4b Naturals and TRIMS...need help PLEASE!

[Lebiya]

Natural’s how do you know when you have split ends? OR NEED A TRIM?


Everytime before I get my hair rebraided I like to trim my ends – every 6-8 weeks. I flat iron my hair and just snip the very end…but I can honestly say that I cant even tell when or IF my ends are split or not Or need trimming…I just use my discretion and nip away….

How can you tell?

I’m running behind time and I cant go to a salon nor do even want to if I could ( though I don’t want too anyways) I just took my braids out

 

[JustKiya]

I keep an eye on my shed hair (DH looks at me like I'm crazy when I go through it strand by strand), and I rarely to never see splits on the ends - so, I use that as a general 'gauge' for my whole head - I don't get many splits.

Once my hair is long enough for me to actually LOOK at the ends, I'll go through my whole head occasionally, checking for splits, and snipping the strands that have them close to the ends.

As of right now, I don't wear my hair straight, and I can't see the ends, so I do not trim - and I have to say - I haven't encountered any additional tangling/knotting issues, so I have to assume my hair is happy with it.

 

[Sunshine0801]

I just look at my hair to see if there are any splits.

I RARELY trim my hair. I'll use the search and destroy method for single strand knots because I rarely have splits, but I don't trim regularly. There's no need.

 

[Lebiya]

…Ok this is going sound stupid ---but can someone please post a pic of what spilt end looks like on 4b hair….and/OR a pic of what 4b hair that needs trimming looks like…

….Ok I feel stupid now

 

[growth2come]

I chop 'em off as I see them....usually if I am under a lot of light I can usually spot one of two...and that sucker is gone as soon as I get my scissors.

 

[JustKiya]

…Ok this is going sound stupid ---but can someone please post a pic of what spilt end looks like on 4b hair….and/OR a pic of what 4b hair that needs trimming looks like…

….Ok I feel stupid now

Don't feel stupid, at all!!

Here is a pic of one of the few split ends I've seen in my hair... and there are actually two splits on that one strand, but the second one is harder to see... it's closer to my finger, almost at the root of the strand.

For that one, if it was still on my head, I would snip the 'split' off at the bottom, and I wouldn't stress the smaller split at the top - it's too much hair to cut off to try to get to it, ya know?

 

[Sunshine0801]

…Ok this is going sound stupid ---but can someone please post a pic of what spilt end looks like on 4b hair….and/OR a pic of what 4b hair that needs trimming looks like…

….Ok I feel stupid now

Don't feel stupid!

If you looked at your ends, you would know if you had a split. It literally looks like your hair split in two. If you have checked your hair and haven't noticed any strands that are split into two strands at the end, I doubt you have any split ends.

 

[Nonie]

I trim like the OP regularly, just to be on the safe side. This seems to work for me and helps me keep my ends nice and thick. When I first joined the forum and found out there are people who don't trim, including Cathy Howse, I decided to give that a try. I lived to regret it. I have pics below that show how my ends got so thin that I had to trim off about 2 inches to get the ends to a thickness that is uniform through the whole length.

The first two pics show a year's progress with regular trims.

August 2002:

August 2003

The next picture shows how thin my ends got when I stopped my regular trimming trying to keep up with those who can get away with that:

December 2003

And below you can see the better looking ends after a trim (top pics are before, bottom pics are after):

I believe split ends were to blame for my end getting that thin.

 

[edenhere]

Nonie, you are so right. I have natural hair and for two years, I also didn't trim and I so regretted it. I also deep conditioned every week with little to no heat.

Recently I had to get about 2-3 inches trimmed off because all my hair was not the same length and the ends were see-through-damaged.
Believe it or not, I'm still finding split ends even after the trim.

I like thick ends and I finally found a hair dresser who trims rather than cuts my hair every three months.

I realize now that while trimming doesn't make your hair grow, it helps you to keep the length on your ends so you hair can grow longer. Because if you hair splits, you lose your length immediately and your ends look unhealthy.

Everyone's hair is different. Some people may not need to trim, but now I know I have to.

 

[domniqqt]

I'm not 4b but I do get my hair flat ironed and trimmed every three months. My hair stylist barely trims off anything, just the very tip so I don't get any tangles.

 

[Lebiya]

Thanks so much ladies for posting those picture…I RREEEEEEEEEALLY appreciate that -I will print this off and stick it on my mirror

..I need to be on the look out for theses bad boys .. Thank goodness for anonymous message boards…lol!!!