Newbie Question

[jazzy_jaz00]

Hello Ladies,

I am new here and I have heard so much about this community that I finally decided to become a part of it. I know this my sound dumb...but I wanted your opinion(s). If you want to grow your hair as fast and as healthy as you can...should you get trims on a regular basis, at all, or never? :confused:

Sorry if this has been asked before, I just wanted to know what you think!

Thanks,
Jazz

[coffinhert]

Hi! No such thing as dumb questions (well, maybe some, but this one is fine :P)

Lots of LHC members, including myself, microtrim or "dust" regularly. I cut about 1/4 inch off my hair every 6 months.

How do you know if you should trim or not?
Carefully examine the ends of your hairs... are there splits, L-shaped kinks, or white dots at or near the tip of the hair? Does it feel rougher at the ends when you slide your fingers down a lock of hair? Did you dye or bleach your length and are trying to grow out natural hair? If you answered yes to any of the above, microtrimming or even bigger trims might be good until you grow the damage out. Trims cut off splits so they don't travel up the hair.

There is also search & destroy method, where you examine your ends section by section and trim the split part off each individual hair. If you have too many splits for this to be reasonable, you might want to do an all-over trim.

I trim my own hair by simply going through it section by section and cutting as little as possible off each bit (about 1/4-1/2 inch). That way it's the same shape and I don't have to go to a salon which is likely to result in a lot more off than i want.

However, if your hair is quite healthy at the ends, you can get away with not trimming or trimming very infrequently.

If you go to a salon, I hope you trust your hairdresser to trim only as much as you ask. This forum is full of horror stories (myself included) of salon cuts taking off way to much, making highly feathered layers that go all the way up to the chin, etc.

Microtrimming and maintaining
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=75468

No trims
2011: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=58746
2012: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=82552

Self-trimming thread including a link to the ever-popular Feye's self trim method
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=74278

[DancingQueen]

As coffinhert said, no such thing as dumb questions :) Now, on to the question.

People in here have different preferences, some like fairytale ends, and therefore never trims, while others trim on a regular basis. There are also those who s&d (search and destroy). I prefer to trim as needed, as I like my hair to be healthy, but I don't want to cut off all the new growth either. For me, that is around 5 months. Of course that is what I would recommend, but it is entirely up to you. :)

[DancingQueen]

By the way, Welcome to LHC :)

[Johannah]

I noticed that if I have many splits, it's better to get a regular trim (once in 2 months), that's what I'm doing now. But I think, when the splits are gone, I'm going to S&D myself and have a regular trim once in 4 months or so :D

[spidermom]

I'm a trimmer. I like even thick ends more than I like extra length.

[SpinDance]

I do regular S&D and also micro trims. If I never got damage I probably wouldn't, but I do, and damage begets more damage, so cutting it out ASAP works best for me.

[Avital88]

its different for everyone, examine your ends good i would say.. They only way how i can grow my hair is by not trimming regular though..microtrimming not included, but if i would go to a salon every 3/4months i wouldnt had the length i have now

[Madora]

Hello Ladies,

I am new here and I have heard so much about this community that I finally decided to become a part of it. I know this my sound dumb...but I wanted your opinion(s). If you want to grow your hair as fast and as healthy as you can...should you get trims on a regular basis, at all, or never? :confused:

Sorry if this has been asked before, I just wanted to know what you think!

Thanks,
Jazz

Welcome, Jazz!

Apart from trimming, if you want healthy hair, be sure you're eating a sensible diet, drinking plenty of water, exercising moderately.

Refrain from blow drying, hot irons/straightening.

Use hair friendly products (including elastics).

Above all, have plenty of patience! There is nothing that can help hair grow faster. The average rate is 6 inches a year, but that can vary wildly.

Good luck on your hairgrowing journey!

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

I agree with everyone here, everyone's preferences and damage is different. :)

[jazzy_jaz00]

@coffinhert- thanks for the great information

@dancing queen-great details, thanks for making me feel welcomed
here

@spindance- regular meaning once a week (mabye)?

@Madora- thank you! Yeah, the products is what confuses me the most
like what to use, and when. I'm going to search this board and
dig up some information that may help me out! Thanks a million
for the info

Thanks ladies,
Jazz

[jacqueline101]

I like to trim an inch about every six months let grow the rest of the time. I like that method a lot and proper care is good too. Welcome to the community.

[Anje]

If you don't have damage that needs to be cut out (now or over time), it really depends on how you like your ends.

Some people like blunt ends and if they grow without trimming, will end up doing a major chop after a while so they can have thick ends again. Some people like the tapering ends they get if they let their hair grow untrimmed.

Some people accumulate damage at their ends primarily and find their hair becomes unmanageable if these are not cut off, while other people find their ends don't pick up much damage (often these folks usually keep their hair bunned, with the ends tucked gently inside where they're protected from wear and tear).

If you're going for length only and you don't get much damage at the ends, you will gain length fastest if you don't cut any off. If you get damage, you may find it moves upward if you don't trim it. The best way is to get your own sharp hair shears, never cut anything with them but hair, and take a teeny bit of the length off, roughly every 2 months. Whether salons will cut the right amount off varies wildly, and one bad visit could leave you with hair shorter than when you started growing it out.

[akilina]

i prefer to trim whenever i feel i need to. :) whatever you thinks works best for you is what you should do!
trimming a 1/2 inch a month would maintain the length you have. i have a 1/2 inch trimmed every few months. i chopped my hair off in june and i had a girl i work with trim my hair one day when we werent busy so it had been 4 months.

[FrozenBritannia]

Welcome to the LHC!

I am a trimmer, however I don't have a set schedule for it. I just do it when it needs to be done, sometimes my hair grows really unevenly, sometimes it barely grows at all. My hair isn't long enough to s&d properly, but really, it is all personal preference, based on the condition of your hair, how fast or slow it grows, and wether you prefer blunt hemline or tapered. Look around and see what you think you might like to try, and if you try something and it doesn't work out, try something else! :)

There are some really great heads of hair in here, and lots of great advice and experience too.

[SpinDance]

jazzy_jaz00, by regular I mean that I do it pretty often, although I do not have a set schedule.

[Zesty]

My hair hasn't been trimmed since the beginning of June in 2010 (I think it might have been between APL and BSL then). I S&D, but my ends are doing pretty well, so I haven't felt the pressing need to trim yet. I probably will do a little self-trim in January, but the only way my hair has grown long is that I stopped cutting it! So when I do go back to trimming, I'll probably only do a little once a year or something like that.