Gaining v/ long hair (TBL+) despite having many splits: did that work out for you?

[Fimu]

I do S&D frequently but it doesn't help to remove all the white dots and splits completely because some started higher up the shaft (mid-shaft (incomplete) splits). Also, there's a risk my hemline gets too thin for my taste if I overdo it with S&D.
I want to keep my length as much as possible because I have had bad experiences with major chops and need to see proof first that my new hair growth actually remains healthy for a longer time now that I'm addressing nutrient deficiencies.

So I wonder, is there anyone here who managed to gain much length despite dealing with tons of splits and not trimming too much yet? If yes, what is/was your goal length?

[MusicalSpoons]

My hair didn't have a *huge* amount of splits and white dots but before I knew about S&D I used to pull them off when I got anxious, and had the raggedy ends chopped off once a year. When I started actively growing from about TBL+ish (which is when I found LHC) I still had a fair amount of splits and white dots, and with maybe 3 trims in 3 1/2 years I'm now at calf with fewer splits and white dots than before (thanks to keeping my hair up, S&D, and a more moisturising routine) but I don't think I'll ever be free of them. This is my goal length; anything beyond would be a bonus and I'm just keeping going for now out of curiosity.

[Ylva]

My hair is currently at TBL and I have tons of splits as my ends have been bleached three times. In addition to that, they've gone through at least one permanent colour, and who knows what else, it was a time before I cared about my hair at all so I really don't even remember! The next "section" is twice-bleached hair, then comes once-bleached, then highlighted, then fully virgin, and the quality improves significantly the higher up you go in those sections. I have lots of hair pics in my albums in my LHC profile so if you're interested in seeing the different stages my hair has been through, head over there.

Last time I was at TBL, I had ends that had been bleached four times. They disintegrated, and I learned my hair's limits. Now, these ends seem to be holding up quite well despite the numerous splits and the fact that I don't really enjoy wearing my hair up (mostly in a braid), so I count my blessings! I'm currently trimming twice a year and my last three or four trims were microtrims of about 0.5 cm.

So in my point of view, ignoring splits and just heading onwards and downwards is not so serious. Of course, for certain heads of hair it could be.

[AmaryllisRed]

Anytime I check for splits, I'll find 20-30 and cut them off and there will still be more, but I can't just S&D all day!
I haven't cut my hair in 3 1/2 years, though.
Keeping up with splits to some extent is probably a good idea but I can't say I've noticed any negative results from just ignoring my hair.

[Fimu]

Thank you for your replies! This gives me some relief and inspiration to learn to leave the splits alone, just like I did for many years.

My own intention behind S&D is to reduce tangles in the last 10 - 20 cms, but I have to learn to do it less frequent to avoid further hemline thinning.

I don't like wearing my hair in a braid because the split-end heavy tassle would bother me too much, so a bun is usually a safer choice for me.

[lapushka]

So I wonder, is there anyone here who managed to gain much length despite dealing with tons of splits and not trimming too much yet? If yes, what is/was your goal length?

I'm actually surprised you haven't heard me talk about this yet. But I had heat damage up to about 1 to 2 inches from the root. So white dots. And half of my head. I grew those out (never messed with them; it was half my hair) to hip, from shoulder. Most of them were still there, a number of them had broken off (I could see breakage in the sink every time). I was as careful as possible with it.

Then my mom held a major S&D session once I got to hip. Half my thickness at the bottom part was gone (huge gaping holes in my hem). And so we had to cut back to BSL! But it beat having a pixie!

[KokoroDragon]

Before finding LHC, I spent around 2 1/2 years using baking soda and castile soap in water to wash my hair (I was trying to go natural with my products). In case you don't know, both baking soda and castile soap have a high pH. I rarely used an acid rinse.

My hair started out healthy, but gradually started getting destroyed from exposure to such high pH levels. Thank goodness I only washed once a week, or it would have been much worse.

Long story short, by the time I stopped using the baking soda concoction my hair was full of splits. Not just two forked, I had splits that looked like sawblades with 9 different ends on the same strand. But despite all the splits, my hair grew during that time from a long pixie to around BSL (I never measured it, but that's about where I remember it being).

I cut it back to almost shoulder length in December to try to minimize the splits, but I still have quite a few. I've learned that S&D makes me notice the splits more. If I notice a split and there are scissors nearby, I'll cut it off, but for the most part I just leave my hair alone. It's way less stressful, and my hair is still gaining about .5" per month.

Also, the last time I had long hair was when I was 11. I had no idea how to care for it - always wore it down and free, even at night, ripped my brush through it, my products and wash routine was rough on my hair, etc. I never got trims. Doing that the entire time I grew my hair, I grew it to just about hip length before I cut it off.

[Belgrade Beauty]

I'm struggling with this all the time. It happens to everyone who ever dyed their hair, used heat tools of any kind, and to some if not most of people who have virgin hair. It is actually quite rare that someones hair is not prone and is so well kept to have zero splits, especially if you don't trim it in long periods of time( I'm guessing that most of our community here trims once every six months or more). There are many reasons why it happens. But just roll with it. My goal is BCL(butt crack). I'm near hip now. S&D as much as you can, when you hit your goal, just do a regular maintaining trims and the damaged ends (splits and dots) will be gone in no time. I myself , want my hem to be as thick as the rest of my hair on the top(cause I have thinner than most hair maybe, so I want it to look as good as it can), it's gonna take time to get there, as in all good thing :) Be patient with your hair, protect it with everything you can, when you sleep, when you're outside, oil it, that will prevent it from further splitting. :o

[Finda]

Split ends are sort of my natural state. Before I started growing in Fall of 2017 I went to the hairdresser for trims on a regular basis, but the splits and breakage were so bad they always had to take off the entire growth or more in order to cut a straight hemline. That's why I decided to forego the hairdresser and scissors in general (so no S&D either, mainly for fear of doing it too much). The next time I went to the hairdresser was 1 1/2 years later and my hair had grown from almost apl to past bsl. I went to a different stylist, then, with a hollistic/natural approach, and they only took off an inch of length, but cut off most of my split ends (by twisting hair strands and cutting off the ends). It took forever (and cost a lot of money, but I'm not brave enough yet to cut my own hair). After that, finding tons of broken off ends in the sink after a brushing stopped almost entirely. But yes, the hemline was a bit thinner, so I'm still not doing any S&D. Once I've reached my next goal I will trim to maintain for a while. Almost my entire ends have dots, but with the better care I'm taking they don't break off in masses anymore.
So all in all, just ignoring the hair is what made it finally possible to get some length.

[Fimu]

I'm actually surprised you haven't heard me talk about this yet. But I had heat damage up to about 1 to 2 inches from the root. So white dots. And half of my head. I grew those out (never messed with them; it was half my hair) to hip, from shoulder. Most of them were still there, a number of them had broken off (I could see breakage in the sink every time). I was as careful as possible with it.

Then my mom held a major S&D session once I got to hip. Half my thickness at the bottom part was gone (huge gaping holes in my hem). And so we had to cut back to BSL! But it beat having a pixie!

I knew your story about your S&D fail, but I didn't know you were growing heat damage! Do you still have many splits from just wear and tear (like washing)?

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Before finding LHC, I spent around 2 1/2 years using baking soda and castile soap in water to wash my hair (I was trying to go natural with my products). In case you don't know, both baking soda and castile soap have a high pH. I rarely used an acid rinse.

My hair started out healthy, but gradually started getting destroyed from exposure to such high pH levels. Thank goodness I only washed once a week, or it would have been much worse.

....

I cut it back to almost shoulder length in December to try to minimize the splits, but I still have quite a few. I've learned that S&D makes me notice the splits more. If I notice a split and there are scissors nearby, I'll cut it off, but for the most part I just leave my hair alone. It's way less stressful, and my hair is still gaining about .5" per month.


Hmm I kinda relate, because I suspect that's what happened to my hair last year, but then with very low pHs (I wasn't aware that Malibu C should also be diluted to raise the pH to a safe level of acidity, and I didn't knew how acidic shikakai powder is). An acidic rinse wouldn't balance out the baking soda/soap treatment sufficiently because the high pH can already cause irreversible damage to some hair textures.

Yeah, leaving my hair and its many splits alone more often is my next hair goal, so I don't get overboard with the S&D sessions.

[C_Bookworm]

That’s a great question! I’m curious about how to balance this, as well. Since I’ve been doing the no trim challenge, I’ve stepped up my S&D game. I definitely feel immediate results from S&D. My ends feel rough and Velcro-y if they go too long. But if I get too focused on S&D, or do it too often, I can tell it thins out my ends. It’s a hard balance to strike.

[Kalamazoo]

I've read that catnip tea helps one to have fewer split ends. So I raided my kitty's stash &, well, actually, my current "Hair Tea" recipe is approximately equal parts Catnip, Horsetail, Methi Seeds, Rosemary, & Rooibos, brewed in bottled Spring Water. Most of it, I drink. Some of it, I put in a $1 spray bottle from Walmart, with a little Kalonji (Black Seed) Oil added. (I suppose drinking the Kalonji would also be good for you, but it tastes bitter.) So I spray my hair & scalp with the Hair Tea + Kalonji, & then add a tiny bit of oil over the top (over the top of the tea, particularly on the ends). It really makes it a breeze to detangle! I do daily S&D, but I have a lot fewer splits to chop than previously. My ends used to be like Velcro. No more!

ETA: My current favorite hair oil to follow the Hair Tea = CocoJojo's Argan Butter (purchased on eBay) + a little Jāsön's Vitamin E Skin Oil mixed in.

[SleepyTangles]

I do S&D frequently but it doesn't help to remove all the white dots and splits completely because some started higher up the shaft (mid-shaft (incomplete) splits). Also, there's a risk my hemline gets too thin for my taste if I overdo it with S&D.
I want to keep my length as much as possible because I have had bad experiences with major chops and need to see proof first that my new hair growth actually remains healthy for a longer time now that I'm addressing nutrient deficiencies.

So I wonder, is there anyone here who managed to gain much length despite dealing with tons of splits and not trimming too much yet? If yes, what is/was your goal length?

Past experience: my best way to grow is doing monthly dustings. Taking off 1 mm every thirty days is a good schedule for my fine and tangly hair.
In my last longhair quest I did a pretty consistent starting chop that got rid of my scraggly ends ( APL) and brought me back at shoulder.
But after that, even with old dye damage, I never needed any big trim, only regular dustings.

Right now I'm in a bit different situation, as I'm growing from a pixie (and bangs, partially), with very uneven hemline/layers all over. I also got into colorful hair, so most of my lenght is bleached and very fragile.
I'm starting to evening things out, but unless I do a very consistent chop it will take a while.
My hair was surprisingly resilient up until now (really, can't complain), but damage is definitively catching up.

[AuNaturel]

My hair is so curly that it pixie knots no matter what I do. So I leave them.

[Fimu]

I've read that catnip tea helps one to have fewer split ends. So I raided my kitty's stash &, well, actually, my current "Hair Tea" recipe is approximately equal parts Catnip, Horsetail, Methi Seeds, Rosemary, & Rooibos, brewed in bottled Spring Water.

(...)

Thank you for sharing the details! I'm also interested to try catnip rinses, but I wonder: what is the pH? Because I rather avoid rinses with a pH below 4 for my hair.


Past experience: my best way to grow is doing monthly dustings. Taking off 1 mm every thirty days is a good schedule for my fine and tangly hair.


1 mm is very little! For my own hair, I recently decided to do any maintenance trims every 4 - 6 months because I can't stick to trimming only 1 cm off every month because I feel I need to trim off a few cms to thicken my hemline sufficiently, and when I do wet trims, I often trim an extra 0.5 - 1 cm on certain tresses to refine the shape of my hemline (my method is inspired by Feye but heavily modified).

[Kalamazoo]

Thank you for sharing the details! I'm also interested to try catnip rinses, but I wonder: what is the pH? Because I rather avoid rinses with a pH below 4 for my hair.

Honestly, I've never checked the pH, although that would probably be a good idea. I kind of go by "Is it as close to natural as possible?" "Does it have a reputation as being good for hair?" "Is it something I'm not allergic to?"

I do put a tiny bit of ACV in my hair wash water.