I used to have an aversion to getting my hair trimmed. I hung on to all of my length despite what the ends of my hair looked like. Apprehensive about visiting scissor happy stylists, I thought that they were more concerned about cutting off my hair than restoring its health. It wasn’t until I took charge of maintaining my own natural hair that I became comfortable with regularly scheduled trims. As I became comfortable with using scissors on my own hair, I found that trimming 4c hair was really easy.
What You Will Need
You will need a sharp pair of hair sheers. The scissors used for trimming your hair should be designed for hair cutting. Fabric scissors, nail scissors, and craft/paper scissors can damage the cuticle of your hair and create even more splits. Therefore, the scissors that you use to cut your hair shouldn’t be used for cutting anything else.
Using scissors that are designed for cutting hair means that your cutting tool will stay sharp for longer periods of time. The added benefit of using hair scissors is that they can be re-sharpened when they become dull. The result is healthier self trims.
Trimming 4c Hair
Trimming your own hair isn’t difficult. By putting my hair into two strand twists first, trimming my hair is easy! I find that smaller twists allow me to trim my hair quickly and accurately. With larger twists, I often have to re-trim my hair a week or two later.
After the twists are installed, I trim the twists one at a time. I hold one twist taught between my index finger and my thumb, with the end of the twist resting on the first knuckle of my thumb. Then I use my hair scissors to cut my hair at the point where it meets the top of my thumb. I do this for each twist until all of my hair is trimmed.
With my thumb as a means of measuring, the amount of hair that I cut off is the same and my trims remain consistent.
Benefits of Regular Trims
Trimming 4c hair regularly is something that I find that a lot of people are afraid to do. The shrinkage that type 4s experience when our hair is wet can be extreme. In an effort to preserve our length, we often shy away from trimming and cutting our hair. However, regularly trimming our hair can actually increase our length retention. Over time the ends of our hair suffer damage from friction and exposure to the elements. This can cause knots, splits, breakage, and other damage to our strands of hair. This damage can travel up the length of our hair. As a result, by being proactive with your trimming, the damage is eliminated before it becomes excessive.
After using these tips, you can be sure that your ends will stay healthy and neat.
Do you trim your own hair? Have you tried this method of trimming?
