Condition vs length

[Xan]

Ever find yourself wondering if you should trim a bit off for a healthier hemline and overall eveness. Although you love the length and cant stand to spare even a 1/4 inch, just want longer? What to do?

[kwaniesiam]

I always say condition over length, because when your length is dry and full of splits, the splits can travel upwards and eventually lead to a loss of even more length. Healthy hair is more important than super long, in the end because the health and care gone into long hair is what makes it beautiful :flower:

[julya]

I waited too long to trim. I am so much happier with my ends after trimming an inch or so.

[eadwine]

Condition, more than definitely. Having had untrimmed badly damaged length, yeah, yucky. I'll trim any day before putting up with that again.

[paper]

For sure condition first. I see some with long hair but the ends looks terrible, and I think to myself they really need a trim!

[Rini]

Well I'm going to be the odd one out and say keep the length :o It really does depend on what length you're at though.

Me, my hair has just become long enough to do a really decent bun and since I hate this length down, I will continue to wear it up every day for a year or two. My ends are not great, but not exactly fried either. They would look nicer with a trim, but since I'm not wearing it down and no one sees it..... there is no point. I will just continue to gain length and worry about the trimming later.

I've never experienced the split ends travelling up the hair shaft thing though....maybe I've just been lucky :shrug:

[Rosamaria]

Rini, I'm with you. As you can see from my photo I'm growing mine out. This is not the first time in my life that I've done this:rolleyes: (will I never learn?!)

The previous times I've gone for trimming out the layers and getting a nice blunt hemline, over length. But this time I'm going for length above all and putting up with the layers and u-shaped hemline. Like you, I want to be able to put it up. I just can't wait to get it up in a Gibson Tuck - it's such an elegant style!

However I'm sure I would feel different if my hair was in bad condition. I haven't trimmed for 15 months (the photo was taken 2 months ago) and so far - no split ends. If I had bleached/fried hair I think I would probably want to get rid of the evidence!

[harley mama]

Yes, I wonder about this every day. Since I started chemo I have had little new growth and my hair has thinned out in volume. I went from a 4" pony circumference to 3". So, the hem is a bit thin and really needs to be trimmed back to make it look healthier. But, at this point I am unwilling to give up any more hair, even for a much needed trim!

[Angellen]

I also say length. While my ends aren't in the best condition, they are still around average, I'd say. If they were in awful condition, I might be more inclined. With some coconut oil and TLC, they aren't so dry and strawlike--tonight they even feel soft to the touch! Stuff like that makes me happier to get to my next goal (hip) and perhaps maintain there.

[jel]

You can always just S&D to snip off individual splits.

Some of us here prefer the fairy tale ends look over a blunt hemline - see the no trimming club link in my siggy. However, if you want to keep your hemline blunt, you do need to trim - how often depends on the way your hair grows (uniformly or with strands shooting away) and the speed.

[girlcat36]

At this point, I am choosing length over condition. Like harley mama, I lost a lot of hair due to chemo, and radiation(I lost half of my volume). I am unwilling to part with what I have left. It would take a HUGE trim to get it back to good. Can't do it.

[Mangachan]

Bad ends ruin hair for me no matter how long it is. Trimming ends makes it look fuller and I'm a sucker for thickness which is why I gladly had 10 inches of hair hacked off into the glorious thick halo I have now. Plus I know for sure that my ends are 100% healthy.

[rosieposie]

Condition is much more important for me. If my ends are all ratty then I find they tend to "self-trim" and my hair goes into a kind of stall period where I get no growth at all. So however badly I want my length back again (drastic cut before xmas 07), I will always get a trim every 4/6 months. Its the only thing that works for me. HTH

[Telle]

Condition is more to me. long damaged hair is not beautiful. My goal is to grow long healthy beautiful hair.

[nomadhome]

It depends in the condition of the ends. If there are a few splits, you can just S&D those. If there are so many that they can't be S&D-ed out, then I would say trim because the splits can travel up the length. If the ends aren't split, just dry, lots of moisture might help you keep them.

That said I am a trimmer-- and not just for splits. Although it is thick, my hair is too heavily layered and the longest layer is so thin that it gets scraggly w/o trimming. Since I like to wear it down, the appearance matters more than the length.

[Guenever]

Right now I'm choosing length.. If I should cut off ALL my dye damage I'd be back at CHIN length!! Which I'm NOT interested in..
I'm with you on the condition-thing - definitely!
But I want to be 100% sure that I'm able to grow my hair to at LEAST classic until I start chopping/trimming.. - The thought of going through numerous trims and chops for years only to see yourself terminal at TB where I am now would be unbearable! *sigh*
When I'm at classic I'm going for condition over length and could probably consider chopping off my dye damage which will be at APL by then..No matter what I will definitely start trimming off my growth..

[jel]

Another thought - condition doesn't have to mean cutting.

To me, condition is achieved through using moisturising and protecting products and practices. Conditioners, herbs, oils, henna, updos, non-damaging accessories... I find that those things keep my hair in a great condition, not scissors.

[Rae~]

Condition, condition, condition.

Heh. :o That's been my mantra, at least.

[fluffer]

Great post! I have thought about this a lot.

I always think to myself that I'd rather have long hair with dry/damaged ends, than short hair with dry damaged ends. Even if I cut off 8 inches, my hair would not be in great condition. I will always have dry ends because of my hair type and difficult water.

So, for me, length is more important.

[Sarahmoon]

I'm in that situation Xan... for quite some time already.

Currently I'm going for more length first because when I wear my hair in a bun or braid the unevenness (spelling?) is not really visible.

Still trying to find the courage to go to the hair dresser. I am so close to tailbone now and would hate to be back at above hip length.

[spidermom]

Once the condition of my ends gets bad, my growth stops, so I trim for BOTH condition AND length.

[Medvssa]

When it is too thin from shedding, I cannot stand it, I cut it off. I hate my hair when it is short, I'm just a hairball and it annoys me, but seeing it so thin is depressing, which is worse.
I don't know how I would deal with damage right now. Haven't had really damaged hair in years, I guess mostly because I've bee chopping it off because of reason above.

[curls2grow]

For me, condition overrides length. My length looks scraggly easily if i don't keep the ends trimmed. When I get trims regularly, my curls look better from scalp to ends.

[Meli]

At the moment, I prefer lenght. I have been trimming for healthier and thicker ends for a few years, but it didn't help. My general haircare then was not good, though, so with my former routine I wouldn't have got healthier hair unless I would have chopped it to shoulders... Now, with much gentler haircare, I could probably be able to trim for thicker ends. But, I love the look of fairytale ends and I still feel a bit bad about missing length - I have about six inches more to grow before I'm back where I was before my trimming "madness" begun.

My ends are very thin, but still soft and well moisturized. Though the last 6-8 inches have more taper and splits more easily than the rest of my hair, and eventually I might have to trim them away wether I want or not. But for now, S&D is all I need. At least I have no heat or chemical damage to get rid of - only old breakage and damage from rough handling.

[Buddaphlyy]

Length for me. I think it'd be easier to hide bad conditioned long hair than to maintain short hair. I plan on growing to my first goal length and then maintaining for about 6 months before I move on to my next length.

[chloeishere]

Right now, I've decided condition over length. My ends have been driving me crazy for months-- they get tangly and stiff, and hard and just lousy when the rest of my hair still feels great. I've wanted to trim before I even found LHC-- with the great care I learned here, I managed to put off a trim for over 6 months-- but I can't stand these ends anymore, so I'm trimming on Monday.
My hemline still looks okay (I like a U-shape, so that's what I'll be trimming to, you can see the hem in my profile picture), it's just the way my ends feel. I don't get many splits, and they LOOK healthy, but they sure don't act that way. I'm hoping to have less damaged ends in the future, because I won't have to remove tangles so often-- maybe my hair will grow faster?

On the other hand, I'm also going for length over condition. I have old dye (colorfixed, so you can't tell it was dyed) going up to about chin-ish length. I plan to trim it all eventually, but I'm definitely not trimming back up to chin! I think I'll start trimming old-dye around waist length-- earlier if my ends start feeling bad, but I think a trim with PROPER hair scissors will keep them feeling much better.

I like wearing my hair down, and I don't like the way that fairytales look on me (I like them on others, though), so maintaining a blunt hemline is important to me. My hair does grow evenly, so fairtales aren't much of a concern-- it's all about the feel.

[vindo]

I try to balance it a little..my lengths are healthy and I have few splits..
BUT..they are so thin..and not just the bottom 2" or something. My hair is thin past waist and to thicken that up it will take lots of trimming.
So I usually grow a little..then trim a little etc.
To assure I dont loose any length I never go shorter than a certain Nr...the past 3months I have been trimming back to 100cm every month on the 15th.
To see how my ends will grow I am planning not to trim for two months..in case my ends wont lik it I will cut off 2 months growth.
Actually pretty easy but its testing my patience..<_<

[Nightshade]

I'm all for both ;)

That being said, I was unwilling to live with super-damaged ends, and unwilling to cut all the damage off. Frequent trims allowed me to keep the length, but also slowly get rid of the damage. Worked for me :shrug:

[intothemist1999]

Ever find yourself wondering if you should trim a bit off for a healthier hemline and overall eveness. Although you love the length and cant stand to spare even a 1/4 inch, just want longer? What to do?


Historically I've trimmed for a healthier hemline overall eveness. However, I was getting very frustrated with the slow growth, and the hem has stayed quite even so I've joined the "no trim club". It might be spruced up with a bit of a trim but I'm not going there till I've reach goal...unless it gets really bad.

[Alaskanheart]

Condition and length is the ultimate goal. At my short length, if I was to trim all the old damage off, I would be at the shortest length of my life, that is something I dont want to do after having shoulder and above length hair for the last 7 years.However once I get to a length where I feel if I cut my damage off and my hair will still look long to me, then I have no difficulty chopping.Im not sure when this will be , Im just playing by ear.I imagine knowing myself that once Im at BSL or longer, cutting a few inches will be easy for me if I feel the need.

[bruteforcegrl]

Like Emichiee I've been growing a little and trimming a little of late. I didn't really want to do this until I reached almost 30". Now somehow slowing down the quest for length feels OK.
bfg

[psvzum]

Condition is more important to me than length. I personally don't like straggly ends on me : )

[Gutterfayrie]

I've been thinking about this all day!! Length has always been more important for me, but now I'm seeing a vast difference in the quality of my healthy hair and the old bleach damaged ends. If I were to cut off all my damaged bits I'd be back to shoulder length, and I'm at waist for the first time in my life! (or I was until my trim 3 days ago)

I guess I'm going to stay at waist and grow out my damage, then maybe go longer?

[tiny_teesha]

I used to fight that battle daily. I still get the incling. As soon as my aunty mentioned i "needed" a trim....i snapped and all of a sudden didn't want to trim but I set May 1 as my day of trimming. Still i did trim as i planned. I don't regret it. I mean my hair would look BETTER now if i chopped it to APL, but with my hair (Tried and tested) I need to WAIT for the hairs to catch up and trimming is a short term thing, which makes my hair look better now, but actually makes it take longer for the end of the hemnline to get thicker as i cut off more of my terminal hairs. SO i will try to microtrim, i am growing out my damaged hair. I went through 1 phase(hair dyeing)....and I'm still paying for it many years later! (and still growing it out)

[Carolyn]

It's always been a balancing act for me. I grew out layers to start. Trimming off the bottom layers never bothered me as it always made my hair look thicker and better. It always seemed like the bottom layers grew so much faster than the top ones. I really think they do :rolleyes: Over the years I've reduced the number of trims I get a year and the amount cut off, until this year. I'd reached 40" which was tailbone/mid butt on me. The braid tassel was pathetic. Embarrassing actually :( I didn't like wearing it down because I didn't like the look of the thin, see through ends plus is was hard to deal with wearing it down at that length. So I've trimmed off a total of 7" this year. I got rid of a ton of damaged ends and now have a nice straight across and much thicker hemline. I miss the old length with it's nice little butt tickle but I don't miss the thin, U shaped ends. So now my plan it to enjoy this length and the better ends and try growing to tailbone again. If I get the same ratty ends the next time, I'll know that it's just not possible for me to have my hair that long. So I guess that says conditioner over length, doesn't it? :p

[KaeleyAnne]

I've had long hair all my life, but my hair has never been able to grow longer than its current length (tailbone). Right now I'm working on improving the condition of my hair before growing it longer. I have a lot of split ends (due to too much rough handling, since I've never heat-styled my hair or dyed it) so I'm trying to S&D to improve the condition of my ends, accompanied by occasional trims, since I would have to cut off at least 6 inches to make a real difference on the number of splits that my hair has, and I'm not willing to do that. I'm also working on learning how to comb my hair more gently. So, although I'm trying to improve the condition, I'm not willing to loose any of the length that I currently have.

[renarok]

I really would like for my hair to be healthy and long. For me that means trims. I am too tactile to keep my hair in a bun all the time. I restrain my hair for work, sleeping, and housework. The rest of the day my hair is loose. I love to feel my hair. I don't want to have to undo my hair to give myself a good scalp massage. That is also the reason I've never used gel or hairspray. I like to feel hair-not product. A consequence of my hair tendencies is undoubtedly damage. Keeping my hair contained just isn't worth that extra hair health. That said, I am probably not a candiate for uber long hair. As much as I admire it, I would find it impractical. I'm lucky that my hair is tough, I have few splits and a pretty full weight line. I have long layers and will probably always keep them. My waves look better layered.

[UrbanEast]

I'd be willing to trade off maybe 2 inches for better quality ends. But I wonder if it would make much of a difference since my taper goes up further than that?

Sometimes, I think about taking monistat to get hyper-growth while I trim a lot off. Maybe I'll look into that.

[Zindell]

I did it last September! See pics below...

I do not regret it. Now when it grows out it is all even and that feels much better than when it was longer and uneven. (For me at least).

I'd say my hair is between the shorter and longer pic atm. So it grows ok'ish. :o

[almudena]

IMHO is more important condition. I love beautiful/long hair, in this order
I love being able to show off my hair. I don't see the point of having super long hair which has to be hiding in a bun because of its poor condition. I prefer to have regular trims and maintain it healthy rather than let it grow no matter how it is :)

[Kiraela]

I guess I'm more length than condition, since my ends are rather dry, and 2/3 of my length is bronzey-blonde from bleach... but if I were to trim back to my superhealthy virgin hair, I'd be back at shoulder length! and I can't do that. Most of my hair's in good condition despite the bleach damage, and whenever I see splits I remove them. The dry ends are sometimes a pain, and the color shift sometimes annoys me, but I don't want to lose the length. I might start maintaining once the rest of my hair catches up to tailbone, although I might wait 'til classic.