The Hair Diaries

Warning: I am by no means a hair stylist and have not studied any form of hair dressing, if you chose to follow the tips to trim hair on this blog post, please proceed with caution.

Over the years, I’ve had my fair share of bad haircuts and trims that left me full of regret. And although I have learned from my mistakes, I still trim my own hair every now and then. During lockdown I trimmed my own hair at home for a couple of reasons:

Some important things to note should you follow these instructions: This is guide to trimming straight hair that is one length. Should you wear your hair curly and have a curly cut, this is not for you. I do wear my hair both curly and straight, and prefer my hair one length.

To trim your own hair you will need the following:

• A hair scissors
• Hair elastics
• A comb
• Some hair clips or hair ties

Step 1: Prep your hair for the trim

This cut is performed on dry, straight hair. Make sure your hair is pin straight. To achieve this, apply some heat protectant to your hair before going in with any hot tools. First blow dry your hair with a blow-dry brush, then afterwards, flat iron your hair to get rid of any kinks that may have been left behind. I recommend cutting hair on day 2 or day 3 hair, this ensures that my hair isn’t super smooth which can cause my hair to move around quite a bit.

Step 2: Dividing your hair into sections

Using a comb, divide your hair into two equal sections down the middle. Then find the apex of your head (the highest point of your head). Once you have found the apex, further divide your hair into another two equal sections on either side of your head, just along the sides of your ears. If your hair is very thick, you may have to divide your hair into more sections. Be sure to tie off each section with a hair tie or hair clips as you go along so that the sections don’t get mixed up.

Step 3: Comb your hair

Comb each section of hair to make sure they are free from any knots.

Step 4: Deciding on the length

You may need someone to help you with this step. Decide on how much hair you want to take off, in my case I wanted a trim, so I only cut off about 2cm of hair. Hold your body at a relaxed tension, while standing up straight. Grab one section of hair and keep your body still. For the front sections of your hair, direct your hair towards your shoulder, not forwards. For the back sections of your hair, your hair will just be tied straight down the back. Using your hair elastic, tie off your hair where you want your hair length to be.

Tip: Rather tie the elastic higher up, as you can always drag it down to a lower point once it’s been tied, in case you change your mind and want to cut off less hair. Repeat this step for all the sections of your hair. When you have tied off your hair and let it hang, it should fall as it would naturally without having any bumps in it (See picture above for reference). Once you have tied off all the sections of your hair, all the elastic bands in your hair should line up to the same point.

 Step 5: Trim the hair              

To trim your hair, use the point-cut method. Point cutting is when you cut your hair using the scissors in an upward angle. This helps the hair blend better and creates more of a feathered look, compared to a horizontal cut which can make the hair look like it was cut blunt. The hair that is to be trimmed will be below the elastic band. Carefully start trimming your hair by taking off small sections at a time using a hair scissors. Repeat this on all the sections of your hair.

Step 6: Finishing it off

Once you have finished trimming each section of the hair, take all the elastic bands out of your hair. All of your hair should be at the same length if all the previous steps were followed correctly. If there are a few pieces of hair that are slightly longer than the others, you can always carefully eye-ball it and make it even.

And that’s how you trim your hair at home, let me know what you think in the comment section below!