How Often Should I Trim/Cut My Curly Hair? (Keeping up Kurls with Kiana!)

How Often Should I Trim/Cut My Curly Hair? (Keeping up Kurls with Kiana!)

A common question every curly hair woman and man all ask is, how often should we be getting a curly hair cut? Curly hair has a whole different set of up keeping rules compared to our straighter hair friends. 

A standard rule is that you should cut your naturally curly hair every 3-4 months. However, you don’t necessarily need to go by this standard, because every curly haired queen and king is different. One person’s hair may grow a lot slower, and another person can grow twice as fast. Every crown is different!

One indicator to know when it’s time to get a haircut is when you're combing or brushing your hair, and you notice your hair starts to get really knotted at the tips, or get fairy knots, or split ends. That’s your hair telling you it needs a trim!

So just listen to your hair, because your hair will definitely tell you when it’s time.

There are 3 main types of haircuts for curly hair. The Curly Cut, a Trim, and Dusting.

  1. The Curly Cut. This should happen as often as once a year or two. It’s a dry curly cut to find the right overall shape for your hair while it’s in its full natural state.That is the ONLY way you should be cutting your hair. If you cut your hair while it’s straight, this can highly affect the amount of shrinkage you’ll have or it may be uneven when it’s curly. Also avoid cutting your hair when it’s wet, because your hair is at its longest length when it’s wet and you won't know what your hair will look like when it’s dry. So this also can affect the amount of shrinkage. So when looking for a hair stylist, try to find a certified curly hair stylist.
  2. Curly Hair Trim. This is a cut you should be doing every so often, which can be 3-4 months. When you’re noticing the obvious dead ends, knotted tips or they’re starting to feel brittle and weak, it’s time for a trim. When you get a trim from a certified curly hair stylist, they go curl by curl, picking up one curl at a time, and trimming where it needs to.
  3. Dusting. There is no specific time measurement for dusting. It’s more of an eyeballing feeling every 1-2 months after your trim or Curly Cut. This can be done by yourself in the peace of your own home. This does not mean we’re grabbing our broom in our storage closet. Dusting is when you’re cutting off 3-4 quarters of an inch to each curl. So you’re not really messing with your length, but just focusing on getting those small dead stray ends. This can actually really benefit the overall health of your hair.

With getting Curly Haircuts, it does not necessarily mean it will help your hair grow. However it will help with your length retention, which means helping your length last longer in a healthy way. This is why big chops are crucial and beneficial versus transitioning. Big chops will naturally cut off all dead ends and begin the healthy hair process faster, therefore increase hair growth faster. While transitioning already has the length, it will slow down the healthy hair process and the dead ends will block the opportunity for new hair growth. 

What I'm really trying to tell you, is listen to your hair, because I PROMISE your hair will tell you when it needs some TLC!


5 comments


  • Susan

    Thanks for this advice. When I washed and conditioned my hair, I was pulling at the knots and pulling whole sections of hair out. Cutting only the knots at the end off caused much, much less hair loss on wash day. My hair is slowly growing with the daily use of Donna’s Recipe. I have never had long hair but have had to learn how to style longer hair now that it is growing. It is so much fun. All it takes is a little TLC with Donna’s Recipe.


  • Amie

    My hair is curly, thin and “very fine” as the beautician always tells me. My hair started shedding a lot and my curls were not as tight, especially the ends of my hair. 1st thing I did was get a good hair cut and it’s my goal to keep it trimmed every 6 weeks. Meanwhile I am trying to be faithful to Donna’s recipe the vitamins and gummies and use it daily. I don’t know if I’ve seen a difference yet but in my opinion, it sure can’t hurt. Even spoke with a nutritionist and wellness expert who advised biotin (Donna’s vitamin gummies), collagen, and a good multi-vitamin. I also use a protein deep conditioner once a week to help with repairing split ends, etc. Hopefully things will start to turn around. Thanks for the information. Long story short, stay positive and find what works best for you


  • Ms Anonymous

    Hello i was a customer of Donnas’s recipes. I have received the vitamins and the oil for my hair, I must say when i got the vitamins and the oil this past summer i immediately started taking and using the products, i took a picture of the before and after on my hair which i no longer have on my phone. However the vitamins were so good i wanted to eat them like candy. But the oil for my hair, did not work for me at all. I used the oil on a daily basis. After about 3 months or a little over 3 months of using the product i took another picture and placed the before up to the now side by side and saw that my hair was getting thinner so I stopped using the product. I did not come to emailing you or calling because I felt you wouldn’t believe your product would do this, or im just lying. Yes i was very upset, because my hair became thin after using the product And i got embarrassed because my hair became thinner that you could see my scalp. Yes i wanted to call and or even send you an email but I didn’t because sometimes companies and people can’t take it very well when you explain their product/products didnt work for them. However; i don’t have anything against donnasrecipes. It just doesn’t work for me. I still love the vitamins and there is no hard feelings. I won’t lie i am a fan of Tabitha Brown and yes i did stop following her from being out raged of my hair thinning. and I wouldn’t follow her because of this, but i come to realize that just because the product worked for her doesn’t mean it will work for me. So tell Mrs Tabitha no hard feelings towards her any more. My hair is now starting to grow back in. And if your wondering if i am taking any medications no i do not. Im only just getting up the nerve to come to you now because I didn’t want you to think im lying, or any thing.


  • kim jones

    My hair is very thin and very soft and coily but it’s Shedding a lot when I comb it, I get trims every 6 months and it is growing, what can I do to stop the Shedding, I take hair vitamins and I use your strength follicle oil is the Shedding normal, I wear the 2 strand twist and was my hair every 2wks and I Condition it, following a daily routine.


  • Angie

    Great advice when I get the fairy knots I know it’s time for a trim…


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