Here's How To Trim Your Curly Hair At Home For The Best Results

For all the curly girls out there, you understand the amount of maintenance that goes into achieving gorgeous curls, and that includes trimming it every three to four months, according to Healthline. Making time to go to the salon isn't always easy, and all those haircuts start to add up, no matter how inexpensive the service is at the time of your appointment. So, trimming your hair at home is the next best thing, right? It can be scary and intimidating, especially with curly hair, as there are more factors you have to consider that women with straight hair don't.

For instance, as a woman with curly hair, you don't get to see the full picture of how long it really is, which comes into play when choosing how much you want to take off. Not to mention, it doesn't lay flat like straight hair, so you have to do more maneuvering to make sure the final look is even. To get the best results, take a look at some of our haircut tips for trimming your curly hair at home.

If you've ever tried cutting your hair at home, you've probably been faced with the wet versus dry hair debate — should your hair be fully dried or damp before you go in and start cutting? Well, according to Prose, it's important that your locks are 100% dry and in their natural state for your haircut. When your hair is wet or damp, it gives the illusion it's longer than it really is. As you can imagine, this becomes a huge problem when you go to cut it.

Remember, your hair shrinks when it dries, so trimming it while it's in its natural state allows you to get a look at its exact length, which prevents you from taking off much more than you originally wanted. If you ignore this step and start trimming your ends while they're wet, you're in for a real shock once your hair has been dried and styled. Use a blow dryer or let your hair air dry — it's up to you.

Now it's time to part your hair for an even trim. Curly hair naturally positions itself around your face, The Curl Story explains, so this step doesn't require much effort. Give your head a couple shakes to get your curls in their natural position, then take a look at the overall length of your hair. If it's past your shoulders, bring all of your hair to the front by splitting it evenly as if you're putting it into pigtails. This prevents you from creating any holes in the back of your head. For shorter hair, you can skip this step.

The key to getting a great at-home haircut on curly hair is using the "clock" method. Basically, you want to look at your hair as if it's resting on top of a clock. Start by grabbing a single curl from the top (or canopy) of your head and placing it between your index and middle fingers where you want to make the snip. Pull it straight up so it aligns with the imaginary 12:00 on your clock and bring it forward, then cut! This is going to be your base curl, so hold each neighboring strand up to this one to see where you should cut to make sure everything is even. 

Be sure you're trimming a fraction of an inch at a time. You can always take off more hair, but you can't put it back, so go slow with this step.