Restarting again and may need some opinions

[jadys]

Hello all!
I am trying to restart here again as I begin (another hair journey).
In 2011-2012 I had my hair cut more than I wanted, but learned a lot
In January 2015 I had it all cut off again (again because it was damaged).
I wasn't doing many trims but it felt like it took a long time to grow.
January 2015 it seemed to be around the shoulders. May 2015 seemed to be APL. Now dry it's above bra strap, wet it's straightened to just below my bra strap.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/jadisfeigns/IMG_0077.jpg Pre January 2015
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/jadisfeigns/IMG_0724.jpg-post January 2015
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/jadisfeigns/Mobile%20Uploads/image.jpeg-as of literally 10 minutes ago

My goal is to hit MBL at some point, but in the meantime I'm having hair obsession, so here are my questions:
If I get less trims, will my hair suffer and start to look not "well taken care of"? I've been getting trims of 1/4" every 2 months which keeps it looking decent, but I'm afraid it's at the cost of taking too much off. Curlies probably know how much length is removed from just that lol. (and I'm not confident enough anymore to cut it myself).
I have been putting my hair up more to try to stop caring about it so much; can i essentially do this while it's still wet so someday two months from now I can let it dry and "be surprised"? Or is putting hair up wet bad?
Thanks for your help! Sorry for questions; It's hard having these specific ones that I can't really find.

[MsPharaohMoan]

Whether your ends look healthy depends on how damaged they are. Do you have a history of using bleach, heat, or chemicals for perming/straightening? Do you notice that you have a lot of splits? I recommend looking at your ends in sunlight against a black backdrop (white spots indicate damage and they are easier to see against a black backdrop) if you haven't before.

Sometimes hair that is growing can be more difficult to manage because some hairdos that worked at one length won't work at another. This can also affect appearance.

1/4 inch being too much to take off is your own decision. Other than the quality of your ends, this decision can be influenced by your growth rate. If you know you started at a certain length for one month and ended at a different length for a different month, you can measure the distance between the body markers and divide by the number of months that have passed to get a rough estimate of monthly growth rate. From there you can decide how much you want to cut and how often.

Hair is especially prone to damage when wet and ought to be treated carefully in such a state. Compacting it will make it take longer to dry. More time spent wet means more time it can be damaged, for example if you fix your bun multiple times during the day or if gravity causes your bun to pull on strands. That being said, damp bunning is a thing. Perhaps leaving your soaking hair in a turban made of absorbent material would be best before bunning, so extra moisture gets sucked up but your hair is still out of the way.

edit: I forgot, welcome to LHC! :flowers:

[Rushli]

I plop my hair (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=428EA1Jryjg) to let it partly dry over night. In the morning I sometimes enjoy the curls and other times I put it up. It is not soaked, but not almost dry either. It often is still damp when I take it out that night, but so far it has not had any issues. I use to bun wet, but I had my handy Lady Idun stick that held really well and I was not worried about redoing it several times a day.

I have gone 2 years with no trims, I straightened my hair for my sig pic. It looks pretty decent to me for 2 years of not trimming. As MsPharaohMoan said, a lot will have to do with the damage in your hair. If you have not run across it yet, take a peek at S&D (search and destroy.) Having wavy hair can really be to your advance in holding off trimming healthy hair. It hids any unevenness really well!

[jadys]

Hello ladies, thanks for the reply and welcome! Right now I'm not noticing any damage at all but I use the sunlight and the black backdrop to see. I recently went in September.
As for damage, I haven't dyed my hair in a long long time, and it was usually just the front bangs. I used to straighten every day until I cut it all off in 2011. I straightened once between then and October 2014. Then January 2015, I was told I had damage from straightening but it was only *twice* that I had done it in October, for halloween stuff. I was getting irregular trims though. Now I have a (hopefully better) heat protectant but have only straightened my hair twice between trims and no one seems to complain about too much damage. I'm seriously going to ditch my straightener though. I'm too chicken to put it on high heat so it doesn't even straighten properly. I might start stretching out trims to every 4 months. 2 years is quite a long time, but yes your hair looks lovely, Rushli!

As for putting it up, it's mainly to just stop noticing it. I've been doing braids or buns, and I'm okay with leaving it dry. The plopping seems like a good idea, but I also might just let it dry and then do whatever as long as it's out of the way. I was leaving it down (as in just nothing, just the hair on it's own) and it was fine but now it's too noticeable for me. Thank you!

[lapushka]

My goal is to hit MBL at some point, but in the meantime I'm having hair obsession, so here are my questions:
If I get less trims, will my hair suffer and start to look not "well taken care of"? I've been getting trims of 1/4" every 2 months which keeps it looking decent, but I'm afraid it's at the cost of taking too much off. Curlies probably know how much length is removed from just that lol. (and I'm not confident enough anymore to cut it myself).
I have been putting my hair up more to try to stop caring about it so much; can i essentially do this while it's still wet so someday two months from now I can let it dry and "be surprised"? Or is putting hair up wet bad?
Thanks for your help! Sorry for questions; It's hard having these specific ones that I can't really find.

You say you had it cut again in January because it was damaged. Where does this damage come from? Are you still heat styling? Dyeing? Bleaching? What is your routine like? Having it cut every 2 months is *too* much, even though just a tiny bit is trimmed. This almost doesn't allow for growth.

Edit: oh I read now you are in fact still heat styling...

If I were you I'd examine the hair for white dots and assess from there.

[jadys]

Thanks Lapushka. What I will most likely be doing going forward is examining the damage, but otherwise I'm staying away from heat; i ditched dying/bleaching a long time ago (and have an appreciation for my hair color). I'll stretch out the trims.; I was worried the every 2 months thing was a problem :)
thanks ladies!

[lapushka]

All good and well, but if there is damage (white dots, splits) then trimming that often is no luxury. ;)