Scalping of a Bermuda lawn should occur in spring or mid-March, and could extend throughout the end of April. It's best to scalp away the dead grass after the final winter frost while the Bermuda Grass is still dormant. Your lawn mower should be set to the lowest height in order to get a good scalp of the dead grass. This will allow the thatch build-up and dead grass to be removed which promotes, a faster green-up & healthy grass.
The word "scalp" scares people when they hear it in relation to their lawn. But the fact is, the brown grass is dead grass and that part will never be green again. If it's not removed, it results in seeing brown mixed in with green over the entire growing season. Once green-up occurs, it's virtually impossible to remove the brown out of the lawn. The old grass also takes up space in the lawn where new grass could be growing and thriving.
Scalping your Bermuda is a key step in the process of having a nice deep green and healthy lawn during the growing season. This also combats weeds that are trying to grow in your lawn as well. Bermuda grass chokes out the weeds. If you lawn is full of old dead grass, then the new grass does not have the space to spread and occupy those spaces weeds can get in. Scalping your lawn is very important. If you don't have Bermuda Grass, you should refer to the proper care for your grass type. Scalping is not for all grass types. Make sure you identity your lawn type prior to scalping your Lawn or prior to having it scalped.
Note: After scalping a lawn, it will appear as if there's just "dirt" and it won't grown. Don't worry, it will come back green as ever and beautiful.