Giving up S&D in order to get a thicker hemline?

[Moonfall]

As some of you might know from my other posts on the forum, my hemline is messy and thin. This used to be different, as I got my hair trimmed at a salon about three times a year. I stopped going there, however, because it left me stuck at APL~BSL forever. I haven't been to a salon in almost five years now. My partner trims off the thinnest part of my hair every few months, which by far isn't as much as the 2 inches I lost each time I went to a salon. As I stopped visiting salons, I started S&Ding. During these five years, I have gained some length, and I am now at MBL, the longest I've ever had my hair! However, I'm quite ashamed of my hemline. I've always had a straight hemline and my dream goal is terminal length with a straight, thick hemline.

My individual ends are in good condition, at least compared to the way they used to be (even when I still visited salons). I do notice many of them are thin compared to the upper parts of the hairs, but I can hardly find any real damage. I've read some people here on the forum don't S&D because it could contribute to a thinner hemline. I can see the reasons behind this, and it has left me wondering whether I should quit S&Ding. On the other hand, I can really feel a difference after a long S&D session, as it definitely makes my hair feel softer.

I hope some of you are willing to share your opinions on this. I'm curious about your experiences with S&Ding and maintaining a thick hemline :)

[Vanilla]

If I do an extensive S&D session, I usually microtrim (using the ponytail method) immediately following. I am trying to maintain a blunt hemline and thicken up the last 3-4 inches of my hair, and this method seems to work well for me.

[Moonfall]

Vanilla, how often do you do that?

[Vanilla]

Recently, I've needed to do extensive S&D sessions about once per week, as I'm dealing with a lot of mid-shaft breakage. I will only microtrim about 1/8 inch when I'm doing S&D so often.

If I'm not dealing with much breakage, then I'll microtrim about 1/4 inch off every 2-3 months after S&D.

[lapushka]

That depends. Are you snipping off a lot while doing S&D? Are you cutting off only splits and white dots or healthy hairs as well. If you are snipping off over half your thickness in several sessions, yes it counts! But you'd only be doing that in case of major damage.

[diddiedaisy]

I've stopped s&d sessions as I thinned out one side of my hair, I do have trich tendencies though and don't know when to put the scissors down. If you feel it is thinning out your hair you would probably be best just sticking to micro-trimming.

[Magalo]

Also "terminal length" and "thick, full hemline" are basically opposite. Terminal length is basically your hair fading to nothing. You have to chose one or the other!

[Cg]

Unless you have quite damaged hair, S&D shouldn't affect your hemline. Only a hemline trim should do that. Doesn't sound like your hair is very damaged.

[Alex Lou]

I don't know about anyone else's splits, but mine mean that the hair will break off on its own eventually. By snipping above the split, I prevent it from going up further. By snipping above a white dot, I prevent it from breaking at the white dot and forming a new split. If I weren't to S&D I would keep thickness a little bit longer, but those damaged hairs would break in time and my hair would be thinner anyway. By cutting off the damage, I'm hopefully ensuring a thicker hemline in the future.

[gthlvrmx]

Also "terminal length" and "thick, full hemline" are basically opposite. Terminal length is basically your hair fading to nothing. You have to chose one or the other!

This here ^^. You can also think of it also more as "terminal time". The longest one individual hair may grow might be shorter than the hair next to it on your head, which is one reason why when you reach the goal of terminal length you'll most likely have fade to nothing fairy tale ends.

[Stepo_NiNha]

Terminal length = thin ends.

As others have said, it's probably impossible to reach terminal with a straight hemline. Some hairs reach terminal faster than others which means that you'll have different lengths at the terminal area. You might have see-through ends near terminal, but healthy (no breakage). If you want a thick hemline more or less near the terminal then you should opt for growing your hair one milestone BEFORE terminal; or even less. If you microtrim, you probably won't know what's your terminal but you'll be close to the hemline you want.

However, you're right about s&d, they contribute to thin ends, I gave up on s&ding and do small trims every now and then and my hemline is much thicker now!

[chen bao jun]

Hi, I have a different problem from most. My hair is so coarse that I very very rarely get split ends. (I might have seen 5 or maybe 6 in the past year). However, I am plagued with SSKs. They get worse when my hair is too dry (it needs lots of moisture) but I basically always have some of those. I S & D off the SSKs, instead of split ends.

I also often then, maybe my hair wouldn't taper/thin at the ends so much if I stopped doing S & D sessions.

But if I don't do S & D sessions, the SSKs tangle up together with the non affected hairs and I end up with my ends breaking off wildly when I finger comb. (I only finger comb, and I do it when my hair is wet and full of conditioner. )

So I can't see stopping S & D.

In spite of it, my hair has reached lengths it never reached before, which in my case means MBL stretched. What I find is that the ends seem quite thin and they are fairy tale ends, but if I leave them alone, when my hair grows longer, first there are a few racer hairs and then it thickens up at that length, with some racer hairs at the next length. At this point, if I cut the longer hairs off, I'd be solid BSL, with a quite thick hemline. But I'm anxious to get to waist.

I figure when I get to waist, I will hang out there for at least a year and trim off all of my growth and thicken my hemline up like that. We'll see.

[spidermom]

It's not only S&D that contributes to thin ends. There's also the fact that some hairs grow faster than others, and there might be only 10 very fast growing hairs on your whole head. A hem of 10 will be very thin indeed.

[Garnetgem]

I have not noticed thin ends due to S&D i feel its the opposite it helps maintain the individual hairs from having a higher up splitting thus causing more damage and thinner hair ends..i in the past when i had very long hair(knee length) managed a blunt thick end and i was always doing S&D along with the odd trim..it helps not sure if its the same for others but works well for me..i do it weekly these days to maintain.

but each hair grows at different rates so ends will appear to give thinned out look without trims.