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View Full Version : Trimming Curly Hair?



AJoifulNoise
June 13th, 2010, 10:25 AM
My friend is fed up with her damaged ends and wants to trim them. She has baby fine, curly hair. I have thick straightish-mildly-wavy hair so I'm not sure what advice to give her.

I've googled/youtubed a bit and I've searched here, but any advice for us would be welcome. I did try looking through the curly thread, too. But, it's 370 pages long! O.O

She is going to be doing it herself with help from me if necessary.

Here is a picture of her hair for reference:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/SycoTrekkie/2010/00000000000000000.jpg

PLEASE NOTE: This is a very old picture. As in a couple years old. Her hair is now at tailbone length. The picture is just for reference.

So, what say you LHC curlies? Are there any curly self-trimmers out there?

GoddesJourney
June 13th, 2010, 10:37 AM
Wow, that's really nice hair. My husband's hair is about that texture and I actually had to cut it in the shower because having it just wet was not enough to make it straight enough for an even cut. It needed water freshly run through it. His hair was only about neck length, though, so it was more complicated. If you grab the hair section at a time between two straight fingers to gently pull it straight, it will give you and even line to cut. Be sure to compare sides pulled straight at the end so you can be sure it came even.

On the upside, although a bit more complicated to deal with, wavy/curly hair is a bit more forgiving if it's a little uneven. It never shows. Anyway, that's just my experience.

Siava
June 13th, 2010, 11:02 AM
I've read about going to specialized curly-friendly salons that trim dry curls to perfection, but I don't do that. Couldn't afford to anyways. :lol: My recommendation is to go with Feye's Self Trim Method for U-shape or V-shape since that's what she's got going on already. http://community.livejournal.com/feyeselftrim. There's a blunt tutorial as well if she wants to change it up.

Loreley
June 13th, 2010, 11:09 AM
I have 2c/3a hair and I cut it when it's wet. I comb it with a normal comb (not wide-tooth) which helps keeping it straight while I'm trimming it.

GlassEyes
June 13th, 2010, 11:19 AM
Actualyl, straight across cuts can be problematic with curly hair, especially hair with an in-between pattern, which it looks like your friend's hair might have. Different partal advice is to get it cut evenly dry--in the state that it naturally exists in. I've only had wet cuts, but I think even I've had problems with it. Especially in the back. Sometimes, depending on humidity, it can look like there's a chunk missing at the back of my head.

I don't know if I'd recommend cutting dry with a self-trim though. I'm far from an expert in cutting curly hair.

Fairlight63
June 13th, 2010, 12:26 PM
There is a girl on You Tube that shows how to cut curly hair. It is YouTips4U


www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ZKQlcMo5E&feature=channel

May
June 13th, 2010, 12:39 PM
There is a girl on You Tube that shows how to cut curly hair. It is YouTips4U


www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ZKQlcMo5E&feature=channel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ZKQlcMo5E&feature=channel)
That video is "no longer available"

my advice would be to point cut curly hair wet or flat ironed straight. A lot of people have to flat iron their hair straight in order to get a nice even cut. Point cutting will help to avoid that overly blunt amateur look like you just cut it off in one chop :P

Fairlight63
June 13th, 2010, 12:41 PM
I will try one more time - it won't let me correct it for some reason.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_zkQ1cMo5E&feature=channel

by YouTips4U

Quixii
June 13th, 2010, 12:50 PM
I've never really cut my hair, but I don't see why you would cut curly hair when it's straight. It'll never be straight, so no one will ever see the straight across cut. Plus, like Glasseyes said, due to the variability of curls, it'd probably look incredibly uneven some days.
It just doesn't make sense to me to cut your hair when it looks like how it will never look.

missmandy
June 13th, 2010, 12:51 PM
If you're not too too worried about the damage of straightening only one time, maybe you could do that? Then it'd be easier to cut.

Athena's Owl
June 13th, 2010, 01:04 PM
I actually posted in my blog about how I trim my hair as a curly...annnd it doesn't resemble any of the methods described here at all. but the way I do it is a "process not perfection" approach, and to do it any other way means I would have to let someone else cut it and I am not prepared to do that at all.

But if you are willing to help her, then maybe it will help.

I cut my hair when it is dry and curly. This is because I have curly hair and I wear it curly. The other cutting methods aren't useful to me. I don't straighten my hair and cutting my hair the way straight haired people get theirs cut means that my hair is cut for a style I don't wear it in, at best, and will be a disastrously bad haircut, at worst.

I cut the curls as they lie, lock by lock, as needed. I look at a curl end and find the ones that are feathery or splayed or long-hooked, and I cut those tips off. If I were you, I'd cut, stand back, and look. You're kind of sculpting a shape as well as trimming the damaged ends, so take your time and take the path of least cutting.

I say in my blog that I cut about six of my curl ends once a month. This is because i have basically gotten to my goal length and I'm now maintaining. I've trimmed twice and I like the results i have, because one of the effects of trimming my curl ends this way is that my hair has decided to be more corkscrew curly at the bottom, and I quite like that.

Neddy
June 13th, 2010, 01:30 PM
I'm overdue for my yearly trim, and I either have my mother cut it when it's wet straight across or go to a salon and have the same blunt straight across wet cut. The reason I don't cut my hair dry is that my hair curls differently every day. The tightness and curl pattern vary with products I use, techniques, humidity, dew point, etc. I figure why bother going to a curly hair salon and getting a special cut or spend my own time doing a similar "cut each individual curl" kind of thing when a simple blunt cut works just as well for me. If each curl is different every day, why would I cut that curl based on how it was behaving one particular day and hope for the best for the others? I guess it just reflects my benign neglect/occasional pampering approach to hair care. Blunt wet cuts are easy and at the end of the day, my curls still look nice, so it is enough for me.
Also, I think curls with erratic ends look kinda cool.

AJoifulNoise
June 14th, 2010, 07:42 AM
Thank you all for your replies.

There seem to be two camps about trimming curly hair. Elsewhere as well as here. Either straighten it somehow (with a straightener or with wetting/combing) or cut each curl while it's dry.

I know for sure we aren't straightening her hair with an iron. First of all because she doesn't straighten her hair and secondly because neither of us have an iron.

BotticelliCurls
June 14th, 2010, 08:41 AM
i trim my curly hair every other week. I only trim it it a teeny tiny pit every time. I've never really messed up my hair like this. It's a safe hair trimming method.

1. come straight out of the shower and put all your hair products in (no drying of any kind). Your hair will be curly. That's okay.

2. split your hair in two sections so there is no hair at your back. There should only be hair at the side of your face.

3. take the section of hair your going to cut first (i always do my left) and put that on your back (behind your shoulders)

4. Now take one strand/tendril/lock of hair from the back and cut a VERY tiny bit off. Just let it hang in front when your done so you know that you have already cut it. don't throw it back behind your shoulder again.

5. do this one by one with all the other strands of hair.

6. once your all done trimming your left side leave it hanging infront of your shoulders and then put the RIGHT (or the side you haven't trimmed yet) side section of hair behind your shoulder and on your back.

7. Do the same with the right side and then you are all done :)

I know that you are only cutting of very little but this makes my hair grow healthier.

If your friends hair is too damaged then it won't probably work all that well.

You might want to read reviews on curly hair salons near you on here http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlsalons or take some one else's advise.

lapushka
June 14th, 2010, 11:27 AM
Thank you all for your replies.

There seem to be two camps about trimming curly hair. Elsewhere as well as here. Either straighten it somehow (with a straightener or with wetting/combing) or cut each curl while it's dry.

I know for sure we aren't straightening her hair with an iron. First of all because she doesn't straighten her hair and secondly because neither of us have an iron.

If there's major length to be cut, you could use both methods because I think that the individual curl approach alone might be very time consuming in that case. You could first take a chunk of length off by using Feye's method, then you could tackle individual curls.

09robiha
June 14th, 2010, 01:41 PM
I agree with several posters here, cutting the hair straight dosent always work and can look really uneven. I dont really trim my hair anymore, but when i see a curl getting a little frayed at the end i just trim the individual curl. Occasionally I go all the way through my hair and inspect all the ends and trim where nessacary.

Buddaphlyy
June 14th, 2010, 02:11 PM
Even though your friend's hair isn't quite as curly as mine, I find that trimming freshly washed hair with no product works best for me. After showering, I blot my hair dry a bit so it won't be too slippery and to help induce shrinkage of healthier hair. Then, while looking in a 3 way mirror, I trim off any damaged portions and then style my hair as usual.

Toadstool
June 14th, 2010, 02:19 PM
Hairdressers always wet mine before cutting it straight. I often wish they wouldn't - it has various kinks which means it never looks even when dried. I always wondered why they didn't cut it to look right when dry rather than wet:confused:

Athena's Owl
June 14th, 2010, 05:04 PM
because they don't know how, Toadstool

and what's worse, they don't know that they don't know.

LoveMyMutt
June 15th, 2010, 09:30 AM
I've learned the hard way to cut it DRY and not straightened! If I cut it wet and/or straight, it looks really wacky when it dries.

The good news is that wavy/curly hair is pretty forgiving -- stick-straight hair HAS to be cut pretty precisely or it is very obvious if the ends are uneven. Curls and waves camouflage a lot.

Neddy
June 15th, 2010, 09:39 AM
The good news is that wavy/curly hair is pretty forgiving -- stick-straight hair HAS to be cut pretty precisely or it is very obvious if the ends are uneven. Curls and waves camouflage a lot.


Exactly! This is why I've never spent the time to do the cut each curl method. At the end of the day curly hair hides a multitude of sins. A simple straight across cut while wet doesn't trash my hair. My hair still curls back up while dry, the ends look fine, and it takes all of 5 minutes if I have my mother do it.