Our Best Tips On How To Distress Your Own Jeans At Home

Jeans are so practical and versatile that everyone should have some in their closet. Between the pinch waist jeans trend, other high-waisted jeans that will flatter any body type, and stylish, baggy boyfriend jeans, there are so many different styles that there's a look available to match anyone's unique vibe. For anyone with an edgier style, distressed jeans with rips will always be a fun option. There are many variations of these grunge-inspired jeans, whether you're looking for massive gashes or just some subtle frayed details (via StyleCaster).

One great aspect of distressed jeans is that there are so many ways to style them. For instance, you can easily dress them up with a blazer, high heels, and jewelry or make them even edgier by wearing them with a bomber jacket, per Glamour. Moreover, you shouldn't be afraid to pair distressed jeans with a crop top if you're going for a sexy look!

As exciting as it is to shop for a new pair of distressed jeans, we understand that not everyone will want to spend the money on a brand new pair of ripped or frayed jeans, especially if you already have plenty of jeans in your wardrobe. If that's the case, we have many suggestions for anyone who feels dauntless enough to distress their denim.

Distressed jeans can have details as intense or subtle as you desire. Thus, not all your grunge-inspired jeans need to feature large rips or tears to convey that edgy, cool-girl vibe. If you're new to distressing your jeans or don't want to spend too much time and effort creating rips, some low-key fraying can do the trick to add that slightly worn-out look to your denim. According to Cosmopolitan, you can use a razor or piece of sandpaper to lightly distress the pocket areas and the ends of your jeans. All you'll need to do is rub your razor or sandpaper over these areas for an alluring worn-out effect.

You can make these frayed details as minuscule or dramatic as you'd like; just have some fun working on it! If you're looking for some fashionable examples of frayed details on jeans, search #frayedjeans on Instagram. There, you'll find a plethora of jeans with frayed ends.

Although creating a frayed look with a razor or piece of sandpaper is an excellent and easy way to add some more character to your denim, we know that might not be enough for anyone hoping to achieve a more hardcore worn-out look. If you plan on creating rips in your denim by yourself, you should try to plan out what you'll be doing as much as possible to avoid actually ruining your jeans. Thus, InStyle recommends defining the areas you want to work on with some chalk so that you'll have a basic guideline rather than just winging it. You should additionally put something inside the leg areas to separate the front and back sides of the denim to prevent accidents from happening when you distress your jeans.

If you want to buy fabric chalk specifically to help you with marking your jeans, the Lohas Select Professional Tailors Chalk is available on Amazon for around $6. Plus, Michaels is selling Tailor's Chalk by Loops & Threads for about $3.50.

No matter what type of project you're working on, you should always consider your safety first and foremost before starting anything. Although distressing your jeans may not initially seem like a dangerous task, you should take preventative measures if you'll be using anything sharp to create rips or tears. Therefore, it's a smart and safe idea to wear gardening gloves when handling your sharp object, per The Trend Spotter.

Anyone who wants to protect their hands with garden gloves should check out the Amazing Stuff For You! Garden Gloves. Available at Amazon for around $12, these gardening gloves are reusable, breathable, and long-lasting. Plus, they have a rating of over 4 out of 5 stars with more than 2,000 reviews. While you may feel a bit silly ordering garden gloves for working on your jeans, it's always better to be safe than sorry when working with anything sharp. No one should have to hurt themselves for fashion!

Now, it's time for the exciting part: cutting your jeans. According to The Trend Spotter, you should use the marks you created earlier as a guideline when you slit the denim with your sharp blade, and try to have around 1.5 inches separating the cuts. As always, have fun with this task, be careful, and don't forget to wear your gloves for protection.

To create these slits, you should use an X-ACTO knife and feel free to distress those areas even more with some tweezers, per Fashionlush. You can work on adding some more intensity by pulling on the threads with the tweezers for a truly grunge look.

If you don't already have an X-ACTO knife at home, you can purchase the X-ACTO #1 Knife on Amazon for $5.20. Furthermore, Target sells a plethora of tweezers for affordable prices. Once you buy these products, you'll be able to start slashing your denim for that edgy ripped look!

We understand that you might be a little nervous to distress your jeans, especially if you're not usually the type to work on DIY projects. However, you must remember that a convenient aspect of working on this is that distressed jeans are supposed to be imperfect. After all, ripped jeans fall under the grunge category, and this grungey "nonfashion" aesthetic is all about looking messy and edgy (via Love to Know). Therefore, if your final results end up looking kind of sloppy and unprofessional, you didn't do anything wrong — distressed jeans should look, well, distressed!

Anyone who needs a little reminder that distressed jeans aren't meant to look perfect should search #distressedjeans on Instagram, where you'll see that there are countless ways to rock this look. You'll find completely shredded jeans, baggy jeans with a few slits, and sexy slitted black skinny jeans. Thus, there's no one correct way that all ripped jeans should look; they should just be unique and something you should enjoy wearing.

So, are you ready to start distressing your jeans at home?