Trimming question

[wahmof9]

I am a new member but I am sooooooo excited about growing my hair. I had given up since I was told I had baby fine hair and "you can't grow it."

I was shocked to find out that my hair is fine but not thin!

Anyway, I only have about 3 to 4 inches of new growth since last year. I get my hair trimmed every 2 months or so and since I was not actively trying to grow it I did not pay attention to how much was cut. I would say it was about 1/2 inch.

I am now taking good care of my hair, bought herbs and all kind of fun stuff and I am on a mission to have long hair.

I think I still need to trim but how often? So for those of you who trim any advice???

[Debra83]

I self-trim when I notice my ends (I have layers) are sticking up way too much. I think they do that when they dried out or split. So, I "dust" all the hair (which I believe means to trim a very tiny bit of all the ends - even less than half an inch). And then I'm good to go! I notice it about every 6-7 weeks, but I haven't really noticed it lately, and I'm probably due for another one soon.

[CindyLea1]

Hello and Welcome! I do not trim unless I have more split ends than I can clip myself(we here call this a S&D search and destroy) I have not had a trim in 2 years.

But, on the other hand some folks trim a quarter to a hlaf inch twice a year.

Imo, the myth that you HAVE to trim is just that.

Good luck on growing your hair. It looks like you have a great start!

[spidermom]

This is a summary of my experience with trimming:
I started my journey to long hair getting a trim every 6-8 weeks. I averaged 4-3/4 inches length gain per year on that schedule. Then I got trims every 3 months and averaged 5-1/2 inches length gain per year. I was getting 1/4 to 1/2 inch trimmed off each time.

The year after that I got a lot of length cut off over several large trims and maintained my length while getting rid of a lot of ugly splitting ends.

Since July 18, 2008, I have not trimmed, except for cutting off individual split ends or damage. I gained 4 inches of length in the first six months. The next measurement is in April.

I don't think my hair would be growing so fast right now if I had not trimmed off the splitting ends as often as I did. But of course I cannot prove that.

[Teresa9000]

I think it just depends on your hair. Some people have hair that hardly ever splits, and some have hair that splits if you look at it wrong. I wanted to go without trims for about a year, but I started noticing way too many split ends; much more than I could cut out with S&D, so I'm going to try and cut a half inch every 6 months or whenever my split ends get out of hand.
It also depends on if you want to keep an even hemline or not. Some pieces of your hair will probably grow faster than others.
I speculate that my hair splits easily because it is fine, but I may be incorrect. I used to straighten it a couple times a week back before I found TLHC, so it may just be super damaged.

[AmyJorgensen]

Why not just try and see how long you can go without trimming with your hair still looking and behaving nice? I don't think I've trimmed mine in almost a year and it is fine.

[AmyJorgensen]

Also, you may have it easier because you have dark hair. In my own hair, it is always the blond ones that split or break...hardly ever the darker ones like red or brown.

[Elphie]

My current trimming routine is every sixth months mainly to maintain a U- shaped hemline and to bridge the gap between my hemline and my longest layers. I plan to trim about a quarter of an inch next month.

[wahmof9]

Thank you for all your answers! I think I will hold off trimming and see how things go. I just don't want to keep on cutting the growth.

It was so disapointing looking at pict. of last year to notice my hair is not that much longer...so I will try to space my trims....maybe do it myself...will see.

Thanks to all of you...you are a fine bunch. I am so glad I found this place!

[Heavenly Locks]

:) I have given up trims altogether and my goal is to make it to October 2009 (that would be a whole year) in the mean time I do S&D but that might be hard for you since your hair is a little short to be holding the ends in front of your face and focusing up close. I promised myself that I would only get a trim if the ends looked ratty and split.

There are things you can do to baby the ends if they seem dry or brittle so don't get discouraged! :)

[jojo]

I did start in October on the no cut route but my hair is fine and by March I had a ton of splits and breakage. So I ended up trimming about an inch off. Now I am back on the 3 month trim of about 1/4". Some people can get away without trimming unfortunatelly I am not one of them.

[wahmof9]

I did start in October on the no cut route but my hair is fine and by March I had a ton of splits and breakage. So I ended up trimming about an inch off. Now I am back on the 3 month trim of about 1/4". Some people can get away without trimming unfortunatelly I am not one of them.


Do you self trim or do you go in?

[Honey39]

I dunno - I've been growing my hair since last June, and I have about 1/2 an inch cut off every three months; I find that my hair has been growing like a weed, and I have gained so much length. When I was younger, and would just leave my hair be (no trimming) it just wouldn't grow as fast, as far as I recall. That said, I am really looking after my hair now, so that could be the reason it's growing.

I suppose my memory of no trimming is that my hair has a tendency to get very split and raggedy looking; trimming a little bit off regularly seems to keep the ends in super good condition (for me) and my hair is definitely gaining a lot of length!

Personally, I think I'm in it for the long haul, and I would prefer to gain length slightly more slowly but maintain healthy ends. I guess you could experiment and see how it goes??

[Arctic]

My hair is on the slower side when it comes to growing speed, and my fine hair also just get weathered from daily life even though I take good care of it. My ends start to feel bad after 2-4 months after the trim. I aim to keep my ends blunt (maybe when my hair is longer I let them fairytale?) and I'm trying to find balance between keeping most of my growth and to have nice feeling ends.
ETA: My last rwo trims I have used Feye's self trimming method, it's quite easy and popular here. Before that I just trimmed using "my own method" aka tried to imitate what stylists did.