will cutting really help my dry ends?

[Kat Girl]

A couple of years ago I had gotten some bad hilights that totally fried my fine fragile hair, and since then I've been in the long painful process of growing it out. I have come a long way. Wen, trimming, and good hair care have done a lot. Now my hair is so much better and its finally back to bsl. I'm excited about the length and I want to maintain trimming at bsl now. I no longer can see my color line but my ends are still much drier than my roots. I also have shorter layers and the ends of those are also dry even though they are higher up my head. So my question is if I cut it will it help? Or will the ends still be dry at any length. Should I keep my bsl or will it be healthier if I cut more off?

Also I do use coconut oil on my ends and that helps but only when its there. If I wash it out the problem is back. And I wonder if thats actually helping or hurting the overall health of my hair.

[blondie9912]

I'm in a similar situation. I started growing out colour and highlights in September. My top layers were coloured AND highlighted, so I have no natural colour there except for my roots. My under layers, however, have never been highlighted or coloured and are completely virgin.

As I came up with questions about the process of growing out my highlights and length at the same time, I pondered a certain question. Should I trim A LOT in order to have 100% virgin hair first, or should I grow to waist (with trims) and then maintain there while the dye grows out? I came to the conclusion that if you're growing out your colour and length, your *ultimate* hair goal will be virgin hair at waist length (or TB, BSL, classic, etc). In the end, it will take the same amount of time to get there regardless of whether you trim your dyed hair off frequently. You can get plenty of trims and finally cut out all of your dye, but then you'll have SL hair, so it will take another two years or so until you reach your final goal of virgin waist. The difference would be, that you'll just have hair that you don't really care about (the dyed parts, if that makes sense) hanging around in order to make your hair feel long, and help YOU feel like you're actually growing your hair instead of just constantly trimming to get rid of dye.

I finally decided that I'm going to trim somewhat often (3-4 microtrims a year with an official salon trim about once a year), but I won't try and cut out all of my due when myviegin hair reached chin or something. So I guess what I'm trying to say is just do what makes your ends feel best. Ikon what your dilemma is, though, you're wondering how your ends can possibly feel better if they get trimmed, if the ends will still be highlighted after the trim? I have no idea how, but it works. I suppose fresh ends just feel better. Check out my album, my January length pic shows my ends getting a bit raggedy, and the you see how my hemline has improved after a trim of about an inch. Another member who is going through something similar is Lize (she has lovely hair!) so if you flip through her album you can see how she approached the issue.

[PrairieRose]

I am also growing out previous damage from damage. My hair is between APL and BSL. I decided to do small trims and take better care of my hair. This is working for me so far. The trims help keep it feeling healthier and still enjoy some length.

[melusine963]

My hair is also quite dry, and the only thing that helps me is using coconut oil as a leave-in conditioner. After I wash my hair, I put a bit on my length from my chin downwards while it's still damp. That's usually enough until I need to wash it again, but if I notice it's getting dry again a few days later then I reapply a little more. This way, my hair is never completely 'product'-free, but it's a lot more manageable as a result.

[spidermom]

It depends on how bad the damage is, really. If you've got a lot of splitting and breaking off going on, you won't gain much length. The summer my heat-styling damage was the worst, I grew about 3/4 of an inch over 3-4 months. At that point, I got sick of fighting with my hair every day and had the rest of the damage cut away. My hair grew 1-1/4 inch over the next 2-3 weeks. It was amazing!

You should try clarifying followed by a deep moisture treatment before you cut. Sometimes it's the buildup that is dried out, not the hair.

[kdaniels8811]

This is what really helped my dry ends. T\his is Foxes Conditioning treatment (or something like that!)

2 parts unrefined shea butter
1 part coconut oil
2 parts conditioner (Cheap Suave is fine)

Melt the coconut oil and shea butter together in the microwave, then stir in about 2 parts of my cone-free conditioner, in a little plastic container. They don't mix all that well and tend to separate, so put the concoction in the freezer for a few minutes. As the shea solidified, the emulsion will stay together much better. Store covered, room temperature seems OK.

I use this as a deep conditioner, slathering it from root to ends and covering with a towel for an hour or more, then washing out with shampoo. Makes my hair soft and really helps with the dryness. Good luck!

[blondie9912]

Whoa, triple post. Not sure how that happened. Anyway, I forgot to answer the second part of your question. You have to remember that once hair has been damaged, it's damaged. The protein structure has been altered and it will never be the same. Ever. A little basic biology: Proteins are composed of strands of nucleic acids, and take various forms. Some are relatively simple, while others are more complex (ranging from primary to quaternary structures). These sequences can be denaturated (unraveled) by changes in the protein's ideal environment. This includes heat, pH, and of course, subjection to chemicals. These proteins will never the same after they have been altered. They cannot be repaired or 'fixed'. The only thing that can really be done is using various oils and deep conditioners in order to mask the problem. Once said treatment has been removed from the hair, it won't feel as nice as it did when it was in the hair. This is something that those with chemically damaged hair have to face... We are faking 'good hair', in a way. The dyed parts will never feel the same way as the virgin parts. Our hair is not *naturally* nourished enough to be clarified (ie. ridding it of all products, oils, etc) left alone, and expected to look nice. We have to add back into the hair what has been destroyed, but it is only a temporary solution. Once it is out of the hair, its effects aregone. Don't be discouraged because you have to have something in your hair for it to feel good. We'll just have to continue oiling and deep conditioning our hair to smooth the damaged areas while letting the fresh growth flourish, until one day, our hair is fully virgin and healthy, and can go without the 'extra help'. :)

[Delila]

Whoa, triple post. Not sure how that happened. ...

Weirdness happens some times, I deleted the extras. :)

[blondie9912]

Weirdness happens some times, I deleted the extras. :)

Thanks :) I think because the novel I wrote took ages to send and I refreshed the page

[jacqueline101]

I had dry ends this past summer I found oiling mine helped. I guess my dry ends were lack of moisture.

[swearnsue]

Hi Kat Girl, I know what you mean about shorter layers having dry ends. I trimmed just the dry ends, just a tiny bit instead of triming all my hair. I didn't want to trim 2 inches of healthy hair in order to get up to the dry ends. This was just a couple of days ago and I'm happy with the result. I think the trimmed hair will grow more and break less.