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Arrow
July 12th, 2011, 04:04 AM
By which I do not mean seeking and destroying hairdressers...

Hairdressers are slightly scary people in that they charge you a lot of money and may take several inches off the length of your hair.

I'm not confident enough in my own snipping abilities to seek and destroy my own split ends. How do I go about telling a hairdresser that they are to go through each strand individually and carefully cut off my split ends?

clarinette
July 12th, 2011, 04:21 AM
I wouldn't personally trust a hairdresser with S&D, they already need to be taught what an inch is....But If you decide to try it, you can explain it just like this! or show them on one of your strands, how much has to be cut, etc. I still doubt you'll find one that is patient enough to do it though....

Elysium
July 12th, 2011, 04:51 AM
You're probably not going to find a hairdresser thats patient enough to do it, and if you do, they're more than likely going to charge you a fortune!

Alaia
July 12th, 2011, 05:33 AM
I don't think a hairdresser will S&D for you.

You could attempt to ask for them to dust your ends (take off teeny tiny amounts) or twist sections of the hair and snip splits that way.

But unless you go to a George Michael salon, it's unlikely you will find a hairdresser willing to do this.

Arrow
July 12th, 2011, 08:29 AM
So I would be better off having a go myself?

Alaia
July 12th, 2011, 08:31 AM
So I would be better off having a go myself?

Pretty much, it's not that hard. A quick way to get the splits is to twist sections of hair and snip off the splits that poke out of the sides. :)

Ligeia_13
July 12th, 2011, 08:36 AM
I had a hairdresser do an S&D on me once but it was at the end of a haircut so I doubt you could just ask for that alone.

So yeah, I'd do it myself if I were you. Its really not hard at all. I do what Alaia said :)

heidi w.
July 12th, 2011, 08:37 AM
By which I do not mean seeking and destroying hairdressers...

Hairdressers are slightly scary people in that they charge you a lot of money and may take several inches off the length of your hair.

I'm not confident enough in my own snipping abilities to seek and destroy my own split ends. How do I go about telling a hairdresser that they are to go through each strand individually and carefully cut off my split ends?

When I visited the GM salon, they did not go through the hair one strand at a time, whatsoever. They took up sections and twisted it, and generally cut upward whatever was sticking out, and in fact, they did it very little to my hair. I don't believe it's because I have no splits to remove, either.

This is a specific technique that GM basically invented, although there was a preceding method in prior decades, with a candle.

Regular today's hairdressers you cannot anticipate will be willing to spend this kind of time on your hair. It would take hours, and major bucks on your part in terms of cost and tip. IF you are fortunate enough to find someone willing to undertake this task, I would recommend you provide a healthy tip.

IF you're looking to save money, you won't be able to, in my humble opinion. Most dressers will look at you cross-eyed.

Best to learn how to do this yourself and maintain things on your own.

I think most average dressers, if you ask them to do this, is frankly, asking a lot given how the business is set up for making money. They DO deserve to make a living, and they will not be able to do so that day. To take the time on your hair means for the dresser they have to forego potential other business, and you have to make up that difference.

Even at the GM salon in NY it costs around $80 to have it done. And that's just the charge, not the tip. I dropped a $20 tip at Madora's in NY.

heidi w.

monsterna
July 12th, 2011, 09:03 AM
I'm not sure I'm seeing what the big deal is about you doing your own S&D. It's not cutting your own hair uniformly; it's literally snipping off the split on one strand. Even if you somehow cut off 6 inches somehow instead of a couple millimeters, it's one strand and wouldn't make a dent in your hair's appearance. S&D is as easy as breathing. :shrug:

Arrow
July 12th, 2011, 10:04 AM
Thanks for all the advice, ladies. I think I will have a go myself. I have embroidery scissors, would they be sharp enough?

Re: the thing with the candle. I heard on the audio commentary track for "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" that the hair and costume department used a candle to burn off the split ends from Julia Dawn Cole's (Veruca Salt) hair and set it on fire. Her hair changes length noticably through the film.

Hair + Fire = BAD!

Corvus
July 12th, 2011, 12:45 PM
I recently found a few split ends and was not happy, so I decided that S&D was just too time consuming and I would sacrifice an inch or two for the sake of the health of my ends. Last stylist I went to didn't know what "trim" meant, so I was determined to make sure this visit was not as upsetting as previous times. I found a local salon, with good reviews, so last week I made an appointment to get my grays covered (yes, chemical color) and that "trim".

Well, it seems I have found the stylist for me. I told her that I only wanted as much taken off as was absolutely necessary for the health of my hair, and nothing more. She looked at my hair dry, and said she'd not have to take off too much to get rid of those yucky ends. I left the salon with maybe an inch removed. She was also very respectful about my not wanting my hair blow dried.

I will definitely visit her again - for my grays, and the odd "trim". So I think there are a few good ones out there. ;)

Chromis
July 12th, 2011, 01:03 PM
Thanks for all the advice, ladies. I think I will have a go myself. I have embroidery scissors, would they be sharp enough?

Re: the thing with the candle. I heard on the audio commentary track for "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" that the hair and costume department used a candle to burn off the split ends from Julia Dawn Cole's (Veruca Salt) hair and set it on fire. Her hair changes length noticably through the film.

Hair + Fire = BAD!

I would recommend getting a pair of dedicated hair scissors. If you want to use your embroidery scissors, I highly advise sharpening them or taking them in to be sharpened if you don't know how to use a whetstone yourself. Dull scissors won't give a clean cut.

Arrow
July 17th, 2011, 04:08 PM
Right, must now find a good pair of hair scissors. Maybe the hairdressers sell them?

Madora
July 17th, 2011, 04:28 PM
@Arrow

Sally's Beauty Supply stores sell hair scissors. Prices vary. You could also check out Amazon.

Mesmerise
July 17th, 2011, 07:25 PM
I have a pair of reasonable hair scissors, although eventually I'd like to get a better pair.

Whether you S&D or trim depends a LOT on where your splits are. For me, S&D is best for splits because they're usually in shorter hairs, while the ends where I'd trim really don't have any splits at all (probably because those ends, even if not trimmed much, get a frequent enough trim that they don't have time to split). For me, it's the regrowth hairs that are more likely to split because they're never trimmed as they're never at the same length as the longest hairs.

I do the hair twisting thing occasionally, although many of the trimmed hairs aren't splits at all...however this is a way of trimming those hairs that never get trimmed by normal trimming.

So, look at your hair, determine where your splits are. If they're mostly on the ends, then get a small trim. If they're on shorter hairs, S&D is your best bet. If there are a lot, try the hair twisting method. If there are only a few, you usually have to just hunt through the hairs and then cut off those with split ends or white dots or whatever.

I am pretty much an expert at S&D as I've been doing it for many, many more years than I was at LHC! I just never knew what to call it before :o. I learned about the hair twisting method some years ago in a magazine too.

redeyedtreefr0g
July 17th, 2011, 11:54 PM
I'm glad this topic came up, because I was wondering the same thing- how on earth do you start this?
I did get my hair trimmed, since my last one was in 2007 and I've been growing out from maybe an inch long in 2004. That trim did wonders to fix the tangling issues I had been having, there's probably a post on here somewhere about it.

But then I went to a local place earlier this year and got a trim and its nowhere near the same. I should have walked out after the lady washed my hair like it was a piece of laundry on a scrubbing board. She left me with tangles I've never experienced before and then "let" me comb it out since I likely knew how to do it better than her. She cut off what seems like a lot. I thought my hair reached my fingertips and then it barely touched my wrists.

And yet the tangles weren't helped by this.



So when you do the twist thing- do you usually do all your hair or is it easier to do a section, or maybe half at a time?
Once I got up the courage to approach my own hair with a pair of scissors out of a trimmer kit, I realized I have tons of the little split buggers and it seems impossible that I'm making any difference sitting down for 10 minutes to snip at them.

I suspect that driving causes the damage, by the way. It's at the point on my ponytail where its touching my back, and I think checking mirrors and looking back and forth gets the hair dragging on shorts or seat material (schoolbuses especially) and I get up with knots, I've noticed recently. Maybe a seatcover....

But I also agree that it's best not to trust someone else with such a delicate task for your hair.

kwaniesiam
July 17th, 2011, 11:59 PM
In short, you won't. Most will either think you are crazy or not understand the point at all unless they're familiar with LHC.

I'm a hairstylist and personally, if someone asked me to do an S&D session I would charge them a heck of a lot more than the cost of a simple trim just based on how time consuming and tedious the job is. It's better to do it yourself in small increments, say 15 minutes a day spaced out over a week or so.

fashionaddict
July 18th, 2011, 01:10 AM
When I get my hair cut, I go to a salon where they have "thera-cut" also known as 'hot scissors'. I don't live in the US, but I am fairly certain you have it too and have probably heard of it before.
The idea is that hot scissors are better for hair as they don't damage as much? I started getting my hair cut with 'hot scissors' because I heard they only get rid of the damaged ends and don't chop off the rest of your hair. (That was after I had one hairdresser "trim the ends" by cutting off 15 cm worth of lenght!) I am still not too sure about the 'hot scissor' part helping my hair in any way, but the hairdresser does basically S&D my hair by sectioning it, twisting individual strands and cutting off any splits. I haven't noticed any breakage from the 'hot scissors'. If anything they have helped the condition of my hair, although it could be that the hairdresser can see all the splits better than me.:)
I think it should be mentioned, I still S&D at home too.

Good luck!:)

Madora
July 18th, 2011, 06:48 PM
@redeyedtreefrOg...

When you twist the sections, the sections themselves are about a finger tip in thickness.

Of course you can make the twists bigger..but the thinner you make the twists, the greater chances you have of spotting the splits to snip off.

When the GM folks in NYC trim splits, they take very thin sections of hair and twist them, then hold the shears at a 45 degree angle to the hair and then snip. It takes a long time, but it sure is worth it!

C.H.
July 18th, 2011, 07:26 PM
@redeyedtreefrOg...

When you twist the sections, the sections themselves are about a finger tip in thickness.

Of course you can make the twists bigger..but the thinner you make the twists, the greater chances you have of spotting the splits to snip off.

When the GM folks in NYC trim splits, they take very thin sections of hair and twist them, then hold the shears at a 45 degree angle to the hair and then snip. It takes a long time, but it sure is worth it!

I had been wondering approximately how big sections of hair should be using this twisting method. Thanks!

Darkhorse1
July 18th, 2011, 09:17 PM
Actually, my hair dresser is amazing about this. The best thing to do is talk to a few hair dressers and explain to them that you are growing your hair and only want X amount taken off--then show them with your fingers how little. My hair dresser has hers marked on her comb with a sharpie marker, so she can show you what an inch is. Course, she has long hair too ;)