maintaning for thicker ends?

[boukje]

Just a quick question:
I am about `1.5 inch away from classic length (but it looks only 2 inch past tailbone) because my ends are so thin and very fairytaled. They are not broken or very split and I want to grow till I reach classic.

My thin ends are about 8 inch or so maybe even 10, do you think when I start to maintain they will go away and my hair will be thicker? It looks like the hairs on top of my head grow slower and I think perhaps this has something to do with the thin ends.

I have wear my hair up for almost 2.5 years and I only wash once a week. I use a seamless comb and hairfriendly hairtoys. But still me thing ends seem to become longer and longer.

My hair is 1a/b F ii.

thank you so much
Greetings from Helen.

[angelthadiva]

Hi! :waving:

We are in similar boats. I have tons of taper due to chemical damage and long layers from long ago. I do S&D on a semi regular basis to get rid of the split ends, and only dusting once in a while...It's been so long ago, in fact, that I can't remember the last trim.

One thing is the longest hairs are the oldest, so keeping that in mind you seem to be doing all the right stuff. I keep my hair up all the time too; my plan is to get to terminal length or knee length which ever comes first, then do maintenance trims on a regular basis to thicken up the ends...This is the plan (as of now); but I've kind of been going back and forth about just letting it grow and cut back to waist length when I graduate. :shrug:

I'd recommend keep doing what you are; and I'd even suggest babying the ends...I usually apply a generous amount of condish to the ends prior to washing, then only doing a partial rinse of condish at the end...I keep my ends oiled and moisturized in between washing too.

[boukje]

Hi! :waving:

We are in similar boats. I have tons of taper due to chemical damage and long layers from long ago. I do S&D on a semi regular basis to get rid of the split ends, and only dusting once in a while...It's been so long ago, in fact, that I can't remember the last trim.

One thing is the longest hairs are the oldest, so keeping that in mind you seem to be doing all the right stuff. I keep my hair up all the time too; my plan is to get to terminal length or knee length which ever comes first, then do maintenance trims on a regular basis to thicken up the ends...This is the plan (as of now); but I've kind of been going back and forth about just letting it grow and cut back to waist length when I graduate. :shrug:

I'd recommend keep doing what you are; and I'd even suggest babying the ends...I usually apply a generous amount of condish to the ends prior to washing, then only doing a partial rinse of condish at the end...I keep my ends oiled and moisturized in between washing too.

wow I just wanted to say your hair looks amazing and not thin at all. I haven't had a real cut since july 2005 (cut back to BSL then) so that is a very long time, but I will maintain soon .

thank you for your message.

[angelthadiva]

YOU ARE SUCH A SWEETIE! I love you for saying that!! :flowers: :flowers: :flowers:

I feel so self conscious over my ends; and one gal at UNI who I sit by is a former hair dresser...I feel so judged by her and wonder if she secretly wants to give me a trim to even up the ends.

I often wear it in a braid so it's not thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat noticeable, but still...I know she knows. :lol: Honestly, I think I'm projecting; because she's never said a peep one way or the other about my hair.

I'm not that far off of 50"; I think I'm about 5" shy of that (last time I measured), so for now, I'm going for length...I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing to protect the ends (updos, extra condish and oiling)...Then start maintaining; I'd really like to reach knee, so I may hold off on trimming until then, and just do S&D until then.

We should keep up with each other and our progress! :flower:

Happy growing!

[boukje]

YOU ARE SUCH A SWEETIE! I love you for saying that!! :flowers: :flowers: :flowers:

I feel so self conscious over my ends; and one gal at UNI who I sit by is a former hair dresser...I feel so judged by her and wonder if she secretly wants to give me a trim to even up the ends.

I often wear it in a braid so it's not thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat noticeable, but still...I know she knows. :lol: Honestly, I think I'm projecting; because she's never said a peep one way or the other about my hair.

I'm not that far off of 50"; I think I'm about 5" shy of that (last time I measured), so for now, I'm going for length...I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing to protect the ends (updos, extra condish and oiling)...Then start maintaining; I'd really like to reach knee, so I may hold off on trimming until then, and just do S&D until then.

We should keep up with each other and our progress! :flower:

Happy growing!

I would love to keep in touch to support each other in our progress (makes me even more enthousiastic to get to my goal instead of chopping back to waist, this is my thickest part of hair).

Do you also have a public page? :flower:

[harpgal]

boukje, my suggestion is (and I say this a lot), if you are unhappy with your ends, trim back to where you are happy and continue to do very small trims (1/4-1/2 inch) several times a year, in order to allow the slower growing strands to catch up. When allowed to grow without any trims, most of the time the faster growers (gallopers) will charge ahead of the rest, and that is why ones hair thins out. In saying all of this, I will mention that there are a very few around here whos hair seems to grow very evenly. Unfortunately, I am not one of those blessed few.

We all have tapers of one sort or another. This happens because the follicles are all so different in how long they will hang onto a strand of hair. As we grow, some hair will stay around longer, thus achieving more length. But, imho, the thinning out process I mentioned above seems to happen before any really extreme taper happens and can be misinterpreted as a taper.

I see no reason why you can not reach classic with a full hemline. It just takes longer and more careful managment.

[boukje]

boukje, my suggestion is (and I say this a lot), if you are unhappy with your ends, trim back to where you are happy and continue to do very small trims (1/4-1/2 inch) several times a year, in order to allow the slower growing strands to catch up. When allowed to grow without any trims, most of the time the faster growers (gallopers) will charge ahead of the rest, and that is why ones hair thins out. In saying all of this, I will mention that there are a very few around here whos hair seems to grow very evenly. Unfortunately, I am not one of those blessed few.

We all have tapers of one sort or another. This happens because the follicles are all so different in how long they will hang onto a strand of hair. As we grow, some hair will stay around longer, thus achieving more length. But, imho, the thinning out process I mentioned above seems to happen before any really extreme taper happens and can be misinterpreted as a taper.

I see no reason why you can not reach classic with a full hemline. It just takes longer and more careful managment.

Thank you so much harpgal, for your lovely reply :) I am very unsure about cutting now as My very thickest part of hair is around waist and from hip/tailbone it starts to be very thin I don't want to be cutting back this much (I have started at waist length when i came to this site over two years ago) and if I cut back that much I would feel that all my effort have been for nothing.

I don't think I will get all the hairs to the end, but perhaps if I trim of the growth I get every month I do not notice a lot about it (because I don't cut a large amount off). I also want to see if my hair which is shorter will catch up.

[HairColoredHair]

I think your inital idea of maintaining at classic would work to eventually have thicker ends, if your hair has the genetics to have all the hairs (or most of them, anyway) reach that length.

Some people's hair seems to naturally have thin ends, even with careful treatment because only certain hairs can get that long, but that can be very lovely too!

[spidermom]

I have decided that I want the bottom part of my hair to thin out some because all this hair is hot and heavy.

[flapjack]

I maintained at waist for about 4 years before I joined the lhc and it worked out well. I have very little taper in my braid and now it's tailbone length. It just takes time. Granted, I did not actually need to maintain as long as I did, I just really liked waist length hair at the time. Now it's about 4.3 inches at the nape and 2.8 (or 3 when it's wet, my hair seems to like swelling up with water) inches at the very end. So it can definitely be done, it just requires more patience because you'll be slowly trimming, rather than letting it all grow. I would say it's worth it, however. Your braid will become quite the weapon, haha.

[angelthadiva]

I have decided that I want the bottom part of my hair to thin out some because all this hair is hot and heavy. Bold Mine!

I don't know if it's you or me, but everything I read that you've written has been cracking me up today!

[rchorr]

I'm glad the trimming thing works for some people, but it doesn't work for everyone. My hair has had about a foot of thin ends for YEARS!! I tried cutting back to BSL, but everytime it grows out, it does the exact same thing. It's SO FRUSTRATING!!!!!

The longest bits of my hair (all 10 of them) are a bit longer than tailbone length. My hair would look MUCH better if I just kept it at BSL ... but I just can't. I've ALWAYS wanted classic length hair, but I think I've reached terminal.

I REALLY hope that yours grows better than mine. Maybe you can achieve classic length for both of us! :-)

RCHORR'

[LadyLongLocks]

Maintaining my hair at knee length and keeping the ends thick is a constant challenge. I trimmed so much in 2008 I only gained 2" in length. Then I went through a big shedding period.
I have a couple more inches to grow to reach my goal of 56". Then I will maintain and see how the ends look. I always believed in health over length, so I may go shorter in 2010. I have become very obsessed with the ends!!! I wear my hair up 95% of the time to protect it.
I always trim my hair blunt. This seems to give an illusion of more volume.
I would say that maintaining the ends is the hardest thing for me and many others as well. I don't have split ends as I trim very often. I know if I went to classic length, the ends would no longer be an issue. Im just not ready to cut. Wearing a bun helps not think about it and obsessing. We just have to accept what out genetics have given us and learn to work with them. I feel lucky to be able to grow hair to my knees, thinning ends and all. Its been quite an experience.

[WavyGirl]

Thank you so much harpgal, for your lovely reply :) I am very unsure about cutting now as My very thickest part of hair is around waist and from hip/tailbone it starts to be very thin I don't want to be cutting back this much (I have started at waist length when i came to this site over two years ago) and if I cut back that much I would feel that all my effort have been for nothing.

I don't think I will get all the hairs to the end, but perhaps if I trim of the growth I get every month I do not notice a lot about it (because I don't cut a large amount off). I also want to see if my hair which is shorter will catch up.

If you started at waist length and have only been caring for your hair extra well since then it means the hair on your head in the optimal condition still hasn't reached your waist (the average is 6 inches a year). So I think your idea to trim the growth is probably the best plan. You can maintain a long length while waiting for the hair in really great condition to reach that point and then you should see some good length gains. Don't get discouraged, if your damaged hair will reach this length then the hair you're pampering now should go a lot longer. I know how frustrating it can be when you start with long hair. You compare to people growing from short and think "I should have reached x goal by now" but you have to remember that you have to cover all those short lengths with the new stuff before you can go onto longer ones. I'm sure if you're patient the shorter hairs will catch up to and pass where the long ones are now.

[Nightshade]

I managed to grow from BSL to past tailbone while trimming half my growth a month. That accomplished, I'm hanging out around tailbone to thicken up my ends, which are still thinner from old damage, and some layers that I want to grow out (I'll still keep some of my layers, but some can go).

Instead of monthly trims I've gotten a bit lazy about it now that I'm at my goal length and just take my full amount of growth off every other month or so.

For me it was less painful to just maintain a slow and stead rate of growth despite trims, my hair got longer AND thicker, it just didn't do either one very quickly :lol:

[boukje]

If you started at waist length and have only been caring for your hair extra well since then it means the hair on your head in the optimal condition still hasn't reached your waist (the average is 6 inches a year). So I think your idea to trim the growth is probably the best plan. You can maintain a long length while waiting for the hair in really great condition to reach that point and then you should see some good length gains. Don't get discouraged, if your damaged hair will reach this length then the hair you're pampering now should go a lot longer. I know how frustrating it can be when you start with long hair. You compare to people growing from short and think "I should have reached x goal by now" but you have to remember that you have to cover all those short lengths with the new stuff before you can go onto longer ones. I'm sure if you're patient the shorter hairs will catch up to and pass where the long ones are now.

thank you so much for your wonderfull reply. I actually caved in today and cut my hair back to about 0.5inch above tailbone length. I cut of 6 inch (Only 1.5 more inch before I reached classic).

The ends were so thin and not nice looking, now my ends look so much thicker (not extremely thick obviously) but it just looks so much nicer, I was discouraged that I should cut it every month for at least a year to even make it look presentable.

Now I feel that it is quite short but I wear it up all the time, so my bun doens't look any smaller. I will try to cut it very often (lets say every other month) this means I gain length slowly but the ends stay thicker and the shorter parts of hair have time to catch up.

Only advantages, the length will be closer together, the dye will grow out, the hair will still become longer. I didn't want to cut because I was afraid I couldn't reach classic before reaching terminal but now that I was only 1.5inch away from classic I am pretty sure I can, and with good haircare I am sure it will grow to classic now. Health over length is also important for me (and I now know that my hair needs to be cut every now and again).

if I see how much thicker tailbone length (or close to tailbone) is compaired to the first time I reached tailbone it is such a massive difference. I guess classic can be nice looking as well in a few years.

I was also convinced to cut because I am pregnant now, and I won't be wearing my hair down any more once I get my baby (in the summer) so it is best to have it with healthy ends now because I don't know how much time I will have to take care of my hair when I become a mommy (and I will wear it up any way)

I hope I feel this happy about my hair in a few days from now but I am pretty sure i will. Maybe my hair will grow faster because I don't have the bad ends with breakage.

Thank you all so much for the wonderrfull replies.

[Sissy]

thank you so much for your wonderfull reply. I actually caved in today and cut my hair back to about 0.5inch above tailbone length. I cut of 6 inch (Only 1.5 more inch before I reached classic).

The ends were so thin and not nice looking, now my ends look so much thicker (not extremely thick obviously) but it just looks so much nicer, I was discouraged that I should cut it every month for at least a year to even make it look presentable.

Now I feel that it is quite short but I wear it up all the time, so my bun doens't look any smaller. I will try to cut it very often (lets say every other month) this means I gain length slowly but the ends stay thicker and the shorter parts of hair have time to catch up.

Only advantages, the length will be closer together, the dye will grow out, the hair will still become longer. I didn't want to cut because I was afraid I couldn't reach classic before reaching terminal but now that I was only 1.5inch away from classic I am pretty sure I can, and with good haircare I am sure it will grow to classic now. Health over length is also important for me (and I now know that my hair needs to be cut every now and again).

if I see how much thicker tailbone length (or close to tailbone) is compaired to the first time I reached tailbone it is such a massive difference. I guess classic can be nice looking as well in a few years.

I was also convinced to cut because I am pregnant now, and I won't be wearing my hair down any more once I get my baby (in the summer) so it is best to have it with healthy ends now because I don't know how much time I will have to take care of my hair when I become a mommy (and I will wear it up any way)

I hope I feel this happy about my hair in a few days from now but I am pretty sure i will. Maybe my hair will grow faster because I don't have the bad ends with breakage.

Thank you all so much for the wonderrfull replies.

I'm glad you found something that works for you and makes you happy. I would have a hard time deciding what to do although health over length is probably a good choice. I know my hair looks crap right now too as I'm quite overdue for a trim.

[janeytilllie]

I too have started to get thinner ends. My hair is layerd :( and the longer my hair gets the thinner the ends get, heres a couple of pics :)

The first pic was taken August and the second one was about 2 weeks ago.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?pictureid=27985&albumid=2286&dl=1233349628&thumb=1http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?pictureid=29964&albumid=2286&dl=1233349628&thumb=1

I have started doing regular S+Ds and I am rubbing coconut oil on my ends every night.

II am going to do dusting every two months so that way i can still get growth
I agree what the others say :D
I feel your pain
You are not alone :)

[WavyGirl]

boujke I'm so glad you're happy with the trim. I think you're right to trim out damage now before the baby comes but don't forget that being a mom doesn't mean you stop taking care of you! :p

[boukje]

boujke I'm so glad you're happy with the trim. I think you're right to trim out damage now before the baby comes but don't forget that being a mom doesn't mean you stop taking care of you! :p

hehe I know that wavy girl :wink: but I won't have as much time to pamper my hair when my baby arrives ;)so it is nice to know the hair is (much) healthy(/healthier) before the baby arrives :)

[spidermom]

You're expecting a little bundle of joy; how exciting! Congratulations.

[Guenever]

I wish you the best of luck with maintaining at tb :)
I tried maintaining at TB myself for about 6 months, but since I didn't see any progress at all I gave up and chopped off 10" late last August. So.. from 38" to 28" which was mid-back. A bit more than you^^

My ends were horrible. As you said, not visibly breaking off or anything - just insanely thin and a bit dry - which I really hope was due to the dye - cause that means that growing out virgin hair will be completely different!

I'm now back at waist (31") and will probably chop again when I get back home to Denmark in late June to get rid of the rest of the dye damage and start with virgin hair^^

- Best of luck maintaining after your trim :D

[zift]

I'm one of the people who did achieve to have thicker ends by trimming. In the beginning of my hair growing journey I started with going trimless and after 5 years I saw that my ends are too thin and damaging badly, my hair was also growing slowly. I thought that I didn't have the potential below classic. But I cut back to mid-butt and started growing it with trims every 2 or 3 months and it grew incredibly fast and thicker. I learnt that I did have some potential below classic:) Well ofcourse I still had a taper, I always have a taper, who doesn't? (well OK Hairstorm and Elle doesn't but apart from them everybody has hehe:D)