Trim to jumpstart length retention?

[Luscious Locks]

Hey, ladies. Answering this question will help me and hopefully others decide what to do in the early stages of their hair journey.

Basically, my theory is that once you find out that your hair is damaged and have also determined the cause of that damage (for me it was weekly heat styling with my divorced CHI, no-lye relaxers, and lack of daily moisturizing) shouldn't you get a trim to start anew? I feel that my damaged hair will not and can not be rehabilitated/saved/anything. It's just continuously breaking off despite my best efforts. the roots are great though.

So is a trim necessary for length retention at least initially? Please feel free to share experiences, and hair theories.

 

[Luscious Locks]

i voted yes. i'm tired of trying to "SAVE" my hair. it's actually getting old to me. I just want to start over fresh. I was hanging on to my hair because as far back as i can remember i've always had hair longer than shoulder length and at one time it was full apl almost bsl. but then i went to college in a predominantly white and black town. no spanish people for miles.... i mean it--MILES!!!! let alone some true dominicans. western pennsylvania is not your hair's friend. and the water was wretched. you might as well have washed your hair with rocks and bleach.

so now here i stand ready to just let go of length for lengths sake and work on health, because long hair is nice... but i know deep in my soul that long AND healthy hair is THE BUSINESS. I am not the type to settle or go half way. I'm in it for the long haul and i want it all, because one day when i'm BSL, hair blangin and swangin no body will be able to touch me.

Does anybody feel me?

 

[clever]

If I could change anything about my hair journey,I would go back and give myself a healthy trim on day one.At the time,I thought that damaged ends could be "saved".I think that if I would've just cut,I could have saved myself alot of grief....When my ends were damaged,I treated my whole head like it was damaged and that led to me not retaining nearly as much length as I could have.Besides this,after a while I kept wondering why my hair wasn't healthy and swangin...It was because I needed to let those jacked up ends go.

I have seen some people do their thing in terms of retention with jacked up ends but to me its easier just to have a fresh start....The most important thing to do is pinpoint and evaluate so you don't have to backwards.

 

[Artemis]

If I could change anything about my hair journey,I would go back and give myself a healthy trim on day one.At the time,I thought that damaged ends could be "saved".I think that if I would've just cut,I could have saved myself alot of grief....When my ends were damaged,I treated my whole head like it was damaged and that led to me not retaining nearly as much length as I could have.Besides this,after a while I kept wondering why my hair wasn't healthy and swangin...It was because I needed to let those jacked up ends go.

I have seen some people do their thing in terms of retention with jacked up ends but to me its easier just to have a fresh start....The most important thing to do is pinpoint and evaluate so you don't have to backwards.

I agree with this. I did get the fresh cut, but I did not maintain it even once or twice in the two years I spent getting to today (esp bc I still had damaged layers growing out too). I ended up having to cut instead of trim and had to postpone length goals--I'll get back to grow-out phase in January. Starting from fresh cuts is definitely the way to go Simplifies things in the long run.

Also, if the hemline is fairly even (not necessarily blunt even) that saves you from breakage vs a bunch of healthy ends that all fend for themselves at different lengths.

 

[fuchsiastar]

If its breaking off, I vote for a fresh cut. If not, it will just look messy.

 

[NuBraveHeart]

when i texlaxed for the first time two and a half months ago, i thought that my new journey would be enough to keep my length. about a month later, my roots and newly texlaxed hair felt great, but when i smoothed my ends, this little broken hairs kept rubbing into my hands. so i trimmed about an inch or so off all the way around.

i just did my second texlax, and i am so happy with the roots and texlaxed hair again. but it is becoming apparent that my hair health is going to stay in the texlaxed hair. my relaxed hair is so raggedy in comparison, limp and breaks at the drop of a hat, so i plan to trim another inch of it in about a month. i know that this will impede length for some time, but i would rather have health right now (ouch, it hurt to say that!).

 

[ajacks]

If I could change anything about my hair journey,I would go back and give myself a healthy trim on day one.At the time,I thought that damaged ends could be "saved".I think that if I would've just cut,I could have saved myself alot of grief....When my ends were damaged,I treated my whole head like it was damaged and that led to me not retaining nearly as much length as I could have.Besides this,after a while I kept wondering why my hair wasn't healthy and swangin...It was because I needed to let those jacked up ends go.

I have seen some people do their thing in terms of retention with jacked up ends but to me its easier just to have a fresh start....The most important thing to do is pinpoint and evaluate so you don't have to backwards.

ITA. I did a major trim when I first began my journey, from damaged, brittle, breaking, see-thru uneven SL to blunt healthy even chin length and I don't regret it. A major trim was inevitable so I chose to get it over with in the beginning. That was almost one year ago, and I have regained all of the length and a lot more thickness.

 

[PinkPebbles]

If I could change anything about my hair journey,I would go back and give myself a healthy trim on day one.At the time,I thought that damaged ends could be "saved".I think that if I would've just cut,I could have saved myself alot of grief....When my ends were damaged,I treated my whole head like it was damaged and that led to me not retaining nearly as much length as I could have.Besides this,after a while I kept wondering why my hair wasn't healthy and swangin...It was because I needed to let those jacked up ends go.

I have seen some people do their thing in terms of retention with jacked up ends but to me its easier just to have a fresh start....The most important thing to do is pinpoint and evaluate so you don't have to backwards.

In total agreement with your whole post...same experience!

And I know dusting and trimming is not popular on this board...but once you get your initial trim don't stop there. You still need to dust and trim your ends every few months due to wear and tear on styling, relaxing, etc. no matter how much you protect your ends.

 

[yuriko]

It really depends. If the hair is splitting and breaking off, I vote to cut it off. If not leave it on. My ends definitely improved without trimming after I started focusing conditioner, moisturizer and oils on the ends.

 

[Artemis]

In total agreement with your whole post...same experience!

And I know dusting and trimming is not popular on this board...but once you get your initial trim don't stop there. You still need to dust and trim your ends every few months due to wear and tear on styling, relaxing, etc. no matter how much you protect your ends.

Right

And trimming/dusting doesn't have to take away from you retaining length. Just trim 1/8"-1/4" each time--1/2" max (I guess maybe every 3-4 months), and if you grow 1/2" each month you should be fine.

 

[Kacie]

Well, it depends. Do you have a good base regimen yet? It took me about 1.5 years to really find what works for my hair and to pay attention to that. In the beginning I was really trying to push bandwagon products (like Nexxus) on my hair and it was horrible for me.

If you have a good feel for what works for you and you can keep your breakage to a minimum I say go ahead and trim.

 

[Galadriel]

I'm a believer in trims. Even though I hate them, they can help you out on your hair journey. I've had about 3 trims (each of which took off 1-2 in.) this year but the result is beautiful thick blunt ends
In fact, when I got my hair done a week before Thanksgiving I had gotten a trim (because I was still taking out some layers/damaged ends). This put me 1.5 or 2 inches above APL. As of today, I'm a hair's breath away from APL again (see my album).

I don't want to get trims too often though, and I'm definitely protective styling and babying my ends. I'd say to trim off damage and then baby and protect those ends. You'll definitely get results and great length retention.

 

[blasianbeauty]

This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine! Nothing looks more ridiculous than see through damaged, scraggly hair. I would most definitely trim to start off with fresh and healthy hair. I don't get the whole "babying" the damaged ends part.

 

[Highly Favored8]

I had to do this.

 

[silkii_locks]

I hate to say it but when I see someone with long but damaged hair and see thru ends, it's like the legnth doesn't even matter all I see is the damage. I would rather have short healthly hair than long damaged hair any day.

 

[NYAmicas]

Trimming was never necessary for me as my hair wasn't breaking from my ends. Maybe I just have a lot of hair or my ends never got that bad because it hasnt been an issue going on about 2 years. My constant retention problem came from too much trimming which I believe many people are doing out of some compulsion. If you protect your ends you'd be fine but if trimming is too often needed than something more important is off.

 

[Lanea87]

I started with a good ol cut and love the results after 18 months. If its damage cut it, its hair it will grow back. This time you just have to know how to take care of it.

 

[msa]

If your hair is damaged beyond repair, then a trim is probably a good idea because that hair is just going to break off anyway. No use in wasting time trying to baby it when there's really nothing you can do to improve its health.

Other than that, there's no way that trim will help you in length retention. Trimming healthy hair just to get a "fresh start" is not going to magically make it stay on your head. And, if you don't have a good regimen that will keep your ends healthy, you're just going to end up in the same place you started anyway.

For example, when I came here I figured out that my hair was dry, that's why my ends looked frizzy and felt crazy. Once I learned how to condition and moisturize my hair was fine. Trimming would have been stupid at that point because my hair wasn't damaged. And, if I hadn't figured out how to fix it I would've trimmed my hair and still ended up with dry hair again.

Trimming does not automatically equal length retention or healthy hair. I think people like to pretend that it does instead of admitting that they just happen to like blunt ends.

 

[topnotch1010]

Trimming was never necessary for me as my hair wasn't breaking from my ends. Maybe I just have a lot of hair or my ends never got that bad because it hasnt been an issue going on about 2 years. My constant retention problem came from too much trimming which I believe many people are doing out of some compulsion. If you protect your ends you'd be fine but if trimming is too often needed than something more important is off.

I think this is was my problem as well. I got 3 major cuts (2-3in) per year and was wondering why my hair was not growing!! Needless to say, I will only be dusting for the next few years...

 

[Junonia]

If your hair is damaged, start fresh. As long as you don't fall back into bad hair habits, you will definitely be able to retain length.

 

[Golden75]

wow. this is a great thread. the past few days i have been struggling with this question. my ends are just raggedly at times, and i have breakage. when i look at the hairs they are sometimes split or other issues. someone posted a hair breakage/split chart and i've had at least 8 of the different types of splits. i've done self trims, but i need more than that. thanks to all of you for helping my realize.

 

[anniev2]

I have a broken off nape and I don't have plans on trimming that off because my other hair has grown much longer. It ends up leaving my ends looking a little scraggly. i plan to keep my nape trimmed as needed so it remains healthy and maintain my other hair at shoulder length until my nape catches up. keeping the hair that is longest helps me wear protective styles. as long as i keep it trimmed i think i'll be fine.

my current length is also my goal. the other part to the goal is for it to be full and healthy. that's why i'm here

 

[that_1_grrrl]

I think it does help. I honestly wanted to cut down to a TWA once I found out how to take care of my hair. The only reason I haven't gotten a trim is I'm not sure if my hair is really damaged or not. I don't want to trim it for nothing, but I'm starting to think a trim wouldn't hurt.

 

[locabouthair]

This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine! Nothing looks more ridiculous than see through damaged, scraggly hair. I would most definitely trim to start off with fresh and healthy hair. I don't get the whole "babying" the damaged ends part.

yeah I hear people say this and I dont get it. Especially if the ends are really thin, they aren't gonna "catch up" to the other hairs.

The front of my hair is damaged, and I'm not gonna waste my time babying it. It's just gonna get cut/trimmed.

 

[Nightingale]

I don't think a trim is necessary, but its a good idea. You want the healthiest ends possible (not split) for better retention. If you already have healthy ends, you don't need a trim.

 

[FlawedBeauty]

I didn't trim. I just cut out the heat and let it groooowwww

 

[Chevelure618]

I have a lot to say on this issue because it has been an issue for me for so long, particularly before good hair care.

My opinion is that trimmed ends and healthy hair care techniques go hand-in-hand. I even have nothing against a hairsylist trim (AGHHHH!). The problem is when the stylist trims it, they just take off too much.

That said, in my experience, if your ends are damaged beyond repair, meaning no matter what you do you see little short pieces of hair in the sink, and when you look at the ends under a bright light you see that the ends are bent or curled or lighter toward the tip or within the "DNA spiral", I say get a real trim. If you do not see many short hairs in the sink or it stops after a hard protein treatment then dusting (mega-dusting) or micro-dusting can be enough.

I've found that the dusting has to be done to every hair on the head, meaning the layers. Unless the hair is completely blunt so that you are dusting each hair when you pull the hair down, you must lift the hair up and dust the individual hair or layers of hair.

This has been MY experience...that it is possible to grow the hair out without sacrificing length with microdusting and search and destroys every 3 weeks, even with NG and retain length. When I've done it this way I have not missed the hair and am even encouraged because it looks and feels so much better, grabs the conditioner better and falls better. I don't hear that dreaded "pop" as much with combing with consistent microdusting.

Personally I am growing out my bone straight ends and only have 3-4 inches of it left on my head. The texlaxed part is beautiful...I am in love with it. My hairstylist wants to cut off 4 inches. He can forget it. What he doesn't know is that I am dusting at home, so essentially I am cutting off the 4 inches myself only at a much slower pace.

 

[luvnmyhair99]

Nice thread. I struggled with this issue and finally trimmed. The result ...thick ,heavy ends that look great. Now that i now how to care for them I anticipate they will stay that way.

 

[anniev2]

I have a broken off nape and I don't have plans on trimming that off because my other hair has grown much longer. It ends up leaving my ends looking a little scraggly. i plan to keep my nape trimmed as needed so it remains healthy and maintain my other hair at shoulder length until my nape catches up. keeping the hair that is longest helps me wear protective styles. as long as i keep it trimmed i think i'll be fine.

my current length is also my goal. the other part to the goal is for it to be full and healthy. that's why i'm here

ladies, in your opinion should i trim my hair to my struggling nape or keep going with the above plan?

 

[anniev2]

help, anyone? (aka bump)