Are these split ends
- Thread starter Shalay11
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Shalay11
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Angel of the North
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Onhergrind09
Well-Known Member
The picture isn't magnified enough for me to tell. A split end is where one single hair strand splits into two. From what I can see you have worn ends (they've experienced some wear and tear) but I can't tell much more than that. The attached pic is what split ends look like.
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Shalay11
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Because the ends are so frizzy and dry
sunnieb
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Could be just in need of some serious TLC (moisture boost, oil, small trim/dusting) if the ends don't look like the pic above.
Sent from my android tablet using LHCF App
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ManeStreet
Well-Known Member
Can tell if they are split but looks like they need a deep condition then moisturize & seal.
southerncitygirl
Well-Known Member
Shalay11
when you mositurize and seal...run castor oil or some sort of butter (hemp, kukui, avocado, etc.)down the last 2-3 inches of your hair. this will help your ends. i recommend m/s 2-5 times a week depending on what your hair may need.
also stop doing micros....do medium sized braids or cornrows cause too large or too small braids put much stress on the follices. make sure you dc and stay on top of your moisture/protein/ceramide levels as well.
when you mositurize and seal...run castor oil or some sort of butter (hemp, kukui, avocado, etc.)down the last 2-3 inches of your hair. this will help your ends. i recommend m/s 2-5 times a week depending on what your hair may need.
also stop doing micros....do medium sized braids or cornrows cause too large or too small braids put much stress on the follices. make sure you dc and stay on top of your moisture/protein/ceramide levels as well.
AFashionSlave
Well-Known Member
I agree with the others. It's time for a deep condition. Try using a magnifying glass to see if your ends are splitting after you deep condition and style as normal.
Shalay11
Well-Known Member
I just examined the section I took out .. I don't really see those splits showed in the example picture.. There straight and the tips kind of curl which ever way ...I actually washed with Aubrey protein conditioner and dried in the pic I showed.. I've been wearing protective styles back to back for more than a year .. I don't seem to retain much so I'm thinking ill have to focus more on my ends this year.. I do have castor oil so ill use that on ends .. But how can I really focus on healthy ends when I'm protective styling all the time with sew ins and braids ..
Ill keep the back in these two braids until i take braids down ..
Ill keep the back in these two braids until i take braids down ..
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Angel of the North
Well-Known Member
Shalay11 .
Have a look at the ends of your shed hair to see if you can identify any splits, if you see some then I would trim or dust depending on how far the splits go. If you don't see any splits than I would I would DC with heat, finish with an ACV rinse, m & s hair and then baggy my hair/ends for a while to see if that helped.
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Nonie
Well-Known Member
Yes, splits are where a hair strand separates as shown in that diagram upthread. But in reality, you may never actually see any of those images represented in your hair and yet you would still have had split ends. What people seem not to realize is as soon as you trim your hair, splits begin anew on that fresh end. There's no ifs or butts about it. Unless your hair is made of steel, every manipulation, just the sun/air/heat drying out your hair making it easy to crack, friction from clothes, combs, etc...all contribute to normal wear and tear of organic hair. To think otherwise, is to live in Lala Land
Splits do not just explode out of nowhere so that one minute they are not there, and then next they are (unless you're talmbout bubble hair which I think might be that dramatic). No, splits become. They start at about this size . and gradually grow till where you might see them if you look with a magnifying glass. I say "might" because you may look with a magnifying glass, not see a split, yet actually have one.
Splits don't become a fork and then stay as a fork all day, every day so that you can one day find them. That fork is made of several very skinny (read: weak) arms that break when you just look at them. I keep posting this image below to show what a split really looks like but it's representing a split that is 1/10 the size of this line -. (For those who don't get fractions, basically if you take this line - and cut it up into ten equal pieces, one of those pieces would be the whole split you see in the image below). Now consider also the thickness you see to the left is the size of your strand. So as thin and weak as hair is, do you think those arms wehre the split is will be holding on for the hair to grow to this length ___ so you can see the fork? No! They will break off long before the split is visible because they are like dust.
This falling away of parts of splits could start at this length . or at this length - or at this length __ or whatever. There's no set length at which splits wait to grow to before they start breaking off. Meaning, you may look at a length as small as this ( ) and not see a split but still have one. Why won't you see it if it's there? Because the arms have broken off to leave just part of a strand that is a single arm that cannot split anymore. Without a pair of calipers to measure the thickness, you wouldn't know if you have a split end or not...and who's got time to check every one of the 100,000+ strands with a pair of calipers to confirm if split or not. Worse even, your hair may be just falling away as dust from the microscopic splits so that you'd be swearing up and down that you don't have breakage (coz you never see broken hair) yet your retention will tell a different story.
Common sense should tell you that if it's been a while since you dusted, then you have split ends. How big they are and whether they will cost you length is hard to tell. You could either just play it safe and do a good trim, or you can wait to see how much of your hair will break off and then cut above the breakage to remove the rugged end left by "natural dusting" and then try not to wait too long next time. The problem with this second plan is you may find it's like you're starting your hair journey all over.
Another thing to consider is your ends are part of the entire strand, so if the ends are acting differently from the rest of the strand, chances are they aren't the complete picture. You know how over-processed hair doesn't hold a curl or hold moisture or behave the way healthy hair does because it's damaged? Why should ends be any different? If you condition your hair and have coily/curly hair, and all your hair coils up but the ends hang straight, all weird-looking--and I'm assuming the weird ends are a large portion that you don't have to magnify to see--then clearly they are not OK. If it's a tiny area/length, and if you have coarse strands, you probably can just baby those ends for a little longer (PS) and then be sure when you dust to dust way above them. But if you have fine strands, you're flogging a dead horse if you don't cut them off NOW and will end up losing more length than you would have if you'd just chopped them off.
For those of you who use a magnifying glass to look for splits, do you consider the scenario below during your exam, or do you just look for forks?
Notice how huge my thumb is. That's the sort of magnification it took to see that split end. And BTW that^^ happened within 2 months! I usually dust every 8 weeks and take off 1/4 inch or so (maybe a bit more) and by doing that, I leave my hair stronger so that retention is better.
Shalay11 you're not retaining because even though you're using low manipulation styles, your ends continue to age and wither and if you're not trimming them yourself, nature is taking care of that for you and it's merciless. If you were dusting your hair, you'd have nice neat cuts like I show above. Nature just rips the hair off, leaving another horrible fray of a split so that the new end's splitting already has a head-start.
That was my story and I lived in braids and my hair stayed at SL or shorter for over 30 years. That all changed when I added dusting to my life. (I've posted images of this in several posts that I could find if you haven't seen them.) So personally, I think you should give yourself a trim.
Splits do not just explode out of nowhere so that one minute they are not there, and then next they are (unless you're talmbout bubble hair which I think might be that dramatic). No, splits become. They start at about this size . and gradually grow till where you might see them if you look with a magnifying glass. I say "might" because you may look with a magnifying glass, not see a split, yet actually have one.
Splits don't become a fork and then stay as a fork all day, every day so that you can one day find them. That fork is made of several very skinny (read: weak) arms that break when you just look at them. I keep posting this image below to show what a split really looks like but it's representing a split that is 1/10 the size of this line -. (For those who don't get fractions, basically if you take this line - and cut it up into ten equal pieces, one of those pieces would be the whole split you see in the image below). Now consider also the thickness you see to the left is the size of your strand. So as thin and weak as hair is, do you think those arms wehre the split is will be holding on for the hair to grow to this length ___ so you can see the fork? No! They will break off long before the split is visible because they are like dust.
This falling away of parts of splits could start at this length . or at this length - or at this length __ or whatever. There's no set length at which splits wait to grow to before they start breaking off. Meaning, you may look at a length as small as this ( ) and not see a split but still have one. Why won't you see it if it's there? Because the arms have broken off to leave just part of a strand that is a single arm that cannot split anymore. Without a pair of calipers to measure the thickness, you wouldn't know if you have a split end or not...and who's got time to check every one of the 100,000+ strands with a pair of calipers to confirm if split or not. Worse even, your hair may be just falling away as dust from the microscopic splits so that you'd be swearing up and down that you don't have breakage (coz you never see broken hair) yet your retention will tell a different story.
Common sense should tell you that if it's been a while since you dusted, then you have split ends. How big they are and whether they will cost you length is hard to tell. You could either just play it safe and do a good trim, or you can wait to see how much of your hair will break off and then cut above the breakage to remove the rugged end left by "natural dusting" and then try not to wait too long next time. The problem with this second plan is you may find it's like you're starting your hair journey all over.
Another thing to consider is your ends are part of the entire strand, so if the ends are acting differently from the rest of the strand, chances are they aren't the complete picture. You know how over-processed hair doesn't hold a curl or hold moisture or behave the way healthy hair does because it's damaged? Why should ends be any different? If you condition your hair and have coily/curly hair, and all your hair coils up but the ends hang straight, all weird-looking--and I'm assuming the weird ends are a large portion that you don't have to magnify to see--then clearly they are not OK. If it's a tiny area/length, and if you have coarse strands, you probably can just baby those ends for a little longer (PS) and then be sure when you dust to dust way above them. But if you have fine strands, you're flogging a dead horse if you don't cut them off NOW and will end up losing more length than you would have if you'd just chopped them off.
For those of you who use a magnifying glass to look for splits, do you consider the scenario below during your exam, or do you just look for forks?
Notice how huge my thumb is. That's the sort of magnification it took to see that split end. And BTW that^^ happened within 2 months! I usually dust every 8 weeks and take off 1/4 inch or so (maybe a bit more) and by doing that, I leave my hair stronger so that retention is better.
Shalay11 you're not retaining because even though you're using low manipulation styles, your ends continue to age and wither and if you're not trimming them yourself, nature is taking care of that for you and it's merciless. If you were dusting your hair, you'd have nice neat cuts like I show above. Nature just rips the hair off, leaving another horrible fray of a split so that the new end's splitting already has a head-start.
That was my story and I lived in braids and my hair stayed at SL or shorter for over 30 years. That all changed when I added dusting to my life. (I've posted images of this in several posts that I could find if you haven't seen them.) So personally, I think you should give yourself a trim.
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