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My son had long hair until he was in 1st grade. The family complained, but I said "until he says he wants his hair cut, it's not getting cut."
In first grade he said he wanted it cut, so it was.
Last spring he got a "buzz cut" because I was tired of messing with his hair...8 year olds tend to not care what they look like, and not comb their hair. LOL
We are at a point now where it's going to at least have to be trimmed around his ears. He looks like he has sideburns because the hair separates around his ears.
He says he wants it long again and I'm more than fine with that. But my mother (a hairstylist...ie. scissor happy woman) says he'll be teased in school. I don't trust anything a person with a license to chop people's hair off has to say about anyone who has or wants long hair.
I need a trim on the back of my hair, but I don't trust her to do that. And I don't want to do it myself because it'll probably be uneven. I want to go from a v shape to straight in the back, but I'm afraid she'll cut it all to my shoulders...saying "there, now it's ALL even!"
I don't trust people with scissors!
as long as his hair looks good I don't think he'll be teased
Whoa, this is the way I also feel about people with scissors! They actually have the power to screw you royally behind your back (literally in this case!) once you've planted your butt in that chair. I used to trim my girlfriend's hair in order to get rid of split ends every couple of months. But I cut off the absolute MINIMUM - juuuuuuust enough to even it all out! If I can do it why can't those licensed bastards do the same simple task? It's simply a matter of getting the hair wet, comb/brush it and trim the ends. But no, you ask for a little and they take you right back to the dreaded awkward phase! Before anyone should ask; no it hasn't happened to me recently and I'm not planning on visiting a barber any time soon.
Every time I've gone for a trim I say 'only 1/4".' They always cut 1-4". It's amazing!
This is why I haven't even had my ends trimmed in about 2 years, and my hair is v shaped in back. I just pull it forward and trim the tips myself every year or so.
Surely that's your son's problem, isn't it? If he wants his hair long, obviously that is more important than being teased. And if it's not, then he can ask for it to be shorter later. No big deal.
As far as worrying about getting things even, here's the trick: cut the hair when it is wet -- dry hair will have uneven curl, so even if it looks even, it won't be. Also, don't judge evenness by eyeballing the hair. Go by feel. In other words, with your fingers, measure the distance from the scalp to the cutting line.
When you cut around the back, pick up a little of the hair that was already cut along with the hair not yet cut. You can use the ends of the cut part as a guide for where to cut the uncut part. Worst case scenario is you screw up a bit and have to go to the barber to get it evened up.
Maybe I'm just good at it, but I really don't find cutting hair all that difficult if you simply follow common sense guidelines like this.
Some of you may be wondering how I can say this, since I've gone without cutting my own hair since 1992. In fact, I used to cut my own hair (about earlobe length), not being satisfied with how anyone else did it. Now I cut my daughter's hair to her specifications.