Should I do a big chop?

[gogirlanime]

So I posted another thread asking about what I should do for my hair (many things). My hair is 18 inches long and about 10 inches of it (from the tips going up) is damaged pretty bad from conventional hair dyes and using a straightener almost everyday. I haven't used heat, a hair dryer, or hair dye in about 3 months. My pony is average, 3" thick. It isn't thinning at all, but my ends are very thin, my ends thin out to about 100 hairs.

So my question is this: Does damaged hair break and create more damage to the hair? Does it travel up as split ends? I want my ends to be much thicker but I also would like my hair at 26" long. Should I just chop it all off, or do you think that's not necessary? I am willing to chop off 10" if some of you think I need to in order to achieve thicker and longer hair. My hair is very fine, could it be that I just have too fine of hair to ever get it that long?

[Ravenwind]

I'm on the same boat. From my own experience, damage doesn't travel up like split ends do. They just break off. Instead of chopping it all off, I would just trim occasionally until the damaged hair is virtually gone, so you can still have length. I also went through all of my hair and cut individual damaged strands and that made a HUGE difference, it's just very time consuming. But since you have 10 inches of damaged hair, it might be best just to cut it off and start fresh. If you do, it will be so much healthier and thicker, and it will grow quicker too because the damaged ends wouldn't break off.

Good luck :)

[invisiblebabe]

Hi :) Without seeing your hair in a picture that shows all the length (ideally it'd be in person but I know on a message board that's not possible!), I can't tell you whether I think you should cut it or not.

I can tell you this, though: I have fine, average thickness hair (just over 3" I think), and I had it at classic length for 6 years or so. I colored it quite a few times over the years. Semipermanent color (ie Natural Instincts) did not damage it at all. However, highlighting it did damage it some and increased its taper. I never straightened it.

I think 26" is very doable for you :) Don't give up!

[luxepiggy]

Unless the damage is causing major issues with tangling, or you've got lots of white dots mid-strand, I think a good, solid trim would be sufficient. Then you can follow up as needed with regular S&D or microtrimming to keep any newly developed splits under control.

[dragonchickx]

its not necassary until prehaps it becomes a problem. Personally for me it is harder to manage hair that is damaged, so when I cut a few inches off it made a big difference to be able to brush easier and look nicer : ) Maybe a few inches is all it needs. Let us know what you decided!

[xoxophelia]

If you hair is causing moderate problems, I would figure out a way to have all of the damage gone in x amount of years. For example, maybe say that if you have an average growth rate you will trim off 4" each year for the next two years and still gain 2" but also get healthier hair.

It is totally up to you how you wish to go about it though. If your hair doesn't tangle badly maybe do a few small trims until you get to a hair length you are comfortable with (26") and then maintain until the damage is gone :)

[jojo]

Although I normally advocate cutting all damage off, in your case I think micro trims might be better. You have practiced hair friendly routines for 3 months and are doing all the right things for your hair. Damage takes quite a while to show on hair, so its not going to go overnight. I would recommend doing smt's like every wash and really get some moisture into those ends, also lightly oil the last 4" or so every morning before putting up and last thing at night. Ive been doing this since bsl and my hair has really benefited.

Slit ends travel up as you know and damage will basically break off and prevent your hair gaining length. My hair is frail and although I hate s&ding with a passion, I spend just 30 minutes a day and my split ends have reduced by 50% in the last month or so.

Good luck, also read nightshades article on damaged hair too. Good luck!

[gogirlanime]

Thank you for the advice everyone! I feel much better now. I'm thinking what I'm going to do is chop off 4" so that my hair has less damage. Since my hair is growing about an inch per month using monistat 3 times a week, I'm going to chop every 2 months so I get average growth each month while getting rid of the damage.

[elbow chic]

You can totally do 26 inches. My hairs are so fine it's stupid, and I had doubts myself, but I just passed 26 inches. :D

I think you should just cut a couple of inches if the damage is really that bad, and see if that doesn't improve things a lot.

[Renbirde]

It's totally possible to grow fine hair long. You just have to be extra-special nice to it, since it's more susceptible to damage than coarser hair is. I got mine highlighted just twice, a few years back, and the whole canopy layer was completely trashed. :/ Lucky for you, chemical damage doesn't tend to travel-- if it breaks, it breaks across the hair shaft, not up it like mechanical damage does.

It wouldn't hurt to cut all of the damaged length out, but it's not really necessary unless it's causing knots in your new, undamaged hair. You can just do microtrims until it grows out. Having a nice, blunt, undamaged hemline to work with makes things a little simpler, but in the long run, it shouldn't matter which way you go on this.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=3262&pictureid=104207
Tada! Photographic evidence.

[Slinks]

Renbirde .. you have lovely hair !!

Gogirlanime I would go with trims every 3 months if your hair is not knotting up all the time :-)

[cygus]

I think microtrims would benefit you while still maintaining some length. maybe the 1st trim could be a bit more, like and inch or so to immediately see some hemline thickness, then microtrim after that. don't seem necessary to chop it all off, considering how you'll probably feel right after.

[celebriangel]

A good thing to do would be to take a photograph of the back of your head with your hair down. Then you can visually asses which part of your hair looks the thinnest. Then take off, say, and inch, take another photo, and have another look. You can do this until you feel happier with your ends. Even a small trim can sometimes make a lot of difference.

Then, once you are happy, you can simply take off half your growth every 2 months, say, and in no time at all you will have chopped out the damage while still gaining length.

What you ideally want to do is maintain enough length so that you can still put your hair up; this will serve the dual purpose of protecting your fragile ends and preventing frustration with it, which can be greater when it has to be down.

[Audrey Horne]

I'm more or less in the same boat. My ends don't break but they aren't virgin (the most of my hair isn't) and the damage IS there. I get away with deep treatments on my length and SD. It's hard to talk about your hair when you can't see... I'd suggest micro-trims from time to time if your ends are very damaged.
If you chop it all off think how you might feel afterwards. I know I couldn't grow being at shoulders again and I'd hate myself for cutting it.

[Mesmerise]

I think it depends whether your damage comes with a lot of splits/breakage or not. I have damaged hair... and I know it's damaged because there's a lot of hair dye there, and also too much straightening (which seems to have created permanent frizziness that is so much more excessive than my regular frizziness)...and yet I get no breakage and very few splits. My biggest issue is major taper, but that's because I had excessive hair loss last year so I lost a good quantity of my hair...and it's going to take YEARS to grow it all back.

So, I don't bother with major cuts. If I cut off 4" I'd have thicker ends, but I'd miss the length. I may as well just trim regularly and keep as much length as possible.

However if I had a lot of splits and breakage I would cut more off! Firstly I hate splits, and secondly, there's not much point keeping hair that is so fried that it's falling to pieces. In the past I have done major chops to get rid of that sort of damage.

So really, it's up to you and your hair.

[Roscata]

You could baby your hair and wait it out following the instructions here: Damaged Hair: Understanding, Preventing & Rehabilitating (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79). That is if you don't want to loose your length.

However if you're looking for a fresh start and feel like you'd enjoy your hair more without the damage you want to cut off, I suggest waiting 2 weeks before you decide if you really want to cut it or not (2 week rule!) and then just cut off one inch or a half an inch and see if you feel better about your hair. Then decide if you want to trim more or not, but I don't advise you trim more than one inch at a time before checking to see if you like the length and could stand to loose more.

You could also go the micro-trim way and cut off about half as much as you grow every month. So about 1/4 of an inch per month, every month. That way your hair still gains length but you're also getting rid of damage. (Feye's self-trimming method (http://feyeselftrim.livejournal.com/))

I hope all that made sense and it helped maybe a little. Good luck! :D