Hair

Hair Cut 12.10.10

I've come to the conclusion that I like cutting my hair. Some divas don't mind for their ends to be a little uneven, but I'm very particular about how my hair falls, and what the ends look like. If I've said it before, I'll say it again: I'm into hair health, not hair length. That means I'll sacrifice length if that's what it will take in order for my hair to look full and healthy.

If you recall, I recently mentioned in my Miss Jessie's Curly Pudding is..." post that I trimmed off more of my heat-damaged ends in order to rid my head of the scragglies you see here:


Well, this was the result:


I love my new cut! As usual, I started off by trimming my ends. Now, the thing that made this particular hair trimming/cutting session so special is that I did it while my hair was curly, not straight. The reason being is that I am often asked if the trimming technique I presented in my How to Trim Split Ends video can be performed on curly hair. I never said that it couldn't. I just simply stated that I prefer to cut MY hair while it's straight because I have attempted to trim it while curly in the past, and it led to disastrous results. However, since I've been cutting my hair for years now, I felt confident enough to give it another go and must say that I was pretty successful.

First, I trimmed my ends using the same twisting technique I featured in the How to Trim Split Ends video:

As you can see from the pic above, I was able to elongate my curls by first brushing them out, then doing the single strand twist. People always ask how I cut the hair in the back, and I do so by pulling the hair forward and using mirrors to see the hair from angles I'd otherwise miss.

Once the trim was complete, I then began cutting my hair, section by section. I started in the back and braided each section like so after it had been cut so that I would not make the mistake of blending the already cut hair with hair that had yet to be cut:
This picture tutorial will therefore begin with the second section, which I created by doing another horizontal part a few inches above the first one:

Similar to the technique I used in my How I Cut My Hair tutorial, I made vertical parts in order to create three sections: two sides and a middle:

After pinning the two side sections out of the way, I divided the middle section into two and pulled the hair toward the front like so:

Center section split in two--view from the back

Center section split in two--view from the front

As you can see, simply brushing out my curls would not have allowed for an even cut, so I had to pull the hair taught in order to get a more precise cut:


Instead of pulling my hair high above my head to cut it like I did in my original How I Cut My Hair tutorial, I decided to try this technique of pulling the sections forward after seeing it in a video. Every time I cut a middle section, I made sure to not take too much length off the ends, as I would prefer for the hair to be longer in the middle and shorter on the sides so that I could get the V and or U shape I like. I definitely took more length off the sides, as much as two inches or more in some areas:


Once I completed the second horizontal section (i.e. after I cut the middle and side sections), I then braided that one as well before moving on to the next section:

I continued the process until all my hair was braided. I then threw on a satin scarf, went to bed, and flat ironed my hair section by section the next morning. I had to straighten it so that I could make sure that I hadn't jacked it up!

Hair halfway done

I must say that seeing that this was only the second time I attempted to cut my hair while curly, I did an excellent job! I did have to touch up a few stray pieces once my hair was flat ironed, but for the most part, I got pretty clean results:

Before & After

No raggedy ends here!