So if you are a guy or an extraordinarily brave woman and not too vain in either case about the stuff that, if you are lucky, sprouts out from your head you can fund money into your health savings account by opening a Hair Savings Account with your significant other.

Now I live down in the South and normally get my hair cut at Virginia's Hairport to the tune of about $15 a pop, which is pretty reasonable in these parts.  I know this because I used to work with some hair wienies who would spend $50 to $60 every 6 weeks or so to get a hair cut.   I know, Virginia's Hairport doesn't sound too manly.  It's a long story, so I will spare you the details and tell you outright, Betty (not Virginia) has been cutting my hair for the past 20 years or so, and the next time I pay to have a haircut, it will be with her because she can flat cut hair.  But it could be awhile before I need to go back.

Anyway, today I embarked on a bold new experiment.  I let my wife cut my hair.  Let that sink in for a minute if you will.

I saved $15 on the haircut (including tip) plus another $3.65 on gas (it is 26 miles to Virginia's).   I gave her the #7 sheers to help get her comfortable with the whole concept and warmed up.

 For those of you not familiar with the technology of sheers a #7 will cut it pretty short but you will still have some hair, and a #1 will leave your head looking like it has a pretty good 5 o'clock shadow.  (If you are looking for sheers, I got mine at Wal-Mart for $16.99 and have saved a couple hundred of bucks over the past couple of years cutting my son's--I've have had so much fun with them am tempted to use them on the neighbor's yappin' dog).

I urged my wife to stop being a wienie and move from the #7 down to the #1 and she got there eventually.  Half the time while buzzing along she was laughing, and the other half she was crying, and peppered in between the laughing and crying was a certain amount of language not suitable for children.

I suppose the best way for me to describe the hair cut is to say it looks pretty much like your typical Christmas tree.  For the most part it's even and balanced  but with a couple of bare patches here and there, and a couple of wild branches poking out.  Nothing a cap and a couple of months won't take care of.

So, now I have $15 in my hair savings account which I can now transfer to my health savings account.    $15 is real money when it comes to HSAs.  That will cover the almost 20% of my son's visit this past week to the Dr. for his annual case of strep throat.  Consumer Directed Health (CDH) is about taking control.  Starting a Hair Savings Account is but one way to do it.   

If my wife would let me have a go at her head I could probably max my annual contribution to our HSA!!  Now there's a thought.....maybe while she is sleeping.