No you won't need a magnifying glass (unless you are Mr Magoo).
The buds should look less hairy. You want them to look like bunches of frozen peas but that said different plants have different looking buds.
It's not rocket science.
Not rocket science, but I'd go with a loupe/microscope to check your trichomes since you're just starting, I got myself a £10 Carson microscope off amazon, it's a bit fiddly but you can check them on the plant rather than cutting a sample off.
I see experienced growers saying it's easy to tell from the hairs/bud appearance, but the keyword is 'experienced'. Trichomes are easy to check as a beginner, £10 is well worth it to get your harvest right. Once you've got a few grows done, you might not need to use it anymore, but I'd rather make sure my first crops are done right than screw up and adjust next time.
Same with drying/curing, it's only a couple of quid each for some little hydrometers to stick in your jars, don't have to be mega-accurate you can check them against your growroom hydrometer.
I have a friend who's grown for over 15 years and he harvests, dries and cures by eye. I have some of his weed now in a jar, I bought a hydrometer and dropped it in the jar and his is 69% and not moving, most trichomes cloudy with a few amber under my microscope.
With experience, you don't need the tools, but the tools can help you avoid newbie errors before you have that experience.
£10 vs harvesting a little early or late, £4-8 on a few hydrometers vs losing full harvest to mould/getting a harsh smoke.