Same Length a Year Ago??/

[joyfulheart18]

Okay, so everytime I went to the hair dresser in the past (this was before I discovered LHC and started taking care of my hair) I would go, get some split ends cut off, get my layers kept up (sigh) and then leave. I kind of wanted to grow it longer, but I really wasn't that interested and didn't track it or pay much attention to the length. Anyway, I'm looking back at pictures from almost exactly a year ago...and my hair is exactly the same length as it is now! I wanted to grow my hair at time (thought I only discovered LHC a few weeks ago and REALLY decided I wanted to grow my hair logner than I had wanted to before). The hairdresser knew I wanted to grow my hair, but it looks like she hasn't been letting that happen! Does that mean my only growth was split ends? That seems unlikely. I want to continue to get my splits cut off, but I also want to grow my hair...I'm wondering what I can do about this? Any suggestions?

[Cirafly24]

How often do you get your hair cut? If you're going every 6 weeks like some hairstylists reccomend, you may be trimming as fast as you're growing.

[skyblue]

You can go to normal appointment and specifically specify the amount you want taken off, and watch the person while they are doing it, you can also make sure and let them know that if he/she does not follow your instructions they will lose a costumer or if you don't want to take the chance you could always do your own trims, there is Feys self trim instructions or many many tutorial vids on you tube
Good luck Joyfulheart

[julliams]

This happened to me. I was going back through all my photos from the past few years (at the time) and noticed that I had the same hair in every shot over about 4 years. It seemed I would let my hair grow for 6 months, go to the hairdressers and say "I need it restyled and just cut what you need to". I would end up with the same hairstyle over and over again - APL with face framing layers.

After my last haircut of April 2010 I decided enough was enough and I left my hair to grow without trimming for a full 12 months. I went from this to this in a year:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4663232204_d9a1208e49_m.jpghttp://farm6.static.flickr.com/5099/5583678067_438684c59b_m.jpg

I discovered that I actually grow 7 inches in one year so if I go to a stylist every 6 months and say "cut off whatever it needs" and they take 3 inches off - well, that's all my growth. Now that I know what I grow per month, I can take more control over how much I actually want cut off in order to get more length over time.

You will notice that I'm wearing the same striped shirt in each shot. This is my tool for measuring as I find a measuring tape inaccurate for self-measuring. I started taking a photo in the first couple of days of each month. I have them from November 2009 now so it's a good gauge for how much growth happens monthly and seasonally. I was going a little cross-eyed counting stripes so I took a fluro marker and coloured between the stripes so I could discriminate between the lines visually. It's actually the inside of a top that is not stripey on the outside but happened to be on the inside :o

[Firefox7275]

Do you remind your hairdresser every time that you want to grow you hair? Are you doing anything to your hair that means you will have a lot of split ends every appointment?

[AshNight1214]

I usually ask whoever's cutting my hair to tell me the least amount of hair they can take off while cutting the most damage. Or you can just tell them to even out the bottom and do some S&D for the damage higher up.

[Rocket22]

I had the same problem too.. Even if you only go twice a year and get a pretty decent trim of 3" there is your growth for the year.

[Karmi]

Same situation here. I stopped going to a salon back in late November 2010 when I compared photos from this year (not measurement photos) with photos from last year. My hair was actually longer last year at this time than it is now! So, I bought a pair of Tweezerman shears (recommended here) a week ago for $25 and I plan to trim myself as needed as well as S&D. :)

[SpeakingEZ]

Yeah , you have to remember that hairdressers don't have your best interest in mind. That's not to say that they're out to get you, but maybe that the hairdresser just plum forgot that you wanted to grow your hair and just did whatever she felt like doing. Hairdressers do this-- they like to be creative. I've told stories on LHC about when I was a child, how my mom would stand behind me at the dresser on the 3 occasions I went to make sure that she wasn't cutting off anything except what I had okay'ed. (My mom knew how much I loved my long hair.)

That, and I don't think that hairdressers realize how fast hair grows. They think, "I'm only taking off a few inches" rather than, "I'm taking off 6 months of growth."

To be honest . . . if I were you, I'd start trimming my own hair . . . or find another hairdresser.

[Sweetie]

this is absolutely the reason why I stopped going to the hairdresser! They never (in my personal experience) manage to cut what I' d suggest, but always do as is better for them, to have you back in a few months with split ends and so on....
my advice is... try self trimming :)

[joyfulheart18]

Hi guys, all of you suggestions are great, thank you.
I haven't had a trim in a while, and only just recently (maybe a month and a half ago) started reading up on hair care and a few weeks ago joined LHC. I treated my hair very roughly and badly before, which is probably why I got so many split ends in the past. I'm thinking that I'll suck it up and go get the split ends cut off, even if I have to lose a bit of length...then I can take care of my hair to prevent split ends (all of my new haircare will help, as well as wearing it up more often). Then I can probably wait between cuts. Do you think this is a good idea? If all else fails, I can always change hair dressers. I will also make it very clear to her I'm trying to grow my hair longer and I want nothing cut that doesn't absolutely HAVE to be cut because of split ends. :)

I don't think I could self trim. The idea scares me to death and I would never want to make a mistake. I can just imagine chopping off too much or making it all jagged or...-shiver-. Just not comfortable with that. Maybe in a few years as I get more hair educated, but certainly not now...

Thanks everyone.

[Mesmerise]

It's fine to go and get a trim but be VERY SPECIFIC how much you want off, and don't feel the need to go back every 6 weeks...which is probably fine if you're maintaining a short cut, but useless if you're growing.

I would ask for a trim of 1/2" and no more, and also show with your fingers how much you want off!! Then, check to ensure she's not cutting too much off (or take a friend with you when you go).

Don't get trims more than once every 3 to 4 months, and each time ensure you're only getting a small trim. That way, your ends should stay healthy and your hair will actually get longer!

[joyfulheart18]

Okay, I certainly will! Is there a way to tell to an unexperience eye how far up my split ends are? (as in, can I look at my own hair and measure how far my splits go so that I can tell her how far to cut?)

[Rocket22]

I can tell you from experience if you take better care of your hair you won't need to cut so much off. I was in the same boat. I've never been able to grow long hair mainly due to I always needed to cut off my ends. I can now see a difference and I've only been doing good hair care for about 6 months. but I cut out heat styling, bleach and started using coconut oiling.

[joyfulheart18]

What do you mean by cocounut oiling? I'm interested in learning about that if that will help my ends stay healthy.

[AMW]

I have the same problem ... I was just looking at pictures and eventhough I have been trying to get my hair long, it is shorter now than it was two years ago! The worst of all is that I normally cut my own hair =( The problem is that I never measured how much my hair grows per month and I think my hair grows less than 1/2 in a month and I was cutting a good 1 - 1 1/2 inch every two months ... I feel so bad right now. I decided to do s&d only for one year since my hair is in really good condition. I'm also trying monistat for one month and lets see what happens!!

[SpeakingEZ]

I don't think I could self trim. The idea scares me to death and I would never want to make a mistake. I can just imagine chopping off too much or making it all jagged or...-shiver-. Just not comfortable with that. Maybe in a few years as I get more hair educated, but certainly not now...


I was terrified, too! But I followed Faye's instructions for a basic trim and followed the instructions for layers on the top section of my hair (much more damaged than the bottom) and then fanned everything out to the side to even it out and, to my amazement, it worked!!

If you don't want to actually trim your hair yourself, maybe just start by doing search-and-destroy trims. Isolate individual split ends and trim off 1/4 inch above the split. Don't expect to get them all in the first day! But if you do this often enough and with quality (sharp-sharp) scissors, you might not NEED to do real trims at all. . . .

[Panth]

I was terrified, too! But I followed Faye's instructions for a basic trim and followed the instructions for layers on the top section of my hair (much more damaged than the bottom) and then fanned everything out to the side to even it out and, to my amazement, it worked!!

If you don't want to actually trim your hair yourself, maybe just start by doing search-and-destroy trims. Isolate individual split ends and trim off 1/4 inch above the split. Don't expect to get them all in the first day! But if you do this often enough and with quality (sharp-sharp) scissors, you might not NEED to do real trims at all. . . .

Seconding this.

Look at your ends - maybe plait your hair, then look at the tail - and see if you can see anything that looks like any of these: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=189

If you have absolutely masses (as you may, if you've been not-so-careful with your hair in the past) trims or microtrims (tiny ones, say less than 1/2 inch) every month or so may be more effective (and less time-consuming!) to start with. Feye's self trim methods are really easy to do and are in the articles section here.

Once you start to have less splits, due to your improved haircare, you can consider S&D like SpeakingEZ said.

Two important things: most people only grow 1/2-1 inch, maybe 2 inches at best, a month. So, if you trim off more than this per month your hair will not get longer. But, for the first few months you might need to maintain your length just to get rid of the worst of the splits and let your new haircare methods start acting.

Secondly, always, always, always use super-sharp scissors or you can actually cause splits. Go out and buy some nice new scissors - you can get hair-specific ones from a chemist but you don't have to spend masses. Then, never, ever use them on anything but your hair - cutting plastic or paper blunts scissors very quickly. Also, cut straight across the bottom of the hair, not at an angle. You'll expose less of the cortex that way, making splitting less likely.

[LunaMoon]

Same here. :poot:
I am a little sad with my hair right now. Mine is not growning at all, actually, seems like is getting shorter (maybe breaking?)
I am already oiling as always did, and wondering if in my case is better to cut off the damage and start fresh from APL.
I am going to try mixing some oil to my shampoo to see if it gets better. I trim my hair myself.

[joyfulheart18]

When you guys say oiling, what do you mean? I've heard people say "oiling and braiding" and I was wondering what oiling referred to.

[Annalouise]

Oiling is putting a tiny amount of oil on your hands and rubbing them together and then wiping the ends of your hair with your hands to get a very small amount of oil on your hair ends.


Also, if your hair is getting damaged at the same rate that it grows, then you do not gain any length as you cut off the damage.

This is my situation. My ends get drier and drier and I get splits so any new growth from the scalp is cut off at the ends.

I have had the same length of hair for many many years.

[Panth]

When you guys say oiling, what do you mean? I've heard people say "oiling and braiding" and I was wondering what oiling referred to.


Oiling is putting a tiny amount of oil on your hands and rubbing them together and then wiping the ends of your hair with your hands to get a very small amount of oil on your hair ends.

Pretty much this. There are lots and lots of oils you can use on your hair - some of the more common ones are extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), coconut oil (CO) and jojoba oil.

Depending on your hair, you may have better success with different oils. In general, the heavier the oil, the more sparingly you need to use it. Lots of people just wipe a tiny amount over their palms and then sweep their palms down their length. Others just oil their ends. Some people do oiling as a deep treatment (with or without gentle heat). Others do a heavy oiling the night before wash day. Others (like me) add oil to their shampoo and don't use conditioner (although that only works with coconut oil and a couple of others).

This article should help you: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=71