Anyone trim their own fringe? Tips please!

[messylittlemonkey]

Hi

I have a heavy blunt fringe and a chin length bob. I'm in between salon visits and really need a fringe trim.

My stylist does it for free but I have to haul myself and my baby daughter into town which is a pain (especially since we were there yesterday but the salon was closed).

I reckin I could do to take about 5mm off for it to be comfortable, but I'm really worried about it being a mess.

I've already looked at lots of how to videos online, but they all seem to offer slightly different advice.

What to do?

Most importantly, you need to invest in a pair of proper hair scissors. They are the only ones sharp enough to cut a fringe properly. You don't have to go mad and get professional grade ones which cost a hundred pounds or more but maybe £15 at Sally's.

If you don't use very sharp scissors what will happen is when you close the scissors onto your hair it will just push it along so you will never get a straight fringe.

Also if your fringe is very thick then you need to do it in layers, parting off about 1/4 cm thickness and pinning the rest back and then gradually bringing more and more fringe down.

If you're really brave and experimental, an alternative approach that I know a few people use is to take a set of clippers or beard trimmer without a guard on and then use the blade to go along the fringe in a straight line. If you do choose to try this method do watch out for your eyebrows though

Thanks havingkittens.

Hadn't thought about using clippers - we have a set as I sometimes do DP's hair with them. There are some scissors in the clipper set which I think are ok.

I've tried ringing local hardresser today but they seem to be closed too!

Don't.

I tried this before christmas as i couldn't be bothered to schlepp to the hairdresser, I ended up looking like Pam Ayres.

Mind you, I did it with the kitchen scissors, in the dark.

I do mine often between appointments - as Havingkittens says, use proper hair scissors.
After much browsing online, I discovered the way that seems to work for me (no disasters so far). You gather together the hair you want to cut, twist it around a few times into a little 'rope', and then cut it at the bridge of your nose. This leaves you with slightly longer strands at either side of your face, which I like.

I hesitate to say it's failsafe, but it does work for me. Good luck :)

Thanks, I've seen the one you mention missclavel. How do you cut the rope though - straight across? My hair is very thick and my fringe is very straight, so any errors would be quite obvious!

LOL getorfmoiland

I have a wispy fringe and am always at it with whatever scissors are to hand, but wispy is the key word

I just snip into it, vertically, and it works

I have done dd's before now, and that was a blunt fringe....I'd damp it down, and comb, pin all the rest of it back so only the fringe was loose and snip...remember it will prink up when it's dry so don't go mad!

Yes, straight across, but my hair is thin fine so there's not much of it to snip. I remember being very scared the first time I did it (had run out of cash so no other option) - DH noticed what I was about to do and yelled 'Nooooo!' as I made the cut.

But it's been fine...

Make sure that you cut it when it's dry, so that you can properly judge the length, otherwise you are likely to find it too short when it dries.

Comb your fringe straight down, and just scissor out a little, freehand to judge the length you want, leaving it a little longer.

Use this as a guideline to follow very carefully.

You will probably not get it completely straight, but to straighten up, avoid just cutting straight across...just chop up into the very ends with the tips of the scissors . This helps prevent your fringe getting super wonky, and the slightly 'feathered' edge hides a multitude of sins.

Before you begin, decide what you want to do at the sides - will your fringe be straight or tapered round the edges to the side. Also, how heavy do you want your fringe? This should determine how you section your hair.

Always err on the side of caution.

Before you do ANYTHING I would recommend doing a YouTube search for a fringe cutting tutorial by a professional hairdresser. Good luck!