At home trimming-natural 4a hair

[jetcitygirl]

Hi ladies!! I've been following the discussions here since the site's inception and I just want to first of all say that I really admire the friendly,funny, and helpful attitudes among the posters here! This is a great site for information and support. Now my question is for anybody who is experienced in trimming natural 4a hair. I just did a trim yesterday mainly to even up my hair a bit, my ends were still in very good condition since my last trim in March. At that time I had to do a lot of chopping of damaged hair and ended up cutting my hair all crazy in my attempt to cut it into a wedge. Fortunately since it's quite bushy & curly the unevenness was not all that noticeable but it got on my nerves! I've decided to try to do "mini trims" every 6 weeks instead of bigger trims every 3 months to see if I can accumulate length faster that way. I'm trying this until the end of this year. My problem is that because my hair is so curly on the ends it is very difficult to cut less than 3/4 - 1 inch at a time. I use the scissors & comb method of trimming. The hair curls up on the ends and it's pretty hard to just cut off 1/4 inch at a time. Yesterday I ended up trimming off 1inch but I really didn't need to trim that much! I'm too traumatized by stylists to go to someone else to do my trimming. I'm determined to learn how to do it properly myself. I do a very good trim (shape-wise) when I stick to my old method of "pie-wedge" layering. The problem is that I cut more than I have to. Any tips on trimming frizzy hair? I tried the twist & trim method once and my hair came out terribly uneven because the twists were not twisted with equal lengths of hair I guess. So that method definately doesn't work for me. How can I trim just the tippy tips??
TIA
-Jet

 

[dontspeakdefeat]

If this is a problem, I would consider blow drying or straightening the hair on trim day. That way you don't have to worry about trimming too much. If the hair is straight you can see what you are cutting. Just a suggestion though. Trimming off 1 inch at time I think is too much because it will be too hard to accumulate growth with that much of a trim. Good luck to you!

 

[Ipanema]

Hi jetcitygirl

I just gave my 4a hair a trim yesterday and it turned out great. I cut about 1/4 inch. My hair usually curls up at the ends too, but what I did was put my hair in about 6 large sections. Then I took very small sections of hair, combed them out until they were smooth (the ends would curl flat against my finger), and cut the hair by putting the blade against my finger under the hair. I hope that makes sense. It might also help to oil the hair & brush each section smooth if the comb doesn't work.

 

[Kitkat]

Welcome to the board, Jetcitygirl!

 

[sassygirl125]

Welcome!

Your hair looks great! I also have different textures on my head and I feel your pain.

We use a lot of the same products, too. I noticed that your Hairobics Scalp Booster costs $3.29. That's not fair!

 

[Sunnysmile751]

My dad uses bare hair clippers (no comb attachments)to trim my hair. I pick it out in a fro and he shapes it with the clippers. At first I was nervous about having no guard on it, but my dad's real good with it. He used to shape his own fro back when he had hair. He's bald now. Anyway, i was afraid that it would take off too much hair but it actually didn't. I only the tips were shaved off. I can't wait till i get back to the states to get it shaped again because my ends are horrible! The scab hair is driving me crazy!

 

[tekmommie]

Hi

Welcome to the board. I agree with dontspeakdefeat!

And what in the world is scab hair!!??

In all my years I had never heard of it until I read a post the other day. NO OFFENSE, but it sounds really gross to me

Can someone explain please??

 

[Sunnysmile751]

Lol, yeah it does sound really gross! But that's the term that I heard other people use. I don't know what other name we can call it. Hmmm....
P.S. I answererd your other post on scab hair.

 

[jetcitygirl]

Thanks forthe warm welcome ladies!

Ipanema, I think your technique is kind of the way I'm doing it now, I alternate between holding my hair between my fingers & using a comb, cutting at a 45o angle to my scalp. I suppose just don't have enough control yet since I'm used to trimming relaxed hair. Maybe now that my hair is evened up it will be easier to just snip the last 1/4 inch. Last time I had a lot of longer strands mixed up with shorter strands. One more question: how often to you replace your trimming shears? I've used mine about 6 times since I got them but I noticed last time they didn't cut as cleanly as before. Has anyone tried sharpening them?

 

[TinyT]

[ QUOTE ]
I've used mine about 6 times since I got them but I noticed last time they didn't cut as cleanly as before. Has anyone tried sharpening them?

[/ QUOTE ]

Barbershops have machines to sharpen shears, and sometimes they will let you sharpen yours there.

Tracy