Dusting... is this how y'all do it?

[purpleelephant]

I just came across these two articles promoting "dusting" as the "new" technique to get rid of split ends while retaining length. LHC-ers: is this how y'all do it too, or are they trying to reinvent the wheel here (and take some credit for a tried-and-true already existing haircare method)? Personally, when I occasionally dust, I just do the very ends.

http://www.allure.com/story/hair-dusting-saves-hair-length
http://www.refinery29.com/hair-dusting-healthy-hair-technique

[kganihanova]

That looks more like a fancy version of s and d.

[raemarthe]

This is not how I dust at all. If you have hair at all different lengths your hair might not necessarily damaged. This just seems like a good way to trim off perfectly healthy hair and lose a ton of thickness! Seems like S&Ding would work a lot better.

[Garnetgem]

I don't do it this way i can only imagine this would miss splits and trim off good hairs..may seem quicker but not worth it..i prefer S&D much better at getting those splits and keeping length.

[purpleelephant]

I agree with all of your concerns. I just find it amusing that this is being promoted as a new way to keep length and yet get rid of splits!

[Groovy Granny]

When I dust it is a teensy snip of the ends....mostly racers.

That looks like one version of S&D...minus the strand twist.

[sumidha]

Heh, honestly I have so many splits throughout the bottom half of my length that when I do S&D it pretty much looks like that. I put my hair into super smooth, tight double braids and then trim all the splits and breaks that poke out 24 hours later. >.<

But yeah, I think generally when people on LHC talk about dusting they're talking about a tiny trim of their ends, not cutting splits throughout their hair.

[gthlvrmx]

That's not the "dusting" I read about here on LHC. I thought dusting was when you cut off a small amount of hair (1/2 inch or less) from the hemline? So from all of the bottom of the hair, not really the hairs poking out at shorter lengths? If anything, dusting could be used for waiting for slow hairs to catch up (the short hairs that they cut in the video) and get thicker ends. Like micro-trimming.

[ChloeDharma]

That's not the "dusting" I read about here on LHC. I thought dusting was when you cut off a small amount of hair (1/2 inch or less) from the hemline? So from all of the bottom of the hair, not really the hairs poking out at shorter lengths? If anything, dusting could be used for waiting for slow hairs to catch up (the short hairs that they cut in the video) and get thicker ends. Like micro-trimming.

Yep dusting is just a very small trim so that what is on the floor afterwards looks like "dust" not lengths of hair. I do quite like the idea of that technique though, for me anyway, as I do have lots of pokey out hairs that would not get cut in a length trim but still need the ends snipped off. I'm not sure how easy it would be to do to yourself though, would need a trusted friend/family member to help out.

[lapushka]

I'd rather have S&D in my life than this. Snipping individual damaged hairs is always preferable, IMO. Why would you want to cut off hairs that are in perfect condition; might as well get it cut then.

[Arctic]

Oooh I would love this! My S&D is aiming to something like this, but it is much more laborous on my own and I am sure I tend to spend more time on this spot than at that spot. I couldn't imagine learning to work my scissors like that, so I'll just need to keep doing what I do (but I could adopt a more metodical way). I personally don't mind snipping non-split ends. I don't actually get split ends almost at all (with LHC type care I practically never see them). But that doesn't mean my ends would be pristine all over my lengths. I like when ends are freshly dusted, and I notice doing this type of dusting does make my hair appear smoother. As for terminology, I usually call it dusting when I trim my ends/layers a tiniest bit, so this would be some sort of extensive/liberal S&D for me, but I completely get why this is also called dusting.

[Nique1202]

If your splits have already started to travel, this will still only get the separate ends and not the top of the split. Also, EVERYONE has hairs that are different lengths because of the constant cycle of new growth, so this is probably trimming off 99 good hairs for every 1 split that it catches. The strand-twist and braiding methods of S&D are no better in that regard, even though they seem to be very popular, they'll still get more new growth ends than splits sticking out for most people, and if you trim an end shorter than the bulk of the hair it's just going to keep sticking out and getting trimmed when it doesn't need it.

The only way to properly get rid of all your splits without losing length is to take your hair in small sections, and examine the whole visible-to-you length of each section for damage. If your hair has a fairly blunt cut, you might be able to get away with putting it into an english or caterpillar braid and just examining the tassel, since most of the damage will be at the ends and not higher up. But, even that method will hide at least some of the problem ends.

[Tosca]

I feel like this technique would create more splits than it would remove, due to the amount of perfectly good hairs being cut on an angle, rather than straight across.

[Greenfire]

This is awesome! Because so many hairdressers just cut off too much hair on people trying to grow it long, claiming they have to cut out the damage, now they have a technique that looks trendy, that they can learn, and their clients can leave without having inches taken off, but have their hair look better. No hairdresser wants to go through looking for individual splits, and yes, this is probably taking hair that we wouldn't in a search and destroy, but it's NOT a hairdresser cutting off a few inches of hair to "neaten up the damaged ends"

I think this will end up helping a lot of people with long hair avoid those unnecessary chops, and those of us who when older, can't do it ourselves anymore, can ask for this at the salon.

[Hairkay]

For me dusting is a tiny trim. I can off 1-2.5 cm of hair. It would be foolish to try and cut off less since it would look awkward where the hair curls. I also use s & d other times.

[scbasil7]

My hairdresser has been doing this for the last 6 months, and I think she's actually taking off a lot of thickness! :mad: May be that's why I can't get rid of my layers! Hair is growing, but the layers are not catching up!

[MidnightMoon]

It was oddly satisfying to watch him cut off the dry ends, *but* it still made me uncomfortable to see how dry the hair is despite the dusting, I just hate it when hair is dry and stiff shudder:
I also think it would eventually result in uneven lengths, thinned-out hair, and I would constantly have to do it, because whenever I brush or dry, ends would end up sticking out in different directions.

[samanthaa]

Aren't you supposed to cut at a 90 degree angle so that the snip is clean and doesn't encourage additional fraying? This was scary to watch.

[rouxlala]

I feel like this technique would create more splits than it would remove, due to the amount of perfectly good hairs being cut on an angle, rather than straight across.

Oh, no! So cutting at an angle causes them?? During my S&Ds, I haven't paid attention to the direction/angle I cut them. :disbelief