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dani18
May 4th, 2012, 03:59 PM
I have a problem. I have six inches of split ends :(. My hair is waist length after 3 years of growing from chin length. Now i might have to cut it to collar bone lengt. Is there any way to repair my ends with out having to cut it? Any help is much apreciated :).

katsrevenge
May 4th, 2012, 04:00 PM
Nope.

You can baby it with oils, trim it slowly.. but as hair is dead it does not heal.

BeckyAH
May 4th, 2012, 04:00 PM
There is nothing that will repair hair that has been damaged. You may be able to cut slowly and treat the rest very, very gently so you don't lose as much length at once- but once it's damaged, cutting it off is the only way to get rid of it.

Amber_Maiden
May 4th, 2012, 04:03 PM
You can't repair split ends, you can't make them healthy or glue the splits back together- no matter what products claim they can do.

You could S&D. Might take a while, a LONG while, meaning a couple of months to see any improvement.

dani18
May 4th, 2012, 04:04 PM
Just one question as i am new here. What is s&d? And thank you all for your help:)

spidermom
May 4th, 2012, 04:07 PM
It's only 6 inches from collar bone to waist for you? That's hard for me to picture.

But there's nothing wrong with getting rid of damage slowly, except that it can spread upward. Split ends tend to break off, split some more, break off, etc. But you can certainly baby your hair like crazy and maintain current length with frequent trims until all those bad ends are gone.

I'd probably get rid of them in one cut, though. Once damage is gone, all new length is yours to keep.

Anje
May 4th, 2012, 04:07 PM
If you have 6 inches of split ends and your hair is at waist, how does that bring you anywhere near collarbone, if you cut them all off?

Having not actually seen your hair (it might not be that bad), I'd say that your best bet is to get some scissors specifically for hair. Cut an inch or two off your length, which will get most of the splits. Then start trimming the individual split hairs that remain (S&D). Over time, you'll get most of them, and you won't lose more length.

Tisiloves
May 4th, 2012, 04:08 PM
Just one question as i am new here. What is s&d? And thank you all for your help:)

Search and destroy, go through your hair and cut out the individual splits with a very sharp pair of scissors that are used to cut nothing but hair.

dani18
May 4th, 2012, 04:10 PM
LOL! No i guess it would be an inch or two more than apl. But to me thats a LOT of hair because it grows so slow.

lunalocks
May 4th, 2012, 04:17 PM
Try to figure out what made so many splits, then fix the problem as you grow out your new, healthy hair - after you trim, of course.

Madora
May 4th, 2012, 04:28 PM
Just one question as i am new here. What is s&d? And thank you all for your help:)

The technique for S and D (Search and Destroy) varies:

1) take a very thin section of hair and twist it. Snip off any split ends or white dots that pop up from the twist

2) go through small sections of hair and snip off any damage you see.

As the other poster mentioned, be SURE that your shears are SHARP. Dull scissors only make more white dots (damage).

S and D is best done in bright, direct sunlight. If you have light colored hair, S and D against a dark backround. Dark colored hair does well against a white background.

You can S and D as often or as little as you desire.

The best way to reduce and S and D to a minimum is to try and avoid mechanical damage and use only gentle products on your hair..and keep it well moisturized.

Splits are usually caused by dryness.

Roscata
May 4th, 2012, 05:09 PM
I have a problem. I have six inches of split ends :(. My hair is waist length after 3 years of growing from chin length. Now i might have to cut it to collar bone lengt. Is there any way to repair my ends with out having to cut it? Any help is much apreciated :).

I suggest micro-trimming and S&D. Micro trimming is when you trim off very little from your ends like 1/2 an inch or 1/4 or 1/8, and you can do this every 6-8 weeks as you're growing out your hair to improve the condition and still see you're gaining length.

But it is very important to get rid of your split ends with trimming because you can't un-do a split ends and the damage travels up the strand and entangles neighboring strands as well causing more and more damage.

Dryness can be a cause of split ends which means you might want to consider oiling the bottom part of your length, I hear good things about mineral (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=225)/baby oil on this front. You may also focus on minimizing future damage and avoiding creating more split ends. These two articles will help with that: Damaged Hair: Understanding, Preventing & Rehabilitating (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79) and Keeping Split Ends At Bay: Secrets of Gently Handling Your Hair (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=8).


Just one question as i am new here. What is s&d? And thank you all for your help:)

S&D is search and destroy. You basically look at your hair and trim individual split ends as you find them. Make sure you buy a hair scissor from a beauty store (they have them at CVS too and they only cost about $10) and only use the scissor to cut hair to make sure it stays sharp.

There are some good tutorials out there, video and pics. Here are my two favorite ones:
- Self-trimming (https://sites.google.com/site/habioku/about-hair/self-trimming)
- Feye's self-trim (http://feyeselftrim.livejournal.com/)

So don't be afraid there is hope to avoid a big chop, just take the time to read, learn and care for your hair because spending 1 hour learning about hair is way more time effective than spending 2 years growing back the length you lost and maybe even more because you ended up with the same split end result as before. Good luck! :)

dani18
May 4th, 2012, 05:17 PM
My stylist razor cuts my hair should i ask her to use scisors instead. From the sound the razor makes i cant imagine that that is doing any good either

Hollyfire3
May 4th, 2012, 05:18 PM
My stylist razor cuts my hair should i ask her to use scisors instead. From the sound the razor makes i cant imagine that that is doing any good either

Do you have your hair thinned? Razor cutting definitly causes more splits.

arcane
May 4th, 2012, 05:21 PM
LOL! No i guess it would be an inch or two more than apl. But to me thats a LOT of hair because it grows so slow.

If you have six inches of damage, I think it's not so much that your hair is growing slow as that the ends are breaking off. I had to cut my waist length hair to my shoulders because the damage just got so out of hand that the ends were crumbling and the damage was traveling up farther (whereas when it got really bad I could have probably only cut back to BSL and been all right). It's hard, but if you hair is breaking off from the damage you won't see much length until the damage is gone.

Carissamarie08
May 4th, 2012, 05:22 PM
Agh razor cutting is the worst!

dani18
May 4th, 2012, 05:23 PM
Do you have your hair thinned? Razor cutting definitly causes more splits.

No. Its for layers and i think its faster for her.

HintOfMint
May 5th, 2012, 12:52 AM
All I can say is, I've been in your situation where I actually did have to cut it off from somewhere between waist and BSL to collarbone. I loved having long hair but I didn't want to walk around with raggedy hair. It got to the point where my roommates noticed that my hair was fried. So... off it went. And from then on, I babied my hair. To me, a major chop was worth it.

HintOfMint
May 5th, 2012, 12:55 AM
No. Its for layers and i think its faster for her.

If the razor isn't sharp and new, then it is likely that it will cause the ends to fray.

Alvrodul
May 5th, 2012, 06:23 AM
No. Its for layers and i think its faster for her.
Gah. :justy: Tell her to lay off that razor, and use scissors instead, and to cut your hair cleanly, not scrape off the cuticle. Or find another stylist.

Quahatundightu
May 5th, 2012, 07:09 AM
If I were you I would get regular trims instead of lopping off 6" at once :)

gracenotes
May 5th, 2012, 08:01 AM
If it's really tangly/problematic/showing signs of getting worse, I would chop just a couple of inches and then gradually trim off the rest. Otherwise, perhaps just baby it for a while and get regular trims until the splits are gone--if you get regular trims to maintain at waist for a while, you wouldn't really be losing length. :)

spidermom
May 5th, 2012, 08:35 AM
The easiest way for me to cut off individual splits and white dots is to make 2 braids and cut off the damage that sticks out of the braids.

unknown
May 5th, 2012, 09:42 AM
There are some hair products and serums that you could use.

They "glue" your hair so that the splits are being "repaired", this effect is only temporary and the product would have to be used regularly.

This way you could keep most of the length and trim a bit of the damage every month or so without the splits traveling further up.

dani18
May 5th, 2012, 11:30 AM
Wow some really good tips. Thank you guys so much. You are all so helpful :)

heidi w.
May 5th, 2012, 11:56 AM
I have a problem. I have six inches of split ends :(. My hair is waist length after 3 years of growing from chin length. Now i might have to cut it to collar bone lengt. Is there any way to repair my ends with out having to cut it? Any help is much apreciated :).

Some people just simply wait too long to trim their hair, and this can be a result of that decision. Unfortunately, besides some products being out there that claim they repair split ends, I don't really believe they work. You can't sew up hair, or glue it back together. There's no way around it. Once damaged, that's it. Damaged. The only option you have is that 6 inches represents half a foot, and instead of cutting it all off at once, instead, trim it in sections at a time, such as begin with a 3 inch trim, and another month or two, trim another 3 inches. Kind of work up to it, so you don't experience so much shock. Further, often one finds out they don't need as much removed that they originally thought. I'm sorry this is happening to you. This is an important reason why I do recommend trims as one grows, just not overly often as in the usual recommended every 8 weeks or every other month. I'm betting you don't have a full 6 inches that are massively damaged. I'm betting its at most about half that. You should notice, after a trim, far fewer tangles, smoother hair, better behaved hair and less fallout after detangling. The fallout you have now is likely a lot of broken or snapped hairs that are coming out.

Good luck with the project,
heidi w.

heidi w.
May 5th, 2012, 11:57 AM
There are some hair products and serums that you could use.

They "glue" your hair so that the splits are being "repaired", this effect is only temporary and the product would have to be used regularly.

This way you could keep most of the length and trim a bit of the damage every month or so without the splits traveling further up.

Realize that these products often have silicones and other unfriendly hair ingredients.

heidi w.

heidi w.
May 5th, 2012, 11:59 AM
The easiest way for me to cut off individual splits and white dots is to make 2 braids and cut off the damage that sticks out of the braids.

Be sure to work in strong light, such as sunshine or halogen lights. Do not work in your own shadow, and use a great pair of scissors. Also, recommend working against a background opposite your hair color. Just easier to see the split and where to trim. This is known as dusting your hair, or here at LHC what people label S&D.

heidi w.

heidi w.
May 5th, 2012, 12:02 PM
If it's really tangly/problematic/showing signs of getting worse, I would chop just a couple of inches and then gradually trim off the rest. Otherwise, perhaps just baby it for a while and get regular trims until the splits are gone--if you get regular trims to maintain at waist for a while, you wouldn't really be losing length. :)

I did this for a couple of years when I was knee length, or just above the knee. I was allowing time for a "weak spot" to fill in a bit. While I lost a little bit of time to grow longer, it didn't really affect my growth rate that much. Who knows, a growth spurt once again may yet be coming, and I'm now 52 and mid-calf. I had my hair at ankle length but didn't like how thin the hemline looked, so trimmed it and keep it at mid-calf now. My siggy picture shows my length just before ankle length.

heidi w.

WaterMusic
May 5th, 2012, 12:20 PM
I have quite dark hair, but I find the method for S&D that is easiest on my eyes is to hold my hair up to the light, not so the light source is behind it, but just so the ends glow/light up. I then hold the hair over a dark backgroud. Glowing ends on dark backgroud = really obvious split ends. I can also really easily make out damage that is not yet split, such as weak spots in the hair, because the light is shinning through the structure of the hair.

palaeoqueen
May 5th, 2012, 12:52 PM
I also think you should cut by 1-3" then regular microtrims until all the damage is gone.

unknown
May 6th, 2012, 09:14 AM
Realize that these products often have silicones and other unfriendly hair ingredients.

heidi w.

Silicones are not "unfriendly" altough some of us prefer not to use them. These products cover the hair and temporarily hide/glue the damage which makes it easier to handle damaged hair for a while.