My hair is crying out for a cut. And a style. And a wash, come to that. But of those three things, the only one it's likley to benefit from in the near future is the third.

Why? Quite simply it's too expensive. At around £25 a time, my hair is lucky if it sees a pair of scissors more than once a year.

The rest of the time I go through life looking like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards.

What's the solution? Cut it yourself, I suddenly thought, on one of my many Worse Than Bad Hair Days. So I did, and - though I say so myself - it didn't look too bad. Even my friends admired my self-made look.

And it got me thinking. Why do we fork out for so many things that we could - with a little bit of tuition - competently do ourselves?

All we need are a few self-help books and a high-profile TV series and we're home and dry. Take DIY. It's never off the telly - and in the wake of three or four series the entire population is a dab hand at stripping floors and throwing up built-in wardrobes.

The explosion in gardening know-how, both on the TV and in newspapers and magazines, has created a nation of Alan Titchmarshes. I'll give you an example. Over the past month I have created my own hanging basket - sown seeds in little trays, "pricked" (I even know the jargon) them out and transferred them to a wire basket. All thanks to a two-minute item on the box. Before tuning in, I'd planned to buy one ready made, if not at all.

If we can be taught to tame our gardens by ourselves, why not our hair? A snip here, a snip there, it could save us a fortune. And to be honest we're not always thrilled with the professional job. Patsy Kensit recently paid hundreds to Nicky Clarke for what, in my opinion, looked like limp rats' tails.

DIY hairdressing - it's bound to catch on. Maybe neighbours could tackle each other's locks in a new show, Changing Styles.

And why stop there? Dental treatment sets us back hundreds. We've got that programme Garden Doctors, where the professionals come in and show you how. Let's follow it up with Dental Doctors, where a special team come to your home and do a bit of bridge work. They could run through it step by step, from a simple check-up to the extraction of a set of wisdom teeth. Pretty soon we'd all be mixing filler and sticking it in those cavities.

Then there's Doctor Doctors - this programme could show us how to diagnose our own ailments and, if possible, treat them. Maybe the opening episode could feature DIY hip replacements - it would send hospital waiting lists plummeting.

Last but not least, the car. I've just paid a small fortune for a service - but were those reported faults real? I don't know. Let's have a self-help show where experts get under the bonnet, and give us tips on how to spot a dodgy fan belt - and how to change it.

Back to my hair. It's awful and once again I'm poised to chop it myself. I did a good job trimming the clematis this afternoon so I'm all geared up. The money I save will pay for a dozen more self-help books.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.