How to not overdo S&D?

[BexArt1994]

How often does everyone here S&D and for how long each time? I do once a week at the moment for about an hour but I've read that this might thin my hair too much?

[Tosca]

I don't think an hour a week is something to worry about too much, especially if you have only recently started. I found that after a while I was finding fewer and fewer splits, therefore limiting the amount of S&Ding I could do. One member here whose name escapes me right now limited herself to cutting 5 splits a day, and now she really had to search to find 5.

It also depends on how damaged your hair is. If your hair is bleached and fried, you will find many more splits in an hour than someone who hasn't dyed, heat treated, or otherwise damaged their hair.

[Simsy]

I don't go any longer than about 15-30 mins at a stretch but that might just be me. That said, I also don't s&d more than once or twice a month, so take this advice as a suggestion only

[BexArt1994]

My hair is damaged from bleach (last June) and dye (last October). I do find a lot of splits in the hour and my hair is medium density anyway. I think I will try and stick to doing it once every two weeks though.

[lapushka]

That all depends on how much you take off. If it's a few hairs every time, no need to worry, but if it's 20 or 30, that is too much! Might be better to go for a trim if you have to take that much off that's not healthy. Not every hair is a damaged hair. Make sure you only get splits and white dots (up a strand).

When I still had a perm, half of my hair was riddled in white dots. When my mom S&D'd that off my hair was -of course- thinned out severely. So if it's that much, I'd opt for trims (microtrims) instead.

[Deborah]

I never do S&D's. I think a good trim does a better job at keeping the ends even, healthy and pretty.

[dvep]

I agree with above, microtrimming gives me better results. My hair is just prone to splits, and if I were to try to get them all via S&D my hair would become very straggly very quickly. Sometimes I crack and snip a few, but I think the key is limiting it, especially if you have long term goals like growing out layers.

[Zebra Fish]

Some years ago I did lots of S&D and it really did help with splits. Once I "cleared" it, I'm not having much problems with them. But, man it thinned my hemline...

[*Wednesday*]

I agree with the ladies here. If that many S&D's are needed to the point of thinning the ends,, the ends need more attention to minimize S&D's. The longer the hair is, the further from the roots and the less "natural" oils is received.

[cgirl]

I did S&D like crazy every other day for about a month to get rid of my chem-burnt ends and then I left it alone completely. Maybe in another months or two I'll have at it again. I think handling hair too much in looking for splits can cause splits.

[sarahthegemini]

I haven't got the patience to S&D, I'd rather just trim the ends.

[Arctic]

One thing to look out for is - and this has happened to me personally - that sometimes people with perfectionist, addictive, obessive personalities can get hooked on S&Ding (I have trich which might be a factor here). For me this meant that I liked S&Ding so much in combination I imagined I had damage (which were in reality just coarser, wirier hair texture) I spent hours and hours and hours on S&Ding healthy hair. And I don't mean looking through ends and snipping one here and other there, but snipping perfectly healthy hair all the time one after another. I found it enjoyable and relaxing, which was a big part of the problem why I kept doing it (this was the doing of the trich part in my brain, I think).

I have needed seriously limit S&Ding for years now, because even with my knowledge and experiences it's still so easy to get back to the mindless snipping of healthy ends. When I was living with my now ex, I occasionally gave my hair scissors to him to hide, lol. Hey it worked! Now I'm on my own, and usually I avoid any S&Ding alltogether but few times a year I do like to do some snipping. I am not prone to splits but bent ends are my curse, and they cause tangling, and I also get fairy knots so I snip those too.

I do think a strategic and controlled S&D can have a big effect on how hair feels (even healthy hair) but there needs to be some structure and limits for it. If one is obsessive by nature, it might be better to avoid S&Ding alltogether, it's easy to become addicted to it.

The general rule of thumb is that if one has never S&Ded (or it's been a very long time since the last time) there is probably more to snip off (especially if one is perfectionist as I am) but after a while one gets rid of most of the "imperfections" and after that it should be more about occasional upkeep. Don't give in to obsession or addiction. If you find it relaxing (I mean too relaxing where you just want to S&D to relax even if there is no damaged tips) don't get too comfortable while you S&D.

Most people probably won't develop addiction to it, at least at the scale I have, but it's something to look out for. It can definitely thin your hemline in unattractive way and it double stings because it's healthy hair that's been cut off.

[lapushka]

One thing to look out for is - and this has happened to me personally - that sometimes people with perfectionist, addictive, obessive personalities can get hooked on S&Ding (I have trich which might be a factor here). For me this meant that I liked S&Ding so much in combination I imagined I had damage (which were in reality just coarser, wirier hair texture) I spent hours and hours and hours on S&Ding healthy hair. And I don't mean looking through ends and snipping one here and other there, but snipping perfectly healthy hair all the time one after another. I found it enjoyable and relaxing, which was a big part of the problem why I kept doing it (this was the doing of the trich part in my brain, I think).

I think not only people with trich are "guilty" of this behavior. I think it's easy to think, oh I'll cut this out, and I don't like the look of that, I'll cut that out, and before you know it, your hemline is half as thick. :(

[Hypothesis]

If you're truly worried that you're spending too much time S&Ding I wold say cut back. Maybe only do it once a month or once a week for only five minutes or so. Or if you feel like you can't do this, maybe micro trim instead? Hair care is pretty personal for every one. Just find whatever suits you and your hair needs.

[Chromis]

I am a big fan of both S&D and microtrims. Microtrims alone cannot catch my splits since most are not at the very ends anyhow, but it is great for keeping a tidy hemline or growing out damaged hair!

I find it is better to do little and often for S&D though rather than mass attacks. For one my neck and eyes start hurting and yes, it is easy to start taking too much! I trim out five to ten splits a day instead. At first this was very fast, but finally I have to hunt for them. Some hair types seem more prone to them no matter what they do, but bleach is pretty rough even for more robust hair types.

[trolleypup]

A trim or microtrim would do nothing for me, with completely fairytaled ends. I do a pass and snip the most obvious of the splits in each section of hair and move on. When the eyestrain and finger soreness become obtrusive, I stop. I don't do another pass until my hair starts getting extra tangly again.

[Kaelee]

My S&D habits are really erratic- I'll S&D twice in one day (because I notice splits in different lighting conditions) and then not do it again for a month. That said, I really don't worry about thinning too much, as I'm mainly working on the ends and thin ends are easier to put up into a bun. (I almost never wear my hair down- it gets into EVERYTHING so it stays up or braided 90% of the time.)

I don't bother with microtrimming because most of my splits aren't in the part of the hair where they would be captured by a microtrim (and I'm not crazy about blunt hemlines either.) If it gets too thin I'll trim a little off to thicken it up again (I can afford to since I haven't done a proper trim in...um....well over a year I think.)

About the only place I worry about thinning is this one section on the left side of my hair which just *grows differently* than the rest and splits are like a hydra in that section- cut one and it seems like nine more appear (there's something about that lock of hair- it's finer and lighter colored than all the rest). Not much that can do about what my hair follicles decide to do in that one spot lol. So far, it hasn't been a noticeable problem (again, because my hair is up all the time anyway. I'd rather have some more extreme fairytailing than splits so I take 'em out when I see them. Besides, when I see splits I'm tempted to pick at them, which is worse, so cut them I do!)

[Anje]

I tend to get anxious-obsessive about getting ALL the split ends if I S&D too much. For me, the maximum time tends to be set more by my mental state than by whether it's thinning my hair out.

[JadedByEntropy]

Only when i get the Velcro ends do i remember to S&D, and usually do a thorough job all at once and forget about it again. And by thorough i mean section it off into small sections and clean out the worst offenders in each section, and if i see one i missed-so be it until next time. It's really hard for me to let them hang out, but until there is enough to cause MORE damage, a few won't hurt and it's all good.

Arctic, i'm sorry, my brother has that tendency too. Its a tough thing to get past, but i'm glad you're aware of it and doing good. :)

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I think if you are worried about overdoing the S&D, limit yourself to, say, 3 or 5 minutes once a month - using a timer to stop if necessary.

I do it a couple of times a year but usually only find a couple of splits.

[ArtificiallyRed]

I do a S&D whenever I feel my hair needs it, which is only usually once a month nowadays, but I probably spend an hour on it.
I personally don't feel it's too much if you're only cutting the splits off, however you will end up with fairytale ends eventually.
I don't know about you, but I would by far prefer healthy fairytale ends than an even hem full of splits :)

[Greenfire]

Put the scissors away! That's how I do it. I have that thing in me that likes to pick balls off of sweaters, and trimming splits is exactly the same thing for me. There's always just a few more to trim. I don't have a lot of splits, or get many white dots, but I do have different textures in my hair and some damage to the ends. Some of the hair looks slightly different in colour, or has a kink (even a natural one) and I snip it. The last 4 inches of my braid tapers quite a bit more than it should because of this, but my ends feel pretty good.

I went to s&d because I was too aggressive about micro trimming, I'd do it too often, and my hair just didn't seem to be growing. So last year I joined the no trim challenge. Then at the end of the year I trimmed to neaten it up and took much more than intended.

This year I'm in the challenge again, and I'm only allowing myself to s&d on the solstice and equinox. So for some of us, the advice really is put the scissors away!