S&D'ers: Do you trim every split?

[smrider]

So recently I have been seeing a lot more splits (only 1 trim in almost 3 years of growing) and wondered if all the people who S&D snip every split when they spot one? I am a little paranoid this will hinder my growth and that S&Ding constantly will slow or halt my growth. But, if a hair is split it will only split further up unless cut, right?

So, do you destroy every split you see?

[enfys]

No! Life's too short. I just hope I catch it when I'm next having a "session". If I see a huge split and my scissors are to hand I will get it, but usually my scissors are in the box with DH's clippers and by the time I get them the slipt will be lost, never to be seen again.

S&D will slow your growth down if you have to cut almost every hair; in that situation I would just do a small trim.

[pepperminttea]

I do trim off every split I can when I'm S&Ding. They'll be a few that escape, or that I spot when I don't have my scissors at hand, but when I can, I do. My splits do indeed travel upwards if I don't find them early.

Much as I hate to say it, with three years and one trim, it might be time for a full trim if you're finding a lot of splits; it needn't be a lot, a microtrim (less than half an inch) would do it. Have you come across Feye's self-trim method (http://community.livejournal.com/feyeselftrim/) before? :) That is, if you want a blunt-ish hemline a trim might be in order; if you're going for pretty fairytale ends, ignore me. :D

[smrider]

Pepperminttea, I am eventually aiming for a blunt hemline and cutting off layers but wasn't planning on trimming until I hit 30"... AGH, its so close I can taste it! I would say only about 5% of my hair is splits right now but there seems to be more everytime I look! Mostly dots and only a few actual splits. I need to just bun it and stop fussing with it til waist.

[proo]

Yep, do em all - but I'm addicted.
I must say, my hair has never been thicker or smoother

[jeanniet]

I trim every split or weak spot I find, but I don't have a whole lot so it doesn't make that much difference overall. If I really had a ton of splits I'd probably just bite the bullet and get a trim, because the amount of breakage would probably affect growth anyway. If you trim and limit the breakage, you may see a big difference.

[Kherome]

Of course! If you leave them it'll only get worse.

[LoversLullaby]

As many of them as I can find, yes. I know that if left not taken care of they'll travel up and become more of a hassle. I make an effort to sit down and S&D each month so it's not a big problem :)

[Anje]

Well, I get everything I can find (and that doesn't run and hide when it sees the scissors coming), but that's far from getting every split.

S&D can bring out some OCD-like qualities in me. I need to be careful not to do it too often.

[Madora]

Yes! I try to snip each one I can find. I know I won't find all of them, so I concentrate mainly on the last 4 inches of the ends.

[spidermom]

I don't think it would be possible. I've got thousands of the little buggers! I just go for the most obvious ones. I'd go cross-eyed trying to look at the end of each and every hair.

[firicia]

Thanks for posting this thread, I was actually wondering this myself as I am going to do my first s&d soon.

[Dina L.]

I had my haircut 4.5 months ago and started to have split ends about 2 weeks ago. I don't have many but I snip all I find when I S&D.

[Jenn of Pence]

Yeah, there doesn't seem to be any reason to let one linger when you see it and have scissors at hand. I would say that if one had super thin hair and many, many splits, one might find that it does affect the hemline. However, I think that would be very, very extreme conditions, and unlikely in most people's circumstances.

[ravenreed]

I set out a good amount of time for an S & D session. I trim until I don't see any more splits. If I am just going about my day and notice a bad one, I will stop and trim it right then, because I get a little ocd about it.

[Cirafly24]

If I'm doing an S&D session, I trim every split I find. If I don't have my hair scissors handy, I'm sometimes guilty of using whatever scissors I can find quickly. Luckily I rarely wear my hair down so I mostly only see the splits if I'm actually looking for them.

[enfys]

So do people actually keep their scissors that close to them all the time? I only really trim my splits when I notice enough of them to make it feel worth the effort. I did try the "hang onto the split and run upstairs to get the scissors" but it really didn't work with my life!

[Sundial]

I don't get splits but I have issues with bent ends and I do trim off every single one I come across. I know how some people will just wait till the next time they wet their hair and have those smoothen out, but I am of the believe that the bents are like folds in paper and that the hair will eventually break off at the fold so I rather just cut them off right when I see the bent ends. I could just be paranoid but I'm seeing less and less of those so I don't have issues with being strict about S&D.

As for enfys' question, I do have S&D scissors close by most of the time since I am usually at home (I don't work). I used to carry a pair around in my bag when I go out - an idea I picked up from some LHCers a long time ago. I remember some mentioned that they specially bought smaller scissors for S&D on the go

[CurlyCyndi]

I am literally obsessed with S&D and anytime I see split. It is obsessive but I get lots of split ends when I use heat.

[jeanniet]

So do people actually keep their scissors that close to them all the time? I only really trim my splits when I notice enough of them to make it feel worth the effort. I did try the "hang onto the split and run upstairs to get the scissors" but it really didn't work with my life!
I keep my scissors in the family room, where there's a chair and lamp positioned just right to see splits perfectly. Then I just put something on the TV that I don't need (or want, lol) to watch that carefully, and snip away!

[Arya]

Sometimes i just go look at my hair and try to find splits, but about once a month or so I will separate my hair into very small sections and go through all of them. I get a lot of random midsplit ends (that turn me into a crazy person) and I find that's the best way to find them.

I'd really suggest trimming your ends now, before the splits travel up. For me, split ends steal more of my length than trims.

[trolleypup]

So do people actually keep their scissors that close to them all the time? I only really trim my splits when I notice enough of them to make it feel worth the effort. I did try the "hang onto the split and run upstairs to get the scissors" but it really didn't work with my life!
My hair kit stays in my purse all the time, which means it is available virtually 100% of the time.

If I find an exceptional split, yes, I'll pull the scissors out to remove it. When I am S&Ding, I trim off everything I see.

I don't worry too much about losing length...usually what I trim off is <1/2 inch/1 cm, so all I am losing is a month of growth off that hair. If I can manage a snip every 3 seconds, that is 20 a minute, so if I do S&D for an hour that is only 1200 hairs, a very small percentage of the total (total of 600 inches of hair trimmed)...if I lose 100 hairs a day, with an average length of 20 inches...it would take 3 hours of S&D to trim that much hair. I don't think I lose quite that many hairs, but you get the idea.

What an amazing difference a good S&D does for the tangliness of my hair!

[Mesmerise]

When I do S&D I trim every split I can find...but then again, I don't find too many! (I think my ends have just thinned out too much lol...so there's not all that much hair to search for).

However, if I had a LOT of splits that were really bothering me, I'd get it trimmed. Just a very teeny trim, like 5mm off the ends (that will hardly make any difference to your length as it's like about 1/5 of an inch). It should remove a few splits, make your ends look nicer, and then you can forget about your hair while you grow the next couple of inches!

[HuggyBear]

Yep...every one that I see.

[trolleypup]

When I do S&D I trim every split I can find...but then again, I don't find too many! (I think my ends have just thinned out too much lol...so there's not all that much hair to search for).

However, if I had a LOT of splits that were really bothering me, I'd get it trimmed. Just a very teeny trim, like 5mm off the ends (that will hardly make any difference to your length as it's like about 1/5 of an inch). It should remove a few splits, make your ends look nicer, and then you can forget about your hair while you grow the next couple of inches!
I wish! My splits are distributed in the last two feet of my terminal length hair...so S&D is the only way of getting at them (other than a drastic cut!)

[proo]

I would much rather s&d than ply my hair with treatments and coatings. The reality is right in my face and the result is instantaneous.

[RitaPG]

If there's no scissor around, I'll bite the split off.

Don't kill me! *runs away*
I know it's bad, and if it counts for something, I don't do it very often. I don't have a lot of split ends anyway ^^

[fairystar32]

Yes I try to. I don't agree with cutting if you have loads or breakage, If i did that mine would be BSL again!
I seem to have had breakage since DS was born and a huge trim didnt not solve it anyway,so now I do LOTS of S&D and its getting better ;)

[haibane]

When I first found LHC I did such heavy S&D I actually did lose a bit of length. I don't remember exactly, but I think it took several sessions over several days to get all the splits. It seemed like pretty much every hair was split.

For a while I did S&D pretty much daily, and it helped me figure out what kind of routine prevents my hair from splitting. Now I S&D once or twice a week and a lot of the time I'm finding no splits at all, as long as I keep up my routine.

[Mesmerise]

I wish! My splits are distributed in the last two feet of my terminal length hair...so S&D is the only way of getting at them (other than a drastic cut!)

Ahh yes, but I'd probably happily trade not-very-split hair for 53" of hair even if there were splits a way up the length ;) Besides S&D is oddly fun!!!

[punkcatknitter]

Heck yeah! I really should get some good small scissors for my purse because every time I wear my hair down I find myself examining my ends... I do have OCD, so it brings my tendencies out more!

And don't feel bad, Rita, I bite them off sometimes too. Hello Ocd... lol. But because of the aforementioned ocd I usually have nail clippers with me at least. But the last four inches or so of my hair was so tortured in the past... any damage I cause with blunt clippers is probably still better than what I snipped off. I really should trim but I love my length too much and look forward to fairytale ends anyway. :)

[ilovelonghair]

So do people actually keep their scissors that close to them all the time? I only really trim my splits when I notice enough of them to make it feel worth the effort. I did try the "hang onto the split and run upstairs to get the scissors" but it really didn't work with my life!

I usually have one in my desk drawer for when I am at the computer.

I cut all off I can find. I leave hairs with virgin ends (those that have never been cut) alone because they are less likely to split.
That's probably why my hair doesn't seem to grow much. But it is better than trimming for me.

[trolleypup]

Ahh yes, but I'd probably happily trade not-very-split hair for 53" of hair even if there were splits a way up the length ;) Besides S&D is oddly fun!!!
Heh! There is that! I'm not saying that I don't enjoy it, especially when the conditions are perfect, and it feels so much nicer after a big catch up session.