It's like a forest of split ends!

[Gothchiq]

:( So I'm now doing all the stuff I'm supposed to do. Detangle with seamless "shower comb," coconut oil my hair, no sulfates, no cones, no heat, etc. It looks and feels pretty nice most days. But since there is a good deal of prior damage, from before I implemented all this stuff, splits keep happening. I do S&D like every other day, no joke, and I always find tons of splits!

I have long layers. Shortest is shoulder, hemline is BSL. So I feel that if I did a trim at the hemline, it would get rid of less than 1/4 of the splits. They happen everywhere, at every length, in every part of the hair. Trimming all the layers would be a HUGE pain. I was just going to grow them out so I didn't have to bother with them any more.

It's like cutting every hair on my head individually! But if I ignore the splits, my hair will tangle and look/feel horrible. I also do not want to chop it all off to shoulder length. I would be very sad and so would my boyfriend.

BLARGH. I don't know what to do!!!:confused:

[halfbroke]

You could trim 1/2 inch a month. I believe that's the average growth of hair a month. That would maintain your current length while getting rid of the split ends. :)

[Anje]

Do you have a history of harsh treatment to your hair that's contributing to all the splits? Perms, bleaching, dye jobs, lots of heat, and occasionally razor cuts are all known to weaken hair and/or render it more prone to splitting than it otherwise would be. Once that hair's been mistreated, there's not much that can be done other than pampering it until your hair has grown to a length where you're comfortable cutting the damage off. (Some people are comfortable shaving it, and on the other extreme, some find that their damage is mild enough that with pampering they can keep the hair and grow it long without removing the damaged portions. Most folks with annoying damage take a middle road and cut it off bit by bit as the hair grows out.)

Do make sure you have sharp scissors reserved purely for hair cutting. If you use dull ones, you risk the hair re-splitting from where you S&Ded it, compounding the problem.

[Roscata]

I'm really sorry you have to go through all this, I'm sure it's not easy. Split ends are a pain, the damage travels up the strand and it entangles the neighboring hairs. It really is not worth keeping them for extended period of times by trimming the longest layer periodically because you're just letting your hair get worse.

I think that you should go to a hair salon and ask them to trim your layers. Find a good, long hair friendly stylist that will listen to you and get a good trim to get rid of those split ends. Your hair will thank you and you will feel better about your hair. That's my honest advice.

Best of luck with whatever you decide. :D

[Gothchiq]

Yes, there is prior chemical damage. Also I have good microserrated stylist shears. I wonder if trimming would really help, or if it would just re-split again. :/ I do know that if I do a Big Chop, I'll look hideous; face is too round for that. I'm so conflicted on what to do!

[SheaLynne]

I recommend trimming the hemline as often as you are willing to gradually get rid of the damaged length, and in the meantime, continue to S&D the ends of the layers. You'll be surprised how quickly things will improve!

[spidermom]

You could try the ponytail on top of the head method, maybe that would pull enough of the layers together to be able to trim the ends of everything.

Good luck! My hair loves to split as well, and I don't even have chemical abuse or heat styling to blame.

[coffinhert]

You should trim all your hair using the good hair scissors. Here's what I do, also managing prior chemical damage on extensive layers... I take my hair in very small chunks, literally just a pinch, and trim the end off. Then put in a claw clip and get the next pinch. It takes a while so I watch a movie. I cut a little bit more off the longest layer since I'm trying to even them up. And I just barely dust the top layers.

Also what really helps me is keeping my hair in damp, oiled pin curls at night. I smooth them with a boar bristle brush then roll them up and secure with loose bobby pins, and sleep on silk. It makes my ends 100 million billion times smoother and I've noticed less splits since I started doing that and the all-over microtrim.

If you don't already sleep on silk, I recommend starting. I got my silk from a thrift store, there's always some random silk thing somewhere... Like these humongous pajama pants with dragonflies on them, 100% silk, I just wrap around my pillow. $2 well spent.

[Madora]

You also might try wearing your hair up more so the split ends have less opportunity to split more.

[Anje]

If you can figure out where each of your layers is and section it, you could do small trims to all of them. Or try Spidermom's suggestion of making a ponytail on top of your head, then trim about a half inch off. That'll probably remove a large number of your splits without reducing your overall length by much.

[MoreWhenNuh]

This thread called to me! I've felt the same way lately. I do have chemical damage and maybe a little from heat styling. I bought some scissors at Sally's because I wanted to trim the split ends. I've been doing S&D almost everyday for the past week and it seems like the splits ane never ending! I wouldnt even call it search and destroy because there really isnt a whole lot of searching. Just destroy, destroy, destroy, destroy.... Anyway, it's defintley made me look into not chemically dying my hair anymore.

[Amber_Maiden]

I know what you mean. Just look for splits obsessively like I do... hehe

[ktani]

:( So I'm now doing all the stuff I'm supposed to do. Detangle with seamless "shower comb," coconut oil my hair, no sulfates, no cones, no heat, etc. It looks and feels pretty nice most days. But since there is a good deal of prior damage, from before I implemented all this stuff, splits keep happening. I do S&D like every other day, no joke, and I always find tons of splits!

I have long layers. Shortest is shoulder, hemline is BSL. So I feel that if I did a trim at the hemline, it would get rid of less than 1/4 of the splits. They happen everywhere, at every length, in every part of the hair. Trimming all the layers would be a HUGE pain. I was just going to grow them out so I didn't have to bother with them any more.

It's like cutting every hair on my head individually! But if I ignore the splits, my hair will tangle and look/feel horrible. I also do not want to chop it all off to shoulder length. I would be very sad and so would my boyfriend.

BLARGH. I don't know what to do!!!:confused:

First of all breathe.

And you do not have to give up everything that worked well for you before. If your hair did well with silicones and sulfates then use them.

You can use a blow dryer on a low or cool setting.

Seamless combs are better than seamed ones. Satin or silk pillow cases are fine and good choices.

Not everyone here uses all natural products.

I use a conventional shampoo and a herbal treatment, catnip tea.

You have choices. Be selective with the information that you read here.

I wear my hair down mostly all of the time and I have no split ends and very minimal breakage.

There are different but great routines for every individual.

[haibane]

If you have prior chemical damage you might want to consider going back on cones until it's grown out. Coney products are often made to protect against that kind of damage and can be very helpful. Once your hair is virgin more natural methods might work better if that's what you prefer to use.

[ravenreed]

When my hair has that many splits, I don't S & D, I trim. Figuring out how to do your own trims may save your sanity. When my hair is that bad, a micro trim won't do it, I usually take off an inch or so and that seems to help.

[ktani]

If your hair is tangling in certain places because of split or broken ends (been there in the past), s&d those areas.

An s&d for me meant taking the time to go through my hair section by section trimming off ends.

Sometimes I trimmed quite a few.

I do not need to s&d any more. That does not mean my hair is perfect. It just means that if I need to, I can trim off the odd end and the rest is doing well now.

It did not happen over night and I did not win the hair good genes lottery to start with either.

It takes persistence and patience to find what will work best for you as a preference and for your hair and scalp.

Welcome to LHC!

Happy growing and good luck. Be kind to yourself and your hair!

[amantha]

I had the same problem. I was driving myself nuts trying to S&D everything out. I asked my hairdresser about it last weekend and she told me to take about two inches off. I listened to her and oh man, my ends feel sooooo much better. And my hair doesn't tangle as much. However I still have some splits but it's only a fraction of what I used to have. I get about 1/4" cut off every month so I don't know why my ends still ended up like that but they did for whatever reason.

[tamchronic]

I was just about to make my own thread entreating the LHC community for help, when I saw this one. It appears I'm not the only one with split end problems.

My hair naturally has quite a dry texture, so I've always had problems with splits. Since joining LHC, I've given up heat styling, I've been carefully detangling my hair instead of brushing it roughly, I'm using either coconut oil or olive oil on the ends every night, and I'm doing CWC washes with cone-free products. I generally try to be very gentle with my hair, as most people are here.

I thought things were getting better, but a few days ago I noticed an explosion of split ends in my hair. They must have been building up for a while, but I just didn't notice them. Yesterday I conducted a lengthy S&D mission and I must have snipped over 100 splits, but I know I've barely scratched the surface.

I do have a few 'bad' hair habits: I leave it down a lot of the time, and sometimes I sleep with it down, on a regular cotton pillowcase. I use 'hair-safe' hairties to tie off braids, but perhaps even these are too damaging. I do find it hard to imagine that such an enormous amount of splits could be caused just from this, however. If anyone can confirm that these factors are a serious culprit of splits, I shall try and fix them.

I have read that catnip tea can prevent split ends, but I haven't been able to find any catnip in stores around here yet. Again, if someone can confirm that catnip will solve my problems, I'll make a greater effort to hunt out the herb.

It's truly beginning to frustrate me; I'm frankly sick of my hair being plagued with awful splits. If anybody could offer some remedies, ideas or solutions, I'd be truly grateful!

[amantha]

Yes I'm interested in catnip tea rinses too. Ktani (or anyone else familiar), do you have any advice about doing catnip tea rinses? How often do you do them? How long does one need to steep the tea? Does it need to be mixed with anything else? Where do you purchase your catnip tea?

Also, since we both seem to be scientifically oriented, I was wondering if you know the mechanism behind why catnip tea rinses work so well to prevent split ends? My inner nerd is just curious. :D

[MoreWhenNuh]

I was just about to make my own thread entreating the LHC community for help, when I saw this one. It appears I'm not the only one with split end problems.

My hair naturally has quite a dry texture, so I've always had problems with splits. Since joining LHC, I've given up heat styling, I've been carefully detangling my hair instead of brushing it roughly, I'm using either coconut oil or olive oil on the ends every night, and I'm doing CWC washes with cone-free products. I generally try to be very gentle with my hair, as most people are here.

I thought things were getting better, but a few days ago I noticed an explosion of split ends in my hair. They must have been building up for a while, but I just didn't notice them. Yesterday I conducted a lengthy S&D mission and I must have snipped over 100 splits, but I know I've barely scratched the surface.

I do have a few 'bad' hair habits: I leave it down a lot of the time, and sometimes I sleep with it down, on a regular cotton pillowcase. I use 'hair-safe' hairties to tie off braids, but perhaps even these are too damaging. I do find it hard to imagine that such an enormous amount of splits could be caused just from this, however. If anyone can confirm that these factors are a serious culprit of splits, I shall try and fix them.

I have read that catnip tea can prevent split ends, but I haven't been able to find any catnip in stores around here yet. Again, if someone can confirm that catnip will solve my problems, I'll make a greater effort to hunt out the herb.

It's truly beginning to frustrate me; I'm frankly sick of my hair being plagued with awful splits. If anybody could offer some remedies, ideas or solutions, I'd be truly grateful!

I have been doing pretty much the same things (except cone-free). I even do the same bad habits. So maybe those few things do make a big difference... :/

[ktani]

I was just about to make my own thread entreating the LHC community for help, when I saw this one. It appears I'm not the only one with split end problems.

My hair naturally has quite a dry texture, so I've always had problems with splits. Since joining LHC, I've given up heat styling, I've been carefully detangling my hair instead of brushing it roughly, I'm using either coconut oil or olive oil on the ends every night, and I'm doing CWC washes with cone-free products. I generally try to be very gentle with my hair, as most people are here.

I thought things were getting better, but a few days ago I noticed an explosion of split ends in my hair. They must have been building up for a while, but I just didn't notice them. Yesterday I conducted a lengthy S&D mission and I must have snipped over 100 splits, but I know I've barely scratched the surface.

I do have a few 'bad' hair habits: I leave it down a lot of the time, and sometimes I sleep with it down, on a regular cotton pillowcase. I use 'hair-safe' hairties to tie off braids, but perhaps even these are too damaging. I do find it hard to imagine that such an enormous amount of splits could be caused just from this, however. If anyone can confirm that these factors are a serious culprit of splits, I shall try and fix them.

I have read that catnip tea can prevent split ends, but I haven't been able to find any catnip in stores around here yet. Again, if someone can confirm that catnip will solve my problems, I'll make a greater effort to hunt out the herb.

It's truly beginning to frustrate me; I'm frankly sick of my hair being plagued with awful splits. If anybody could offer some remedies, ideas or solutions, I'd be truly grateful!


Yes I'm interested in catnip tea rinses too. Ktani (or anyone else familiar), do you have any advice about doing catnip tea rinses? How often do you do them? How long does one need to steep the tea? Does it need to be mixed with anything else? Where do you purchase your catnip tea?

Also, since we both seem to be scientifically oriented, I was wondering if you know the mechanism behind why catnip tea rinses work so well to prevent split ends? My inner nerd is just curious. :D

Here is the catnip article I wrote, http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=118

And here is the thread, http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=476

I do a treatment, not a rinse after every wash, and there is absolutely nothing mixed or added to the catnip when I do so.

The steeping time, now 4.75 hours makes the difference for me.

Catnip for me, does not do well over any coatings. The shampoo I use Sunsilk Lively Blonde does not cause build-up.

[Theobroma]

If your hair "looks and feels pretty nice most days", it sounds as though you're well on your way to fixing the problems already. For the rest, prior damage isn't going to go away overnight, and some of it won't be fixable except by growing it out and eventually trimming it off, but you can do things to mitigate them while you wait for it to grow.

It sounds as though you're doing a lot of things right already (and I agree with those who have said that there is no one "right" way of doing things; the "right" thing is the thing that works for your individual head of hair). Based on my own experience with splits similar to what you describe, though, I can recommend shea butter for rough, grabby ends. Coconut oil is good at penetrating the cortex and conditioning your hair from the inside out; shea butter is good at smoothing the cuticle, and from the sound of things your hair could benefit from that.

I'm growing out ends that are rather the worse for wear from exposure to heat and sulphates, and shea butter is the best thing I've tried for smoothing them and stopping them from tangling without putting anything on my hair that's incompatible with CO washing. It doesn't only stop them from tangling, it actually makes my hair slippery if I'm not careful!

[lunalesca]

I have the same problem, lots of split ends in dye-damaged, layered hair. I am switching between monthly trims, S&D and ignoring it all the time.

[Dragon Faery]

I have had this same problem for the past few years. My outer layer of hair (the canopy?) seems to split much faster than the rest of my hair, which has gradually resulted in a layered cut as I kept trying to get rid of damage.

I'm still in process of getting rid of all of it, but the thing that helped me the most (other than the S&D that you are already doing) was to wear it up whenever I lie down, wear it contained in the car, not let the back of my head rub against things, and to wear it up whenever I am outside in the slightest breeze. This has dramatically reduced my damage.

I also began trimming parts of my hair that were badly kinked or just felt icky when I did an S&D session. I would run my hands over my hair, and when I felt an icky spot, I'd trim the whole small section off, regardless of which hairs were individually split.

I haven't tried shea butter yet, but for me avocado oil works well on my ends, and I notice far fewer splits when I use this. Maybe there is something like that which could work for you.

Little by little, all these things are helping. Someday you will see the difference in your own hair. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen.

Good luck!

[Egana]

Here's my idea - I like my hair until I started doing S&D's. Then I foudn a ton of splits, and I felt frustrated. Soooooo.... drumroll please......

I have stopped doing S&D's completely. I am sure my hair had a ton of splits back when I was happy with it. The increased scrutiny only resulted in frustration for me. So, I will go back to ignoring my splits and enjoying my hair again... *wink*

[piffyanne]

I think my facebook status from today says it all pretty well:

<piffyanne> spent the first third of her day as happy and care-free as you can be while at work, and then she looked down at the ends of her hair. She spent the second third of her day practicing self-control by not dashing out of the office, hurtling into the car, and speeding home to get her hands on the hair-cutting scissors. The final third of her day was occupied in a do-or-die, all-our-war on split-ends, in a kamikaze search-and-destroy mission likely to save the lives of many (hair follicles, that is). PRO TIP: It's easy to see even the tiniest split-ends if they're back-lit by something bright like a computer screen or television.

My comment underneath (it's something of a habit to do a snarky tidbit, or to add something I find personally funny) read thusly:
"Watching hair grow is only slightly more exciting than watching paint dry, but the upkeep makes you feel like a superhero (or, alternatively, like a Greek god or one of the Fates, arbitrarily deciding what will happen to each individual [hair] I come across).

>snip< MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! >snip< <tiny shriek> >snip<

I've been trying to tell people for years that anyone who says trimming hair isn't a power-trip in itself is a liar, plain and simple. Hope this makes you smile next time you do a S&D mission! :D

By the way, I've been doing dustings the past two months, but I used different scissors this last time. Three days after the last dusting, my ends felt like straw, and they couldn't have been more tangled if the Fairies had a personal vendetta against me. My diagnosis is that the scissors weren't sharp enough. What do you guys think? (I'm using the scissors I used on my successful first trim to deal with split ends. Cross your fingers!)

[white.chocolate]

You could have your layers trimmed to get rid of the split ends. Having the split ends is not very healthy as they can split more with time. Best get rid of them.

[Gothchiq]

I ended up trimming layers and ends both... it amounted to about three inches from the hemline when all was said and done, and a reduction in amount of layering except the part that frames my face, which I refreshed. Now it's only APL. :( It feels SO short!!! It is also much wurlier now. My boyfriend keeps trying to reassure me, but his hair is down to his butt, so... I mean for him, the work is already done, and he has virgin hair to boot. I just microtrim him every few months and he's good to go.

boohoo. :( I know I did the healthy thing, but I feel bereft!

[jacqueline101]

I'd say trim the splits off and keep up your hair care routine. Then after trimming up the splits I'd soak it or use coconut oil and wear it braided at all times. If your hair is too short to braid I'd wear it up and keep it misted with coconut oil. My hair is growing out a perm and I get frizzy hair this helps. I also found out that in the winter weather a leave in conditioner works well on my ends along with oiling.

[Gothchiq]

That's the main body of my chemical damage too: Perm solution. It was a "straight perm" and it lasted all of one month. >:( GRAR. What a waste. Never again! I dye my hair with deposit only, 10 volume developer... that never messes me up any, but the perm weakened the hairs hardcore.

[piffyanne]

Gothchiq, every time I check back on this thread to see if anything new has developed (I admit it! I'm not entirely sure how the subscription thing works yet!) I cringe in sympathy. shudder:I hope you're able to find something to strengthen your hair back up again!