Have to agree don't cut the leaves off, tuck them things to the side. Now your plants look great by the way, if you feel the the plant is too dense with inner branching, by all means you can thin some secondary branching out. this will translate into more growth on the primary branches and secondary branching you leave.
I wouldn't do any of that though until the girls are a bit bigger, my rule of thumb is once the plant is at 10 or 12 inches you can pretty much do what you want and the plant will be fine. Just don't cut the fan leaves.