Regular trimming from the start vs trimming to thicken up hemline at longer lengths

[fhairyqueen]

As I’m only now at APL I was wondering what experiences you have all had with your hair journey in regards to either regular trims from shorter lengths continuing the up keep as you grow sitting out your hemline from the very beginning OR reaching great lengths the trying to thicken your hemline
I don’t know whether to just not trim or if I should sacrifice length now for the rested good to get that thick hemline
my hair currently has very damaged ends from bleach damage and I would need to cut it back to about shoulder length to remove it all now
I’m not willing to do that after the nightmare I’ve had getting to APL in the first place
I would just like to hear what you’ve all learned and if it even really makes a difference in the bigger picture
will I lose out on a thick hemline if I don’t sort I out now or can it be done at a later date when my hair is say at waist length
Thanks in advance to all who reply I really appreciate any tips, info or stories

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Well, I'm micro trimming at knee to thicken my ends. Of course I don't know what it would be like growing it long the other way with frequent trimming along the way. The micro trims are working, but it will be a long haul. I do have the advantage though of already having the length I planned for, and it helps immensely with bunning.

[Hasse]

I'm debating this as well, haven't decided yet what I'm gonna do.

[lapushka]

If you have an even hemline at shoulder/APL, you can grow a few years without trimming at least before even noticing differences in your hemline. Most people can, IMMHO. So if it's that short, I would not worry about trimming at all.

[Joules]

I was able to grow from ALP to waist without needing a trim, my hair pretty much takes care of itself at those lengths. From waist down it starts to taper, but I chose to wait it out and thicken up my hemline later with microtrimming. But that is considered my hair was virgin and super healthy after years and years of great care and no heat, I had APL because of an impromptu chop "just to see how APL feels". And even now at HL it's healthy, no splits, just natural taper. I'm waiting or it to grow, because if I chop off all the taper I'll be stuck at waist again, and I'm sick of it, I just have to wait it out.

If your hair is super damaged, it's gonna look damaged and tapered at shorter lengths if you just ditch scissors for a year or two. If you want to have good ends from the get-go I would suggest regular dustings, just make sure you cut off less than what has grown, to be able to move forward without being stuck at one length. If the damage is only from SL down, I would assume you have only 10 cm of damage, it shouldn't take that long to get rid of it. Once you have healthy ends, growing will be super easy.

Of course you can just grow it out regardless of how it looks, if you have the patience. If you're gonna wear it in buns all the time it won't be hard. I myself am impatient, if I were you I'd probably go down that route, in fact I have gone down that route a few years ago when i was growing out my hair. I grew it to waist just by ditching scissors, it was suuuuper tapered and dry, but I refused to cut it off. During the next year I was cutting off 1 cm every month. My hair grows at a rate of 1,5 cm per month, which means 18 cm per year. I cut off 12 cm during that year, which left me with 6 cm of new growth and much thicker and better ends. I have photos of it here:https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=13464&attachmentid=30881 https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=30881&d=1521983862

I think you can push it a bit further down to BSL and then spend some time microtrimming to get rid of the damage. It all really comes down to your personal preferences and to how patient/impatient you are. The end result is gonna be the same anyway :)

[spidermom]

It really bugs me when my ends get all snaggy, so I favor regular trimming. However, I have hair that just loves to split for any reason or no reason at all, so I do my best to stay ahead of the process.

[Lady Stardust]

I’m trimming as I go, for the same reasons as Spidermim has listed. Also, I want to enjoy my hair at each stage and I know I wouldn’t if the ends weren’t kept trimmed. I’ve grown my hair without trimming in the past and it didn’t look good for it. That’s just me though - lots of people seem to be able to get away with it.

I trim half an inch every 3 months at the moment and get approximately 4” length per year that way. I might tweak that when I can wear my hair up more often but it’s serving me well for now. Half an inch isn’t even noticeable lengthwise, but the ends feel and look much better. My ends go see through very quickly if left to their own devices!

[Henrietta]

I've done both. Small trims took me to a considerable length but it took ages and my ends were so dry and thin that I didn't enjoy 30% of the length at all. I did have the centimetres, yes, but the condition of the ends was so bad that it was taking away my joy. (And it wasn't even bleach, my damage came from flat iron and blowdryer.) The problem was that small trims (cutting all of my growth or less every 3 months) weren't working because old damage was creeping up faster than I trimmed it. (Wearing my hair up, using silicone serums after every wash and taking 100% care of my hair helped but not enough. The "younger" sections were fine, but the oldest ends were so dry and damaged that nothing would stop them from getting worse.) So for me, small trims meant about 5 wasted years.

Then I trimmed all the damage at once, going from TBL to barely waist, and I started over. Without the frequent trims, the growing process went crazy fast. I trimmed very little and only when I needed to (like 2-3 centimetres once a year!) so I could keep 90% of all the centimetres I gained. I thought I'd be sad with being back to relatively short hair after years of trying to grow it long and then having it long, but I wasn't. It was short for just a while, really, and my ends were so healthy and thick that it made up for the lack of length. Before, it took me those 5 years to grow from BSL to TBL. After the big trim, it took me less than 1.5 year to grow from waist to TBL. And when I went back to the length I previously had, my ends were in much better condition (healthier, thicker).

So from my experience I could say that here's the key to this choice: see if your damage is creeping up. If it's not, small trims should work. If it is, you have to get rid of all the damage. I do know how hard is. I resisted for 5 years.

[fhairyqueen]

Thank you everyone
Previously when I first started this journey my hair was bleached all over and snapping off so much to 1 inch in length and I had a fringe / band that happened as it snapped off that way and people thought I cut a fringe in
I had a year or two thinking my hair wasn’t growing at all and seriously thought something was medically wrong with me . I then started getting it trimmed so it appeared to never grow .
I was stuck at shoulde length for a LOOOOONNNGGGGG time
That’s why I’ve become nervous of trimming
I think APL or BSL would be more tolerable to maintain at but at shoulder after the bleaching I thought my hair was simply done for
It sounds like with my goal in mind I do need to sort these ends out and the leave them be
At least probably get rid of the majority of damage
I found in the past neglecting my hair and not trimming was best but that was before the bleach damage
Really thank you everyone everything that’s been posted is super helpful with helping me decide

[Lady Stardust]

If you’ve decided to trim a bit then maybe you could set a schedule and trim a third or half of your new growth each time? That way you would still be gaining length so you wouldn’t need to maintain just yet, and certainly not cut back to shoulder length.

If, for example, your hair grows at an average rate of half an inch per month, you could gain 4 inches per year by trimming off one third of new growth, or 3 inches per year if you trim off half the new growth. The damage would be gone in a couple of years or less and you can pick up the pace a bit after that if you want to.

[Glitch]

As I’m only now at APL I was wondering what experiences you have all had with your hair journey in regards to either regular trims from shorter lengths continuing the up keep as you grow sitting out your hemline from the very beginning OR reaching great lengths the trying to thicken your hemline
I don’t know whether to just not trim or if I should sacrifice length now for the rested good to get that thick hemline
my hair currently has very damaged ends from bleach damage and I would need to cut it back to about shoulder length to remove it all now
I’m not willing to do that after the nightmare I’ve had getting to APL in the first place
I would just like to hear what you’ve all learned and if it even really makes a difference in the bigger picture
will I lose out on a thick hemline if I don’t sort I out now or can it be done at a later date when my hair is say at waist length
Thanks in advance to all who reply I really appreciate any tips, info or stories

Oh gosh, I don't even know where to begin, lol. To summarize, I'll just say that microtrimming (plus quitting heat styling) was basically the best decision and biggest help in transforming my hair. I went from very straggly ends to pretty thick ends, which kept on experiencing set backs from all the split ends, mechanical damage, etc. that I'd never cut off before. With enough practise, it becomes a very comfortable skill and sometimes you won't even notice any change in hair length after :)

I originally started at BSL with a ton of damage (heat, bleach, a hundred dye jobs, split ends, you name it). It never really grew past BSL because of all the breakage. I decided to go healthy and chopped it all off to collarbone length, with no regrets, because it looked oh so much better with a drastically thicker hemline. Ever since, I microtrimmed and maintained that thick hemline, and it has grown in and stayed that way. It's been growing at an above average rate (and faster than ever before) due to the small damaged bits being cut off consistently, and keeping the ends very blunt and strong, so nothing really breaks and the growth continues onwards. However, I don't really have an opinion on if someone wants to cut off the damage or grow it out/watch it so the damage doesn't travel upwards or ruin the healthy strands. You know your hair best and what you're comfortable with.

Personally, my hair didn't really improve with trims when it was at BSL and fried/heavily damaged. However, it's not like I kept up the trims back then, so I can't really say. It has though, 100% improved my hair once I made it a routine and time passed. I would actually try microtrimming for a couple months on your hair (I'm talking really tiny amounts, so your hair still noticeably grows) the way it is and judge if you see results or not. Usually it's very noticeable but since your hair is damaged, it may not be. If it doesn't do anything for you, your hair just may beyond "the point of return" until the harsh parts are cut off. At the same time, it may really help out your hair too! :flower:

[Groovy Granny]

I had no damage but lots of layers growing out from chin, so I dusted/micro trimmed monthly until I got the the last few layers, then I did small trims every few months to eliminate one lare at a time.

Like you, I treasured the length I was gaining, so as long as you remove less than half of what you gain you'll see growth and a slow improvement in condition.

Towards the end you may feel the urge to snip off a wee bit more to hasten the process without losing too much length.

Good luck .....and happy growing :cheer:

[nycelle]

I think it comes down to what's most important to you - thick hemline, vs length. Because if your hair is that damaged, it's going break, and constantly split.

I'm in the thick hemline camp, so I cut off all my damage last year and just had my first trim (1/4") in 5 months. But I also don't mind waiting longer to get to my desired length.

[Lumienkeli]

Fhairyqueen, I just have the same dilemma, thank you that you asked it!

The replies in this thread helped me to dicede what to do! :)

[fhairyqueen]

All the replies are SO helpful thank you so much everyone
I’m going to have a trim on 1st July at the end of the first half of the 2018 no trim challenge
Then I will attempt the second half of the year
I definitely know I need to cut this damage
It’s probably the whole reason why I appeared to spend so long growing from shoulder to armpit it was probably constabtly snapping off
I’m just so eager to pass APL and be a long hair girl again
I miss my long hair so much !

[lapushka]

All the replies are SO helpful thank you so much everyone
I’m going to have a trim on 1st July at the end of the first half of the 2018 no trim challenge
Then I will attempt the second half of the year
I definitely know I need to cut this damage
It’s probably the whole reason why I appeared to spend so long growing from shoulder to armpit it was probably constabtly snapping off
I’m just so eager to pass APL and be a long hair girl again
I miss my long hair so much !

Totally understandable, and thanks for being in the no trimming challenge, fhairyqueen! I hope it helped you grow your hair.

[fhairyqueen]

Yes it definitely has helped thank you for creating the challenge !!
It’s made me more accountable for how many “trims” I was actually having
At one point t I thought my hair had stopped growing and that it would never be long again
Turns out I was cutting it off faster than it could grow and also over estimating how much growth to expect and then forgetting actually i’d cut it off
If I had not cut my hair from the start it would be a lot longer but it’s badly damaged so it was necessary
I was really stressed about it and desperate but this challenge helped me so much that I finally hit my first proper milestone of APL again :)
Thought it would never happen again
You don’t realise just how much growth there is between shoulder and apl until you acutallly TRY to grow it



Totally understandable, and thanks for being in the no trimming challenge, fhairyqueen! I hope it helped you grow your hair.

[Chromis]

I found shoulder and APL really super annoying lengths because it is hard to put up. I prefer a combo. Grow it out until you can put it up and then do microtrims. Once happy with the hemline or bored of trimming, let it get down to an inch before your next milestone, then trim back again for the best of both worlds.

The lengths where I couldn't put it up got a ton of damage which all had to be trimmed off later even though I don't use heat or bleach or such. The mechanical damage alone was too much.