The Big Chop (or trim) tomorrow afternoon! Blunt or Long Layers?

Mermom

I have fine textured wavy hair with a few rogue coils, between armpit and bra strap length, and I'm going in for a cut tomorrow. Googling around I see blunt cuts are recommended for fine hair, but wavy hair should get layers. From what I've read, Deva and Oidad cuts work better for coarser hair, and they well over $100 in my area anyway so that's out. What do you guys think? What kind of hair cuts do you think works best for your waves?

naturecat

I love Deva. I don't agree that fine/wavy hair doesn't do well with them. It's just an individual thing, and lots depends on the stylist. If cost is the issue, there are still curly stylists around who don't have deva certification but have lots of experience cutting curly hair. My area is very expensive, yet my first deva stylist was between $40-$60/haircut. The most important thing is a stylist who listens to you.

As for blunt/layers, it's a general consensus that layers are best for curly hair. There are exceptions, but most on here have layers, regardless of curl type or hair thickness. Perhaps consider posting a pic of your waves, as sometimes people will have suggestions of what would look good with your hair.

Speaking from personal experience, going from wet cuts designed for straight hair layers, to going to dry curly cuts made a tremendous difference to my hair. Most on here have found that, though there are exceptions. What type of cut are you getting tomorrow, wet or dry?

wycurls

i love devacuts! short layers changed my life! i learned personally washing and styling my hair the day before i get a cut gives the best representstion of my pattern. at my first cut, i said no to shorter layers and my hair cut wasnt as nice as when i got short layers. dry cuts rock!

Twirlytwist

I just had a deva cut last week and it has really helped make my hair curlier. My hair is cut in a bob and I've always worn it in a very blunt cut because I also have very fine hair and that is what has always been recommended. The layers really helped give me more volume, lift and curl!

Mermom

Thanks! I'll try to post a pic. So sounds like blunt is probably a bad idea and maybe a deva cut might not be so bad after all if I can ever find an affordable one. I haven't been to this stylist in awhile (a friend did my last few cuts, which I truthfully wasn't thrilled about) but if I remember correctly, she cuts it wet first and then finishes cutting once the hair is dry. So it'll be a wet/dry cut I guess. She has curly hair herself so hopefully she's used to dealing with it.

naturecat

Mermom wrote: »

Thanks! I'll try to post a pic. So sounds like blunt is probably a bad idea and maybe a deva cut might not be so bad after all if I can ever find an affordable one. I haven't been to this stylist in awhile (a friend did my last few cuts, which I truthfully wasn't thrilled about) but if I remember correctly, she cuts it wet first and then finishes cutting once the hair is dry. So it'll be a wet/dry cut I guess. She has curly hair herself so hopefully she's used to dealing with it.

Such lovely hair you have! You already have volume so you can't go wrong whatever you do. But still layers would be nice (long layers perhaps), and just trimming the ends on the bottom. I think your hair will look good no matter what though. How did it go? What did you end up doing?

Mermom

Thanks!

Well, the stylist said my hair had actually thinned quite a bit, especially near the ends. And she discovered a ton of breakage underneath, I think it may be from pinneapling or the loose scrunchy bun I put my hair up in at night. So I've got a just below shoulder length lob now with fairly blunt ends. I'm also going to steer clear of any hard hold gels. I can never fully scrunch out crunch anyway, and I'm starting to wonder if hardening up my hair like that is damaging it.

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naturecat

With hard hold gels, for most people using enough leave in (or the right leave in) underneath is crucial. If leave in is too heavy, you can do what I do; dilute it with water and put it in a spray bottle. I find that doing that doesn't weigh down my hair, at least not initially, as long as I don't get carried away and put too much leave in in my hair.

If weakness is an issue for you, I have two recs that have helped me; catnip tea and fermented rice water. Catnip tea really strengthens the hair. FRW helps reduce shedding and increases elasticity. You can't go wrong with either.

Mermom

Hmm, how do I know if my hair is weak? It seems to have good elasticity when I did the test I saw somewhere on the site. It bounces back fully when I pull on a strand. I haven't noticed much shedding. I used to shed a lot more, actually! That's why I was so shocked that I was getting all these broken strands, since my hair seems otherwise healthy.

I just assumed it could breaking from all the manipulation, plus when something is hard, like from a gel before you break the cast, isn't it easier to just snap? And since my hair takes so long to dry, adding the gel on top, even in a small quantity, it just NEVER fully dries, so it's in a weak state the entire day. I do use a couple of different leave-ins (not at the same time) a shea moisture one for low porosity hair (it's actually marketed as a detangler) or sometimes I'll use a watered down version of my rinse out conditioner. I've even tried no leave in, and the gels still won't dry. I haven't tried your gelatin gel yet since I went out of town, but I bought the stuff, so I'll still give that a shot. Maybe my hair needs simple stuff.

I used to never use styling products on my hair (aside from occasional coconut oil) or do all this scrunching, I'm seriously having second thoughts on these CG techniques. Maybe my fine strands can't handle all the plopping and scrunching and the frequent product applications. If I can't get it to improve, I may need to go back to a more hands off and less product-centered approach. I might have less waves, but at least my hair wasn't snapping off

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naturecat

If your hair is breaking, then it is weak. True, putting it up in a ponytail and having it wet might increase weakness, but others can do those things without issues. So strengthening your hair might be something worth looking into.

My hair doesn't do well with too much manipulation either. CG isn't a one size fits all technique, it's really more about learning what works for your hair. If scrunching bothers your hair (and it does a lot of people), try squeezing out water gently, staying in one spot for a minute then moving on to the next one rather than rapid scrunching. Plopping messes up many peoples' hair, too, so you're not alone. As for lighter product application, I'm all for that. The less product my hair uses, the happier it is generally. Plus it allows for more volume.

FWIW, my routine is minimally difficult for my hair. I wash, spray in some epsom salt and conditioner, squeeze water out from my hair, put in just a little of my homemade irish moss jelly, diffuse, (optional: add in a little more jelly and mousse midway through diffusing), then top with an all natural spray. There are no hard hold gels and no fast scrunching, just squeezing out water, natural products, and spray. In general I find that with fine hair, less is more.