Is It Important To Cut Your Hair??

[jkrochet]

I've heard that it's healthier for your hair to at least get the ends trimmed a few times a year... is this true?? I haven't had my hair cut/trimmed since July 2010 and I'm pretty happy with having the long length, but I feel like my hair grows sooooo slowly and if I trim the ends it's going to set me back again. Any thoughts??

[spidermom]

It depends on your hair. I have done two experiments of going 1 year without trimming, and both times I had to cut more than the year's growth from the ends, they were in such bad shape. Not only do my hairs split, but the split ends split, and then the ends of the split splits split and ... You see where I'm going with this.

I do much better if I get a small trim about every 3 months. It keeps my ends in good condition so that the damage doesn't spread and cause my ends to break off and go split-crazy.

I know of other people who haven't had a trim in years, however, and their hair is extra-special long and lovely.

[jojo]

Id love the type of hair i didn't have to trim but my individual hairs are mainly fine and prone to breakage. I tried the no trim and when my hair was short; it was fine, no problem. But on longer hair, especially longer fine hair those ends are nearly 6 years old, they have been brushed, combed, washed heaven knows how much so they are worn; period!

With my hair type, its not just a case of oiling the ends and bunning my hair daily that is needed to protect my hair. My hair breaks regardless, it needs trims. When I don't trim, i break as much as I grow, but when I do trim I do notice an increase of monthly growth. I am not saying cutting encourages growth but it does encourage retainment so to summarize, healthy ends=healthy growth!

[meowmeow]

There's no hard fast rule on how often you should trim your hair. I never trimmed for 4 years because I wanted to grow it out and it grew out fine. The ends are a bit weathered, but I wear my hair down all the time, and to be honest it looks fine. If you feel you don't need a trim, you probably don't.

[Lollipop]

Basically, pay attention to your hair. If it is good and healthy, no problem. If it's starting to split, cut off the damage.

[chenille]

From what I've read here at LHC, I think the answer is that it depends on many factors. What type of hair you have, how prone it is to breakage, what kind of ends/hemline you have and what kind you want, and how you take care of your hair will all make a difference. As I understand it, if you start to get split ends, the splits may just go farther and farther up your hair, like a run in a stocking. A trim is supposed to knock out those tiny splits and make your hair stronger in the long run.

[Anje]

It varies a lot, largely with how split-prone your hair is. And of course, with whether you want thick blunt ends. Go a few years without trimming and you won't have blunt ends, simply because some hairs will grow faster than the others, creating the "fairytale ends" look.

If you don't feel like actually trimming and want the natural unmaintained ends look, you can keep splits at bay with lots of search and destroy to cut off the offenders. Or you can ignore the splits. Some people have luck with this, while others find that the splits multiply.

[ibleedlipstick]

It depends on your hair! Personally, I just keep an eye on my hair and trim any splits I find. I get it professionally cut every year/year and a half or so, and always get compliments on its overall health.

[HintOfMint]

It depends. I need a trim at least twice a year because, even when I get rid of splits through S&D, my ends eventually get irreversibly dry. So, for me, even without visible damage, I still need a trim. But that's just my hair.

[Pierre]

My hair is tough and strong (yet soft) from henna, and I keep it up most of the time and wrapped when I sleep, so I get little damage, consisting mainly of a few hairs tangled at their ends, which I snip off in the shower. I used to do a fair amount of S&D but don't need to anymore. I wouldn't want a trim because my ends are curly, and it would destroy the look. But if you have straight hair that splits easily, you'd probably do better with a trim. Unless you want fairytale ends, in which case S&D would be better.

[growingpains]

If you have a lot of damage you may find your damage travels up the hair shaft if you leave it unchecked and don't trim. But, if your hair isn't prone to splits or breaking and you like the more natural look then I don't see why it would be any less healthy for your hair to go untrimmed.

That said, too much trimming can prevent growing!

I personally used to believe my hairdresser of years ago who said I'd never achieve my goal of long hair unless I got rid of all the damage and had trims every six weeks. I think I saw her every six weeks for a year and a half. My hair never got any longer and I never achieved that totally split free hair. Once I fell out of the habit of seeing a hairdresser as much all of a sudden my hair was long! And, for the record, I probably have less splits than I did back then. Healthy hair can be about trimming, but for me it has been more about cutting the chemical dye and daily flat iron.

NOw I trim every 3-5 months on average and it's perfect. Any longer than that I find while my hair will still grow it gets very thin at the ends.

[alwayssmiling]

Doing mini micro trims regularly - like every eight weeks - has taken me longer to grow my hair but the ends are nice and thick. When I look back on my hair when I didn't trim, the hemline looked very thin because it was breaking and as Spidermom said I then cut off all the hair that I had grown. I would much prefer to keep on top of the trims and have healthy looking hair - though I know some lucky people have beautiiful hair that isn't split prone. :)

[LittleOak]

I have the same dilemma. My hair grows slowly (gotten slower as I have gotten older it seems) and I feel that although I would like to keep my ends in as good condition as possible I need to gain length! It seems like my hair has been stuck at the same length for years now and I have recently reduced the frequency I trim from about 1cm every 3 months to 1cm every 6 months. I have definitely seen a difference in growth and I haven't compromised the quality of my ends. Which is great :) I would say take off just a tiny amount only whenever you really feel like you need it. Best of luck to you. :flower:

[Mesmerise]

I think it's perfectly okay to go longer between trims if your hair is healthy and not prone to splitting. I have gone 16 months without a trim before, and usually wouldn't trim more than twice a year, except when it's badly damaged.

However I don't get splits on healthy hair, and didn't even know what they were until I had over processed hair. Even now, on hair that's been chemically dyed a lot (but not bleached) I still don't split much. If I did, I would definitely trim more!

[dulce]

if it's healthy and not too uneven why cut-the more you cut the less it'll seem to grow-at least that's how it is for me..

[Delila]

My hair seems happy with minimal microtrims. I S&D once in a great while, but honestly tend to forget about it.

I've found that if my hair is tanglier than usual, a bit of S&D and occasional use of a chelating shampoo can help get things back on track.

[jkrochet]

great advice!! thanks everyone :)

[braidedbeauty]

Longest I ever went was around 13 months and my hair wasn't really that bad in terms of split ends but the ends were sort of dead and thinning and frizzy and overall just made my whole head of hair look bad and unhealthy.

[summerjade]

Fine hair does need more regular trims to stay healthy. My hair is fine and needs the ends barely snipped about 4 times a year which keeps the ends free of splits and healthy.

[racrane]

Like everyone else has really summed up, it depends on your hair. I'm in the midst of going on month 4 and my hair is still really happy. It just depends on the hair and how you take care of it.

[kouran]

It is important for me to trim my hair. I normally do it 4 times a year, when a new season stars. It is not because of split ends, I did not cut my hair for two years and I have never had them, but because it prevents my ends to tapper.

[sorraia]

Well speaking of trimming I took the big plunge and cut off a little over
2" last night. I did it myself which was not easy. I put it in a pony tail slid the
hair band done my back and cut off the end. I saw a girl do this on You Tube. My hair needed evened up in the worse way. It does make me feel better knowing it looks better and is healthier looking but now I have a ways to go t reach BSL. I may have to go to a salon if it doesn't look even today. Yikes.

[mimimo]

For me personally, it's important that I trim my hair. I had extremely irregular trims (only every 6 months or longer) for the last couple of years and I think this has contributed to its bad condition.

I am now intending to trim fairly regularly, but minimally, in order to grow - approx 1cm off every 3 months. I also plan to implement some S&D (if my patience allows!)

[xcrunr2go]

It depends. If you wear it in a protective style on a daily basis, then there would be no need to cut off any precious length we all oh so covetly want.:)