I’ve f***ed up. What now?

[Robstersgirl]

My son starts reception tomorrow. I’ve ruined his hair.
He never sits still for barbers and hates going there, so I took myself off to Tesco, handed over £25 (which incidentally would cover 3 professional haircuts in my area) and left with a set of clippers. Can’t be that hard right?
Armed with youtube tutorials and a misjudged confidence I cut his hair.
It’s terrible. There is no time to make it right. He starts school in the morning. AIBU to lie and say I took him to a terrible hairdresser who I’m considering suing?

Honestly, I've seen much worse after a professional job. Don't say a word to him. Over the years I've seen awful haircuts because children wouldn't sit still. My DD being one. She had an extra 2 inches taken off when she was 10 for suddenly turning her head when the salon door opened!

Have a lovely day tomorrow.💐

Oh my... why on earth did you clipper the top

It looks better than some haircuts I've paid hard cash for!

Step away from the clippers and take him to a professional in the next day or so. Nobody will bat an eye at your efforts - actually they're pretty good for a first try

A cap?

First couple of times I use clippers it actually looked ok. Next couple of times it looked terrible and I couldn't work out what I had done differently, 5th attempt I nicked his ear👂and it bled for ages.

I wasnt allowed to use them again after that and dh started taking ds to barbers every 4 weeks. 🤣

If it's any consolation, I did this to my DC1 the day before he started reception!! I also paid (and requested) that a barber do it. I asked for a number 1 all over..... to this day I don't know why!!!

He's now in year 2, and has longer hair

It’s not that bad. Good that he’s not bothered. Just take him to the barbers tomorrow

Do you live in a city with any Afro-Caribbean barber shops? They are open all hours, might be worth seeing if one of the barbers there can tidy it up a bit.

It looks fine. And it'll soon grow, so don't worry.

I remember sitting in a kitchen in halls years ago with a friend. Bloke from upstairs came down. He'd managed to do most of his hair, but couldn't do the back so asked for help. I'd never used clippers before so declined, but my friend said she'd done her cousin's hair before, so was quite confident.

Yes, well... She put clippers to head, and was aghast to see that the strip she'd done was much shorter than the rest of his hair. Turns out she'd held the clippers the wrong way round. I burst out laughing (not helpful!). To her credit she did manage to blend the bits either side in, so it didn't look too bad at the end, but still, the end result wasn't quite what the poor lad was after!

He looked like grayson perry.

😂😂😂 That poor child. Traumatised for life.

You could say he cut it himself

He looked like he had mange.

😂 Oh Smellbow, you are funny.

Oooh it didn't happen if we can't see it 😂

Show us please

I've always taken DS to the hairdressers rather than the barbers. When he was little there was a hairdressers solely for children

It's honestly not that bad OP. I was expecting way worse from your description. There's so much going on on the first day and everyone is so focused on their own child no one will notice. By next weekend it'll have grown enough to cover any dodgy bits.

It's fine OP, it'll grow quickly.
I've clipper end DH's hair to one length all over for years, then he bought new clippers. The first time I attached the head thingy it fell off just as I swept it up the back of his head.....leaving a 6" long completely bald strip, the day before we went on holiday - and yes, it was bloody obvious!
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry - oddly he took it well luckily he couldn't see what it looked like!
It eventually grew back.

It really doesn't look as bad as your initial post made me think. Just concentrate on keeping everyone calm for his first day and take him to the barbers straight after school tomorrow (followed by a nice ice cream or something?)

I’ve done similar, don’t know what possessed me to think that I was somehow a trained hairdresser and I cut chunks out of his lovely blonde curls ☹️ I got him straight to the hairdressers who gave him a very short back & sides.
The pic doesn’t look too bad, I’d leave it for now and get him straight to the barbers after school.
Take a new ‘first day’ picture once he’s had it cut professionally!

put some hair gunk on it

I think my photo skills are as bad as my hairdressing ones. In real life it looks far worse. My teenagers audibly gasped and shouted at me about how I had ruined their brothers hair. It’s a right mess in real life with bald patches, long bits, a bit where I slipped doing the edges behind his ears which is completely bald and a wonky fringe. Apparently it’s too short for extensions.

My husband went through a crazy spell at work (self employed) and didn't have time to visit the barbers. He has quite neat kept hair and it was getting long and untidy (for him). He begged me to cut it for him, I kept refusing but then he got the clippers out and said if I didn't help he'd do it himself. I gave in and cut it. Looked pretty similar to your attempt, the blending and fringe really are difficult to do. Don't stress. A few weeks of hair growth and a trip down the barbers it was all fixed. I posted on fb to make it clear that I was forced to cut my husband's hair, I didn't do it thinking I could cut hair! Might feel better if you see the funny side. My mum used to trim my brother's hair, we love getting the pictures out to howl at!

Don't feel bad it's only hair!

OP my youngest didn't have his first haircut until year one. He refused and it wasn't worth the battle. I cut his fringe in a straight line once or twice, as much as I managed. He really didn't care, happy with his messy mullet. They pretty much look cute anyway at that age.

The photos aren't bad at all and it'll grow quickly. I don't see any need to rush him out for a haircut when he's just starting school. He'll be tired.

Re haircuts, I've always found hairdressers to be quicker, they get the idea of a quick tidy up so it's not in their eyes. The barbers seem to take their time and work with more precision than is necessary for my squirmy children.

Reminds me of when I cut my ds hair. I cut the top short with scissors - so far so good, then used dhs beard clippers on the back and sides, not good. I didn't realise the the number settings on the beard trimmers didn't correspond to normal clipper guard numbers. I merrily cut the back with the '4' setting and it was practically to his scalp. I had to cut the top really short to blend it in, he loved it luckily but I could have cried. Within a few weeks it was fine.