Haircut Shock?

[WaitingSoLong]

What I refer to is when you cut a lot of length off your hair and the ends get all weird (thickish) for a few days or a week. It has happened to me once and I think was explained that it has to do water absorption.

I tried to google it but did not find anything related to what I am speaking.

What I want to know is HOW much length being cut will induce this? 4"? 6"? 10"?

Anyone have more info about this?

[white.chocolate]

Actually, this is the first I am hearing of this. I don't remember my ends being thicker after a hair cut. I'm curious to what comments will be written in this thread.

[wicked kisses]

What I refer to is when you cut a lot of length off your hair and the ends get all weird (thickish) for a few days or a week. It has happened to me once and I think was explained that it has to do water absorption.

I tried to google it but did not find anything related to what I am speaking.

What I want to know is HOW much length being cut will induce this? 4"? 6"? 10"?

Anyone have more info about this?

anything over 4 I think.
What I wanna know is what did you do to your hair in your avatar pic? That is niftylooking!

[jacqueline101]

When I had my hair cut in May it was thicker and fuller after wards. It shows in my pictures. You can look at my pictures. As it grows its not as thick but this could be my imagination too.

[jaine]

Isn't that just because your ends are more blunt after the trim? Then everything keeps growing and it's not quite as blunt 3-4 weeks later. I noticed it on a 1" trim.

[almond]

I remember when I got trimmed my hair earlier it was always at least 3'' whether I wanted or not. My hair strands are thicker at the root and thinner and thinner towards the ends. I often saw that the ends were kind of shiny where they were cut.
I wonder what it has to do with water absorption. Does it work similarly to flowers or plants when you cut their stems before putting them in water?

[luxepiggy]

YES! This happens to me almost every time! I even posted about it in the Straight & Silky thread at one point:


OK fellow straighties, piggy has a query for you! (^(oo)^)

I've noticed that for the first few weeks after I self trim, my hemline appears sort of fluffed up, so that it looks like my hair falls straight down my back but then fans out in the at the very bottom (like the last inch). Does anyone else experience this? Any idea why it happens and how to prevent it?

See what I mean? It's like, straight straight straight straight FLUFF! ( ' (oo) ' )
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=6020&pictureid=89093

I never did find a really conclusive explanation about the cause. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the amount of length being cut off per se, as it happens to me every time, whether I cut 2" or 6" . . .

Sorry - I know this was a fairly useless reply, but I felt the need to commiserate, and to tag along on your quest for information regarding this phenomenon (^(oo)^)v

[WaitingSoLong]

Interesting Piggy!

My understanding is that the blunt ends absorb more water and "fluff" out the very ends more, only like the bottom inch or less, just like in your pic, because it has been cut past the dried up ends. It only happened to me after like a 10" cut many years ago. It is supposedly temporary, only a few days or a week until the new ends have a chance to toughen up (basically become dried out).

The way I think it works, the healthier your hair, the more likely it is to do this. I think if you are only ever cutting off damaged ends it won't happen. But I am assuming much.

[MsBubbles]

Hah! Ohhh, you lucky, lucky people. This has never happened to me. Ever.

[Hollyfire3]

Oh wow, i know what you mean, i LOVE when this happens! I am absolutly in love with a blunt hemline and adore my hair when this happens. I always thought this fluffing had to do with how thick your hair was. If i get an inch or even a 1/2 inch cut off, it fluffs. I wish it did that every day without a cut...wondering it dusting produces the same effect on healthy hair...

[Kristin]

I've noticed this phenomenon, but thought it was because you need to "retrain" your ends to go the right way and lay flat after a trim. The water thing makes sense, too, though.

[blondie9912]

This happened to me when I went for BSL to APL! I had such thick-looking (my hair is fine, in reality) bouncy hair...it was almost TOO bouncy and thick for my taste, a little reminiscent of 40s sitcoms or something haha

[blondie9912]

But to answer your question, I would say probably a minimum of 3 to 4 inches on my hair type. I didnt get this when I took two inches off nearly waist length hair

[woolyleprechaun]

What is this of which you speak :)? Ive never heard of/experienced this......

[MsBubbles]

But to answer your question, I would say probably a minimum of 3 to 4 inches on my hair type. I didnt get this when I took two inches off nearly waist length hair

Hmm. I wonder if mine would do this? I guess I've never taken that much off. And I'm not willing to sacrifice the length to find out. Maybe if I go through another bad shed, I might try it to see.

[spidermom]

I've noticed that my ends are thicker and more difficult to tuck into buns, but that's about it. It usually only bothers me for a day or two.

[WaitingSoLong]

I am not referring to thickening the hemline with blunt cut.

Oh well. I guess it is hard to explain.

I was asking because my daughter wanted a lot cut off. I went ahead and cut about 10" off her hair (from above hip to above BSL). She loves it and that is all that matters (and maybe people won't get us confused from a distance anymore). I was just worried she wouldn't be able to handle the haircut shock if it happens. We have yet to find out.

[jojo]

I know what you mean, your whole lot of hair just feels thicker, more? funny I never get this when I trim my own hair but at the hair dressers I do. Maybe it because they do a more thorough head massage than I do and this opens the hair shaft in some way, which allows more water in the cuticle and gives this temporary thickness/fullness??? I dunno really but I know what you mean!

[blondie9912]

I didn't mean the thickening of my hemline either :) My hair just felt so much thicker after that cut, it was really odd.

[wicked kisses]

Mine doesn't do this, but I never cut more than a half inch at a time... but my SO's hair does. (He has hair down to his ass and he's 6'5")
He makes me jealous, cuz it's smooth, and soft, and and and.... grrr!!

[Altocumulus]

I've never noticed this, but I imagine it would be be difficult to tell with my wurly texture. My hair never lays flat, and a cut, especially a significant one, just encourages it to spring up everywhere!

[metricfuture]

When I kept my hair much shorter, this happened every time I got a haircut, which was around 3 or 4 times a year. Since I was pretty much keeping the same length, it must have been around the 2 inch mark. Never lasted more than a month, though.:(

[JuliaDancer]

Hmm... well I'm about to cut 15 inches off on Friday, so I'll let you know if I experience this... It's probably due to the dry ends being cut off, revealing the healthier hair.

[lapushka]

I know what you mean. A lot was cut off from my hair several months ago, and suddenly when that happened the ends were so thick! Scissors almost refused to go through. The ends sort of plumped up after the cut. Don't know how else to describe it, but my hemline looked really thick. The effect went away after a while. I lost several inches (a whole entire perm was cut off), and I'm thinking maybe the ends looked so thick and plumped up because my hemline was really worth... nothing at the longer length I had. So thin with that perm. Maybe it's that you suddenly notice that difference? I don't know...

[wicked kisses]

The last time I cut a significant amount of length off, quite a while ago, it did a 'shirley temple' thing, where it just turned into a mass of curls. I figure my current length is keeping it under some kind of control... I dunno.
My grampa used to say 'My barber says I have the waviest hair he's ever seen. The front is waving goodbye to the back.'

[Amber_Maiden]

Well, for me, when I've dusted or microtrimmed I've never had a problem. But when I've went and got a chop- then I have experienced hair shock.