Trimming Your Own Hair: Reboot Your Hair With a Self Trim

Last updated on November 10th, 2023 at 07:53 am

The next step in rebooting your hair is to get your hair trimmed.

You may also like: Newbie Natural Hair Guide for Transitioners

Why Trim Your Hair?

Trimming will improve upon your hair’s shape (and feel), thereby making it appear so much nicer when styled.

Shaping is accomplished by simply trimming your hair. Depending on the severity of your hair’s damage or the last time it was professionally attended to (shaped), a cut may be in order.

Should You Trim Your Own Hair or Get It Professionally Cut?

If you don’t do any of the following and have had a professional trim not too long after having gone natural, you may be able to get away with just trimming your ends yourself:

Using hair products with harsh chemicals in them
Over manipulating your hair constantly
Using brushes and combs regularly
Heat styling

Getting a Professional Trim

If you have done a bit too much to your hair, it’s likely you need to get a professional trim. That or, if you don’t feel comfortable trimming your own hair.

Not all stylists know what they are doing even if they should. So, be careful who you allow to put scissors to your hair. Sadly, there even some stylists (humans) who are jealous of your beautiful strands and will cut off more than is needed. That’s not typically the case but it does happen.

I don’t want to scare you off from getting a professional trim because it can be a wonderful thing. The best course of action when looking for a stylist to trim or cut your hair is to go by word of mouth.

New York City Stylists Who Can Cut Some Hair

I live in New York and work in the city so I have access to a number of stylists who are very good at trimming/cutting natural hair. If you are able to get to NYC, here are some places you can go to get a good trim of your hair:

Jaded Tresses (aka Tameeka) – She’s got a salon in NY and in NJ. I got my hair jaded by T a few years back. Check it out here. She also travels.

DevaChan Salon (ask for Melanie)- My daughter had her hair cut by Melanie. She did exactly what she wanted. I’m next. She cuts at 2 locations in the city. If you aren’t in the city, there are other locations. However, this is definitely one I’d seek stylists referrals for.

Mo Knows Hair – Hard to get an appointment with but after watching her on Youtube for a while, she works miracles with all sorts of hair. You have to stalk her site for availability though. I never ended up going

Hair Rules – Never been here but I’ve seen some of their work.

Regardless to where you go to get a professional trim done, you need to be very clear about your expectations and how you want your hair to look. Come prepared to let your stylist know:

If you want a trim or a cut to shape.
How much you want cut off (ex: 1/4 inch)
If you want long or short layers
If you want bangs
If you want to see the work as they are progressing through your hair
Bring a photo of what you’d like your hair to look like if you can but be realistic. Styles done on hair that looks similar to yours in texture and length will be easier to do than say, a hair cut done on hair that’s really long in the front and short in the back when your hair is short all over. You get my point. #RealisticExpectations

It may seem micro-managey to give such direction to a professional but it’s your hair and you are paying your money so you want to be sure they know exactly what you’re looking to achieve.

Self Trimming

If your hair is in pretty good shape but you need to get rid of some weathered ends, then try doing a self trim.

Check out this video where I share how I did a self trim to clean up my ends (not a tutorial):

Affordable Scissors for Trimming Your Own Hair

In the video above, I do express how I was a bit nervous trimming my own hair but I didn’t require a lot of trimming to get my hair into a decent shape so I just went for it. If you’re like me or just feel adventurous, below are some good quality and affordable scissors for giving yourself a DIY trim.