Hair Trim Strategies...

I'm definitely on deck for a trim and shaping of my curls.  It is growing like mad and I can see longer strands and overall uneveness on the ends which leads to less clumping of the curl and frizziness.  I'm also seeing some "strand chaffing and/or halo" which means breakage is happening somewhere along the shaft of the hair.

I am still at odds on what approach I should take for this task.  The way I see it my options ad concerns are the following:

1-Go to Salon DelaCruz in NYC and get a cut.  Concerns: Getting too much cut off by an over zealous cutter I've never worked with before and getting bad, uneven cut.

2-Wash, condish, rinse out, leave a light leave in and wrap it backand tie with a satin scarf in a ponytail until dry. It will be wavy after it dries.  Then lightly flat iron with a very warm iron, go to my old hair stylist and have her do a trim straight.  Concerns:  Not really any.  I do want to keep the tri-level cut I currently have and she can follow the line of my current shape with a trim.

3-Wash, Condish, leave in a small amount of condish and braid into four braids on top layer of hair and 4 braids on bottom layer of hair.  Seal he ends and clip off 1/4 of an inch off of each braid myself.

I'm looking at the second week in February and will schedule my cut in accordance with the Morrocco Method Chart. 

I'm interested in what the readers out there have to say about the options I've listed and any advice/opinions you have on them.  Also share your own experiences in the comments!! Thanks!!

This is the length and cut I am shooting for as my hair goal.