The ends of your hair are the oldest part of your hair strands.  These ends can easily become damaged and split ends can develop.  It’s important to cut off these damaged ends as soon as possible to prevent damage from spreading further up the hair shaft.  This is called trimming, and there are 4 ways to trim natural hair.  The way you choose to trim your hair and how often you trim is up to you, your skills, hair goals and the amount of damage.

Method 1: Search & Destroy

This method is the most time consuming out of the four but, it conserves the most hair.  You will need to be patient and ‘search’ through individual strands and ‘destroy’ only damaged ends and knots.  Make sure you have good lighting and a mirror.

Method 2: Trimming Individual Twists or Braids

You can use this method if you don’t have time to search and destroy.  You just clip the ends of medium to small sized braids or twists.  The smaller the sections the better the trim will be.  You do not need to put in mini twists.  Instead you can part the twist with a square inch section at the base and achieve the same results.

Method 3: The Straight Hair Trim

You never need to use heat to trim your hair but if your hair just happened to be straight then this might be a method you want to use.  While your hair is straight you won’t have to worry about shrinkage.  You will only trim what you intend to.  This method also works if you want an even haircut.

Method 4:  The Curls That No Longer Curl Trim

This method is beneficial to those who have hair that naturally clumps in curls together.  To trim you smooth wet lightly conditioned hair down and trim off the ends that feel rough or do not form a normal curl.  If you have really kinky hair going by ‘feeling’ can be very unreliable.

There are tutorials on YouTube for all of these methods.  Make sure you are using hair scissors to trim.  Any other kind can cause more damage to your ends and that defeats the purpose of a trim.

Source: http://blackgirllonghair.com/2013/06/4-methods-to-trim-natural-hair/

Brandi Giles, Editor of Health & Beauty