A Question for Non Trimmers

[lunalocks]

It has been over a year since I last micro trimmed. I do S and D. Last night I made a discovery. I noticed that I have quite a crop of virgin ended hairs creeping down and not a one has a split end! The splits, few as I have, are ALL on ends that have been snipped. How can I tell? The virgin ends have a fairly long tapir until they end at a point whereas the other ends are thick right to the beginning of the split, even a tiny beginning one.

Has anyone else noticed this?

[Hopeful65]

I have been wondering about this myself for quite some time. I never get splits, and I attribute it to this theory.
The only cut ends I have are the very ends of my blunt cut hemline, which gets a monthly trim. And the other shorter hairs throughout are ones with uncut natural tips.
As fine as my hair is, I can tell the difference between the cut and uncut ends.

[Wosie]

Well, most of my uncut ends do stay split free, but I happen to find splits every now and then on them too... just not as often as on the blunt ones (maybe due to breakage?). :hmm: I can't remember ever having found split ends on my longest (cut) hairs, though, virtually all of my splits are randomly in my lengths.

[mica]

Maybe you are using dull scissors? I began S&D more than a year after my last trim, and it seemed split ends just kept coming. Changed to a sharp pair of scissors that I use for my hair only, problem solved.

[Ingrid]

My split ends are also in the lengths of my hair, and they're largely from dye damage. Both my trimmed and non-trimmed hairs never seem to have splits.

[LadyCelestina]

It was discussed somewhere that tapered hair is stronger than cut hair for some common sense reason,but I'm not sure what and why it was.

[lunalocks]

Thank you all for your replies.

It does seem the tapered ends are stronger that the snipped ones. seems like there is some enclosed protection that is broken when the hair is cut.

Mica, I have extremely sharp, profession hair scissors that are used exclusively for s and d.

This strengthens my resolve to not trim for another year, just s and d the splits and see what happens. Hoping to be at classic by that time.

[mica]

It was discussed somewhere that tapered hair is stronger than cut hair for some common sense reason,but I'm not sure what and why it was.



Thank you all for your replies.

It does seem the tapered ends are stronger that the snipped ones. seems like there is some enclosed protection that is broken when the hair is cut.

Mica, I have extremely sharp, profession hair scissors that are used exclusively for s and d.

This strengthens my resolve to not trim for another year, just s and d the splits and see what happens. Hoping to be at classic by that time.

I haven't found an actual article that talks about this, but by common sense and pictures I've seen (like these (http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2011/10/hair-under-microscope-hair-ends-damage.html)) I'd say that by cutting the hair, no matter how sharp the scissors are, the cortex and medulla of the hair becomes exposed, while hair that has never been cut is covered by the cuticle all over. That of course doesn't mean it can't get damaged, but it seems it would make sense to leave it alone unless it gets split.

[cathair]

I'm inclined to think that tapered ends are stronger. I don't find many white dots higher up in my hair, I think they are usually near the very ends.

But I can't be sure because, A) I cannot yet tell if my cut ends re-split because I am growing out damage still, even after 3 years or so of not using heat and and I don't have any cut ends higher up to compare them too. B) some of my tapered ends (I am guessing) are much higher up. I can't move them far enough away from my head to see them, so I wouldn't honestly know if they are split or not. I have never seen a split in the baby hair around my face.

[lunalocks]

Mica, those are great pictures. Fascinating! I used to think that pointed ends were "weathered" as she describes them, but now I believe that this is just what a brand new hair end looks like. Believe me, these hairs on my head with tapered ends are not "weathered". This is virgin hair - no chemicals, no dye. I have not used heat in more than 3 years and I wear it up every day.

What a novel idea, that trimming can MAKE hair more susceptible to splits (at least the virgin ones).

[Anje]

I've gone a while without trimming and notice this too, mostly. However, the tapered ends tend to be kinda curled on me (more so than the rest of my hair) and knot easily.