I need some cutting help

[anon123]

I need some cutting help - Update! I did it!

I can't take it anymore, and if you've seen my detangling videos, you know why. Tonight was the last straw. I put twists in last weekend, but sweat a lot so I had to wash a couple days ago but didn't have the time, energy, or inclination to take them all down and detangle right then. So I let them dry and now they don't want to come apart even wet and coated in conditioner.

So I want to cut and was going to do it now but rethought cutting out of anger at 12:30 in the morning. Especially since I don't want to cut all willynilly like I did the last two times I cut off my hair in anger (see fotki pre2007 for pics). I don't want to grow it out only to end up with a mullet again. So I want to cut for a shape that will look nice in twists. This is going to mean longer in the front and crown, shorter in the back.

I was thinking, since my hair's already in twists, that I could pull a twist down, measure it to a length I determine, and then cut to that length. Has anyone else done this? Any advice (cutting, not detangling)?

thanks.

oh, i forgot to add, going to a salon or barber is not an option for me because of pain.

 

[anon123]

bump. no one with loose natural 4b hair has done this before?

 

[discodumpling]

Mwedzi your cutting method sounds like it would work. I have no experience with cutting for style cause I only dust if my ends are jacked. The mullet MUST happen for my hair to grow...i'm glad i'm almost done with the mullet!

If your having trouble detangling try oiling each twist heavily and then taking your time with a wide and then smaller toothed comb to detanlge.

 

[DeepBluSea]

Please don't do that!

I would coat my hair in oil, enlist some friends and get to detangling. If people can take down dreads, then you can do this! I don't know about cutting it in the shape like you want. But I would guess it is better to it on fresh twists, not tangled twists. Hopefully some more people will chime in.

 

[SparklingFlame]

Play it safe and go to a Master cuts or someplace to get a cut. Explain EXACTLY what you want and break it down so there will be no OOOOOOps!!!! going on.

Dont take a chance.

 

[anon123]

Thanks for the advice, everybody.

StillaLady, I cannot go to a barber or stylist. Master Cuts? Hmmm. But what would I tell them? I mean, I'm not having anyone comb out my hair, it's getting cut just like this, in these twists, so do you think they would know what to do with it in twists like this? Do you think there'd be anyone there who'd know what to do with my hair?

DeepBlu, this will be the 3rd time I've cut and in all cases it's because I refuse to comb through this even one more time. If I could comb through it without losing my mind, there'd be no need to cut anyway. And someone else combing through it? I'm very tenderheaded. There has not been a single occasion in my 30 year life that anyone other than myself has been able to comb my hair and not hurt me. Not. One. Time. I just can't do that anymore.

Disco, that's the thing, I do take my time. Or at least it regularly takes me 2 hrs to detangle. I even brushed through last time to get rid of the shed hair. But still.

The only problem with cutting for shape is this. I have a big mullet going on. But considering that my head has vertical dimensions (as all 3D heads do; or even 2D, really ), in order for my twists to hang evenly, my calculations say that I'd need to have 0" in the back and 16" stretched in the front. I only have 10" in the front and 12" in the back, so I don't see how that's going to work. So I'm going to have to go for some different shape. But what shape, is the question? I wonder if there's a website that shows different hair shapes and gives a general idea of how to cut them.

By chance my mother and stepfather are in town, so maybe I can get my mother to help me. One of my hair care groups is also having a styling party, so maybe they could help. I just fear that they'd try to comb it out first.

 

[SparklingFlame]

Thanks for the advice, everybody.

StillaLady, I cannot go to a barber or stylist. Master Cuts? Hmmm. But what would I tell them? I mean, I'm not having anyone comb out my hair, it's getting cut just like this, in these twists, so do you think they would know what to do with it in twists like this? Do you think there'd be anyone there who'd know what to do with my hair?

I think so.

If you tell them that you want each twist cut into a bob hair style, they should be able to do it.

As long as you tell them that when you get up out of the chair, you want to see a bob, I think they should be able to handle it.

I dont blame you for wanting to go to a stylist though.

You'll walk outta there with an ear length bob.

 

[laurend]

I will help you. Let's try fingercombing sections first with conditioner and the detangle with a widetooth comb. Send me a pm and let's get together.

 

[~~HoneyComb~~]

Cutting hair with twists worked for me. It's how I recently cut my hair, and I was pleased with the results. I suggest cutting less than what you think you want to cut and after that you can see whether you want to cut more.

 

[anon123]

I think so.

If you tell them that you want each twist cut into a bob hair style, they should be able to do it.

As long as you tell them that when you get up out of the chair, you want to see a bob, I think they should be able to handle it.

I dont blame you for wanting to go to a stylist though.

You'll walk outta there with an ear length bob.

I think an ear length bob would be inevitable. I don't think I have enough hair to do anything else, especially with shrinkage. The twists in the front right now are at my eyebrows! I just wish I didn't have to cut so much as to not be able to make a puff anymore because that's generally what I do when no other hair style works.

I will help you. Let's try fingercombing sections first with conditioner and the detangle with a widetooth comb. Send me a pm and let's get together.

Thanks for offering to help, Lauren, that's so sweet. You may be helping me cut! Oh, and I should have something for you very soon. Sending you a PM.

Cutting hair with twists worked for me. It's how I recently cut my hair, and I was pleased with the results. I suggest cutting less than what you think you want to cut and after that you can see whether you want to cut more.

I think you did a great job. I can't believe you're already back to a puff because it looks like you cut the back really really short. That's a good shape to cut as I would like the shape you're going to get as it grows out. I'm going to print out a picture of your profile of your cut in case I do go to someone to get it cut. Or maybe just for reference while I'm doing it.

Hey y'all, someone just walked by in the office and said they loved my hair-do. My hair is jacked! My twists are very shrunken, matted, going every which way and the back half are put really messily into a claw clip. You know how they talk about budding for locs with the little nappy balls hanging off the baby locs? Several of my twists already have those after 1 week! I look crazy!

 

[Vshanell]

Wouldn't it be uneven if you cut it that way mwedzi? Especially with it being badly tangled. I'm guessing when you do detangle you'll have some longer sections because they were tangled/matted and din't get cut?

I dunno, but good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[Ms Lala]

Wouldn't it be uneven if you cut it that way mwedzi? Especially with it being badly tangled. I'm guessing when you do detangle you'll have some longer sections because they were tangled/matted and din't get cut?

I dunno, but good luck with whatever you decide to do.

ITA,it seems like cutting shrunken twists, especially if they're tangled won't work well. I don't really understand how cutting is going to help you get the twists out unless you cut it really short. You've put alot of work into your hair. I had a similar thing happen to me and it took me about 4 hours to get the twists out but I just couldn't cut all of that hair. I let cholesterol sit on my hair for a while then I oiled each twist and took them out one at a time.

 

[Cassandra1975]

There was a girl with a Fotki...she doesn't update anymore, but I think her page is still up. Her name was Vanessa, I believe. She had a trimming tutorial. She always kept her twists in and for the longest time she had them cut into a shorter bob, kind of what you described.

Hmm, just checked my Fotki, I thought I had her on my friends list. She may have taken her page down.

 

[anon123]

Thanks, I've decided to try to comb it out first. Here it is a week later and only half has been combed out. I want to cry! These suckas do not want to come apart. But I'm going to push on. Then I think I'm going to cut it myself.

 

[anon123]

Okay, I calmed down. Took some time. Detangled my hair bit by bit over the course of a week, doing one twist, detangling, and twisting it back up. This Tuesday I was just like "whatever" and decided to cut. I also hated my shape which had a giant stair step, so I wanted to lessen that and make it more gradual.

So I took about 1 1/2" off of each twist. I had taken off 1/2" right before this whole fiasco so I knew I had to do a bigger trim. Then I cut for shape the best I can. Mostly I cut the periphery when doing that, so now in terms of inches my hair is longer towards the crown and shorter around the edge. In the parts where I cut the most, it was around 3" (yes, I measured my cut hair ).

It came out pretty good. Better than in the pictures. The ends are so nice and my twist out has crazy bounce; my afro hair has more bounce than half of the straightened heads of hair I see around. I got 2 compliments the day I cut it and 3 yesterday when I went to a coffeeshop. I passed the natural hair salon where I originally booked the appt. to have it cut (but had to cancel because I had to work at that time) and one of the guys who works there asked me who does my hair and when I told him I did it myself he was so impressed and said I do a really good job. So I'm pretty happy. It's too short to put in a ponytail, which makes me sad because I had just gotten to that point and since the periphery needs to be longest to stretch up into a ponytail and now my periphery is shorter, I know it's going to be at least another 8 months before I can get it back in a ponytail. So I think I will be wearing twists or twist outs a lot now.

Here are pics:

before


after


before


after



Thanks to everyone for the advice!

 

[naturalgurl]

A blessing in disguise! You remained positive and kept a cool head even though you wanted to shear it all off! I love it! I'm glad you do too!

 

[SparklingFlame]

Whoa!!!

Your hair looks GREAT!!!!!

 

[~~HoneyComb~~]

Mwedzi you did a fantastic job, your hair looks great!

You mentioned that you can't get it in a ponytail, but can you get it in a ponypuff? Your hair much longer than mine, and if I can do my little puff, I know you can do it.

 

[hopeful]

Your hair looks pretty and it's not that much shorter. I know you can't wait to get your ponytail back though. I'm glad you got so many compliments too.

 

[Leeda.the.Paladin]

I think it looks fantastic! You ladies that cut your own hair amaze me. It has a beautiful shape too.

 

[anon123]

Mwedzi you did a fantastic job, your hair looks great!

You mentioned that you can't get it in a ponytail, but can you get it in a ponypuff? Your hair much longer than mine, and if I can do my little puff, I know you can do it.

yep, I think I could still do a puff. I definitely didn't want to get rid of that option because it's what I do when nothing else is working. The shortest hair is the hair near and in front of my ears because I had to cut the most off there to get rid of that big step. It's around 6" there now. But since there's 6" to the center of my head and I have shrinkage and puffy density to deal with, I think the puff is going to have to be pretty wide. For reference, even though it's only 6 or 7" from the edges to the center of my hair, it took about 11" of hair before I could make a ponytail that would get all my hair in it. Previously my shortest parts were the front at around 10 1/2" and they couldn't be pulled back into a ponytail.

 

[~~HoneyComb~~]

yep, I think I could still do a puff. I definitely didn't want to get rid of that option because it's what I do when nothing else is working. The shortest hair is the hair near and in front of my ears because I had to cut the most off there to get rid of that big step. It's around 6" there now. But since there's 6" to the center of my head and I have shrinkage and puffy density to deal with, I think the puff is going to have to be pretty wide. For reference, even though it's only 6 or 7" from the edges to the center of my hair, it took about 11" of hair before I could make a ponytail that would get all my hair in it. Previously my shortest parts were the front at around 10 1/2" and they couldn't be pulled back into a ponytail.

You're working with the same length that I'm working with, except my sides and the back are 2-3" long so I have to really gel them down good to keep everything in place, and like you, I did not want to give up my puff, because it's been a lifesaver for me since I'm so lazy with my hair.