Advice from old barber

[Mebo]

When I was in Colorado recently, I met a man who had been a barber longer than I have been alive. That's a long time. :)

I had my hair down, and he asked me if I was growing it out. When I said yes, he said that if I would cut the width of the scissors blade off every three weeks like clockwork, I would be sitting on it in no time. He was very specific, and said that it doesn't seem like much, but it works. He said he had made a study of it for over 60 years.

I think I am going to try it, just to see if I can get past terminal length/plateau, where I've been for 3 or 4 years.

[FrozenBritannia]

When I was in Colorado recently, I met a man who had been a barber longer than I have been alive. That's a long time. :)

I had my hair down, and he asked me if I was growing it out. When I said yes, he said that if I would cut the width of the scissors blade off every three weeks like clockwork, I would be sitting on it in no time. He was very specific, and said that it doesn't seem like much, but it works. He said he had made a study of it for over 60 years.

I think I am going to try it, just to see if I can get past terminal length/plateau, where I've been for 3 or 4 years.

Interesting! Keep us updated :D I'll have to try to remember that..

[redmj]

Let me know if that works. If it does I will soooooooo do it. I want to be sitting on my hair.

[Shelly]

Let me know if that works. If it does I will soooooooo do it. I want to be sitting on my hair.

I agree. I would do it in a heart beat. Just think of the health of the hair too. Wow. I may do it anyway. That's only about 1/16 of an inch or so. I don't know yet. Keep us posted. :lol:

[infinity_girl]

When I was in Colorado recently, I met a man who had been a barber longer than I have been alive. That's a long time. :)

I had my hair down, and he asked me if I was growing it out. When I said yes, he said that if I would cut the width of the scissors blade off every three weeks like clockwork, I would be sitting on it in no time. He was very specific, and said that it doesn't seem like much, but it works. He said he had made a study of it for over 60 years.

I think I am going to try it, just to see if I can get past terminal length/plateau, where I've been for 3 or 4 years.
How long is your hair now? You should definitely try this. I wonder what the science is behind it though.

[longhairedlady]

Oh let us know how it goes if you do this! :)

[Anje]

How long is your hair now? You should definitely try this. I wonder what the science is behind it though.
I suspect most of it is simply that it removes any damage from the ends before those ends start catching on other hairs and breeding more damage. Some hair grows best with lots of tiny trims rather than being left completely alone or allowing the "sprinter" hairs to race ahead and make the growth look uneven.

Of course, the trick with lots of microtrims is not to trim away all your growth!

[Elenna]

One sixteenth of an inch is such a small amount to trim off!!! If you are a self-trimmer, then I guess you could DIY!

[AnnaJamila]

How neat! Who will you find to cut it? I'd be a little scared going to anyone but him; I've had some bad experiences, though nothing as dramatic as some of the women on here.

[Yame]

My hair definitely grows less than the width of my scissor blade in 3 weeks so that would only work to hamper my growth. What's so special about the scissor's blade width? How does your hair "know" that's how much you are cutting, anyway? Different scissors have different blade widths. This is just weird.

[ebba]

ooh i love this idea, i'll have to get some scissors and try it

[didrash]

Sounds weird to me too... Cut your hair to make it grow faster has been proven to be a myth, after all. Will wait for those who try it to share results.

[LaurelSpring]

I have been doing mini micro dustings once a month now when I S&D and I am seeing improved growth so maybe the guy was on to something!

[GlassWidow]

Interesting theory...Definitely keep us posted on the results.

[ladyfey]

I second didrash, I've heard plenty of hairdressers insist that cutting hair speeds it's growth, which is a myth.

[NotInPortland]

Sounds perfectly logical to me-regularly trim the very ends to get rid of damaged hair which would equal less splits and breakage therefore more growth! I think however you could probably tailor it to your own hair type-some people have very resilient hair that takes more than 3 weeks to have splits in it therefore every 3 weeks might be a bit too often, others like myself I could definitely see trimming every 3 or 4 weeks working because my hair splits so easily it's not even funny :p I really need to save some money and invest in a scissors myself because my hair could really do with regular micro trims like this barber is suggesting.

[Airmide]

I think micro-trims could help, but it would depend on someone's growth rate how often and how much should be trimmed. Also, seems slightly suspicious coming from someone who earns his living cutting hair lol, unless he was volunteering to do it free or suggesting you do it yourself.

[Slinks]

I've always believed that if you trim, your hair will grow

[MissManda]

I've been microtrimming for a little over one year now and while it had no effect on how quickly my hair grows, it does help to keep my ends even-looking, thickened my hemline, and helped me maintain that thickness as my hair grew longer. Since I'm not concerned with getting rid of chemical damage anymore, I only need to take off something like 1/16th or 1/8th of an inch, which is just enough to trim those racer hairs which are very obvious in my straightish hair. :)

[MinderMutsig]

I suspect most of it is simply that it removes any damage from the ends before those ends start catching on other hairs and breeding more damage. Some hair grows best with lots of tiny trims rather than being left completely alone or allowing the "sprinter" hairs to race ahead and make the growth look uneven.

Of course, the trick with lots of microtrims is not to trim away all your growth!

I think this is the answer. The consequence is that it depends on how you treat your hair if and how much you need to trim every time.

I belief him when he says he bases this on his experience but I don't think most of the people who come into his salon are as careful with their hair as most of us here and therefor are more at risk of damage to their ends and losing or not gaining length because of breakage.

Micro trimming that damage, even if it's just a little, can help keeping those ends healthy and thus help with growing your hair out because you don't lose as much length to breakage.

But if you are being really careful with your hair you don't get as much damage and are actually trimming healthy ends that could have easily lasted 3, 6 or 12 weeks longer.

Another problem I have with his theory is that not everyones hair grows at the same pace. 1/16 of an inch every three weeks doesn't sound like much but if you have below average growth it could easily take away most or all of your growth.

[spidermom]

I know my hair grows getter with regular trimming.

[Fairlight63]

My hair used to go through growing spurts then would lag & I would not get anything for a long time.
Since Jan. I started to do micro. trims every month on the New Moon moon. I have been getting growth of 1/2" a mon. plus with what I have trimmed off. The hem line is also getting thicker.
So I believe there is something to it.

[DTsgirl]

Trimming a little bit of hair frequently allows me to retain more growth than I would otherwise. My ends split and snap like crazy, so taking off about half my growth monthly allows me to cut a 1/4 inch and gain 1/4 half an inch instead of growing 1/2 an inch and losing 1/2 an inch to breakage. the 1/16th of an inch every 3 weeks sounds like it would do the same thing, I just always cut more than that getting the ends even.

[Honestwitness]

For this to work, it would probably require very good quality, sharp scissors, like the ones professional haircutters use. I wouldn't want to try this with just any old pair of scissors.

[jojo]

I believe this does help in growing hair. It stands to reason split, damaged ends don't grow to their full potential; they break. By getting rid of the ends regualry you get rid of the damage and allow the hair to grow. I know when ive experimented with no trims I get very little growth and end up having to trim even more off due to ratty ends, strangely though when I have cut say an inch off, i grow much quicker. Its almost as if hair has a memory and wants to get back the lost length (silly really but it does seem that way :P). I have just trimmed 4" off so will see if my theory is correct and I get those inches back quicker than normal.

I think I will join you in this experiment and dust very minimal amounts but every 4 weeks. I am 28" at the moment and will report (any) increase in growth in 3 months,