Using bun holder to assist with cutting hair?

[hairhair]

I was just reading about the CREA clip in another thread, but the price is sort of prohibitive. I realised I have a bun holder (I'll post a pic in a sec) which turns hair into a flat sheet. That's what I want for trimming right? I just want to microtrim; I have a few small splits that go about 1/6 inch up the strand. I will buy hairdressers' scissors and might S&D first then trim in about a month so I have a while to find a good technique.

I've looked up some techniques and think the one with the ponytail holder looks promising, but I was wondering whether it would work better to do it with this device that distributes hair in a flat sheet rather than a ponytail shape?

Also, if I were to go the ponytail route, when it says "Cut off the tip of the ponytail", do you literally cut only the hairs that stick out the very end (ie. a straight line) or curve around to get all the hair tips?

Thanks! :)