Should You Trim Your Hair Every 6 to 8 Weeks?

[naturalmanenyc]

[FONT=&quot]Should You Trim Your Hair Every 6 to 8 Weeks?
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A trim is defined as, "To put into a neat or orderly condition by clipping, paring, pruning, etc." A trim is also defined as, "A haircut that restores the previous cut to neatness without changing the hairstyle." Now that we have a common definition of what a trim is, should you trim your hair every 6 to 8 weeks? Let's talk about it. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Trimming your hair based on a time frame, such as every 6 weeks or 8 weeks is not a method to make your hair grow faster. Trimming does not make hair grow. For most of us, trimming the hair this frequently is a way to MAINTAIN our current length. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]For some of us, it is way to keep our hair ends neat as the hair gains length, slowly. For almost all of us, trimming the hair based solely on a timetable of 6 to 8 weeks is not the fastest way to gain length. [/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]Why not? This is because hair, especially afro textured hair, grows in whorls. [/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]Think of hair used for weaving. It is all the same length. If you take that hair and wrap it around someone's head, around and around, that's a kind of whorl. [/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]Although that weaved hair is the same length, once you start wrapping it around a head, some of it seems longer or shorter. This is due to the location of the weaved hair on the head. Think of a sea shell. The shell goes around and around, in whorls. [/FONT]

• [FONT=&quot]Our natural hair grows the same way as that wrapped piece of weaving hair and that shell. These are all examples of whorls. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]My suggestion is to trim your hair on a time based schedule [FONT=&quot]only[/FONT] when your goal is to neaten up the ends of a style you wish to [FONT=&quot]maintain[/FONT], at your hair's current length. A trim is for maintenance. A cut is used to CHANGE the hair. A cut is used to give yourself a new style, to completely remove split or damaged ends or to shorten the current length. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]If you are trying to gain length, a trim can be useful for your purpose. The caveat or catch is that the trim should not be time based. The trim should be length based. [/FONT]


Beautify Bit By Bit: Would You Like to Learn How to Gain and Retain Length on Your Afro Textured Hair?

[FONT=&quot]Chicoro [/FONT]

 

[Evolving78]

thanks for the article!

 

[Iamhim]

Removed....posted in error

 

[geejay]

Good Information. It explains a lot.

 

[VirGoViXxEn]

The dominican lady at my job reccomended i dust every 6 weeks for growth. I went to my stylist and sge dust just as shes about to put the roller in my hair. I think its better this way b/c you hair is not all combed down and the stylist is only dusting the split end off. I have done this twice so far but i do feel like my hair is healthier and has grown somewhat. I will continue this for 6 months to see if it really is speeeding up my growth!

 

[Nonie]

I believe in trimming every 6-8 weeks because when I did, my hair grew beautifully.

I do not think it was the trimming that made it grow, but it helped me retain better...by ensuring my ends stayed strong and thick and didn't fray up the strands and weaken to the point of breaking off themselves.

Trimming 6-8 weeks took me from one inch of natural hair to 5-6 inches of fully natural hair in one year:

And from that ^^length to 9-11 inches by the time another year had gone by (That being the BEST retention I had ever had in my 30-sth years of living and this occurred when I was trimming 6-8 weeks!--a regimen I started at the time I had one inch of natural growth and some inches of damaged relaxed hair. Prior to that, I had never trimmed my hair and it never grew beyond 5-6 inches):

When I joined the "do not trim club", my hair went from being ^^thick to being so thin at the ends in JUST FOUR MONTHS!!! and had I left those thin ends alone, they'd have broken off on their own as they were lifeless and very weak--the bottom pics show how much I had to lose to get the normal ends I was used to!

I admit I am not as anal as I was back then because I'm lazy and prefer not to keep a schedule or work hard LOL but if I were more focused, I'd trim my 4B natural hair every 6-8 weeks w/o fail. I do trim it when I think of it, and it doesn't seem to stop my hair growing. Coz I was here in mid-2007 and here in mid-2010.

 

[Ijanei]

^ wow nonie ur hair is long. That shrinkage you have is crazy. wonderful progress btw

 

[Nonie]

[FONT=&quot]If you are trying to gain length, a trim can be useful for your purpose. The caveat or catch is that the trim should not be time based. The trim should be length based. [/FONT]

Can someone explain what the last paragraph means?

Why can't a trim be time based? After all, your hair growth is time based. It grows so much with passing time and gets exposed to trauma also in the space of time. So I'm not sure I follow the argument.

Also I am not sure I follow the growing in whorls explanation. This hair is growing in a whorl:

My hair grows more like corkscrews sprouting vertically out of my head. The whorl is only around the axis of each strand but when you look at the hair as a whole, all the strands appear to be the same length...so if I trim the same amount from all of them then I get curb the possibility of developing split ends from all strands.

As I shared above, this stops my hair from thinning which is what happens when split ends tear away to leave part of a strand. So someone please explain how it is that natural hair grows in whorls, or how it is that this explains why trimming on a schedule isn't necessary. I'm lost.

 

[Artemis]

I think "length based" is referring to how much hair you've grown since the last trim. Or, imo, it should mean this. For example, if you've grown 1" in 8 weeks, a trim of 1/4" or less will be needed to maintain the condition of the ends.That whole whorl/whirl thing is irrelevant since the hair is styled in a shape. Regular trims based on how much hair has grown (and overgrown out of the desired style) should be what determines a trim. A person should have no problem getting regular trims and growing hair longer (while still maintaining a style/shape to the hair) if it done based on this idea. Hair texture should also play a role, as even with Black hair, this will vary, as we all don't have coarse hair, which most people assume we do.

Over time (and lots of note taking) I have determined that I require trims every 10 weeks based on my hair texture/type and growth rate. Fine hair tends to need more frequent trims than coarse hair.

 

[southerncitygirl]

nope, i do every 6 months and my stylist is fine with this cause i do twistouts and don't use blow dryers or flatirons to style my hair at home....i went in october so i'm due to go back the end of april. i think that chemically treated hair where you use heat might need a trim more frequently but not every 4-6 wks. my stylist used to stretch my relaxers and i would go 4-5 months before my next retouch and that's when she would trim. this is a ploy to keep black women with short hair! i think texture, how the hair is styled and whether chemicals are used should be factored into how often one needs a trim.

eta: i forgot to mention the reason that i figured out i couldn't go any longer than 6months w/out a trim...one time because of budget constraints i waited 9 months and my ends ended up being scraggly and see through i had a mini- setback fromt his last summer but most of it grew back by october.my stylist informed me that the max for my hair was 6months for a dusting

 

[Nonie]

I think "length based" is referring to how much hair you've grown since the last trim. Or, imo, it should mean this. For example, if you've grown 1" in 8 weeks, a trim of 1/4" or less will be needed to maintain the condition of the ends.That whole whorl/whirl thing is irrelevant since the hair is styled in a shape. Regular trims based on how much hair and grown (and overgrown out of the desired style) should be what determines a trim. A person should have no problem getting regular trims and growing hair longer (while still maintaining a style/shape to the hair) if it done based on this idea.

So she means cuts should be based on percentage of growth?

The only problem I have with that is hair ends deteriorate in proportion to the length of time they are on your head. So if you are a slow grower and you wait till you get that one inch before you dust your ends, your ends will have endured abuse over a longer time than the one who grew the inch fast in 8 weeks, and snipped her ends before the damage extended up the strand.

But I do follow what she's saying by trim by length after your explanation (Thank you). And I do see how one who trims a lot might end up losing their progress. Perhaps then the advice should be that one should trim 1/4 of what they grow when they trim. So that if you grew an inch in 8 weeks, then dust off a 1/4 inch. If you grew just 1/2 an inch in 8 weeks, then only trim 1/8 of an inch.

Otherwise I think leaving your ends untrimmed for a long time will just allow them to go from this, where most of the strand is intact and only the ends are worn:

...to this, where the strand is split down its length:

...to the thin ends left when part of that split shaft breaks away to leave the thin ends you saw in my hair.

 

[Lovelylocs]

I agree that trimming too much is unnecessary. And I agree that it could make it take forever for you to reach your hair goals.

However, I would like to add that I think too many of us on this site do not trim enough and our hair looks kind of bad sometimes because of it. It's like we hold on to the ends for comfort because we've reached a certain goal. Sometimes we may have only a few strands that reach a certain length and the rest is much shorter.

 

[Rocky91]

I agree that trimming too much is unnecessary. And I agree that it could make it take forever for you to reach your hair goals.

However, I would like to add that I think too many of us on this site do not trim enough and our hair looks kind of bad sometimes because of it. It's like we hold on to the ends for comfort because we've reached a certain goal. Sometimes we may have only a few strands that reach a certain length and the rest is much shorter.

I totally agree. And i understand that some people delay their trimming. like, reach BSL first and then trim for blunt ends.
but PERSONALLY, i want my hair to look attractive and healthy at every length. so i keep my ends trimmed fairly regularly. i would say it's about 8 weeks. and i'm retaining just fine. just a photo to show.

could i have retained more length if i hadn't trimmed?? yea, sure, maybe. but the aesthetics of my hair are very important to me. so, it's all about where your priorities lie.

 

[kami02]

I'm always on the fence about trimming my ends. I absolutely hate uneven see through ends on anyone, particularly myself. I had planned on going six months without a trim because the last time my stylist went a little scissor happy. Well its been almost four months so far and just Monday I had to break out my scissors and trim the crown of my hair. Because it's not as long as the bottom, she never touches it. So they were RAGGEDY! It even felt different than other parts of my hair. My solution will be to get an at home trim next month when I relax.

 

[Miss*Tress]

nope, i do every 6 months and my stylist is fine with this cause i do twistouts and don't use blow dryers or flatirons to style my hair at home....

Same here - no heat and protective styling has reduced the need for me to trim to about 6-8 month intervals.

 

[Artemis]

So she means cuts should be based on percentage of growth?

The only problem I have with that is hair ends deteriorate in proportion to the length of time they are on your head. So if you are a slow grower and you wait till you get that one inch before you dust your ends, your ends will have endured abuse over a longer time than the one who grew the inch fast in 8 weeks, and snipped her ends before the damage extended up the strand.

But I do follow what she's saying by trim by length after your explanation (Thank you). And I do see how one who trims a lot might end up losing their progress. Perhaps then the advice should be that one should trim 1/4 of what they grow when they trim. So that if you grew an inch in 8 weeks, then dust off a 1/4 inch. If you grew just 1/2 an inch in 8 weeks, then only trim 1/8 of an inch.

Otherwise I think leaving your ends untrimmed for a long time will just allow them to go from this, where most of the strand is intact and only the ends are worn:

...to this, where the strand is split down its length:

...to the thin ends left when part of that split shaft breaks away to leave the thin ends you saw in my hair.

Yes I agree with the bold too.

It's not just "percentage of growth", it's many factors, that's why it can't just be a "rule" that everyone follows. How much "action" your hair sees in that period of time is also affecting how much to trim, in addition to how resilient your hair is to begin with, which is why what I posted was merely an example. We need to step away from using information we find out there as a "rule" and look to them as guidelines, as there a many ways to obtain and maintain healthy hair (not to plug myself, but I have a couple of great posts about this on my blog ). Again, as I said, hair type is also a factor. So (another example) if you are a slow grower with coarse hair that is only styled once every 2 weeks, your trim rate and amount removed is going to be quite different from someone with fine hair who is a fast grower and heavy styler.

At the end of the day, you have to look at your regimen and lifestyle objectively and honestly and trim when you need it. No sooner, no later. And when you do it, be consistent. Which means if you find you are regularly needing a trim sooner than you think you should, you must hold your regimen accountable. At the end of the day, trims tell the truth about a person's regimen, lol.

Yeah both pics you've posted need scissors asap LOL! Unfortunately I know too many people who would not see anything wrong with keeping hair like in the first pic. But at least folks are learning to be more proactive. Healthy hair should be the goal, not length, which is solely the accumulation of healthy hair over time. Sometimes we fail to remember that simple notion.

 

[Love Always]

Trimming my ends every 6 to 8 weeks is too frequent especially when I'm not using heat. I do believe in healthy ends and even though I'm not using heat it doesn't mean that my hair isn't prone to split ends.

 

[LovelyNaps26]

dusting 3 times a year is fine for me. i don't trim for appearance since i wear my hair in its natural state. once i reach my goal length then i will trim to even out the ends. now, i just focus on snipping split ends.

 

[Nonie]

Yes I agree with the bold too.

It's not just "percentage of growth", it's many factors, that's why it can't just be a "rule" that everyone follows. How much "action" your hair sees in that period of time is also affecting how much to trim, in addition to how resilient your hair is to begin with, which is why what I posted was merely an example. We need to step away from using information we find out there as a "rule" and look to them as guidelines, as there a many ways to obtain and maintain healthy hair (not to plug myself, but I have a couple of great posts about this on my blog ). Again, as I said, hair type is also a factor. So (another example) if you are a slow grower with coarse hair that is only styled once every 2 weeks, your trim rate and amount removed is going to be quite different from someone with fine hair who is a fast grower and heavy styler.

At the end of the day, you have to look at your regimen and lifestyle objectively and honestly and trim when you need it. No sooner, no later. And when you do it, be consistent. Which means if you find you are regularly needing a trim sooner than you think you should, you must hold your regimen accountable. At the end of the day, trims tell the truth about a person's regimen, lol.

Yeah both pics you've posted need scissors asap LOL! Unfortunately I know too many people who would not see anything wrong with keeping hair like in the first pic. But at least folks are learning to be more proactive. Healthy hair should be the goal, not length, which is solely the accumulation of healthy hair over time. Sometimes we fail to remember that simple notion.

@ the black bold: The catch though is how does one determine when one needs it? Splits start at a microscopic scale and waiting till you think you need it, might be waiting till it's later than you should have. Which is why I believe in "prevention being better than cure". Snip regularly, on a schedule and while you will indeed lose a small fraction of your length, you will end up keeping all you left when you trimmed because you stopped the fraying that breaks off the ends anyway before it started.

To show you what I mean, if you take this line - (Yes, that hyphen) and divide it by 2, (I couldn't find a symbol on my keyboard small enough so I am using a line that has to be divided by two--I apologize), then in that tiny space is where this entire image of a split would fit:

As you can see, our hair's wear and tear starts at such a small scale that it is no exaggeration to assume that there isn't a single person--except perhaps a newborn--whose hair doesn't have splits at some stage. Such a tiny split as above isn't big enough to cause alarm, but it is there...with an agenda to grow with passing time. So I see nothing wrong with getting rid of it early. If one is taking care of one's ends and then sets a schedule of dusting 1/4 inch, say (which for those who can't picture that is only about as big as this line __ ), then considering you will have acquired two months of growth, sacrificing that much as a measure to keep healthy ends I don't think is a crazy regimen to be on.

@ the purple bold Yes, both strands need scissors but what many will not realize is the first photo is a hair magnified umpteen times. To give you perspective of what you are looking at, here's a photo of my hair magnified x4:

I used Window Paint to try to magnify ^^the first image by 500 and I still could not get my hair to be the size of the strands shown in the first image in my previous post that you said needed trimming, but as thick as I got it, I don't think it'd be big enough for me to see the cross section as clearly as the first image. See the comparison below, my hair being the blurry thing on the right of course:

My point being, that since there's no way one can truly see when hair needs trimming in good time to save the hair from splitting, better to just get into the habit of snipping the ends regularly so that you can keep ends that are as healthy as possible. Coz if you were to look at the ends in the inset image in real-life, they'd not look split at all because your eyes would only see the solid part, not the fray. In fact, you'd swear that that hair you said so confidently is in need of trimming is actually not split at all--because eyes don't tell the full story.

So rather than

• waste time waiting "till you need it" since we'll never know when that is before it's too late;
• or waiting till you get some length first coz for all we know you may just be waiting for ends to fall off on their own (which could explain your slow progress),

since it's a given that splits happen all the time, so technically you need to trim just about all the time, methinks it's better to just get a reasonable schedule and stick to it. The 6-8 weeks has worked for so many people (Wanakee, Brenda of DAMAGED HAIR? Learn how to properly grow African hair. Read "The Owners Manual for Growing African Hair", me...to name a few) so it is a tried-and-true schedule...and it doesn't thwart progress, so why change it when it seems to me to be a good estimate of "not waiting till it's too late" and "not trimming before you've had some growth". Dusting sooner might not be too smart and waiting a little longer might actually be risking getting to this stage:

Now I know someone will say that her hair doesn't look like this last image even though she dusts once a year or never, but I beg to differ on that opinion because no one can see this scale of her hair with the naked eye, which is what you'd have to see to be able to swear that your hair isn't at this stage or has no split ends at all.

Bottom line, better safe than sorry, so dust regularly and you'll never have to wonder whether your hair is in need of trimming or not. To me it's no different from taking your vitamins, eating healthy, keeping warm and washing your hands to avoid getting ill. You don't wait till you're sure you have germs to start fixing them. You take measures to keep the chances of it happening as slim as possible.

 

[Artemis]

Nonie, I think I can understand your reasoning for wanting to go deeper on this subject, but I really think it's a lot simpler than your post makes it seem. Going back to what I said, one has to determine this for themselves and it's not going to be based on what you think but what that person thinks their own hair needs. So if you think that preventative dusting is what helps you maintain healthy ends, then go for it. But understand that this choice is based on your own experience with your hair. Not everyone needs that. Some do well with it, some do not. Either way it is their responsibility to understand their hair if they want it to be healthy. Again, if one takes an objective review of their regimen and how their hair behaves in healthy condition it will become quite clear when a trim is needed and how much should be removed. Over a period of time a schedule can become developed, and the individual can go from there, with the idea in mind that there are no hard-and-fast rules. Remember the adage "Listen to your hair"? Trying to prescribe a schedule without actually paying attention to the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of one's hair care routine is indeed a recipe for disaster. Another example of this is moisture overload and protein overload that has plagued this forum for a long while. Most people seem to overthink some of the most basic fundamentals principles of hair care only to come back around with a "head-to-forehead-d'oh" moment. My purpose in responding was to prevent that for some of the readers here.

Regards,
A.

 

[Nonie]

You're right Artemis about the insanity of just following a "rule" without evaluating its effectiveness, because if you followed the rule and abused your hair, it would all be for naught. So yes, good hair care is imperative. I guess the reason I'm an advocate for having a "calendar" (some use the moon) is because whether or not you're abusing you hair, the hair will split with passing time. For some, the damage will be deplorable in a short while; for others minimal because of better haircare. But the splitting will occur regardless, and it starts soon after you trim your hair. So the issue becomes not whether one should have a schedule but how much one should trim in that schedule.

If I waited 8 weeks to dust off 1/4 inch (which is almost hard to do accurately coz a 1/4 inch is such a tiny amount, precisely this small __) or waited 4 months to dust off half an inch which is this amount (____), I would still be cutting off the same amount of hair over a year. The only problem with waiting four months, depending on how much "abuse" my hair endures (brushing, combing, exposure to sun/air, heat, detangling), is that I'm taking a greater risk of my hair being in bad shape by the time I get to it. And one only needs to look at the photos of those who trim after waiting months: the change in length is always so great and so obvious. They cut enough for it to be noticeable because the damage they were denying was there was really extensive. Had they kept up with tiny dustings over shorter periods while maintining good haircare, I'm sure it would seem as if they retained all they grew.

One thing I didn't mention is in the photos I posted of my hair having thinned so much in 4 months, I had it in braids...which are one of the "safe" ways to keep ends in and why many people get better retention with braids. And I DC'd once a week every week, didn't use heat, and baggied nightly, which many have found are good ways to ensure healthy strands. Yet even with the low manipulation and good habits, the elements were not kind to my strands and the vulnerability of ends translated to the rest of the hair costing me 2 inches instead of just the 1/2 inch I would have lost with the 8 week trimming schedule.

So in my case where I was not subjecting my hair to abuse, how could I have established a trimming regimen? In other words, if we tell people that they should evaluate their hair to decide, isn't that like just sending a blind man into Wipeout (the show) and telling him to establish a rhythm that ensures he doesn't fall or get hurt. Put another way, shouldn't there be a starting point for one who's trying to discover what works for them and couldn't the 6-8 weeks be it? Then perhaps one could start off by dusting the tiniest amount possible coz SPLITS WILL BE THERE NO DOUBT albeit at some tiny scale. Some people claim to dust 1/8 of an inch. I think I might've said it too, but that'd a bit of a stretch coz I honestly don't think I've ever cut off hair as tiny as this _ off all my strands. If that's the case, I honestly don't see why taking off that much every 6-8 weeks would be an abomination. If you did that every 2 months, you'd take off half an inch (Editing to correct this: it's actually 3/4 of an inch) in a whole year.

I think the reason people freak out about this schedule is they are used to having to chop of a large chunk (I wonder why? :scratchch ) so they cannot fathom that there is the option of going minute regularly to save from cutting something that shows later.

 

[Makenzie]

I am APL because I haven't trimmed in over a year. And yes, my ends are thin. I grew out my layers. But since I either bun or wear an air dry rollerset, they're never seen. This week I'll get a trim only because I want to start wearing my hair straight. So I want nice clean ends.

 

[Minty]

I don't get split ends. Many fine to medium strand relaxed heads do not get splits, but they do suffer from occasional weakened strands and single strand knots. Trimming on a regular schedule helps to maintain fullness and cuts back on the problems previously noted. Breakage tends to be in the front half of the head to the crown.

Once the hair thins out that's when many decide maybe they should trim, but its too late by then. When you notice the thinning, you're already at 2-3 inches that "should" come off.

Coarse hair has more weight, is more resistant to breakage, and can go a bit longer without a trim.

I generally trim every 2-4 months.

The whole business about the whorl of the hair is incorrect in that your concern is with the ends of the hair, not the growth pattern. Relaxer-free heads require regular trims to keep SSK, splits and short strand breakage away.

Precision cut ends look so gorgeous.

 

[Minty]

its impossible to "grow out your layers" without cutting away at the bottom length. Growing out layers means you want a more blunt hair length and style -

 

[Artemis]

*sigh*

Nonie, why the lengthy posts? I am really not trying to have a difference of opinion with you. In fact, I refuse. The fact is, what is often enough for you may be too often for someone else, or not often enough for even someone else. The amount that is removed will vary based on many factors that may or may not affect your own hair. Period. What is unclear about that?

No one said having a trim schedule was bad, but implying that because you trim the way you do is the way everyone should is ridiculous. If you don't understand that, I can't explain it further. And I won't. Perhaps you should re-read my posts for further understanding rather than looking for something with which to disagree or discuss further. It really is not that serious to continuously explain why you trim as often as you do. You are not going to change the fact that every one's schedule will be different and based on factors differing from your own, ok? Some people must trim every 6 wks, some every 8, some every 10, or even 12. Beyond that, there is a higher chance that a trim will be a cut, but that is on that person and their own hair. It has nothing to do with you. If someone doesn't take their hair care into their own hands, why should it affect you? If someone doesn't pay their own bills, are you going to step in and lecture them on that as well? I certainly hope not. At the end of the day, guidelines are just that and we all do what we can. There is no "hair nirvana" and running such a mundane topic as this into the ground is just a perfect example of how seriously we should take a step back and re-evaluate what is most important.

fin

 

[blessedandlucky]

For me, yes if I am maintaining a cut but if I want to grow my hair longer: no way. I am not a fan of thin ends and trim as needed which is a few times a year.


Sent from my iPhone using LHCF

 

[Nonie]

Artemis, my lengthy posts are because I don't know how to summarize and get my point across. I am also trying to make it clear that I do understand your point that not everyone will have the exact same schedule, but that a schedule is necessary because change occurs proportionately with time, including wear and tear. I am not forcing anyone to do anything or follow my regimen, but while you simply just say "everyone do what they want", I prefer to provide more guidelines for those who might need them since not everyone is "all set" in their regimen. And because I'm Nonie and love to explain, I go the extra mile of explaining so it can make sense for those who might be like me who like to know the WHY.

I did ask you a question: suppose I had never tried the 6-8 week trimming 1/4 inch schedule and then shared what happened to me between July 2003 and Nov 2003 (that's when my hair thinned) and shared that I hadn't done anything that would explain why my hair thinned, what advice would you give me? I would also like to add that in that time I was moisturizing my hair daily (I joined LHCF in July 2003 and was doing all the good things I found here) and taking hair growth supplements. So I was taking care of my hair more than ever.

If you said to me, "you have to determine for yourself what your needs are", how would I do that? Like, where/how does one start to figure this out?

I am not disagreeing with you at all. I'm just suggesting that the 6-8 week idea seems to me to be a good starting point which can then be tweaked as one sees fit depending on how one cares for one's hair, as you said. And there's really no difference in how much you lose whether you trim every 6, 8, 10 or 12 weeks, if the amount you're trimming is proportional to the time you waited to do it. So I am not suggesting anyone sacrifice their length. I just believe you end up having to cut more the longer you wait.

If we go through the forum to find photos of trims, most are at least an inch or more. Trims are usually very noticeable in that the hair appears conspicuously shorter after a trim. Usually they are done after a lot of time has passed. Otherwise those not doing trims show hair that seems to be thin towards the ends. I am just trying to give the point of view that IF you want to see and keep length and fullness, not waiting more than two months but instead clipping this much __ every 2 months might actually help you not only retain better but actually never need to make that length change that a trim done late does, if you're taking good care of your hair. What's more, thin ends would be a thing of the past.

You see, people knock something without even giving it a try if they don't understand it. I am not insisting that anyone make taking 1/4 inch every 6-8 weeks their rule. I even said if 1/8 is what one feels comfortable with--although I find it almost impossible that one can snip this little _ accurately--they can do that. And then see how to change that. I am suggesting dusting every 6-8 weeks can be a starting point for one who finds she needs a trim once in a while; that this may prevent that "need" from ever coming into existence.

I am not suggesting that YOU or anyone happy with their regimen do the 6-8 week trims, but there are people who could use the info I am posting; people who might have been wondering about this and who never gave it much thought. And there might be someone who, like me, could never get their hair to grow beyond 6 inches who might find, like I did, that dusting regularly is the piece that was missing in their regimen. I do go "deep" with this, but that's just to explain the logic behind it for those who care. The real regimen is simpler than the S&D and more effective IMO than any other I've seen.

 

[yardgirl]

I need a trim right now actually, it's been 6 months.

 

[Chameleonchick]

I've found that the best trimming/dusting cycle for me is every 3 months.

 

[Makenzie]

its impossible to "grow out your layers" without cutting away at the bottom length. Growing out layers means you want a more blunt hair length and style -

I'm growing it out to the desired length I want to have reflected after my ends are cut.