DONT STONE ME!

[Auburn]

I have a question. If you cut all your split ends and visibly damaged hair, does it make your hair automatically healthy again? If the hair is totally healthy, we wouldn't get these problems, but say your hair regimen changes and its healthier for your hair but you have some damaged strands left from mistreating your hair (extra run on sentence). Is there a way to cut your way back to healthy hair by eliminating these problems?

I hope this makes sense. I have a hard time explaining myself. This concept has been on my mind a lot lately.

 

[BlkOnyx488]

I know my hair is healthy but I did have a terrible cse of split ends. I tried to hang on to them thinking once I get to APL I will trim them. Well after an inch of my hair jsut poof disappeared I knew I couldn't wait anymore. So I cut an inch and my hair felt so much better.

Our ends are the oldest part of our hair, and since hair is dead the ends can suffer the most damage, but I don't think it means the rest of the hair is bad.

It's like a tree that has a few bad branches that need to be removed but the rest of the tree is healthy

 

[bravenewgirl87]

I would say no. If your hair is damaged all the way to the scalp, trimming is not going to help much, especially if you don't know how to care for the hair. You would need to figure out what the overall problem is that you keep struggling with splits and mend the hair that way.

 

[la mosca]

Good question. I think that, over time, trimming visible damage can improve the overall health of the hair.

I look at hair health as a continuum. Kind of like this:


Very Damaged--------Moderately Damaged--------Fair--------Moderately Healthy--------Very Healthy

I'm working towards getting all of my hair to the "Very Healthy" point (a subjective standard that may mean different things to different people), but I recognize that various strands (and parts of strands) will be at various points on the continuum. In general, the ends will be less healthy of than the rest of the hair due to age and past manipulation/heat. So I try to dust regularly to get rid of the most damaged parts of my hair and use the best hair practices I can to limit day-to-day damage and keep my newly grown hair pristine. Over time, I think this will allow me to see growth and also see a gradual improvement in the general condition of my hair.

 

[Chanteuse]

It depends on the condition of the rest of your hair. If all of your hair has been overprocessed for example, then no - trimming your ends will not cause the rest of your hair to be healthy.

If on the other hand, the bulk of your hair is healthy and your ends are just uneven, then trimming your ends will remove the part that is "damaged" and leave you with a head full of healthy hair.

Uneven ends can come from various factors such as not moisturizing them enough and not being gentle enough with them. Your ends are the oldest and weakest part of your hair. As such, you may be taking care of your hair in a way that is sufficient for the length but not sufficient for the ends. Therefore it is very possible to have healthy hair with ends that are "scraggly". This does not mean your hair is damaged. It just means you need a trim. I think this is a common misconception both on here and IRL.

HTH!