The importance of trimming.

[willowcandra]

I was wondering today if anyone who didn't trim found their hair got thin at the ends and stopped growing but then thickened up when they started to trim it regularly. (huge mouth full sorry.)

I was wondering if trimming can be pro-active in keeping hair looking great....full trim versus search and destroy.?

[RustedAngel]

I usually just get a full slight trim every few months, because I'm a noob and no good at search and destroy trimming. People told me I would get good at it as I got longer hair, but I never did.

[burns_erin]

I do not trim and do not have that problem, though I know of plenty of people who do. However, I do S&D's often so that may serve the place in my hair's consideration.

[Riot Crrl]

I think it depends what you want the ends to look like.

[harpgal]

:waving: Hello RustedAngel! My hubby says "hello".

willowcandra, as most know around here, I am a huge fan of trimming. It is truly a tool to be used in the growth and maintenance of long hair. There is a delicate balance in using it, however. One must figure out how much to trim and how often in order to maximize its benefits.

[BlueRose4217]

I think both are important to keeping your hair looking and feeling healthy. I do both regularly and I am very pleased with my ends for being the hair type that I am. I don't think that one can replace the other since I do get some splits farther up than my hemline - s&d's catch those. Regular trimming keeps my hemline nice and even, but it doesn't necessarily keep my splits in check. I have very few splits, too. So, basically, I think both are needed for different reasons. HTH! :)

[spidermom]

I'm a fan of trimming to maintain the thickness of the ends, but I haven't tried it the other way around. I plan to keep doing as I have been until growth appears to stop. Then I may grow without trimming for at least a year out of curiosity about what my hair might do.

I have way too many hairs to control splits with S&D. I think I'd go blind before getting even half of them.

[Isilme]

I trim once or twice a year, I find my ends get dry, slightly thinner and more fragile if I don't. But that could also be due to layering box dyes on each other and rough treatment in the past. I'll have to come back in some years and answer when I have virgin hair;)

[Euphony]

I had a big shed in the last couple of months so my circumference dropped a tad to 4.25". I've never been able to S&D even with my hair thinner like it is now. It's just too much, I've tried. Perhaps if it ever drops below 4" (iii range) I'll give it a try, I'd love to see if S&D would be beneficial to me.

From what I have experienced I ended up with a false terminal length that was bsl because of non trimming. I also have seen other people get to a false terminal of bsl with non trimming.

I currently trim 1/4" every 6 months, losing that 1/2" of growth per year is a major reason I'm sure that I'm coming up on tail bone length now.

[Nightshade]

I'm a big fan of regular small trims. I'm mantaining at my current goal length, but I wasn't able to get to that with my hair as damaged as it was without keeping the ends clean.

Super-damaged breaking off hair (like I had) is going to split. Skimming the ends and losing next to no length makes the ends nice again, for awhile. By consistently trimming, say 1/4 month (as I did when growing out damage), the ends stayed nice and mostly tangle free, moreso than if I'd just done one 2 inch trim every 8 months. With damaged hair, if you're cutting into more damaged hair, it's just going to split again. Better to keep growing and keep it in check at the ends. That or cut it off and cut into healthy hair, which needs trimming a LOT less often.

Now that my ends are healthier, but still thinner than I'd like, I maintain at tailbone and trim a bit every 2-3 months. It doesn't split as fast, so I don't trim as often.

[Amoretti]

I just had a 1 inch trim. My ends were looking so straggly and thin! Now my hair looks better after just that 1 inch. I hadn't had a trim in a year and am trying to grow it longer. I'm glad I did it though. I think that at this length a 1 inch trim isn't really noticeable in terms of length but it is in terms on aesthetics.

[getoffmyskittle]

I have definitely found that my hair is a lot worse off if I do larger trims less frequently. There are a lot of other factors but I can definitely speak for the condition of the ends... it's not good. Trimming small amounts frequently seems to stave off tattiness and keep the hemline even better than trimming larger amounts infrequently.

[spidermom]

I have definitely found that my hair is a lot worse off if I do larger trims less frequently. There are a lot of other factors but I can definitely speak for the condition of the ends... it's not good. Trimming small amounts frequently seems to stave off tattiness and keep the hemline even better than trimming larger amounts infrequently.

That's my observation as well. I found that every 3 months seemed just about the perfect balance of growth plus nice ends. When I stretched it to every 4 months, the damage seemed to grow exponentially in the final month. Instead of needing my usual 1/4 to 1/2 inch trim, I needed twice that much, resulting in even less length gain than I got with every-3 -month trimming

[RustedAngel]

:waving: Hello RustedAngel! My hubby says "hello".

Hello back to you! You two were sooo nice at the Portland meet, and I hear tell you're going to be at a Seattle meet soon! (sorry for off topic!)

I usually just get the barest little bit trimmed off every 2 months or so, to keep my ends nice. This seems to be working pretty well for me, as I have gone from regular male hair to bsl in about 2.5 years, and so far it seems to be keeping that pace going stays hopeful

[ChloeDharma]

I was all for the no trimming thing and until about a month ago hadn't had any trims since august 2006, but i did find the more fairytale my ends got the worse my tangling and breakage got and i've wondered if it's played a part in how much my hair has thinned somehow (or maybe i'm just looking for easy things to blame). But before when i had a vague trimming routine i found my ideal was to trim a little bit every 3 months. That was the point where my ends started to catch and tangle. Now i plan on trimming regularly and see if things thicken up.

[Darkhorse1]

Yep. My hair dresser explained why.
If you don't trim, long hair gets damaged much faster due to length. So, if you don't trim away dead ends/split ends, the split then travels further up the hair shaft, causing breakage in a variety of locations. Hence, this gives your length that 'thinness' appearance. I get a mini-trim every six weeks in the summer, and in the winter, every three months, I get a major trim--all of one inch! :D

[Opal25]

I find that regular trims are best for me as far as encouraging growth.

I tried going without trims and instead did search & destroy every 2-3 months for almost a year in order to help retain length, but ended up slowing down growth. I also found that my ends started to look very thin, even though they were pretty healthy.

In my opinion, search & destroy is okay in between trims when splits/breaks are found, but should not necessarily replace regular trimming. For me regular trims=healthy ends=length retention.

[Takethevitamin]

I get a trim 2-3 times a year, or so. I cannot stand ratty, thin-looking ends.

[BrianaFineHair]

Scissors have not touched my hair since, I believe, February. I'm coming up on 6 months and I don't know what to do. I'm afraid to go in for a "dusting" of 1/4 inch. My hair is still short (you can see a photo of my last update from May in my profile). I *just* got to where I can put my hair in a teeny bun for exercise class. If my hair was already past my shoulders I would not be so afraid of a 1/4 - 1/2 trim once or twice a year, but NOW??? I shudder to think that my hair dresser would be too agressive.

ETA: I will put up my next update photo in August. I've gotten some nice growth the past few months :)

[Riot Crrl]

Yep. My hair dresser explained why.
If you don't trim, long hair gets damaged much faster due to length. So, if you don't trim away dead ends/split ends, the split then travels further up the hair shaft, causing breakage in a variety of locations. Hence, this gives your length that 'thinness' appearance. I get a mini-trim every six weeks in the summer, and in the winter, every three months, I get a major trim--all of one inch! :D

That is one reason but it is not the only reason. When you see fairy tale ends, it doesn't mean that it happened because of splits or breakage. Hairs just grow at different rates, too.

Even if I had a chin length bob and wanted to maintain it at that length, if I didn't get a trim for a while, my ends would become uneven, even if I had no breakage or splits. This is because my hairs grow at different rates.

If one wishes to cultivate fairy tale ends, then they might prefer only S&D. If one wants to keep the ends blunt, they may be better off with trimming.

[Flying Betty]

I've been trimming an inch or so off every few months, and the ends of my hair have never looked better. Pre LHC, I used to chop ~6 inches off once a year, and my hair started looking bad when it hit hep/tailbone length and I would cut it back up to waist length. I have been a bit gentler to my hair since I found this place, but not really all that much, and by trimming the worst of the ends off my hair is so much nicer. It actually hit classic, but then I cut 2-3 inches off, and got rid of the worst of the taper/dry ends and it's more than a month later and the ends still haven't thinned out much at all. I also don't like the look of fairytale ends on my hair type. I think they just look scruffy, instead of attractively trailing off which they can do with curlier hair.

[30isthenewblack]

That is one reason but it is not the only reason. When you see fairy tale ends, it doesn't mean that it happened because of splits or breakage. Hairs just grow at different rates, too.

My hair grows at different rates as well. It doesn't matter how many times it is cut into a blunt cut, the lengths of the hair always grows at different lengths. It doesn't matter as I prefer a U-shape in my hair anyway. My hair definitely benefits from trims but hairdressers are always quite agressive with my hair and they tend to cut off all my growth has kept me wavering at BSL (straight) for quite a while now. Thus, my solution is to keep on trimming my own hair every three months but only take off 0.5 an inch.

[willowcandra]

thanks for all the responses. I am going to make sure I stick to bi monthly in future.
My interest was sparked when I read cinnamonhairs site and she said she had a false terminal at waist until she started trimming. I just wondered if this sort of find was common-does seem to be.
:cheese: there is hope.

[rapunzhell13]

I have no idea if I should trim now or wait. If I trim it will delay being able to put it all up, but the ends are a bit ragged and I don't want them to get worse. Decisions, decisions! I don't think trimming is as important as most people think, but I do think it can be important. It's all in the personal circumstances. :eyebrows:

[Little_Bird]

I like how my hair feels after a trim. It bounces more beautyfully, the ends feel and look much better and all...

The loss of lenght is a bummer tough. But I understand what you're saying. And of course that a long time without trimming will cause thinner ends, but it's not like the hair is getting weaker. You are only getting more noticeable distance between each strand life periods and spams.

On the other hand, thinner ends are less protected for what I've noticed, as they tend not to absorb oil and conditioner as well as thicker ends. Also, they are more prone to tangles. This in my case of course but it may happen to others.

Trimming is good and healthy for hair. I try to take trimming as part of a good long hair care routine. But we all want the lenght too so we have to make these little sacrifices and treat out hair so well that thin ends won't be a problem...

I am in a new trimming skedual right now to blunt my ends and get them thicker and straight. From 4 to 4 months a little trim is in due. I hope this way I will be gaining lenght and better ends all at the same time.

We'll see =)

Just trim when you feel you really need or really want. Hair is all about making people happy about themselves :)

[FrannyG]

When I first joined here I did not trim at all, really, which was a very big mistake. I went from APL to almost waist, and my ends looked just terrible. While fairytale ends may be nice for someone with waves, they are not for me.

I cut off all the sparse ends, and grew again from APL to almost waist. However, that time, I trimmed about a third of my growth off every two months. My hair seemed to grow just as quickly, but it looked, oh, so much better.

If I hadn't dyed my hair back to blonde thereby needing to cut off 5 inches, I'm sure my hair would still be growing nicely with the bi-monthly trims.

In any case I am a huge fan of trimming, and I continue to do it now. Yes, I'm just dying to reach my goals, but on the other hand, I want to enjoy reaching the milestones, and I find that nicely trimmed ends help me to enjoy it very much.

Hope that helps. :flowers:

[sipnsun]

I trim every 4 months or so and get a good bit cut off every spring. I only do this because of damaged ends that are thin and brittle. It definitely makes a difference in my hair.