ready to grow

[ErinLeigh]

I have decided to actively pursue growing out my hair. This means stopping highlights or doing strictly bangs only.
I will keep roots only applications of dye as I do want to stay blonde.

Last year I grew from SL to somewhere in between APL/BSL with the trim schedule I have currently of trimmin/dusting every 6-8 weeks. I wonder if I can do less trimming and dusting and reach beyond that? Or at least get there faster? I wasn't trying to grow last year so I tracked nothing.

When you decided to grow out hair, did you stop trims completely or continue to dust? If so how often? Am I doing it too much? I don't get splits at this length usually so it is hard for me to gauge what needs taken off. I trimmed to prevent the splits. I am hesitant to see how long I can grow before splitting because I worry once hair splits it wont stop and will keep splitting and traveling. So, how does one figure out when to trim while trying to grow? Maybe time with Lunar calendar?

Any extra advice is welcome as well, or simply let me know Where were you last year compared to this year in terms of growth? i have never in my life chosen to grow out hair so this is unchartered territory for me.

[Firefox7275]

I also dye, don't currently have any trimming schedule just 'listen' to my hair - if the ends feel rough or look straggly I have cut them. I have mostly been maintaining and growing out old damage but the longest I went between trims without any splits was six months.

Dying accelerates the process of normal 'weathering' (everyday damage) so you and I will likely find the longer and older our hair gets the more frequent the dustings/ trims will need to be. As you probably know from my other posts I protect my lengths and ends from further damage with leave in conditioners and proven ingredients.

[ErinLeigh]

Do you have any recommended products that you prefer? Favorite conditioner and leave in currently?

[Firefox7275]

I'm currently using CURLS Coconut Sublime (basic no cones or protein, little coconut oil) or old formula Fructis Sleek & Shine (no cones, palm oil, has protein) as a leave in. In the summer I was using Schwarzkopf Gliss Ultimate Volume (no oil or cones, panthenol, protein) but I need less protein and a little oil in winter.

Have tried Elvive Full Restore 5 (protein, ceramides, palm oil, water soluble cone, lots of slip) but that left my waves too flat, better for straight hair IMO. Would like to try Scientific Essentials hair conditioner (18-MEA, protein, no cones) or Komaza Care Matani leave in (ceramides, protein, panthenol, no cones) but I can't get them in the UK. If I was into silicones I'd look at Redken Extreme (18-MEA, ceramides, protein, cone heavy).

[YamaMaya]

I have no clue what my growth rate is, but I've been actively "growing" my hair since 2008, but was held up by bleach damage that took me a whole year to slowly trim off. I also did regular dye jobs and hovered around APL for a year or two, then decided to stop all dye and grow virgin, I've been trimming around once every 3 months since 2010, and I really want to reach classic, so I'm going to try and cut it down to once every 6 months. I just recently discovered the joys of oil treatments and my hair has never been so healthy looking.

[ladylowtide]

I didn't trim for three years, or S&D. Would not recommend it, but I mean if you are taking care of your hair you shouldn't need to more than once or twice a year. Of course what your hair needs varies person to person, and by how damaged your ends are. Some people snip of splits whenever they see them, which is a good way keep your hair nice without loosing any visible length. I took a grow now, trim later approach, which ended up with me having to trim almost and inch off. I agree with the previous poster about "listening" to your hair. No one knows what your hair needs better than you do.

[ErinLeigh]

I'm currently using CURLS Coconut Sublime (basic no cones or protein, little coconut oil) or old formula Fructis Sleek & Shine (no cones, palm oil, has protein) as a leave in. In the summer I was using Schwarzkopf Gliss Ultimate Volume (no oil or cones, panthenol, protein) but I need less protein and a little oil in winter.

Have tried Elvive Full Restore 5 (protein, ceramides, palm oil, water soluble cone, lots of slip) but that left my waves too flat, better for straight hair IMO. Would like to try Scientific Essentials hair conditioner (18-MEA, protein, no cones) or Komaza Care Matani leave in (ceramides, protein, panthenol, no cones) but I can't get them in the UK. If I was into silicones I'd look at Redken Extreme (18-MEA, ceramides, protein, cone heavy).

yea! thanks!!

[ErinLeigh]

thanks for the advice guys. I think i am an over trimmer and need to just wait and see instead of the active cutting to soon I follow. When you are SL/CBL most of life you just fall into such a trimming routine anything else seemed odd. Just blindly make the salon trip every 6-8 weeks, needed or not. I am going to look and see what needs done instead of just doing it for the sake of doing it and see how that gets me as far as moving forward.

[walterSCAN]

I personally trim as seldom as possible. (Also, I don't have the time to be bothered with it anymore. *sigh* babies!)

If you want to see maximum growth, I'd advise not trimming until you actually see a split-- also, don't cut all of your hairs to get that one/ two/ three splits that you see. Just trim the split one/ do regular S&D. :) Scheduling S&Ds might help you control the urge to go get a trim, too.

Good luck growing!!

[DweamGoiL]

My last trim was in September. I decided to layer my hair then since at MBL, my hair was getting too heavy for my liking. Although my hair is fine, there is a lot of it. Before that, I had not had a haircut in about 2 years. By the time I had the trim last September, it was dry and I imagine there were splits everywhere. I didn't even bother to check to be perfectly honest. For the most part, I plan to trim every 6 months or so, but I also regularly S&D. Right now, I don't plan to grow past waist, but who knows, right? :)

[RancheroTheBee]

I was actively growing my hair when I first joined some years ago, and went from mid-ear to slightly below shoulder in a little over a year. I trimmed fairly frequently because I didn't understand that wurly hair tends to be dry and mistook the crunchiness for damage. When I was younger, I'd only trim my hair once a year, but I ironed daily and dyed my hair every three weeks, so my hair would be a mass of splits. I wouldn't recommend either of these routes, to be honest. One issue I always had was preemptively trimming my hair to "prevent split ends", but all I ended up doing was stalling my length and never discovering exactly how long I could go without trims when I was being more gentle with my hair.

My suggestion would be to monitor your ends in bright sunlight every few weeks, maybe against a dark fabric to see if you have any splits or white dots. I'm a big proponent of S&Ding and unless you're cutting out chemical and mechanical damage, as frequent trims and dusting might just be removing more growth than is strictly necessary. Splits aren't going to travel so far up the shaft that your hair will be unsalvagable if you just keep on top of it, but if you're constantly worried about damage you'll end up trimming out perfectly good hair all the time and never getting anywhere.