I tried a viral video hair hack and gave myself a salon-worthy haircut in less than 5 minutes

I tried a viral video hair hack and gave myself a salon-worthy haircut in less than 5 minutes

Against my better judgement when it comes to following viral video trends, I decided to test one out after a particular haircut challenge caught my eye.

The video on Douyin (China's version of Tiktok) showed a lady hacking off her long locks with a giant pair of scissors.

Rather than just any other hairstyling video, hers involved tying her hair in front of her face before cutting off the tail in one straight snip. In the most Disney-esque way, she flipped her hair back to reveal a fresh new look.

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Curiosity got the better of me and I found myself scrolling through the tags to find out whether this technique actually works. The more successful attempts I saw being replicated, the more hopeful I became. 

It seemed like all you have to do is tie your hair into a neat ponytail in front, roughly where your hairline is. Then, just grab a pair of scissors and snip the end of your ponytail off - no need for trimming, thinning, or anything at all really. Seems easy enough, right?

The result? An effortlessly beautiful layered hairdo.

It seemed far too good to be true, but since I wanted to get rid of my numerous split ends without a pricy salon visit, I thought I'd wager a try.

This was how my hair looked like before. Ruly, unkempt and flyaways galore.

And split ends. So many split ends.

With my hair already cut, here's my best attempt at recreating the process.

I tied my hair, grabbed a pair of scissors and began chopping. It wasn't actually as easy as it looked. My tiny pair of scissors meant that I was only able to cut off a small section at a time, which resulted in a terribly choppy and slanted end. It took me a few more additional trimming to get it as straight as they do in the video.

While some of the girls in the videos had opted to cut their hair shorter, I compromised and decided to cut mine somewhere around chin-length. You know, just in case anything goes wrong.

With my hair tied in a stumpy ponytail and sticking out of my forehead, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd made a grievous mistake.

After seeing numerous hairstyling disasters, it's hard not to fret when you've just hacked off your hair in one impulsive go.

(I still get recurring nightmares of having hair like this. It ranks second only to nightmares where I lose all my teeth.) 

Fortunately, my fears were laid to rest once I pushed my hair out of my face.

Thanks to the way it was cut, not only was my hair perfectly layered, I thought the natural curl of my tresses also framed my face just right.

It instantly gave my hair a fresh new voluminous look, even the overall shape of it looked much better.

In less than five minutes, I managed to make my limp locks look as though they've just been through an expensive styling session at the salon. You don't even need to have any hairstyling experience, nor do you require any fancy scissors meant for hair. 

Am I happy with how this experiment turned out? Yes. Will I do this again? Absolutely.

That's not to say I've completely given up on visiting the hairdressers.

While we've yet to see this tip fail for anyone on Douyin, there's always a possibility that it might not suit you. Still, if you're looking for a quick budget option that delivers, this is definitely worth a shot.

ALSO READ: You've been washing your hair wrong all your life - I tried my hairstylist's hack and it gave me healthier hair

rainercheung@asiaone.com

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