Let's Find Out the Truth! - Does Trimming Make Your Hair Grow Faster - THE EXPERIMENT

[gogirlanime]

I have not trimmed my hair since August 2011. I started wearing it in a braided bun. In March
2012 it was to my hips. It grew four inches. After not growing for two years.

You protected it, that's why it grew better. We are here to study one thing specifically: does trimming make your hair grow faster, does cutting your hair "send a signal" to your scalp to make it want to grow faster that is what we are testing. Not does trimming protect your hair and keep it healthy so it can grow long but does the process of trimming actually increase your growth rate.

[shutterpillar]

I am very interested in seeing these results!

I think I need to suggest this for a Mythbusters show. :P

[dwell_in_safety]

Thank you for joining in!!

So your timeline will be this:

June 1st - measure
July 1st - measure / trim
August 1st - measure
September 1st - measure ?

Yep! I may actually measure through November 1, which is a month after my next trim, just to be absolutely sure.

[heidi w.]

For such an experiment to work, one must create a control. Such as one half of the hair needs to not be trimmed at all.

I one time just tried the trimming idea of every 8 weeks, for around 6-8 months, and with this rate of trimming a half inch, I proved to myself at least that my hair simply didn't grow much. So that frequent trimming wasn't helpful

Hair doesn't grow from the ends; it grows from the root. What trimming does do is maintain the health of the oldest hair. My then hairdresser believed that trimming hair made it grow faster; we would do a measurement before and after every trim, and we both learned that hair didn't grow better or a lot from trimming. In my case, we figured out my hair pretty much didn't grow a whole lot anymore. So I stopped before too much length was shorn.

The hairdresser was surprised.

But we didn't have a control group and my hair was just before knee length then.

heidi w.

[gogirlanime]

For such an experiment to work, one must create a control. Such as one half of the hair needs to not be trimmed at all.

I one time just tried the trimming idea of every 8 weeks, for around 6-8 months, and with this rate of trimming a half inch, I proved to myself at least that my hair simply didn't grow much. So that frequent trimming wasn't helpful

Hair doesn't grow from the ends; it grows from the root. What trimming does do is maintain the health of the oldest hair. My then hairdresser believed that trimming hair made it grow faster; we would do a measurement before and after every trim, and we both learned that hair didn't grow better or a lot from trimming. In my case, we figured out my hair pretty much didn't grow a whole lot anymore. So I stopped before too much length was shorn.

The hairdresser was surprised.

But we didn't have a control group and my hair was just before knee length then.

heidi w.

Interesting... although does each hair work as a single unit is the next question. Because you could trim one side but it could trigger all your hair to want to grow faster... This experiment isn't 100% perfect because we aren't scientists or have a lab but I think where it is we should get 95% accurate results.

Yeah, I believe too that trimming does not trigger faster growth but it does help get rid of damage so your hair can grow longer. I'm glad you stopped. I am still getting rid of a lot of damage but as soon as that damage is gone I will only be doing small trims once or twice a year

[gogirlanime]

I am very interested in seeing these results!

I think I need to suggest this for a Mythbusters show. :P

Yes, that would be awesome and funny, although, they might not because it would take so long.

[auburntressed]

All right, then. Because I am curious, and because I would like to do my part to help out with this - I shall join. And I may as well, because this schedule of no trim/trim/no trim fits my plan of a small trim every two months.

A summary of your hair routine / things you do for your hair:
- Scalp oil and massage two to three times a week before bed/wash.
- Vitamins daily
- Fruit and veggie heavy diet
- Washing every other day
- ACV rinse after each wash
- satin pillows and sleep braid
- hair is pinned up 90% of the time, and typically in a braid the other 10% that it's not exactly pinned to my head
- BBB each day
- use a tangle teezer or a bone comb to detangle, and only detangle when dry or mostly dry (if I have to leave for work in a hurry)
- S&D whenever the moon is waxing, stay away from scissors when the moon wanes (regardless of sign)

What is your current hair length?
35" I think. I measured tonight, but I'm not 100% sure the result is accurate.

What day are you starting? (example the 15th of every month)
May 19
So... May 19/measure - 92 cm.
June 19/measure&trim
July19/measure
UPDATE:
May 19 - 92 cm.

UPDATE: June 19 - 91 cm. So I have apparently lost length. My braid was compromised, so I had to measure root growth. Based on this, my root growth shows my hair has grown a smidgen over 1cm in length. However, I have clearly lost length overall. I do wear my hair up all the time, and I oil my tassels before securing my up-do's. It is pretty disheartening. But then, I've been stuck at this length for about four months now; and my ends aren't fairytaling. Clearly I am losing to breakage, but no breakage is apparent. I really don't know what to do other than to start a regimen of constant trimming?

Anyways, the end length for June 19 was 90 cm. I trimmed precisely 1cm using a creaclip.

UPDATE: July 19 - 92 cm, I think. My root growth showed just a smidgen over 1 cm of growth - basically the exact same spot as last month's. Logically, it is impossible for me to gain two centimeters of growth in length when there is only one centimeter of root growth. It really makes zero sense, period. In any case, it seems to me that trimming has no effect on my root growth whatsoever. It probably does help me retain length before it breaks off, though.

Now that I have concluded the experiment for myself, I plan to do very tiny microtrims each month when ever I get a decent sign in a new/freshly waxing moon. So that means I'll be cutting on the 26th, when the moon goes into Scorpio. And by "tiny," I really do mean less than a centimeter - possibly less than half of a centimeter. Just enough to get the good ole placebo going. Plus S&D.



I chose centimeters instead of inches because centimeters are smaller - so hopefully easier to measure minute increases in growth.

What do you currently believe that it does or doesn't make your hair grow faster?
I do not think it does, no.

What type of trim are you going to be doing, a micro or regular, about what length of a trim?
Micro, hopefully - I plan to cut between 1/4 and 1/2 inch. And I am hoping I'll have gotten a creaclip by then!

When was the last time you trimmed?
My last trim was April 21 - new moon in Taurus.

[Merlin]

You do this a whole lot easier with your nails - does trimming them make them grow faster? They're both fundamentally dead tissue which grows from the base so they're broadly similar, and nails would be a hell of a lot easier to measure accurately!

[Mesmerise]

You do this a whole lot easier with your nails - does trimming them make them grow faster? They're both fundamentally dead tissue which grows from the base so they're broadly similar, and nails would be a hell of a lot easier to measure accurately!

Well... that's a good point. But nails and hair don't often behave the same (for example some people have hair that grows fast and nails that grow slow, and vice versa).

That being said, I'm pretty much certain that trimming nails has absolutely no effect on their growth. I think the same about hair too!! However there is that "trimming by the moon" thing that people swear by (so when I do trim, I trim by the moon in case it helps ).

However, I can think of no biological reason why hair would grow faster after a trim.

[Madora]

Other factors that influence growth:

diet and exercise...not to mention genetics!