It CAN be tricky! Unfortunately, I've only found a few ladies who cut my hair correctly, and they all moved away! I end up paying a lot at salons and come home with my hair almost the same way. I like to layer mine a lot because it gets so thick and heavy. As it's long, I get headaches and need my hair to be lighter.

One easy way to layer your hair is to carefully comb it into a perfect high ponytail. If you cut across (at the desired length), take it down, you will have layers... however, I find that my ponytail looks choppy if I do it this way. What I do is watch my hairstylists and then try the same method at home. I usually take sections of hair, hold them straight out to the side (just be very careful that they are EVEN sections) and cut straight. Try doing LONG layers at home instead of shorter ones to avoid mistakes. I've been lucky and never messed up my hair, but most people I know aren't as adventurous! Most salons (even inexpensive ones) do a decent job at long layers, so it may be worth just doing that!