Curly Haircuts - Signs Your Curls Need A Trim - How To Avoid A "Big Chop"

Hey everyone, its Gina and welcome back to my channel and welcome back to the curling hair care for beginners playlist. If you've been following along in these videos, I've been taking you through all the steps on transitioning, your hair from damaged and lifeless hair to having really nice healthy curls. And I take you through like how to start the curly girl method for beginners and all kind of stuff. So if you haven't seen it yet I'll put the link down below for the series, but this video is going to be all about curly hair cuts. How to spot when you need a trim and how you can really improve your hair health with just getting a small trim. This is not going to be a transformation with a big chop or anything like that. I'M not asking you to go out and chop off all your hair unless, if you have some serious damage, which we will talk about that, but this is just what I typically get for a general cut and how much a difference it can really make in your Hair and I'm taking you along as I get my hair cut a currently you're seeing the after, but I will show you now the before and I did log a little bit beforehand, just to show you kind of what I was thinking with my hair and what I was feeling and how I wanted my hair to look afterwards, so this is obviously the after it's so much healthier and more manageable. So let's go ahead and get started, so I'm getting ready to head off to my haircut appointment. So I just wanted to kind of show you how my hair is looking, I'm not sure how many weeks it's been since I had a haircut, but I will put it on the screen because it's been quite a while I've been going a little bit longer, but I can usually tell when I need a trim when my hair is super tingly, it's really naughty, and especially in this area. For me, it's looking a little bit stringy and the curls are not bouncing up. So I really tried everything even with the diffuser - I'm not really able to get this section to shrink up a little bit more, and so this definitely needs a trim up. Another area for me is like right in back here: it's really frizzy right there, so I will update you later today when I get back so I just got back from my haircut. I did change, but I love the way that it turned out. It obviously looks a lot shorter. It always looks a little bit shorter. The first day it will fall a little bit, but that is mostly because the cut helps it shrink up so much when it gets so healthy. We trimmed off about, I would say, maybe a centimeter or like a quarter of an inch and made a big difference, and we also added a little bit of layers just really long layers like to where there not much difference. It'S not like. I have a layer here and then one here, it's just a little bit shorter in this back area. I already have the shorter pieces in the front where it's kind of angled down this way, but we did take a little bit more off right here too. I just got a general trim. I didn't get like an actual different haircut or anything. It'S just a trim with the shape that I had and then add it in a little bit of layers. I normally don't do that. I usually just ask for a trim on the same shape that I have, and I get a blunt cut, which is just where they cut straight across they're, not like going into the hair anything like that which for curls that can really just thin out the ends. So I like just getting that blunt cut straight across, so that is what I get and I really like my result. I feel like it looks so much healthier and much more manageable. I could totally tell a difference immediately when I'm running my hands through my hair, as I'm applying my styling product, so the first way to spot when you actually need a trim is if you feel little one strand knots on your hair, which are called fairy knots Or just one strand knots, but it pretty much feels like a little ball at the end of your hair. And if you run your finger down, the hair, shaft you'll actually feel a little knot at the end and that is caused by tangles and stuff or breakage. Or anything like that to where it's just roughing up the hair and you're actually getting a knot in the single strand, and so you definitely have to get those cut off. There'S no way to fix that. There'S no untangling one single strand! You definitely have to get those chopped, and if your hair is damaged on the ends, you will obviously Steve the split ends, and you can also feel the split ends too. So if you feel your ends, I like to do this when my hair is wet a lot of times when I'm applying my styling products, I can really feel it on the end of my hair. I it almost feels, like the hair, feels more straw like at the end you can see by looking at the end of your hair, of how it's just like a jagged edge. It'S not perfectly straight at the end, and when your hair is dry, you can really look closely and see the split ends and if you look at them very closely, you'll notice that they look almost like a tree at the end to where they're splitting and over Time, if you don't cut off those dead ends, that strand is actually going to split up higher and higher, which actually reduces the length of your hair and makes it shorter over time. So if you're afraid to get a trim, because you want to grow out your hair and you want to have long hair, you might actually be doing more harm than good and might actually be making it shorter over time versus longer. And this is why it is so hard to grow out. Curly hair. I'Ve talked a lot before about how I've been trying to grow. My curly hair, and it takes so long. I'Ve been at this for years and I feel like my hair is still at the same length, but my hair is also getting healthier and also getting curlier. So that is one thing to keep in mind if you are transitioning your hair and you're doing all the steps that I've talked about, like in my previous video on how to make your hair curlier. It'S also gon na call shrinkage and your hair is gon na appear shorter. So if you are taking care of your hair, it might be shrinking up more. You might be getting your curl pattern back, which is gon na make it shorter, but you might also be growing it out. So that is a reason why a lot of times you don't see any curly hair growth during your journey because it is getting healthier, and so I think, a lot of the times. That is the case with mine, because it's definitely a lot curlier than it used to be. When I look at old pictures of my hair, I will insert some here of when I still was heat styling when I was still using silicones which really weighed down my hair. It looked a lot longer. So when I look back at pictures, I'm like man, my hair, looks so long, then, and now it's so short, but it also was way less curler. I barely had a curl at all. It just looked like a wave, so that is one reason of why it just looks so much longer. So now, I'm kind of starting over to where my hair is getting a lot curlier, it's really shrinking up, but I'm also taking care of it to where it can grow. Another sign of needing a trim, as I mentioned, is having really weighed down hair so with having a lot of those one strand knots or having build up on your hair and having split ends that can really weigh down your hair. So if you notice your hair, it's not really bouncing up, no matter what you do. You'Ve even tried clarifying to remove the silicone build-up and everything, and it still looks really weighed down and you're just not able to get any ringlets at all. Then it could be that you need a trim, even the smallest amount of a trim. It makes such a difference. So, as you can see here in this photo just getting that small amount of trim can really make a difference, you can see the trim line. If you notice that your hair has a really good ring lip, but at the end it just kind of hangs and you can't get the end to curl up, then it's definitely time to turn that off and you can really tell where the ringlets stops and those Split ends start another really good indicator, and this is one that I was experiencing. The past few months is excess shedding. I feel like I'm losing so much hair and it's so tingly and unmanageable, which is the biggest sign for me when I'm due for a trim. Is it gets so tingly and I'm just losing a ton of hair when I wash my hair, which is really disheartening, especially if you're trying to grow out your hair, it's frustrating to see so much hair loss when you wash your hair. I'Ve talked about this before, but it's super common for naturally curly hair to shed a lot because we're not washing our hair. As often we don't brush our hair, so it really just builds up over time in the hair. So when you go to detangle in the shower or when you're washing your hair you're, seeing all of that shedding it that you've done throughout the week and they say we lose on average of a hundred hairs a day. So if you wash your hair once a week, that's 700 hairs that's coming out, and I definitely see that in the shower I've done a video on how to wash curly hair. That'S part of this series I will put it down below, but you'll, see in that video of how much hair I typically lose when I shower, but what I'm noticing double that amount and my hair feels super tangling, no matter how much conditioner I use or how Much leave-in or curl cream it still feels dry and tingly. Then it's definitely time for a trim. If today was the first time that I noticed when styling my hair was not tangling up as easily, and that is because I had the trim today. That'S another sign, of course, is really tangly hair. If you feel like your hair is matted or knots up really easily or if you just style your hair, it looks great and then just halfway through the day, it's really tingly. It'S probably time for a trim. Those split ends are not as smooth as the rest of your hair. If you were to look up split in under a microscope, it has all these little bits of hair that are sticking up. It'S rough it's bumpy, so that is really just a recipe for tangles and it can tangle up so much easier because there's all that friction they're all nuts Tran verses, a smooth, healthy strand with a straight edge and not the split end. Another sign of needing a trim or a haircut is when your ends look really stringy, and this is me a lot of times. People will say: oh, you need a trim when seeing pictures of my hair and it's hard to tell sometimes because I have very fine hair. So my hair is not very thick. I don't have really high density hair. It is pretty fine. So when my hair is long, you can see like if you were to look at a photo of the back of my hair. It almost looks stringy just because it's not as thick, which not necessarily a bad thing like my hair, is definitely so healthy. It'S just not as thick so it looks stringy. But if your ends look almost straight like if they look stringy, if you have ringlets but then on the end, they look straight and they don't look as bouncy as the rest of the hair shaft and your stylist can create a good shape to your hair too. To where you don't have all of those stringy ends, and you have more of that straight edge across the bottom. Another good sign - and this is what I was experiencing in this area - is frizzy ends or the inter, not holding product, no matter how much Pro cream or oil or gel that I apply to the dry areas of my hair that needed trim like in this area. They would still look frizzy and it would drive me crazy because I would have tons of great hold a good gel cast all over my hair, but those ends right through here where it is bleached. So it was, you know, a lot more damaged, no matter what I did, they would still look frizzy, especially after diffusing or even with air drying real quickly. I did want to touch on the big chop. You might have heard that term a lot if you watched a lot of curly, hair videos and stuff, and that pretty much refers to when you actually get your hair really cut off with you have some serious damage and a lot of times. You see that more and like type-4 curls a lot of times. People do this if they have previously chemically straightened their hair like relax their hair or if they just straighten it all the time, and they actually have the regrowth happening of their curls. And then they have those like straight straggling ends. Those you obviously do need a cut off. That'S why a big chop is so awesome, because then you can just have healthy natural curls and you don't have those ends hanging on. I know it is so hard to cut off length on your hair, we're really attached to our hair, but I think that having healthy-looking curls looks so much better and it's just so much better for your hair, then holding on to dead ends just to have length. I would rather have shorter hair that looks healthy and bouncy and have more volume and more definition, as opposed to just having long stringy hair with the damaged ends. If you are in that transition phase, meaning your hair is going from like damage from straightening it all. The time or from chemically damaging it all the time to wearing it natural and not straightening it, then you might want to go more off like every six weeks and just get little tiny trims. If you don't want to do a big chop, but the catch are there is you cannot be straightening or heat styling, your hair when you're doing that, because you are just damaging those ends that you just got cut and your hair will just get shorter and shorter. If you're doing that, so when you go in to get your hair cut, you want to make sure that you go in with your hair in its natural state. This is really important: do not go to the salon with your hair, straightened or blow-dried, or don't go in with it, just like crazy, frizzy and natural, if you do usually wear a product in your hair, because when you are meeting with your stylist, you want to Make sure that they can see your hair and how you normally wear it to know how to cut it. One of the biggest things with getting a haircut and finding the right stylist is somebody who understands shrinkage with curly hair and doesn't cut too much and really only goes off of what you said versus what they think you need cut, because I'm sure they're I haven't Had this happen to me too much, I don't know that I've have. It happened to me at all, but I know of lots of people and I've heard of this. So much of when you go in and they cut too much and you end up with really short hair, because that person might not be experienced with cutting curly hair and they don't understand how much it drawls up from when it's wet to dry. So I do think it is important to go in with it dry show them the length that you want to have pictures with you, and if you are changing up the shape, then you definitely want to have that consultation before and make sure you go through what You want your hair to look like what your goals are and if you do have pictures of how you want your hair to be cut, make sure it is someone with a similar, curl type as you you might have heard about curl types. If you have it, there's different variations, just search, curly, hair types, Michael and Google and you'll see the charts and stuff, but there's pretty much type 2, 3, 4 hair types and then Amy and see I've done videos on it before. But I have like a 3 a 3 B texture, and so my hair does have the spirals to it, but it's definitely a mix. You can have so many different textures, but, depending on how tight your curls are they're going to shrink up even more so it's really important to have a picture with you of someone with the same curl type. Is you because it's really unrealistic, if you go in like if I were to take in a picture of someone with really thick high density, curls that had a ton of volume and stuff it just what makes sense my hair would never look like that. So I would need to go in with a picture of someone with fine curly hair with a similar curl pattern. Is me to really get the stylist to understand my goals with that cut and how that is how I want my hair to look. It can be really hard to find a stylist, but I like to just sort of ask around like when I was looking for a stylist just asking. You know at the salon when making the appointment of who has curly hair, who has worked with curly hair before and you just sort of have to really do your research. And so you can look up what a diva cut. Is I'm not experienced with it because I've never gotten one before, but it's pretty much when they cut your hair dry, they do it at a diva, curl salon. I don't have one near me, so I've never had one done before, but if you did want to get that done, I would recommend trying to get your hair to a good point to where you're ready to get some lengths off. They usually do cut quite a bit when you first get it done, because they're trying to get that shape and it pretty much allows the stylists to see your hair when it's dry. So they can cut each individual curl because a lot of times, especially when you're transitioning, your hair, you might locate your curls and they're all different links, they're, just all over the place. You have unevenness in your hair, especially if you're going from heat damage to curls. The different curling could just be all over the place, so that just really helps clean up the edge. You can see it when it's dry and how it lays each curl lays you know in a different spot and can be a different pattern. Like I said, the ones around this area are like definitely our tight 3b, but then back here I have like a 3a to where it's more of like that wave. So when it's dry, you can really see that, so it is a really good advantage to cutting it when it's dry, like that, another thing, a diva cut is really good for is avoiding that triangle, head of shape, so a lot of times, people with curly hair. It might be flatter on top and it might have too much weight here at the bottom, so it just kind of fluffed out right here, and that would mean that you need layers added to your hair and the diva cut can really help with that too. I don't feel like I have enough length to my hair to get a diva cut. I would want to grow it out a lot more and then go in and actually get a diva cut, because they're gon na cut a lot to get that shape, and then I would be good to go just with the one cut. But I don't feel like. I have quite enough length, I mean I could definitely still go like this, but I would want to just have more links to my hair first before getting my first diva cut. So when I get my hair cut like I was saying, I usually just ask for a dusting in my hair. I usually get a blunt cut, so they don't cut into the hair, they just cut straight across and it is angled up a little bit from my chin. So I do have. I guess you can't really call these things, but I do have these shorter pieces right here that just really helps to give my hair shape, especially from this side, and then today I did get a little bit of a layer at it in here, so you can See this piece that's up a little bit higher than the lower piece, but I don't have layers all over my head. If I had a thicker hair, I definitely could do that, but keep in mind. If you get a ton of layers added, you do lose a little bit of thickness underneath so depending on how thick your hair is. If you have really thick heavy hair and it feels very heavy and weigh down, then layers are a great option to help give you some more shape. Give you some more volume. So again you don't have that triangle shape where it's super weighed down. I said that is definitely a lot, but I wanted to cover everything and again I'm not a hair stylist, I'm not a professional. This is just what I have learned over: getting lots of different haircuts and trying to grow up my hair and some things that I've learned along my curling hair journey that have made a big difference and I definitely think getting that trim is the first step to Really starting your curly hair journey and transitioning fully to your natural curly hair. So let me know if you have any questions down below. I hope this video was helpful. I will be responding to everyone in the comments, so let me know if you have any questions. I will put some more information on the blog post with this video I'll have like before-and-after pictures and stuff, and you can check out that playlist I mentioned down below for more stuff on curly hair care for beginners and if you have not already subscribed, I would Love for you to, I hope, to see you back next week I usually post weekly, all about naturally curly hair care and also everyday beauty and some home things here and there so I'll talk to you next week, bye, everyone