*Muffled Scream* Split ends are back already

[NormaJean]

Dang it. :rant: I'm a week post trim, and I've been SO GOOD about keeping my hair up in buns during the day and braided at night with oil in the ends.....

..... and just found a bunch of really nasty splits. A couple of those nasty ones that split like three or four ways and a bunch of smaller ones acting like velcro.

I wash once a week or less after a coconut oil soak to prevent swelling, I don't brush, I don't use heat, I don't bleach or dye, I condition, I oil, I've worn it up...

What else is a girl supposed to do? They don't feel dry or crunchy in any way.... it's just like they're totally unpreventable for me. Am I doomed to spending half my Saturday nights doing an S&D forever?

I did the catnip thing in the past but it just didn't seem to do anything one way or another. Are there any other split end preventatives I can add to all this?

(Drama enhanced for amusement purposes.)

[gustavonut]

Maybe keep your hair down more? (I never wear buns but then again I don't have long hair so ha...don't listen to me..)
And maybe you could be using the coconut oil too much? I heard that the proteins could dry hair out.
(Edit: About the trimming... Yes, I trim every time I see splits and/or dried ends. So I say go for it.)

[NormaJean]

I only use the coconut oil pre-wash. I use argan oil during the rest of the week.

Leaving it down more is a disaster waiting to happen - not just because of splits but because it tangles terribly if left to its own devices. :-P

[Larki]

I know the feeling, my hair is super fragile...nothing seems to help. I also use coconut oil as a pre-poo, don't use heat, have never dyed the hair currently on my head, I co-wash, I use a leave-in conditioner and I oil with jojoba and argan, I wear it up 90% of the time...

[gustavonut]

I only use the coconut oil pre-wash. I use argan oil during the rest of the week.

Leaving it down more is a disaster waiting to happen - not just because of splits but because it tangles terribly if left to its own devices. :-P

Ah.. I'm sorry to hear that.(it makes me wonder though...because I never wear my hair up.) but anyway, I heard using leave-ins and mineral oil helps. But I've never tried either..

[NormaJean]

I know the feeling, my hair is super fragile...nothing seems to help. I also use coconut oil as a pre-poo, don't use heat, have never dyed the hair currently on my head, I co-wash, I use a leave-in conditioner and I oil with jojoba and argan, I wear it up 90% of the time...

Let's drink wine and commiserate over our rebellious ends!

[Stray_mind]

Maybe you need something from inside? Try some vitamins or fish oil..

[NormaJean]

I don't think that would affect my ends - at least not for many years since it would only affect new growth, right?

But I do sporadically take a vitamin that I should be more consistent with, so thanks for that.

[ghost]

Yep, it happens to my hair, too...I think some splits just get missed during trims :/ I probably also need to sharpen my shears.

[Marika]

Can I join the party? No matter how much I baby my hair, the splits are always there (whether I trim or not). And "all things hair" has been my hobby since 1999. Believe me, I've tried everything in these past 15 years. I would probably have split ends even if I was bald! :D

ETA: I didn't get rid of split ends even when I had my hair cut from tbl to shoulder (in a hair salon), so trimming is not necessarily the answer if your hair is very split-prone.

[NormaJean]

Yes, please have some wine! And cheese!

I cut waist length hair off to chin and dyed it a GLORIOUS fire engine red and kept that for about a year in 2008. Then ended up basically shaving my head to get rid of the dye and have been letting it grow back ever since. It's been heat styled like five or six times since then and is in fabulous condition - except for those GD ends! They'll be the death of me!

[Phexlyn]

So it's just the ends, NormaJean? You don't have splits further up the length?
Count that as a good sign!

I'm not really sure what else you could do apart from keeping ends up and moisturized and trimming regularly. But if it's just the ends, you will be able to trim that off eventually. Some of us just have very fragile hair/ends :hugs:

[Wosie]

If you only can see splits where the scissors cut your hair, I'd take a good look at the scissors... Are they old? Still sharp? Are they hair cutting scissors or kitchen scissors (yup, I used to cut my hair with kitchen scissors for years...)?

[Cania]

If you only can see splits where the scissors cut your hair, I'd take a good look at the scissors... Are they old? Still sharp? Are they hair cutting scissors or kitchen scissors (yup, I used to cut my hair with kitchen scissors for years...)?

This is a great idea :)

Alternatively, do you have any dye damage, or old heat damage? It can take a while to battle that out. I used to have the same problem, keep wearing your hair up!
I know henna helped me a lot, if you don't like red you could do cassia. Catnip is great for split ends, too.

[Panth]

I agree. Firstly, check your scissors. Trimming with blunt scissors will cause more splits as you squash/tear the end of the hair off, rather than cleanly cutting it. You do not need expensive scissors, but you do need scissors that are exclusively used for hair. Also, cut at right angles to the hair shaft, not diagonally.

Otherwise, (especially if the splits are only at the ends, not throughout your length) it's likely to be something about that old hair. Measure the length, multiply it by your average growth rate and use that to figure out roughly when that bit of the hair was grown. Is it old dye/bleach/flat iron damage from a few years ago? Or did your body have a lot of stress, e.g. an illness, that year? Or was your diet poor then? As you can't mend hair, if you grew weaker hair then or have damaged it since, then you're stuck with that until it is all trimmed off.

Final possibility: how do you wear it up? What styles? What tools? And how did you wear it throughout the life of those ends?

[leilani]

Try to microdust the tiniest bit off when you trim. Like one weeks growth (1/8") and then do it again as soon as you see splits again, so they don't travel up your length at all. If you are devastated not to gain length then try to dust (1/16") weekly if that's even possible, or then wait two full weeks and take the 1/8". And with insanely sharp shears you use for nothing else.

[Larki]

I hate to hijack, but what does it mean if some of the splits do travel farther up the hair? Most of mine stay at the ends, like the last inch or so, but some of them split multiple times as far as 2-3 inches up the hair shaft. I assumed it just meant I had left that particular split too long and it continued to get damaged.

[NormaJean]

I am not a self trimmer. I get my hair trimmed once a year by a stylist. My s & d scissors are good quality and never used for anything else.

There is absolutely no bleach/dye/heat damage. It is 100% virgin hair that has had heat used on it only at the once a year appointment and at my wedding.

I braid and bun. Not too tightly. No metal anything has ever been put in it outside of the odd Bobby pin and spin pins.

It really is quite healthy and cared for properly. I thought that maybe it might be weakness from being at the point where the ends of my braids ate bound, but I'm fairly sure I had more than that trimmed off.

I wonder if it might be related to the size of the individual hairs. Does anybody know if coarser hair is more/less likely to split?

[Panth]

I think coarse hair is generally more resilient, including to splits.

Do you / have you ever done harsh manipulation/styling, e.g. lots of backcombing?

Do you / did you have a period of illness or poor nutrition that could result in growing less strong hair?

[NormaJean]

Nope to both. My hair has just always been prone to splits.

[Cania]

Have you tried catnip treatments? It's supposed to be a bit of a miracle cure for splits, even in healthy hair.

[Adiro]

Cania, where can I learn more about catnip tretments? I never heard of it before.

As far as I know catnip is a herb? I do have a cat and catnip filled cattoys, but is it the same plant?

PS- sorry if I am interfering with the main poster, I have the same problem, my splits just "happen" no matter how good care I take of my hair...

[Larki]

Cania, where can I learn more about catnip tretments? I never heard of it before.

As far as I know catnip is a herb? I do have a cat and catnip filled cattoys, but is it the same plant?

PS- sorry if I am interfering with the main poster, I have the same problem, my splits just "happen" no matter how good care I take of my hair...
Catnip thread: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=476

[NormaJean]

I noted my experience with catnip in the op.

It didn't do anything.

[spidermom]

If you have past damage, it can take a long time to grow it out and cut all the damage away. Even then, I used to have hundreds of split ends every time I looked, even immediately after a trim.

I used to think that oil was the best thing for my hair, but I learned last year that a coney serum was much more protective. Even after clarifying now, I have a hard time finding even one split end. I still use coconut oil for an overnight pre-wash treatment when I remember; I think my hair does benefit in terms of silkiness and shine. I clarify once every other month or even every third month. Buildup takes a long time to become apparent on my hair.

[Quahatundightu]

People have given some great advice, hopefully you can figure out something that helps. You might need to try trimming more often, even if they are microtrims. Once a year might not be enough for you, even with S&D. Personally I found that microtrims made a huge difference while S&D never seemed to help the amount of splits I had. It could be due to the fact that an even hemline caused fewer split on me as compared to individual hairs being snipped at different lengths, I'm not sure, but it's something you could try.