Healthy Hair with Split Ends

[eternallyverdan]

Does anyone else find that their hair looks perfectly healthy despite tons of split ends?

I was intrigued by the idea of S&Ding, but then I took a close look at my hair and realized that probably 30-40% of all the hairs on my head have split ends. I'd never leave the house again if I tried to get rid of them all!

Despite all of the splits people are always telling me that my hair looks very healthy, and I don't really have much taper or fairytaling. I trim about every 6-8 months.

So, does anyone else just ignore their split ends? Mind don't seem to be doing my hair any harm.

[NotInPortland]

A lot of my ends have splits too and I'm always getting complimented on my hair :) I haven't bothered getting my hair trimmed in over a year and I never really S&D'd before but my hair seems to be ok, and a lot of my friends often comment on how long it's gotten if they ever see me with it down! I can only see splits at the very end none further up my hair so they don't bother me too much but I think I will get a trim soon just the same to get rid of some of them as it's been ages since my last!

[renarok]

Your hair is long,,,, really long,,,,, senior citizen hairs.
Splits happen, and I think that unless they appear really unhealthy, like dried and crunchy ends, then let them be.

It is unreasonable to expect hair to remain pristinely healthy from scalp to tip when each hair has lived such a long life!!!

I do S&D, but not obsessively, my old eyes can't take the strain. I love your hair!!! I'd take it splits and all!!!

[Tikwichka]

I'm the same! My splits tend to be further up the length, and there's so many of them! Yet, I get many compliments and my hair feels smooth.

[Beatnik Guy]

Does anyone else find that their hair looks perfectly healthy despite tons of split ends?
Uh huh. :agree:

I do S&D; just not very often though. :rolleyes:

[skyblue]

I was wondering about this too! I have many many splits, my ends however get trimmed so the splits are higher up, I have tried to search them out and I get some but they all vanish when I'm out to get then all lol So I have been worried that it will effect my hair at some point, so far I think it looks fine and lately since I joined and trying oils and CWC OR CO'ing it looks and feels better.....gonna have to keep an eye on this thread to see what you all have to say ;)

[Viechen]

I think I qualify *raises hand* My hair is healthy looking and I have gotten a few compliments on it lately because it is growing nicely... But when I look closely I see splits every where which drives me insane because I am such a control freak... I think unless it is visible to other people and starting to affect the overall health I may have to learn to live with them :)

[enfys]

Once I have enough splits to cause a probem, I notice them but I trim and S&D far too rarely to be in a position to complain.

I notice them in my growing out layers, but maybe that's the mix of uncut hairs fairytaling and the splits. My ends don't get an many splits as the chunks either side of my parting. Ugh.

[KittyLost]

Yeah. I only cut them when my ends become tangly off them. If they are doing you no trouble then might as well leave them be :) with hair as long as yours I doubt they'd all be splitting right up the hair shaft.

[twolunarspring]

I'm with you, I think my hair looks healthy and people often tell me it does, but I have plenty of splits. I don't really care, I expect some people are just more inclined to split ends than others, and on some people they're more noticeable. I trim once in a blue moon when my ends start to feel tired, but if I S&D'd, I'm not sure I'd ever leave the house :D

[SimplyViki]

Me! I usuallly can't be bothered to S&D, but my hemline is thick and my ends are shiny and soft, even if a great many of them are split. :shrug: I can't make myself care enough to do anything about it beyond a simple trim every so often.

[akhkharu]

I'm in the same situation. Many of my hairs are split and it bothers me when I look at it closely, but if I'm not looking for them they're not noticeable at all. I get lots of compliments about how smooth and healthy my hair looks. I trim them when I notice them, but I'm not very worried. It's been long and full of splits for years, so they must not be doing much damage.

[Nicolesid1]

I have split ends all the time even a week or so after a trim I still find some...

[xoxophelia]

Well I am the opposite. The ends of my hair are not healthy but I do not get many splits (or compliments!)

[LaurelSpring]

I'm glad I saw this thread because I was just contemplating this same situation today. I happened to be waiting for someone in the car and I was bored and I started staring at my ends and realized how many splits there were. I really dont want to cut. Im going to do a dusting but I just dont want to part with more than that right now. I was wondering what would happen if I just let it ride. I dont want it to break off either but that doesnt seem to be the case. Im glad to know that others are doing ok with theirs and it doesnt seem to be impacting their length in a big way.

[HintOfMint]

Lucky y'all!

When I have splits, my hair looks ragged. Heck, my hair will start to look ragged before the splits even start! Fortunately, most of my splits are confined to the underlayer, but the hair from my temples is starting to split because of a razoring job, and you best believe they look raggedy, even the hairs that don't have splits.

[Mesmerise]

Well I am the opposite. The ends of my hair are not healthy but I do not get many splits (or compliments!)

I'm the opposite too... my hair looks awful but I have hardly any split ends! I can find them when I'm sitting in the sun and I hunt and hunt for them... and occasionally I spot one...but it's probably only 1% of the hairs that are actually split.

[fluffybunny]

I've heard of "ignore the splits" as a bona-fide long hair care method, no kidding, I think it was on a men's hair care site. The article claimed that eventually one side of the split will break off by itself, then the other side. I filed this away mentally for future reference since I am lazy and I can't see myself keeping up with S&D.:)

[UltraBella]

I never ever S&D, I just can't bring myself to do it. I have a lot of hair to go searching through ! Ugh, where would I even start ? My hair looks and feels healthy so I am just going to keep on being oblivious to any split ends I have.

[ibleedlipstick]

If I notice a really epic one, I will trim it, because I'm an obsessive control freak.

I don't really hunt them down, and my hair seems happy enough.

However, the second my ends get crunchy, they get trimmed. Crunchy is not a word that should ever apply to my hair.

[born_confused90]

:o Am i the only person who is addicted to S&D?
I'm really glad your hair is all looking lovely though, I personally have healthy looking hair but with the split ends it feels rough and that's not what I want, at all!

The only time that my hair has looked really disgusting due to split ends was when I used a new straightener (and I don't do that often but it was supposed to be really gentle!) and a couple of days later I noticed that the ends of my hair looked really light red/brown (it's supposed to be absolutely black) and so thin it was practically invisible. That was truley horrible!

[freckles]

I have a horrific number of splits. Many of them are really long, or double or triple or several splits on the same hair. Trimming and S&D barely make a dent, and even if it does, the splits are back to their usual frequency within a couple of weeks. I treat my hair about as carefully as I'm willing to at this point, so I guess I'm stuck with them, but I HATE them.

But nevertheless, my hair keeps growing, and people compliment it, it feels nice, and nobody else has commented on my splits. Maybe they're just being polite, but I think more likely, nobody looks at my ends as closely as I do! :)

[Lippytoes]

Am i the only person who is addicted to S&D?

Ha, you definitely are not. :D I get really obsessed with snipping off every single split end I find. (Although right now there aren't too many at all, hooray!)

[GeoJ]

I think healthy hair can get split ends. Especially older ends, and it will probably vary by hairtype also.

I used to S & D a lot, but eventually I had less and less splits. I don't think I get them with less frequency than before, I just think I finally caught up with snipping off all the old ones. Now I don't get very many so I mostly ignore them, I only S & D or trim if my ends start getting tangly. They aren't very visible on me, so I'm fortunate in that way.

My DD's hair shows every split like it had a spotlight on it! Thankfully she gets very few (and mostly near her crown on the back, I suspect from the fabric on her car seat), so I just snip them off when I see them.

[monsterna]

I have loads of splits and white dots. It's horrible. I stopped blow drying a month or so ago. It's very disheartening and I feel like I'll never have nice long hair because of it. The ends feel crappy a few times a month, I try to clarify, I always CO with cones. I don't know what to do anymore. I have SO many layers and the fronts were razored back in Dec 2009 (my last cut), I'm sure. So it makes everything worse and trimming is useless. I S&D but I have to so much. It's very annoying.

[anodyne_ame]

I have a ton of splits (I suspect my ends weren't too happy that I dyed my hair), but I seem to be the only one who sees them, so I've just let it slide for now. I'll trim them off at some point though, because they seem to tangle unnecessarily much.

[born_confused90]

phew! I feel slightly more sane now that i know i'm not alone - i do a minimum of 2 sessions a week, and i find it quite relaxing :o tbh i get frustrated when i don't find any(although unfortunately that hasn't been an issue this week). reading that all of you have healthy hair is reassuring but i don't think i'd ever give up my s&d just because knowing my luck i'd be the 1 whose split ends every other person notices!

[charalito]

I do have healthy hair, in fact I get a lot of comments on how smooth and shiny it is. However, I do get my fair share of split ends because it is quite thin. What I do is keep my hair scissors handy (by the computer, by my phone spot next to the window, by the tv) so everytime I spot a split off it goes... Sometimes I dedicate 5 mins or so for s&d , sometimes just getting rid of the offender is enough :)

[Nastasia]

Yeah, I have vast piles of split ends too, but my ends are still soft and healthy-looking.

[Jenn of Pence]

I'd say my hair is pretty healthy, but yes, my ends have been subjected to life in general plus some straightening, too. Therefore, I get plenty of splits and white dots. It would drive me crazy if I let it, but it's just a part of life and growing long hair. Knowing that I do have otherwise healthy and nice-looking hair helps keep things into perspective. Now that I'm treating my hair better, in principle I should get less in the future, even if I will be dealing with my previously beleaguered ends until they get trimmed off.

I also like S&D! It's strangely soothing, and you feel like you're doing something productive either in one sitting or in short down-times. However, I always worry that my scissors, while being exclusively for hair, just old and aren't very good and I'm making more damage! But I'm probably blowing that out of proportion, though I may look into some new ones in the future.

All in all, if the amount of splits is outrageous and really making my ends bad, I'll cough up a trim. But, within reason, you can live splits and still have great hair. :)

[Varney]

Well what exactly is "healthy" hair? Since hair is dead it's hard to define.

A lot of people here seem to think healthy hair = shiny and soft. But the softness of hair seems to me largely genetic. I will never have as soft hair as some of my friends no matter how much I take care of my hair, because it's not in my genes. And some of my friends will always have soft hair no matter how much they bleach, blow-dry and straighten it (so that they get both splits and breakage).

Personally I would think that splits and breakage in its self is "unhealthy" (whatever that means to dead matter). Since splits and breakage equals damage, which seems like a more objective measure of hair health.

[Ishje]

I'm in the same situation. Many of my hairs are split and it bothers me when I look at it closely, but if I'm not looking for them they're not noticeable at all. I get lots of compliments about how smooth and healthy my hair looks. I trim them when I notice them, but I'm not very worried. It's been long and full of splits for years, so they must not be doing much damage.

I have the same. when I braid my hair the split ends peep out, and then they annoy me.
but as soon as I have it down or in a bun I don't see the split ends anymore and I feel fine again.
I do S&D, but I find it way to boring XD so only a few hairs at a time.

[Chamy]

Your hair is long,,,, really long,,,,, senior citizen hairs.

That is so cute, senior citizen hairs. :p
Oh and to stick with the subject, i totally agree with renarok about this. Just dont cut them unless they are really damaged.

[Jeno86]

My hair is the healthiest it has ever been but I do have split ends. I, however, don't worry about them because I have a feeling that no matter how good I treat my hair, they will still show up because that is just what they do.

[Kome]

My hair is LITTERED with them. Even the healthy, undamaged non-dyed 6 inches of roots have them all over. *shrugs* Everyone's hair is different and I get compliments on my hair all the time as well. :)

[Zefyra]

I keep expecting to see splits, but I dont yet. My hairs just past my shoulders and I just gave up my straightener last week (Ill sure miss the lil bugger...) Though I did dust my ends a bit ago cuz they were dry and crunchy. But despite all that I havent seen many splits... Not that Im complaining :D

[joyful373]

Yes, I qualify. My hair is babyfine, so I find random splits quite often. I subscribe to the thoughts that unless I am getting a bunch of tangles I should let them be. Nice to know I'm not totally nuts :)

[AnnaJamila]

I've never seen a split end in my hair, but the ends always seem "tired" to me. Just go with what you got, sister!

[Anisaa]

I join the club!! my hair is healthy but my ends are terrible!!!