A few years back, I had an epiphany: since my sons and I had crewcuts, it seemed like a waste of $10 or so to go to the barber every couple of months when we could do just as good a job cutting each others hair with a set of $10 electric clippers. I bought said clippers, and since then I've saved a couple hundred bucks and we still had acceptable-quality low-maintenance, low-drag haircuts that make the ladies swoon.
That was until tonight. My oldest son, the Class President, asked me to cut his hair. I gave him the "#2 all over" look, and was down to the "final touch-up" phase. I noticed a tuft of hair sticking up on the back, so I went in with the clippers to take care of it... without remembering I had taken the guard off. Took off a swath of hair, boot camp-style, about five inches long and 2" wide, almost all the way to the top of his head. Uh-oh...
As I apologized profusely, we ended up deciding that a Marine "high-and-tight" would be our best shot of having him not look like a skinhead while covering up the visible evidence of my stupidity. Unfortunately for him, it didn't really work out too well. Maybe they'll let him wear a hat to school...