Is trimming really necessary for growth?

[Nonie]

Very good analogy Nonie! I feel ya girl. Now if someone could tell me whether to do dusting on wet or dry hair, I will have been duly educated by you fine and dear ladies.

I don't know if it matters. What does matter is that you use the sharpest pair of scissors you can find (Thanks, Brenda!). If you know anyone who's a seamstress, they'll tell you that they use very sharp scissors as they cut better and more precisely without fraying the material. Same logic here. And whatever scissors you buy for your hair must be used for nothing else but your hair. I'm not sure why some cost the price of a small island and others just a few pennies, but I have never justified buying the mother of all scissors as I am not ready to sell a kidney. But I do make sure I keep them out of reach of any craft enthusiast.

 

[HairHustla]

I'm on the fence. When I was relaxed, my hair was at its best during the time that I trimmed every 10 weeks. It was not so much the trimming, but the fact that I visited the stylist more frequently. I told her do just trim a couple of millimeters and she did just that. My hair grew and the ends looked good. Then I moved away and my hair went down the tubes.

Now that I'm natural, IDK. I rarely wear my hair straight even with rollersets and my hair stays moisturized. I take good care of it. I do have a lot of shedding and maybe even some breakage but I don't see those little inch length hairs on my shoulders that I saw when I was relaxed. Those inch hairs are usually from the split end.

I'll probably end up doing a six month- maybe even one year dusting. I know of one person who has not trimmed since her BC and her hair looks great.

Carrie, your hair looks quite lovely in the style you had it in, it looked soft and graceful! You have provided me with an additional clue in my quest, you mentioned small broken hairs on your person and I have been wondering whether or not my hair had split ends, it is hard to tell because it appears to be curly all the way down to the end as you may be able to tell in my picture. Now that you mentioned the small hairs, I have not noticed any. I do struggle with shedding as a natural but I don't think there is a problem with breakage. Which leads me even more to the conclusion that my ends must be ok. I do see the need to dust though, yet and still. Thank you for replying and for the insightful information!

 

[HairHustla]

I don't know if it matters. What does matter is that you use the sharpest pair of scissors you can find (Thanks, Brenda!). If you know anyone who's a seamstress, they'll tell you that they use very sharp scissors as they cut better and more precisely without fraying the material. Same logic here. And whatever scissors you buy for your hair must be used for nothing else but your hair. I'm not sure why some cost the price of a small island and others just a few pennies, but I have never justified buying the mother of all scissors as I am not ready to sell a kidney. But I do make sure I keep them out of reach of any craft enthusiast.

Duly noted, I am one of those people who collects stuff until it might be needed so I have a good mid priced pair of hair scissors that have only been used once when I started this journey. Guess its time to pull them out (if I can find them cause they have NOT been my friend!) We will be reaquainted.

 

[KhandiB]

No it is not ...

 

[Fleurzty]

Fleurzty

I see you have some serious length going there, how do you go about protecting your ends? The only thing I know to do is keep my hair plaited under a half wig and I try not to use heat. Do you wear braids? Another thing, I found out I can not wear braids as a protective style because each time I have taken down my hair, I have suffered from more damage and breakage even though I do not wear the braids for more than a month or two. My hair does not like braids! Anyone else have that problem?

Thank you so very much. I'm aiming for waistlength hair this year. To your question, I have been wearing protective styles for about a month now. Before, I would wear it out most of the time and just sleep on a satin pillowcase at night. Whether my hair is out, twisted or braided, I make sure that I seal the ends with some kind of butter before styling. That step has helped tremendously with reducing split ends and tangles. Have you tried other protective styles, other than braids? How tight are your braids usually? Do you wear braids with extension or with your own hair? My experience is that I lose some hair whenever I wear extensions, braids or twists.

 

[HairHustla]

Thank you so very much. I'm aiming for waistlength hair this year. To your question, I have been wearing protective styles for about a month now. Before, I would wear it out most of the time and just sleep on a satin pillowcase at night. Whether my hair is out, twisted or braided, I make sure that I seal the ends with some kind of butter before styling. That step has helped tremendously with reducing split ends and tangles. Have you tried other protective styles, other than braids? How tight are your braids usually? Do you wear braids with extension or with your own hair? My experience is that I lose some hair whenever I wear extensions, braids or twists.

Well I have tried twists and braids but the half wig is the easiest for me and causes almost no damage although my hair is a little thin on top. I just seem to lose too much hair from twists and braids and my daughter too. The braids or twists don't seem to be that tight, I really think our hair is not with the braid program, my daughter lost a whole big patch of hair in the front from it. I am taking your advice though and making sure to seal those ends, I am using a shea butter hair creme especially for that purpose! Thanks again.

 

[Faith]

It's necessary in that split ends can ruin your progress. So trimming is not necessary for growth but not trimming MAY affect your retention.

I usually trim about 1/4-1/2" every 6 months, June and Dec to kind of keep things as even as possible. In between those months I only do a S&D (search and destroy)..looking for split ends.

 

[FlowerHair]

Ok, you have got to tell me how long it took you to grow your hair that thick and that long and the color is just beautiful. Please Please share.

OK, the readhead is not me
That's a Swedish model.

I'm the one in the small avatar.
Here is my regimen: http://www.longhaircareforum.com/blog.php?b=15&page=2

 

[MysteryMe]

Thanks so much, I was looking at your pictures and they reminded me of when I first met my husband, he was once stationed in Saudi and had the same garb or similar and once put it on one night to surprise me.

I hope it was a nice surprise !

 

[DaDragonPrincess]

DDP you are so doggone right, I need to be more attentive to my ends, I only put a shea moisturizer on them when I am in the mirror and think about it, I just forget about those babies. Thanks for the tip girl!

Anytime sweetie, glad my tip came in handy. Just set your mind on doing it and make it part of your daily or nightly routin and you will be fine . Your ends will love you for it.

 

[thinkpinkprincess]

I really think it depends on the health of your hair when you start "not trimming"... if your ends are relatively healthy than I feel that you can take good enough care of your hiar to hekpl them stay that way and still maintain growth. However, if your ends are split, frizzy, and EXTREMELY damaged, then I think you would be doing yourself a disservice not to get them trimmed, at least a little. Just my two cents!

 

[Barbara]

I don’t think so, and I say this because my stylist rarely trims my hair.

Maybe that’s why the left was stuck at mid back, and the right was stuck at waist length. It was uneven and I told my stylist to trim my hair, and he finally evened it out. Now it’s at bra clasp, but I’m very happy with the even ends.

I never complained because his customers have waist length hair, and they rarely get it trimmed. Evidently, he must be doing something right.

 

[prospurr4]

No..not for me. I generally trim only after I pass major goals, just to have even, thicker ends. Otherwise, my ends stay healthy by keeping them properly moisturized and/or protected.