how to // trim 4c natural hair

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Trimming ones hair is one of those unfortunate things that need to happen if you want to maintain healthy ends and healthy looking hair. When I had relaxed hair, I hated trimming my hair because it equated to a loss in length. Since becoming natural, I have become the opposite, in the beginning of my natural hair journey, I was so scissor happy – luckily that has died down now. I recently trimmed my hair and I have decided to share the knowledge of the whole process. 


Why trim your hair?
As mentioned above, trimming your hair keeps it in good health i.e. you don’t have any ‘weak’ hair. It also gives your hair better appearance – straggly ends are not the business at all!

Ways to tell that you need a trim?
I knew that my hair needed trimming when I noticed that my ends were thin when I had my hair in 2 strand twists. Another tell tale sign was that I was getting a lot of tangling and excessive knotting on the ends of my hair. Split ends are also a way to tell that you need a trim – and no, there is no way to  mend/fix split ends other than trimming that portion of hair away.

Trimming 4c natural hair

Trimming 4c natural hair

How often should you trim your hair?
I do not think that there should be a set and fast frequency that you should trim your hair, it all depends. Other people are very good at taking care of their hair and require less trims and others are the opposite. So this is where your intuition comes in, and you have to assess your hair personally and decided whether a trim is needed or not. I would not recommend sticking to a ‘I trim my hair 4 times a year’ type of rule.

How to trim your hair
There are various ways to prepare your hair for trimming. You can trim it when it’s stretched or in it’s shrunken state, you can trim it if it’s wet or dry or while you have conditioner on it (this helps when you are big chopping after transitioning), you can braid/twist it before trimming or trim it free hand. The choice doesn’t really matter, it is all dependent on what you feel comfortable with. You can even go to the salon to get it trimmed, but ensure that your stylist knows that you want to trim and not cut – I’ve heard horror stories about stylists being scissor happy and going against everything that the client had asked for.

RELATED: My big chop

Tools for trimming
The most important tool for trimming is the right type of scissors, please please use hair scissors! This is not a time to be thrify and think that you can get away with it by using normal scissors. I found the hair scissors that I use at Dischem. It’s also impotant to only use these scissors for trimming your hair only, don’t use them for anything else.

Trimming natural 4c hair

Trimming natural 4c hair

My hair looks so much better after the trim and I definitely have less knotting at the ends than before I trimmed. I am happy that I took the plunge. My hair wasn’t quite straight when I trimmed it, thus I do not know the exact length that I trimmed off, but that doesn’t really matter to me at all. However, if you are interested, I took a picture of the amount of hair that I got rid of in total.

RELATED: My second big chop

trimming natural 4c hair

You can read more about my natural hair journey here.


This Post Has 14 Comments

  1. Lebogang

    Your ends look fuller now after trimming. Will you have a schedule or are you going to trim as needed?

    1. Lungi

      I’ll trim as needed – once my ends start getting thin, that will be my cue

  2. Diapeng

    Gal, I know exactly what you mean about using the right scissors. I learned this the hard way. Blurnt scissors or ordinary scissors damages the hair further. But then I’m grateful I learned this early.

    1. Lungi

      That’s right! I also thought that it didn’t really matter which type of scissors one used – I was trying ot be cheap! But it makes a big difference

    1. Lungi

      Thanks Uzo, all the best for the trim.

  3. Mvumikazi

    Cut it cut it cut it my ends is way too split i need to cut iiiit. No seriously i need to trim its been a while. And good point on that right scissors part. I trimmed my hair with the wrong ones once and they continued to split.

    Mvumikazi | Urban Mnguni

    1. Lungi

      Non-hair scissors are the devil’s work! They do more harm than good

  4. Nokuthula

    Hi Lungi, thanks for inspiring us black woman on growing our natural hair…i need an advice on where to buy a crotchet needle for sewing in my twist braids?

    1. Lungi

      Hi Nokuthula – thank you for the kind words.
      Which town/city do you stay in? Try looking at your local cash and carry stores and also try China Mall, they might have.

  5. Nomvuyo

    Hi Lungi,my ends actually look like yours (before the trim) uma ngiluke amagoda. I’ll sure trim my ends coz I really like your end results,hair looks fuller instantly. Thanks.

    1. Lungi

      Hi Nomvuyo, it’s amazing how a small trim can make the hair looks fuller. All the best for the trim 🙂

  6. Mbali

    So happy to find this blog, thank you for sharing

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