. It ends up looking like a U, but it doesn't have to be exact and you can make it as wide or small as you like depending on the cut you are going for. If you make the U wider, your bang is going to be more defined. If you make the U thinner, you'll have more layers on the side of your face, and the bang will be very blended.

I really want to try this on myself but I'm incredibly nervous...would you say that with long hair, it's fairly easy to hid flaws or do you pretty much have to be exactly right-on?

If you have very thin, straight hair, then you need a more precise cut. Each piece of hair will show, so if there is a wrong cut, you will see it. If you have curly or wavy hair, then you can pretty much get away with any cut, and the waves and/or curls will hide it all. If you have thick hair with a lot of body (like mine), then you can hide any flaws in the way you style your hair. However, without natural curls and waves, you will definitely want to style it if the cut turns out bad.

I would recommend cutting your own hair so long as you know how to style your hair, do not have pin straight hair (or like to wear your hair pin straight), and so long as you have medium to thick hair.

Good luck!