I think you can get happy with your pruners. I plan on pruning mine pretty hard after the blooms are gone. I know some people in my neighborhood cut theirs back to the bare braches, and they came back beautifully. Loropetalums seem like pretty tough plants. Hopefully, someone who's actually done it will chime in, too. :)
Good luck!
Pam

Another thing you might do is wait a bit longer while the plant shows you where it is alive and well by putting out new growth. In a real sense the plant has already been cut back, and you may just need to even up and direct it.

Yes, you can go ahead and cut it back. When we transplanted one of our loropetalums, a fellow gardener told me to go ahead and cut about about a third of it back. When you transplant it, part of the root system dies and the shrub will go into shock trying to keep all of the leaves and branches alive. Cutting it back will ease the shock of transplanting. (I know, it sounds like the opposite.)
Since the shock as already passed, it sounds like you lost a majority of the shrub. I would prune a good bit of it down and wait to see what happens.
Having 4 of these shrubs...I know that they are resilient.

Plants are mature - 10 years. Overtime I have allowed them to become a hedge (6' tall) I want to prune back to shrubs(30"). Possible with a hard prune with the rest of the summer to go?