How often to trim

[joyfulheart18]

I tend to get split ends, but every time I go to the hair dresser she cuts of about an inch of my hair,a nd since I was going every two months my hair wasn't even really growing. :P How often should I get my hair trimmed?

[vanillabones]

I get a lot of splits too from being bleach-happy for 6 months but I'm sticking to a 1/2 inch trim every three or four months. So I'm sure you could hold off longer or get less cut considering my hair is probably worst of the worst when it comes to needing trims :p

But I do not have long hair yet, so I'm probably no help in this judgement.

[Sundial]

It really depends on the condition of your hair and your preference.

If you get a lot of splits then trimming frequently will stop the splits from traveling further up the shaft. If you don't get a lot of splits, you may want to try the search and destroy (S&D) method - you look through your hair and only cut the hair strands that have splits or white dots. Be sure to use sharp hair scissors for this and don't use the scissors to cut other things.

If you hardly get any splits, you can stretch out trims. Some members who hardly get splits trim to get a neater hemline.

So there is no set rules on how often to trim because it depends on the condition of your hair and your preference on your hemline.

For me, I used to wait between 4-6 moths between trims because I didn't have much issues with splits and my hair seems to grow out fairly evenly. However I am doing monthly trims now because I'd like to trim off old damage and layers while I decide if I wish to stop at this length or carry on growing.

[Madora]

Vanillabones and Sundial are right. Trimming depends on how much damage you have.

It doesn't benefit your hair - if it is very damaged at the end, to only give it a minute trim. Better to take off an inch, than have to take off more because you didn't snip off all the damage the first time around.

Once you've got your ends looking healthy, then depending on how gently you treat your hair, you could stretch out those trims to every 3 to 4 months (search and destroying each month, just the same).

My hair gets trimmed (by me) every 3 to 4 months. Feye's self-trim method is a great way to avoid scissors happy salon folks!

[jojo]

I self trim or rather dust 4 monthly as my hair is fine and breaks easily. Though when I get to the 4 month mark and my hair looks OK then I hang on for another month or so.

[celebriangel]

I would say... with healthy hair, I start looking like I could do with a trim every year or so :)

With damaged hair it ain't so easy. I wouldn't go to the hairdresser if you need trims more than every 6 months, since I've never had a haircut where I've lost less than 2 inches. A good amount - recommended in nightshade's damaged hair article - is a microtrim every 3 months. By a microtrim, I mean like less than 1/4 inch - only a few millimetres, so the cut hairs look like dust on the ground. You can do this easily yourself. Google Feye's Self-trim, or look in the articles section.

But then...I must admit I do not trust hairdressers - at least not LHC ones/ones I don't know.

[torrilin]

If I want to maintain a length, I should get a trim every 4 weeks for long hair, on up to less than once a week if I were trying to maintain a military regulation buzz cut.

If I want to maintain a perfect blunt hemline, I should get a trim every 3-6 months. Historically, this is my default, because it's pretty livably lazy.

If I want to grow my hair as fast as possible, I should get a trim every 12 months or less, with mild search and destroy to supplement the trims. S&D should be pretty limited tho, maybe as often as once a month. This is more work than my usual method, and I don't think I'll repeat the experiment. I'm glad I tried, since I've found it is much faster and much better for my hair to cut out tricky tangles tho. That means a lot less breakage. It's only happened about 3 times since I got good scissors, but keeping my stress level down is worth it.

I grow between 0.75 and 1" per month, so that means I need very frequent trimming to maintain a precise length. If your hair grows slower, odds are you'll need to trim less frequently.

[Delila]

I'm closing in on seven months since my last trim, with just a bit of S&D to deal with splits. So far, so good.

I can't usually manage to space out my trims that far, I'm usually tempted to trim at least three times a year.

[embee]

I have not trimmed since 2005. My hair has reached classic. :D

Actually I had a financial crisis, couldn't afford the salon, put my hair back/up and ignored it. Benign neglect they call it. And one day I noticed my hair was long, amazing!

[alyanna]

I have not trimmed since 2005. My hair has reached classic. :D

Actually I had a financial crisis, couldn't afford the salon, put my hair back/up and ignored it. Benign neglect they call it. And one day I noticed my hair was long, amazing!

Wooooow! Not trims since 2005?! That's amazing! How are your ends?

[Anje]

How do you wear your hair day-to-day? If you can protect your ends and prevent the splits, you shouldn't need to trim so much.

Getting a pair of haircutting scissors and trimming your own hair is also helpful. You can take off a lot less than an inch if you wish.