How to trim, how often to trim, what to trim and how much to trim; are big topics in the haircare community. I'm going to go over what I know about trimming and let you know what worked for me and what didn't.

How to trim: According to most experts, hair needs to be trimmed while straight or pulled taunt. Take a small thin section of hair and trim right above any splits or thinning hair. Do not trim your hair in chunks! You will end up with uneven choppy hair.

How often to trim: This depends on your hair and how well you maintain your ends. If you're not seeing splits or experiencing breakage (from thin ends), don't trim. Trimming doesn't make your hair grow, it simply gets rid of split, breaking ends. For most people trimming every 6 months is enough. I trim whenever I feel my ends getting more tangled than usual.

What to use: Hair cutting shears. You can get these from your local beauty supply store. Do not use regular craft scissors.

How much to trim: 1/4 of an inch is usually enough. It really helps to know what a split end looks like so you know what to cut.

Check this post from Natural Hair Haven to see what splits look like.

I trim my hair on average about 4-6 months. I retain about 3 inches every 6 months, so I average 1/2 inch a month, even with trimming. If I don't trim often, I find that my hair breaks off easily and my ends look horrible.

Some people claim to not need trims, but I find these people few and far between. Unless you're keeping your hair protected constantly and taking extremely great care of your ends, you'll need to trim.

Now for single strand knots, trimming is not the answer. I'll do a post on this later.


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My hair had been really dry and since I had run out of my deep conditioner, I think my hair was having withdrawals. Well, I stumbled upon a blog where a woman was talking about oil rinsing and how it had given her hair shine and moisture. She showed before and after pics of her hair in a bun and the difference was amazing!!! (Blog)

Here is a thread @ Naturally Curly about it: Oil Rinsing
A post @ Newly Natural: Oil Rinsing
Blog I found out about it on "Textured Playground": Super Slick Bun

Here are the steps "Newly Natural" used:

Oil rinsing is essentially washing your hair with oil before applying your conditioner. I have found that occasionally oil rinsing allows my hair to detangle easier and it also softens it up. To oil rinse, simply do the following:
1. Wash or Rinse hair
2. Apply oil of choice from root to tip.
3. Rinse hair.
4. Apply conditioner and continue as you normally would.
My favorite oil to use for oil rinses is olive oil. It’s nice and thick and goes on easy. It’s way too heavy for me to use on my hair after washing, but perfect for my oil rinses. You can use any oil you like, though.

Here is where my "homemade" method differed....
I didn't want to use it before I shampooed because the shampoo I use is actually very moisturising. (does that make sense? I didn't need the moisture in that step, I needed moisture AFTER the conditioner and before the leave-in)

So what I do is this:

1. Shampoo hair in sections and rinse thoroughly.
2. Apply conditioner and rinse.
3. Apply a light oil to whole head. I used Castor oil for 2 days and then used coconut oil until I shampooed again.
4. Rinsed the oil out. I rinsed about 50% of the oil out.
5. Then I applied a light handed amount of coconut oil and bunned my hair while soaking wet.

I am telling you my hair was so soft!! I did notice that just using coconut oil wasn't very moisturising by itself, unless I put a towel over my bun (like a steam treatment) to seal in some of the oil. I didn't use a leave-in when I oil rinsed and I also made sure to shampoo my hair once a week at the very least or else my hair would feel weighed down. and oily..

I give oil- rinsing a thumbs up in my book and will continue doing it throughout the Winter when I take out my protective style (more on that later...whew...).

Try both methods and let me know which one works for you!!