Wednesday, December 29, 2010

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!

6 comments:

Lauren said...

I so need to learn how to do this. what kind of scissors do you use?

purplgirl48 said...

Great job! Since watching your tutorial, I've trimmed my ends twice. Thanks for all you do.

CaliKish said...

Wow, LUV IT, you did a really good job! Your hair looks like you went to the shop! How long did it take you? I always try to trim my ends my self but when I get to back get fustrated!

DPrincess28 said...

Thanks ladies!

@Lauren: Follow the link to my How I Trim Split Ends video to see the scissors.

@CaliKish: It usually takes me about 2 hours because I take my time! :-)

MzDiimples said...

Wow, how odd that I was JUST watching your "how to trim" video before I looked at your blog today! But um..yea..I think the pictures show your process very well, and it's good to see that you can still do this while your hair is curly too! I'm too lazy to do my own hair right now though...so I'm going to the dominican salon tomorrow...lol...time for a trim, and then to see how much it's REALLY grown!

Thanks for sharing!!! =]

FineNaturalHairandFaith said...

Wow this is really good. I watched your latest video and that's how I found this one. i just recently trimmed my twists so I'm not going to do it again since I'm trying to grow my hair to bust length. I'll try this technique in a few months.