Trim help ?

[klazzy64]

Hi ladies,
Its been about 4 months since my last trim and at about two months I had a bunch of breakage but now I have nome! Just some occasional shedding , my question to u is should I trim now or continue on without a trim?
And if I do continue on will I have to trim more in the long run? Im really trying to grow.

Thanks ladies hhj

 

[NappyNelle]

Do your ends feel rough and dry? Are they tangling into knots? Do you see any splits? If the answer is no to all of those questions, you can hold off on the trim.

I do preventative trims every 3 months.

 

[Nonie]

My opinion is different from Nappynelle's. Don't wait till you notice all those problems. Dust after 8 weeks religiously and you may just find that you will never see splits, have tangles or knots. I don't and dusting like this has taken me to lengths I never imagined possible.

Hair will wear out whether you like it or not, and the oldest parts of it are the first to show damage. If you don't cut them off early, they spread up the strands like a cancer and then you will start to see the damage. You cut them off while they are not noticeable, and you prevent the "cancer" from getting to a point where you actually can witness the damage.

I find putting my hair in twists or braids (small ones) makes it easy for me to cut a tiny amount from each end BEFORE I have any inkling that there's damage. I call it prevention. And I am yet to see the problems people complain about like tangles, knots, and dry looking ends.

 

[klazzy64]

No dry/rough ends but I did have a couple ssk last week and I dont really know how to spot splits

 

[klazzy64]

My opinion is different from Nappynelle's. Don't wait till you notice all those problems. Dust after 8 weeks religiously and you may just find that you will never see splits, have tangles or knots. I don't and dusting like this has taken me to lengths I never imagined possible.

Hair will wear out whether you like it or not, and the oldest parts of it are the first to show damage. If you don't cut them off early, they spread up the strands like a cancer and then you will start to see the damage. You cut them off while they are not noticeable, and you prevent the "cancer" from getting to a point where you actually can witness the damage.

I find putting my hair in twists or braids (small ones) makes it easy for me to cut a tiny amount from each end BEFORE I have any inkling that there's damage. I call it prevention. And I am yet to see the problems people complain about like tangles, knots, and dry looking ends.

So during your dustibg how much do you take off

 

[Evolving78]

i agree with Nonie. there is a way that you can trim/dust without losing length.

 

[Nonie]

So during your dustibg how much do you take off

klazzy64, because I do it so regularly, I claim I take off about 1/4 inch...but that's such a tiny amount (It's about this long __ ) that I am sure I take off a bit more than that. But I can afford to take off so little because I do it often enough to not be too concerned about leaving damage behind.

The problem comes when you wait too long before you trim and the damage is so far gone that when you trim, you end up trimming at C and leaving behind so much damage (as seen to the left of that line) that continues to wreck havoc on your hair.

It if has been a while since you dusted, your first trim may have to be more of a "cure" than "prevention". So you may have to cut at even further to the left of A to take off the damage and then you can afford smaller trims from now on. If you look at A, the only strand that seems to have no damage left is the center one. The top one will still have that tiny split and the bottom one is is torn up big time so that damage will continue to break off your hair.

 

[Nonie]

No dry/rough ends but I did have a couple ssk last week and I dont really know how to spot splits

klazzy64 Folks who try to "spot splits" are wasting their time IMO. A split can be as small as as 1/10th of this - . Yes 1/10th of that line. And even at that size it looks this bad:

So imagine what sort of damage your hair has undergone by the time the split is visible? Why wait for that, when THAT^^ is a natural occurrence that cannot be avoided. You're better off just trusting that splits are inevitable and cutting them off while they are still small...and then trying to do it often enough so you never allow them to get to a visible size.