A possible trimming experiment.

[Shelly]

Here is a picture that I just had taken. It's not a very good pic but it'll have to do. A huge trim for me is about 2". In the pic, the chain is tailbone and the top of the shorts is the actual length. Here's another one just because I can.



The ends don't look as bad as I thought so I'm extremely happy about that.

[Lollipop]

Everybody has a trimming schedule that works for them. I am approaching the 13 month mark right now with no trims. I've tried to S&D several times; I sat by my window and sectioned my hair and looked through the length. After about 30 minutes I give up since I can't find any split ends. In my entire life, I have only found one split end, and that was when I occasionally flat ironed and washed my hair daily with a SLS shampoo (and no condiitoner). I probably had a few more, since I didn't examine my hair as diligently, but none of my friends managed to find splits back then either. I have a solid 1/2 a month growth rate, and have managed to keep every inch. When I take my hair down, the bottom still has the same layered shape from when I last got it cut. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that my front, face-framing pieces are grown out, my hair would look pretty much like my very first cut at a salon that does the "deva cut". My last cut was at the salon but a shorter version. So, in over a year of no trimming, my hair has no splits, no damage, and has managed to retain the same layered shape, without adding any noticeable taper. Considering it is still fairly short, some people may not be very impressed, however this just goes to show that not everybody needs to trim several times a year. In fact, I have never had my hair trimmed. I always go to get it cut, and never get less than 4 inches taken off.

So, to the OP, you should do whatever you feel comfortable with. If you have never gone this long without a trim, I suggest you use discretion. If you find that your hair is starting to split more, and that the splits are traveling, get it trimmed. It really would be a shame that after a year, you have to trim back to where you started. I wish you luck.

[celebriangel]

Why do you want to do this? In my experience, most hairtypes thrive on at lease semi-regular trims. As an F-hair, your hair needs more delicate treatment and most Fs I've seen see regular microtrims as a must.

What I would do is trim off the first inch of invisible ends, then wait a few months until you've regained the lost length, then trim the remaining inch. At that point, your ends should be less see-through and more blunt. Then...well, I would just monitor your ends for signs of damage, and trim it off.

I'm an F, too (just with some M hairs) and my hair is quite strong, so my last trim was 6 months ago and I don't see evidence that I need a new one yet. However, when I begin to see that a significant percentage of my ends are split, or getting see-through, I will trim them. In the long run, for me, leaving too many split ends makes me feel unhappy with my hair, and trimming off the final half inch that looks ragged prevents me being left with inches of ends that I don't like and don't want to trim.

YMMV, though.

ETA: OP, you say your hair is 3a, but it is straight in the pic. Did you straighten it especially? If you do this often that could explain some of your taper.

[spidermom]

Well Pinchbeck, I used to have before/after pictures of my no-trim years, but I guess I deleted them out of photobucket. Bummer!

And Shelly, one good thing about trimming is that it holds back the fastest growing hairs a bit so that slower-growing hairs have a chance to catch up and make for thicker ends. The longer that you don't trim, the thinner those ends are going to get. Some of us have hairs that grow at a uniform rate, but others have hairs that grow twice as fast (more or less) than other hairs. I have a few hairs on the right side that are sometimes nearly 2 inches longer than anything else when I go in for a trim at 4 months.

[Panth]

Why do you want to do this? In my experience, most hairtypes thrive on at lease semi-regular trims. As an F-hair, your hair needs more delicate treatment and most Fs I've seen see regular microtrims as a must.

Hmm, just to counter this, I'm an F and I've just gone a no-trim S&D-only stint for (I think) 12 months. Might have been 10 months. Anyway, I've had 10" of growth in that time, and that's from TB to thigh. However, I've also been an up-do every day person ever since that last trim. S&Ds were, I'd say, sporadic, rather half-arsed and maybe every 3-5 months.

My hair is not in the best of condition, having been worn loose about 4-5 days out of 7 for the previous ... oh, 9 years or so. Maybe more like 11 years, since my last big chop. Also, when it wasn't loose, it was in an english plait worn hanging-free, which is not terribly protective for my hairtype.

I'm currently doing a 2 year sprint to knee (S&D only, unless anything goes terribly wrong). I'm then planning on maintaining (a la Cinnamonhair), at least until I get rid of my aged face-framing layers which are currently give me quite a marked U-shape, with the edges 6-7" shorter than the middle.

So, while F-haired people do need to be more careful about damage it doesn't hold out that they can't do fairly long stints without trimming - they just may need a bit of extra care (e.g. the updos, and my coconut oil habit).

[Shelly]

OP, you say your hair is 3a, but it is straight in the pic. Did you straighten it especially? If you do this often that could explain some of your taper.

No, I don't straighten my hair at all. The reason it looks straight is because even finger combing makes it look straight. Here is a pic of my 100% natural hair.



All the curl comes out when I comb it or anything else.

[Panth]

Here is a picture that I just had taken. It's not a very good pic but it'll have to do. A huge trim for me is about 2". In the pic, the chain is tailbone and the top of the shorts is the actual length. Here's another one just because I can.
The ends don't look as bad as I thought so I'm extremely happy about that.

What you've got going on there is (slightly extreme) fairytale ends - that is, ends that taper, plus form a U-shaped hemline, but created by damage/growth-patterns rather than purposeful cutting/thinning.

Now, if you don't like how they look and want a thicker hemline you have a couple of options:

1) You could cut back to a level that is thicker. However, you would probably loose a lot of length doing that and you might not want that.

2) You could maintain your hair length (i.e. cut back to the same length every month) until you get the desired thickness, then reduce the trimming (either amount or how often you trim) to enable length-gain.

3) You could continue trimming, but trim more often or trim a greater amount per trim (however, not enough to cause a maintenance of length).

4) You could continue trimming as you are, but try other methods to reduce taper by reducing damage, e.g. wearing updos more often, trying a more gentle washing routine, trying a more gentle combing/detangling routine.

[islandboo]

Hmm - I have a pronounced taper, but I think it is just the way my hair grows. My shed hairs tend to be all lengths, and only about 10% of them are at or close to my full length. Many of them are under 10", which is 1/3 of my total length. I have considered doing a big chop back to where my hair is thicker but I don't think it would do me any good because as the hair grows out I will continue to lose thickness from shedding shorter hairs. So I am trying the no-trim route to see how it goes. I do baby my hair with frequent DTs and keeping it up, as well as protecting it at night. I also S&D and because my hair is on the thin side, I am able to S&D pretty much every hair on my head. It takes a couple hours, but it is do-able. So I am hopeful this will work. I am keeping close tabs on the ends, though. And will go ahead and trim if they start looking worse for wear. So far, so good, though.

[Shelly]

Ok, since I have "fairytail" ends, the trimming I do just keeps them in more of a "U" shape rather than a "V" shape. So if I continue my current trim schedule it will change the look of the ends but it'll take a long long time if ever. I'm good with that. Yes, I do need a trim but not that much of one. I just never really considered my ends as being "fairytail" ends. Now that I do know that, it changes everything. I'm glad I consult my "Long Hair Family" before doing anything like that. I never have been very good at analyzing my own hair when it comes to things like that. Like I mentioned earlier after seeing the pics, my ends don't look as bad as I thought.

[Fairlight63]

I shed a lot of hair & my hair ends was getting really thin also. The hair that I shed is all different lengths.
What I have been doing this year is trimming about 1/4" off every month. That is helping to thicken up the ends without losing a lot of length. I am still gaining 1/2" growth a month & the ends stay in good condition.
I wear my hair up all of them time - either in a bun or in a braid.