I'm not sure whether I should cut my fried ends, I need advice!

[tee11]

I have 2B, fine, waist length hair. Here are some pics (albeit about 4 months old, but they're the only ones I have as my camera's broken):

http://i.imgur.com/VZjroqz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/089v0SD.jpg

Currently, the top 4 inches of my hair have never been colored or straightened. The rest of my hair has been bleached to platinum (I have light brown hair naturally) and blowdried and straightened daily. However, I was taking pretty decent care of my hair otherwise, so it isn't too terribly damaged. But, the last 2~ inches, as you can probably tell, are dry and frizzy. That hair was dyed dark brown, then bleached to platinum (without using color stripper), and now dyed to light brown - so it's been through a lot.

I get a fair amount of split ends but I search & destroy on a regular basis. I'm not sure what to do because I don't want to lose length, however, my ends are not the greatest looking (especially if I don't style them) and I'm worried about the possibility of damage traveling further up my hair strands (not sure if that's actually true, I've just heard it on Youtube videos).

Any advice/helpful anecdotes that might help me decide whether to cut or not, are greatly appreciated!

[cathair]

From what I understand, split ends 'travel' when hair gets wet. When hair gets wet, it takes up water which makes it expand, this stretches the cuticle of the hair further, which makes the split larger. The best thing you can do to protect again that is soak your hair in coconut oil before it gets wet. Because it penetrates the hair it has a sort of waterproofing effect.

Coconut oil is also supposed to be good for bleached hair too I think? (for a number of reasons that I can't remember sorry, I don't have bleached hair so they doesn't stick in my mind).

I couldn't guess if you needed to trim or not. You hair looks nice in the pictures :) but I guess it depends how you feel about it and whether you feel like babying them is worth the effort. I'm a big fan of S&D but other people find it very tedious.

[MINAKO]

I would cut the two inches and keep the ends in a protective style often. Oiling or using a serum sure does help, as well as something like a protein rich leave in does for me.

[blace]

I would cut the bottom two and just be done with it. And yes, damage will travel up the strand! Your hair is beautiful now but I think that you will probably much happier in the long run if you trim the ends up now.

[katieing]

I also had fried and fuzzy looking ends a few months ago. The last three inches of my hair were a completely different color from the rest of my hair just from being straightened (I have never dyed my hair). Instead of trying to baby the ends to avoid losing length, I just cut off the last three inches of my hair. Leaving it alone will just eventually make it worse, and it is a good idea to start fresh. Like others have said, split ends just get longer up your strand, there isn't much you can do to "repair" them. Your hair is absolutely lovely by the way :)

[tee11]

Thanks everyone for all the kind words! :) That put a big smile on my face. And based on your advice I'm quite sure I'm going to cut it. It will grow back after all!

[tee11]

And yeah cathair I agree! I forgot to mention I've been using coconut oil for about a year now, it's worked wonders on most of my hair! Also, I can't beat the fact that a 7$ jar has lasted me over a year :D Unfortunately these dead ends seem to be resistant to just about anything, so, I guess their time has come >.<

[blace]

I wish that you could be my client! I never cut off more than people wish for. Good luck with your trim. Are you planning on doing it yourself?

[tee11]

I wish that you could be my client! I never cut off more than people wish for. Good luck with your trim. Are you planning on doing it yourself?


I wish that you could be my client! I never cut off more than people wish for. Good luck with your trim. Are you planning on doing it yourself?

Thanks blace! If you don't cut off more than than the client wants.. I wish I could be your client! also :P Yes I'm going to do it myself, for the exact reason you somewhat predicted, hairdressers always take too much off :/ I haven't had a hairdresser cut my hair in 4 years for that reason, it's too bad because I used to have a great hairdresser but I had to move due to my work so I'm on my own now! I'd like to get rid of my shabby ends myself, then go for a proper haircut afterwards to shape my hair nicely and such :)

[tee11]

Sorry for the double quote, I'm somewhat new to this

[Sparklylady82]

Beautiful hair! I think just a couple inch trim might make you feel better and it will be thicker at the bottom. Either way it is pretty :-)

[QMacrocarpa]

If you're self-trimming, I'd start smaller than 2". It's easy to go back and trim just a bit more if you need to. With my split- and breakage-prone hair (that never gets S&D'd) I find that a very small trim (under 1/2") can make a big difference in how my ends behave.

[queenovnight]

If I were you, I would just cut the 2 inches. 2" really isn't that much anyways, and your hair will be happy for it!


Also, I personally did have chemically damaged hair, and the best thing I did was cut off the worst of it. As katieing said, leaving it be will make it worse in the long run.

[lapushka]

But, the last 2~ inches, as you can probably tell, are dry and frizzy. That hair was dyed dark brown, then bleached to platinum (without using color stripper), and now dyed to light brown - so it's been through a lot.

I get a fair amount of split ends but I search & destroy on a regular basis. I'm not sure what to do because I don't want to lose length, however, my ends are not the greatest looking (especially if I don't style them) and I'm worried about the possibility of damage traveling further up my hair strands (not sure if that's actually true, I've just heard it on Youtube videos).

Any advice/helpful anecdotes that might help me decide whether to cut or not, are greatly appreciated!

You might try the LOC method for styling them, it's great at keeping moisture in your ends and taking care of them so as they don't end up "crunchy" and dry. The link to the method is in my signature. Remember less is more. You don't need to use much of each product, and the gel/styling cream at the very end is (probably) optional.

[Firefox7275]

Truly fried ends (little to no protective cuticle, splits/ white dots) are unsalvageable, they will not only split up the shaft but can also tangle on healthier hair damaging that. Any hair that is just somewhat damaged may often be held onto with hydrolysed protein treatments, leave in conditioner and/ or penetrating oils (coconut is king but try sweet almond or argan if you can't get on with it).

And don't forget protective styles, up dos with ends tucked as much as possible.