Regrowing the razor-thinned poof?

[OleanderTime]

For years and years, I've let salon stylists use a razor at the end of styling a new cut to "take some of the volume/poof out". Basically, they'd go into the under-layers and start pulling out fluffy chunks not unlike what happens when I comb my cat. My hair did always feel sleeker and straighter afterward (which is what I used to be going for).

Now that I've found TLHC, I really regret voluntarily THINNING my hair out. What was I thinking? The more I learn to take care of my hair, the better it looks on it's own. I never want to razor-thin my hair again, and I'm curious about others who have had experiences with this. What changes did you notice as you grew your razored hair out? Could you even tell? Any other experiences with razor-thinning the poof you want to share?

[2peasinapod]

I always used to get my hair cut with a razor in the back and some thinning on top. My hair seems to have evened up OK on it's own. I got a trim once to avoid the mullet stage. Some of my layers are shorter than others (collar in the back and about chin in the front).

I did notice some patches where the hair is shorter, but it blends in pretty well. The longer my hair gets, the flatter they lay.

[RocketDog]

I have never had my hair razored, since my stylist was smart enough to figure out that razoring fine, thin, curly hair would be seriously bad news... but I do have experience growing out heavily shaped layers, and it's not any worse than growing out any other style once your hair can be put back in a braid or bun. If anything, having layers or razoring can help with updos at first since the artificial taper can make it easier (at least for me) to secure some updos since there's less hair to tuck in at the end.

[Merkaba]

I went to Bumble and Bumble in NY and they razored the crap out of my hair. It looked decent when blow dryed and with product, but when dryed naturally it looked just horrible. I've had a few cuts done with razors and they uniformly look this way- great when blown and styled, horrible otherwise. In addition I noticed that my razored hair was drier and seemed more prone to splits than the rest.

[Bellalalala]

I had my naturally wavy hair razored a few times and it was always bad news. My hair is very dry and gets split ends very easily and the razoring made the split ends much much worse.

Even if I took off a good deal of length, I would have visible split ends within days of getting my hair done. My hair also never felt smooth, it felt like sand-paper when I ran my hands over it.

Also, I could never make it look good without using serious heat-styling.

Growing it out was fairly easy since the razored "texture" was never very deep, so a few good trims and it was pretty much gone.

Now when my hair air-dries, there is A LOT less frizz, and the ends curl more naturally on their own instead of looking lifeless and scraggly.

[Mutinous]

I used to get my hair thinned out too. At the time, it was a great idea, because I wanted the sleeker look. Now I have all these flyaway hairs growing back in *sigh*. I will put up with it though!

[Shermie Girl]

I had a razor cut bob and a bunch of my hair thinned out of it once. (I had a drastic cut done to get rid of self inflicted damage.) I'll never do that, again. It took forever for my hair to grow to one, blunt length, again. And until it did, it looked positively scraggly on my ends. Not to mention all the split ends from the razor cut. *shudder*

[spidermom]

My hair was thinned a time or two. At the time, it didn't matter because I was keeping it fairly short anyway. Now I'd just keep trimming the bottom (like I'm doing) to maintain shape and keep the ends on the thicker side of natural taper.

[klcqtee]

Mine wasn't razor thinned. We had some scissors (from the 70s or 80s probably), that on one scissor blade it was a scissor blade, on the other side, instead of being another scissor blade, it was a comb that was sharpened and could also cut hair. It acted on the same idea as a pair of hair cutting scissors, but instead of two blades, it was one blade, and one comb. When they came together it thinned and cut in crazy layers. (Hope that all made sense!)

When I would rub my hair backwards, I could feel the weird layering. It felt like a shag, with long hair mixed into it. shudder:

Now, my hair is thick. 5.5" circumference, wurl, hard to deal with, and oily. I felt at the time that the thinning would help. Bad call. As soon as I washed it, the short hairs poof-ed and curled out around the long ones. Mostly just frizzy fly-aways and wurls. As that bad idea grew out, I found it worsened the triangle head look. It was thick in all the wrong places, and with not enough length to weigh it down yet.

Even though it was a little more manageable, and not as hot, my thick hair is awesome. My cinnabuns are huge, even though my hair is short, and my sock buns are monstrous! My wurls also behave better with more weight, and the thinning just encourage horizontal growth.

[turtlelover]

I am dealing with this right now. My hair is quite short, but the "texturized" ends are driving me NUTS, and I have decided they are coming off at the beginning of next month whether or not I lose a good bit of length. I am trying to go back to my natural color anyway, so it honestly doesn't really matter if I lose a bit of length since it will all have to come off at some point anyhow. However, I am NOT looking forward to it!

[ericthegreat]

Between the ages of 15 to 17, when I first grew out my hair down to my shoulder blades, I would always get it thinned out not with a razor but with thinning shears. You know, those special kinds of scissors that cut some of your hair in between but still leave the rest of your hair the same length so that the effect keeps your overall length the same but takes out the bulk from your hair.

I'm an iii, and at 16 I had even slightly thicker hair than I do now. At shoulder blade length, I had very bushy, thick hair. It was still straight of course, but it just exploded right out of my head, so at that particular length it really was necessary for me to get the weight taken out of my hair. After I turned 18, I made the decision to grow my hair past APL. After my hair grew past APL, gravity became my hair's best friend and I no longer needed to thin my hair out to make it sleeker..........its own natural weight could do that now. For me personally I didn't have any awkward stages or any thinned out ends........but then again I am an iii.

[OleanderTime]

Even though it was a little more manageable, and not as hot, my thick hair is awesome. My cinnabuns are huge, even though my hair is short, and my sock buns are monstrous! My wurls also behave better with more weight, and the thinning just encourage horizontal growth.

The first part about the crazy scissors DID make sense, and those have been used on my hair as well. It used to crack me up: every haircut in a salon, they'd tell me I needed to thin my hair out, but one time they'd razor it and the next people to cut it would say that's an awful way to thin and scissor it, and then the next people would say to razor... yea.

And what you describe in the quote above is EXACTLY what I am hoping for! :)

[Bellona]

I'm going through this right now, too. I must say that I've already trimmed a bit off of my hair to try and get rid of some of the razored layers, but I still have a LOT left. The top is sooo thick and poofy and the bottom gets tangled so easily. I can't wait until my non-razored hair is long enough to start maintaining and cutting those razored layers off. Sorry I'm no help, just ranting!

But I have grown out from razored layers before, and when it gets to a certain length on thick hair it actually looks kind of pretty. Gives a nice v-looking shape without actually having to cut in a V :)

[truwave]

Another ranter here... I'm also dealing with this right now. The worst part for me is the last time I went for a "trim" she decided to give me a really deep razor cut, so although the length was still there, alot of the bulk of my hair was gone. I like the thickness of my hair, and it is just starting to come back. So I've sworn off hairdressers completely for a good while.

[longforhim]

I regret letting the stylist razor my layers too. It isn't too bad growing out, but I won't let it happen again though.

[jaine]

I am in the minority - my hair loves having razored ends! the texturizing makes my ends less likely to cowlick, which is really helpful for me at this length so I can go longer between cuts without the shape driving me crazy. I think my stylist did a good job :)