I have thick wavy hair. I get it thinned by having long layers cut every two months, when I get my hair cut.

Thank God for layers, though. Blunt cut, my hair is way too massive.

Have you or would you consider letting them use the actual thinning scissors (don't know what they're called!), to weed it out as opposed to layers? I already get mine layered, but when you have long, thick, curly hair, sometimes your layers still look huge!
Thanks again,
Chan

Yes, definitely. I've had it done before and liked it, but I'm often in a hurry when I'm at the hair salon. Do you do this?

I've been having very good luck with the smooth & sleek products from Pantene. Someone else might think that they made their hair too limp, but with so much of it, it ends up looking good.

I also have a foil every couple of salon visits. Nothing radical. Just a slightly lighter red than my own. It reduces the massive look of the hair and makes it look a bit less weighty.

Nice to find someone to talk to about this. It's a bit like complaining about being too thin.

Well, I haven't had it thinned in YEARS, then had a hair dresser tell me that it was "bad" for my hair. I just wondered if there were any other opinions out there. My mom just told me that she read in a magazine that it's okay to have your hair thinned, just to make sure it's not done every cut (otherwise the cut hair never really has a chance to grow out and will eventually end up standing straight out...yikes!). I think I'm going to give it a try and see what happens. I'm looking to cut my hair short(er) and I'm extremely nervous because I've had bad luck with short hair (but that was before I discovered I had naturally curly hair--always just thought I had "bad" hair--so that was probably part of the problem, lol). Thanks again for your input!
Chan

I don't know why a hairdresser would tell you that thinning your hair is bad for it. It might not be the best situation for your particular hair, but it isn't going to damage it.

My first recommendation is that you find someone that knows how to cut curly hair...we aren't all good at it. If you can find a person with your type hair and a good cut grab her stylist!

There are many ways to cut curly thick hair. There isn't a general rule as there are many types of curls and textures. In some cases a thinning shear may work, and in others a texture shear may be better. In other cases it might just make a big mess.

As to how often, again it depends on your style, but for longer hair I wouldn't do it any more than every second or third cut depending on how often you cut it. If you use this type of shear too often you will be texturing the same hair each time. It has to grow out a bit first.

Did you try it yet, Chan?

I have very thick naturally curly hair also. For years, any hairdresser that I went to told me that I should never have my hair thinned. They all told me that the length of my hair was weighing it down and loosening the curl and if I had it thinned then those shorter pieces would stick out all over. Since my hair was so thick and curly it was huge. I literally didn't wear it down for years because my hair was twice as big as my head no matter what I put in it. A couple of years ago, I went to a different hairdresser and she (much to my delight) recommended thinning my hair. It's great!! It has helped so much. I get it done every time I get it cut but that might be too much for some people. I do occassionally have a shorter piece that wants to stick out but it's rare.

As ponderinstuff mentioned, I think finding the right hairdresser is key. Working with curly hair is a whole different beast than straight. I think part of the reason I grew up hating my hair was because the hairdresser my mother took me too didn't really know how to work with it and acted like it was a curse.

Good luck with your haircut. Let us know how it went!

Jenell

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you guys...my membership ran out and then PayPal wasn't working! I got my hair cut on Tuesday. I went to a woman recommended by a friend (she's been going to this hair dresser for years and she cuts my friend's daughter's hair which is quite similar to mine). I went with a picture and showed her what I'd be interested in. She washed my hair, looked at the picture, and told me that it would be a bad idea for me to go so short because of the way my hair curls and the amount I have (too much!). She said that cutting it short would only result in a balloon of hair around my head. I also asked her about thinning it out and she said that while it would be okay to thin out underneath the bottom, thinning out the top would be a bad idea because when it started to grow back, I'd end up with little springies around my head, like a fuzzy halo. So, she cleaned up the ends, re-cut my layers, and left it "long," which is quite a bit shorter than it was, so I'm trying to get used to doing it again! So, I was disappointed that I didn't end up with the picture I had in my mind, but I am EXTREMELY happy and impressed that the hairdress was honest with me and knowledgable enough to have an idea about what will and will not work. I'll probably go back to her, which is saying a lot! Thanks again for all your input; you guys are great!
Chan

Ouidad salon which specializes in curly hair is famous for their special hair cutting technique which is really hard to describe but they do not believe in the traditional thinning out techniques which are supposedly passe.

ck out naturallycurly.com or ouidad.com If you go onto their site you can order free booklets which do a better job of describing their cutting & slicing technique.

Michie

I went to a hairdresser to have the back of my hair trimmed, and without asking she thinned it. Now I have thick, naturally curly hair that I wear straight because I hate the curl; it makes me look like a poodle, and with her thinning it makes me look like a poodle on a very bad hair day. I would advise long layers because the thinning screwed up over a year worth of painful growing for me. Not only did it magnify the curl I was trying to hide, but it made the ends so bad that when I went to straighten it, it burnt them to the point the wand I use was steaming. Oh and my hair looks like it has static shock syndrome after I make it straight.

My advice tell them to put the sheering scissors away.

This is soooooo true!! I got the thinning done and its the worst thing you can do when youve got lovely volumised hair. It grows horribly later. At first it may look great when you come out of the hairdressers because its all blow-dryed and looks nice but then when you wash it and you go for your next hair style, it looks awful. It starts growing at the top in little chunks and all this does it push up your hair, so in the end you look like you have more bushy hair at the top, which looks really ugly, and then at the bottom, really thin, which look really unhealthy and weak.