Tag Archives: split ends

DIY trim

Posted in DIY, hair journey, hair practices, hair update by

My people, how far?

You know how I keep saying “oh my ends are shitty, I need a trim”? Guess who finally got one? 

I’m not even joking when I say my ends were horrendous. 

I had so many single strand knots and my ends looked so rough and frizzy. On one strand alone I could find as many as 3 knots and I was in the habit of pulling them off with my fingers. 

Detangling had become a serious chore no matter the conditioner because of all the tangles. Even separating twists for a twist out became harder because all my ends wanted to do was stay together.

When people talk about split ends they seem like such a modern myth to me but I kid you not when I say I used my two eyes to see several split ends in my hair! At this point I knew something had to be done fast. 

I knew I needed a trim for a long time, trust me. I mean, I haven’t had one since I went natural; that’s 2 years! 

The thing is, I wanted to get it professionally done so I kept postponing and postponing till I could go to a salon that knew what they were doing. 

One day, I thought to myself “wait oh, but people do this thing themselves e.g. Nafisat. How can I, self proclaimed cheapskate mama and DIY queen, not be able to do it myself”. 

So I googled how to do it myself, bought 70 Naira scissors, sat in front of the mirror and trimmed.

 

Not a good picture but peep those ends!

  

I’d take a small section, twist up to where I wanted to trim and then cut

  
  
 

All done!

  

My twists were so blunt by the end

    

Ends look and feel waaaay better!

   
 

My “OMG, my hair is shorter” face 😦

All the hair I cut off

  
In my two year nappiversary post, one of my goals was to get a trim and I’m glad I got one.

 I know I could have gotten better results because some parts aren’t even and I think I might have taken too much hair off but I think I did okay for a first attempt.

My experience with trimming:

Pros:

  • My hair is easier to detangle
  • Crappy ends are gone
  • Styles turn out better

Cons:

  • You might become scissor-happy 
  • Shorter hair (but it will grow back)

Lessons learnt: 

  • Eventhough a decision seems scary, take the leap if you know the pros will outweigh the cons.
  • Don’t delay a decision that will benefit you because of excuses that are surmountable. (See grammar! My English teachers must be proud of me.)

I did a bantu knot out for NITC 12(post coming soon) after trimming and it was so easy to take down and separate the bantu knots afterwards! I was pleasantly surprised!

    
Have you ever trimmed your hair yourself? Would you ever DIY trim or would you rather get it professionally done? Share with me.

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