Splits outrunning trims?

[Knifegill]

I have two goals! I want to grow as near to terminal as I can, but I also want a clean, blunt-ish cut most of the way. I've only been growing for a year, my hair is touching my shoulder blades. I don't have time to seek and destroy. I've been doing one pony-tail style trim every six months, taking off a triangular shape that is about 1/2" at it's peak and then shorter around it. I have front hair that hasn't caught up and hasn't been trimmed at all.

Will benign neglect "always up" hair care be enough to prevent any splitting from outrunning my trims?

Will my trims ever catch up to the shorter wave of hair from the front of my head?

Am I doomed for a big chop at waist to get a blunter hemline, and thus terminal is truly not an option?

Do I have to abandon my desire for a blunt hemline to truly ever reach terminal or will a year of no-trim make up for all the tiny trims I did along the way?

[gthlvrmx]

To reach a true terminal, you would have to not trim as much. True terminal has more fairytale ends than a blunt cut. Always having your hair up will help protect the ends from damage, which is good for terminal growers. Your trims eventually will catch up to the shorter way of hair in the front. The more you chop off your hair, the less length you will have when your hairs reach "terminal time" (so when they shed out). You can't really make up for all the trims you have had. Each hair has a set time for when they will shed out. Some shed out in 1 year, others shed out after 7 years.

[Arctic]

"Will benign neglect "always up" hair care be enough to prevent any splitting from outrunning my trims?"

I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean by this, can you open it a bit? (Non-native speaker alert!)


The hair at the front might have shorter terminal length, or it might have naturally slower growth rate, or it might get more wear and tear (ponytail damage?) than rest of your hair. They might have different curl pattern which makes them seem shorter.

If you want blunt hemline, I think the best approach is regular small trims (though I'm sure not everyone will agree). If your front hair grows slower than the rest, you will need to maintain at some point (keep trimming the bulk of your hair/hemline, while letting the shorter ones to catch up). The bigger trim you mentioned is one option too, but then the same might happen again: the fastest growing bulk will gallop ahead while the sides/front hair will be growing slower.

But on the other hand, if you want to grow to terminal, then trimming as little as possible would be ideal. The longest hair will stop growing themselves, shed and the shorter ones will have a change to catch up the hemline. If your terminal would be, say, floor, and you would be satisfies with, say knee length hair as a compromise between true terminal and blunter hemline, then trimming as you grow will be logical. But if your terminal is much much shorter, say waist length, you might want to give the hairs a change to gain as much length as they can, so trimming little to non might be logical.

As for splits, they can happen for multiple reasons, sometimes seems that even with best of care some people just have hair that splits easily.

PS. I don't S&D either (this time around), but I sometimes do the "twist my hairs into thin strands and snip the ones that stick out". This seems to work well for me. I don't have splits at the moment that I'm aware of and my hair doesn't seem to split easily, but my ends get rough feeling, gets some sharp bends and some fairy knots, and trimming the sticking out hairs helps. This twisting method always makes my hair feel really nice, as it catches lot of those hairs that wouldn't get trimmed if I cut from hemline only. I have quite a few hairs sticking out, mostly my coarse strands. Some people say only damaged hairs stick out - I don't agree with that, but never the less I like what this method does for my hair.

[cat11]

I think that It will catch up (Im doing roughly the same thing- trimming every six months to get blunt hem- and the shorter pieces are slowly but surely catching up.. I occasionaly just barely dust them to make sure they don't get so frayed they slow in growth

[Knifegill]

Thanks, everybody!


"Will benign neglect "always up" hair care be enough to prevent any splitting from outrunning my trims?"


I just mean, will the splits move up my hair faster than it grows, and faster than the trims will eliminate said splitting. It's a race, and if you can trim the splits off before they get too long, then your hair stays solid and you can save it. If the splits travel faster than the trims, then the hair will lose, and become a mess. That's the least subtle scenario, anyway. In reality I know that many hairs never split, etc. So by never wearing my hair down, and never getting split ends, I think I can catch all my hairs up to the same length without any real "losses" from splits. But my hair grows pretty fast, I don't know if I should even pursue a blunt hemline or just always keep it up and go for messy long V hair.

[yogagirl]

It's impossible to say really, without knowing if your hair tends to split. My hair barely ever splits. I hadn't cut it in 8 months or so (before my trim last week) and I saw maybe 3 splits in those 8 months. From what I read here though, many others aren't as lucky even if they take many precautions, so it really is highly dependent on your hair.

Do you have any splits right now?

[Knifegill]

I have never known how to see split ends. I just have to assume they are happening. I just literally can't find any.

[meteor]

I just mean, will the splits move up my hair faster than it grows, and faster than the trims will eliminate said splitting. It's a race, and if you can trim the splits off before they get too long, then your hair stays solid and you can save it. If the splits travel faster than the trims, then the hair will lose, and become a mess. That's the least subtle scenario, anyway. In reality I know that many hairs never split, etc. So by never wearing my hair down, and never getting split ends, I think I can catch all my hairs up to the same length without any real "losses" from splits. But my hair grows pretty fast, I don't know if I should even pursue a blunt hemline or just always keep it up and go for messy long V hair.


I have never known how to see split ends. I just have to assume they are happening. I just literally can't find any.

:D I wouldn't worry about it. :flower: It's very likely that you have no split ends. I guess it's hard to tell if one has never had them before.

I wanted to reassure you a bit: it's not necessarily a "race", as in, for example, hair grows at ~ 0.5'' a month (it does) but splits at ~ 0.1'' a month (it doesn't) = so length retention is 0.4''. While hair growth is somewhat constant (with fluctuations) and almost impossible to change, hair splitting doesn't have to happen at all as it depends on how you treat hair to a large extent! :D
It all depends on how robust or fragile your hair naturally is (esp. individual hair strand thickness and texture) and how exactly you treat it (cumulative damage). So while with really bad treatment (rough handling, chemical processing, heat treatment, etc) you can get more inches of breakage and splitting than actual growth gain, with gentle treatment and care and minimal manipulation, you can get zero splits on that same hair so length retention can equal growth in an ideal scenario. HTH! :flower:

[yogagirl]

I agree with meteor, don't worry about it. If you've never seen any, you probably don't have many if any at all! Lucky :thumbsup:

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I would say the if you can't see any, you probably don't have any. Keep treating your hair gently and keep it happy and it should reward you.

[Knifegill]

Okay! Thanks everybody. :D

[Knifegill]

I finally shed a few hairs, so I went through the brush looking for split ends and, there were a few ends that looked wiry and worn, but - as y'all supposed - no splits.

[missrandie]

So, I know this is off topic, but....

BRUTAL avatar ;) loving Nathan Explosion!

[alexis917]

So, I know this is off topic, but....

BRUTAL avatar ;) loving Nathan Explosion!

That's doable.

[ghost]

There are a lot of people who can get away with trimming just once or twice a year, without really having to worry about split ends in between. Mainly it depends on how sturdy your hair is naturally, and what you do (or rather don't do) to it in terms of damage. There's a couple girls I follow on tumblr who have knee length or longer hair, never been dyed, and they each claim they only trim once a year. Their hair looks stunningly healthy and the ends might not be perfectly blunt, but they're still pretty thick. For someone like me, with fine, dyed hair that needs a lot of moisture...I find myself having to trim a little every 8 weeks to keep a tidyish hemline. It just depends. All my guy friends with long hair grow it like weeds and their only tip is "I never remember to cut it."

Also: I see your Nathan Explosion avatar! :rockerdud I love Metalocalypse, haha.

[Knifegill]

Yay for Metalocalypse love!

Yes, I do nothing to my hair except wash and attempt to nourish it, so maybe once-a-year is possible!

[Gertrude]

If you have fragile hair you tend to know it (-; My 7 year old daughter has thick hair and she can go without trims for months and months based on split ends. She does have it trimmed at her request as she doesn't like " old ends " which translates to a fairy tale hemline. She likes blunt ends. But there are no splits.

My hair splits a lot at the very front where I have hair with very little pigment, see through blonde like I was as a toddler, and that hair doesn't grow very long either. The rest, even though I never use heat, wear it up a lot and generally care very well for it, begins the split at the very ends between 10 and 12 weeks after a dusting trim. Or a chopping trim. It's just the end of the story. Sorry, couldn't resist. My hair grows 1cm a month so slightly less than half an inch, and I need five 1.4 inch trims with S&Ds a year, so I don't gain length fast but I am happy.

When I didn't look after my hair well, and blow dried it and let the ends hang loose in summer, I got spectacular splitting and breakage. My very dear friend has thick dark hair, which she bleaches platinum, and she doesn't have breakage or many split ends. My hair would disintegrate if I bleached it. Ask me how I know. Sun-in age 16 (-:

[meteor]

^ Great post, Gertrude! It really highlights how YMMV applies to some hair practices/treatment.


When I didn't look after my hair well, and blow dried it and let the ends hang loose in summer, I got spectacular splitting and breakage. My very dear friend has thick dark hair, which she bleaches platinum, and she doesn't have breakage or many split ends. My hair would disintegrate if I bleached it. Ask me how I know. Sun-in age 16 (-:

Yes, it's really, really important to know your hair's personal "tipping point" so to speak, if you do anything to hair other than just leave it alone. For me personally, it was a combination of highlights and ripping bad brush through wet hair and washing a lot with harsh shampoo (without conditioner). Once the brushing and overwashing stopped, I never got splits/white dots again despite having highlights and going without trims for as long as I want to (couple years at a time). But other people can bleach & heat-style and the hair is OK, while others may need to baby it to prevent splits. Damage is still damage, and virgin hair will always have better shine/flexibility/resilience/strength, but some hair can survive more.
For anything damaging, I've heard the saying that goes: you can select one hair sin (say bleach or heat-styling or something), but only one... Don't pile up damage on top of damage. I would say that for some hairtypes, all damaging practices may need to be avoided, if the hair is that fine and fragile and you want it very long... It's all about knowing your hair and what it can and can't take.

[Panth]

For anything damaging, I've heard the saying that goes: you can select one hair sin (say bleach or heat-styling or something), but only one... Don't pile up damage on top of damage. I would say that for some hairtypes, all damaging practices may need to be avoided, if the hair is that fine and fragile and you want it very long... It's all about knowing your hair and what it can and can't take.

I pretty much agree with this. Though, of course, there are plenty of people who can get away with more than one "sin" - it's still a good rule of thumb. I also tend to think of growing long (or at least, super-long, particularly classic+) hair as another form of damage on that list. After all, 5+ years existence, even with the most careful routine, amounts to quite a bit of damage!