Those with white dots, what do you do?

[birthmarkie]

Do you trim them each separately, snap or break them off, ignore them, or deal with them with regular trims? Perhaps you have a wonderful :magic: trick to make them disappear! I loathe my white dots and feel futile against the lot of them that are there! Help!

[peachrose]

I S&D what I can and the rest I leave. I feel your pain though, it's really annoying to not be able to get all of them!

[joyellen]

It seems like I have a neverending supply of white dots :rolleyes: If I'm just sitting around, I'll grab my scissors and snip them one by one. If I don't have access to my scissors I try to ignore them, but sometimes I break them off. Bad habit, but sometimes I just can't stand to see the little buggers.

[enfys]

Ditto Joyellen.

Yeah, it's naughty so cutting is my first choice.

Luckily I don't get too many.

[Anje]

I try to trim them. Sometimes when I don't have scissors, I snap them.

[Carolyn]

I spend lots of time with my scissors doing S & D. I can almost keep up with them if I do it a few times a week. My evenings are generally spend with the TV and my laptop so I have plenty of time to multi-task a little S & D time. There is no magic cure unfortunately. The only think you can do is snip them off and then moisturize your hair and wear it in protective styles. Some hair is more prone to splits. Mine is. I just have to deal with it.

[winter_star]

I have a bad habit of breaking and snapping them off, but when I get a spare moment I try to S&D. Another good option is to get regular trims to keep split ends under control.

[janeytilllie]

I S&D mine every night. I hate them too! They drive me crazy :silly:

[Seraphina]

Try very,very hard to ignore them.Not that it always works,and then I go to the dark side and snap.

[plainjanegirl]

I ignore them. My hair is still growing with them .

[Nanni]

I S&D as often as I can. I have a pair of real stylist scissors that I use to get rid of them for good. I think that I should get less of them from now on, since I have quit chemical dye, blowdrying and flat ironing.

[JamieLeigh]

I just S&D them, along with any splits I might find. They certainly are annoying, and they seem to crop up more often when I don't oil regularly. :(

[Forever_Sophie]

I used to snap them...

[longhairedfairy]

I always hear about the "white dots." Am I just a freak that mine are usually dark dots?

[spidermom]

If I see them when I have scissors handy, I trim them off. If I don't have scissors, I pretend I didn't see anything.

[HotRag]

I do S&D. I go through 1/4 of my hair totally, every 6th week.

[kdaniels8811]

I use my catnip tea soaks and my split ends have dissapeared. Seriously. I took a photcopy of my ends just to make sure I was not missing anything and they are seriously gone. I ponytail my hair and soak the ends in the tea twice a week, put a plastic bag over the wet hair to keep it from dripping. Leave on for a half hour.

My hair used to not grow, it broke off and split and no expensive treatment or trims could keep it from happening. So I really feel the catnip made a huge difference.

[CrystalStar]

I sit there with my tiny little nail scissors clipping them off :p

One day, the infinite supply of them has to run out :D

[karli]

It seems as if lack of moisture is what make them appear in my hair. S&d is the only way to get rid of them since they`re all over.
I wish I had a plan with s&d, but since I really don`t like it, I only do it when I can`t ignore my white dots and split ends anymore.

[HotRag]

Moisture and oiling has reduced my splits and white dots to a minimum :-)

[Elenna]

I was wondering about this.

I trim off the white spots, but it is not like the white spots are at the very ends. So I think that this is a major impediment to longer hair. I read about ktani's catnip for split ends but now it looks like white dots will go away too.

[plainjanegirl]

I use my catnip tea soaks and my split ends have dissapeared. Seriously. I took a photcopy of my ends just to make sure I was not missing anything and they are seriously gone. I ponytail my hair and soak the ends in the tea twice a week, put a plastic bag over the wet hair to keep it from dripping. Leave on for a half hour.

My hair used to not grow, it broke off and split and no expensive treatment or trims could keep it from happening. So I really feel the catnip made a huge difference.


Ok so you did not have to cut off the white dots or split ends, but by just using this catnip stuff they went away? If that is correct I may have to look into that stuff.

[lirael]

I have tons. I try to ignore them, but sometimes I snip them off.

[Rohele]

Sometimes I snip them if I'm in the mood. Mostly I just leave them alone. I have so much damage on the ends that S&D cannot possibly contain it, so if they are getting really bad, I get my hair trimmed. I'm not noticing pieces breaking off like I used to, so hopefully they wont slow my growth down too much.

[Jules diamond]

I tried S&D, but I think I'm going to mostly ignore them and trim at 30in.

[Angellen]

I cut the ones I see, but sometimes there are so many I can't do them all.

[Ryanne]

I cut them while I S&D.

[vampodrama]

I ignore them. Maybe if I ignore them hard enough, they will go away. :rolleyes:

There is no way I could go through them with S&D because I have just SO MANY.

[birthmarkie]

Glad I'm not alone. Thanks ya'll. Keep the responses coming!

[Alia]

I S&D any I see while close to my trimming scissors. If they pop into view while I'm out, I try and ignore them, but it drives me mad.;)

[Gingevere]

I S&D as well. I checked out some of those white dots under a microscope and they're spots where the shaft has frayed and is about to break. Once it does break, the frayed end is left vulnerable.

Anyway, I don't see how there could be a remedy for such a thing. They're basically the same as split ends; once you've got them, you can't repair them. There might be something out there to "glue" the frayed pieces together, in order to keep the shaft from splitting further... but it'll only be temporary.

[milemma]

they show less on light hair, so I try to ignore them

[Dars]

I S&D any I see while close to my trimming scissors. If they pop into view while I'm out, I try and ignore them, but it drives me mad.;)

Same here :D

[ArumiKusari]

I cut them off along with the splits.If I happen to notice one and I have my scissors anywhere near I'll cut them off even during lectures or classes, they drive me mad :D I hate leaving them alone, so I always have my scissors with me.
people think I'm obsessed XP

[clairenewcastle]

I've been S&Ding since my teenage years (I'm now 43) and have snipped off a lot of "white dots" in my time but overall split-ends tend to be more of a problem for me.

[geosangel]

when I had them a while back I would snap them, but found that when I did that, it would cause an almost immediate split. Then I started to S&D, even before I came here and knew it was beneficial. Knock on wood, I have not had them since I stopped using mousse and gel.

[Jeni]

I S & D when I can (2-3 times a week) but since I'm growing out damage from bleach the white dots are winning the battle.

I seem to have alot more white dots then split ends and honestly the dots bother me more, they just seem more noticeable!

I keep meaning to try catnip. Nothing is going to fix the dots and splits I already have but it would be nice to reduce them!

[Cailie]

I cut over them while S&D'ing :)

[MandyBeth]

Cut out if I see them, or bite them if I don't have scissors. Please, my hair is already a mess, biting the dot or split out isn't going to make it any worse...

Same problem tho I have with S&D - I can't focus my eyes on the split or dots. So I've got a ton, I need to cut my hair to get rid of them, and I'm not going to. Yet.

[Henrietta]

I am... removing each one separately. They are not high, maybe 1/4 inch from my ends. And since I don't have any good hairdresser's sciccors I have really, really bad habit- I tear them off with my nails:(

[Loreley]

I S&D them too. :)

[Kathie]

Don’t snap! You know its bad :p

This is what a white dot looks like under a microscope. Like McKanna91 said, if you snap you're not going to leave a clean end, it will split later.

http://http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=5474&pictureid=71599

Me, now, I S&D them.

[IcarusBride]

I hardly have any more. I had a lot when I first joined, thanks to experimenting with a curling iron, but since I ceased that nonsense and started S&D, I veeery rarely can find them anymore. And since I started Catnip-Cassia, I can hardly find split ends either. I ALMOST miss it, somehow finding and snipping a split is very satisfying. As for the white dots, I always snap them! I feel an uncontrollable compulsion to grab the hair on either side of the dot and tug gently... Snap! But then I immediately go and trim about 1/2cm up, to prevent the end from becoming a split later on.

[birthmarkie]

I know I shouldn't, but I can't help snapping them! My family hates it when I do though. I guess I should keep scissors more accessible.

[birthmarkie]

I hardly have any more. I had a lot when I first joined, thanks to experimenting with a curling iron, but since I ceased that nonsense and started S&D, I veeery rarely can find them anymore. And since I started Catnip-Cassia, I can hardly find split ends either. I ALMOST miss it, somehow finding and snipping a split is very satisfying. As for the white dots, I always snap them! I feel an uncontrollable compulsion to grab the hair on either side of the dot and tug gently... Snap! But then I immediately go and trim about 1/2cm up, to prevent the end from becoming a split later on.

I will have to try the catnip-cassia treatment...what are the details of how you do that?

[Quixii]

I S&D them off. >.<

[Holly9192]

I have a bad habit of breaking them off when i have no scissors.

[FrannyG]

I don't currently have white dots, but I used to. I would cut them out during S&D when I did have them though.

[Lykaios]

I have a bad habit of snapping them off when I have no scissors too :( but if I do have some, I S&D. I actually just micro trimmed my hair, so I am good for a little while. (Except when growing out those damn layers!!!)

Actually, maybe I'll mention how I S&D the "guts" of my hair (you know, the shorter pieces that you generally can't trim off with the rest?). I curl a length around my finger and trim off the splits that stick up from the rest. It's not a lot of hair at all, the bulk of your layers keep growing AND you get rid of splits all in one fell swoop! Anyone else use this method?

[alabaster]

I cut mine..... right now the back of my hair is too short to do this so i am very ecited for when it gets longer so i can S&D more effectively

[neon-dream]

I leave mine be :). They don't really bother me, neither do my splits.

[Moonfall]

They don't really bother me, neither do my splits.
Can you teach me that? I really can't ignore splits and white dots, I wish I could!

[lesbia]

I s&d, only because I don't want to lose lenght with trim..

[Miriah]

I've always ignored them because I was taught that snapping them would only make things worse. I plan to start S&Ding them because the sight and feel of them annoys me. I'm definitely curious about the catnip tea soak that was mentioned. I could probably search the site for this but does anyone know off hand if it affects hair colour at all?

[C_Bookworm]

S&D. I want to snap them off if I don't have scissors, but I'm afraid it will cause more damage