It was the third week of lockdown, and my hair was driving me crazy. My once-chic bob had grown into a shapeless mess, and I couldn’t take it anymore. Armed with a pair of kitchen scissors and a YouTube tutorial, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

“How hard can it be?” I thought, staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. I sectioned my hair, just like the video showed, and started snipping. At first, it seemed to be going well. But halfway through, I realized I’d cut one side significantly shorter than the other. Panicking, I tried to even it out, but things only got worse. By the time I was done, I looked like I’d lost a fight with a lawnmower.

My roommate walked in and burst out laughing. “What happened to you?!” she gasped between giggles.

I ended up wearing a hat for weeks until salons reopened. When I finally went to a professional, the stylist couldn’t stop laughing. “Well,” she said, “at least you gave me a good story to tell.”

That DIY haircut was a disaster, but it taught me an important lesson: some things are best left to the professionals.