Can You Cut Your Own Natural Hair?

I have been natural for five years and I still have not found a beauty shop that specializes in natural hair in my area. That may be a good thing. Because, I have not had to pay a beautician to do my hair all of these years. But the downside to not hainge a hair stylist is that I do not have a professional to cut my hair.

Not getting my hair cut wasn't a problem at first. My husband shaped up my TWA (teeny weeny afro) with his clippers and I was looking good. But once my hair started growing out I found out that not putting chemicals in my hair didn't stop my ends from becoming a little damaged over time. When my relaxed hair got split ends I was able to do my own trims because straight hair is easy to cut with a little practice. But my springlettes were a different story.

I had no clue how to proceed with maintaining my ends, so I started researching online. I found out about the twist and snip method on MotownGirl.com. That method has worked well for me and is the only one I have ever used. Since that time I have read about how to trim my hair similar to the way I did when it was relaxed. I can section off the hair, pull it taut, and then trim the ends so that they are even. You can see pictures of this method on an archived page at Roshini.net.

Some people also choose to straighten their hair with a blow dryer or a flat iron and then trim. Since I never straighten this obviously isn't an option for me. But if you wear a lot of straight styles then that technique will help you to make sure your hair is even and will look right when you apply heat to it.

There is also a technique called "hair dusting" that some use to keep natural hair trimmed. You can find several how-to videos about that technique at YouTube.

So, I said all of that to say that yes you can cut your own natural hair. With a little research and some patience you can skip the beautician and do your own trims. With practice you can become quite good at it. And if you make a mistake remember, your hair will grow back.