Every hair is split...

[Sparklylady82]

Hello all! I'm feeling very discouraged with my hair. I've been having good growth (my first month at LHC I gained 1 inch) but I'm experiencing severe split ends. I hot styled and bleached my hair for years before LHC so I understand I have a lot of damage that I'll need to grow out. I just feel like every time I S&D (I can spend hours) I have just as many splits and white spots including breakage (sometime 2 inches up shaft)a few days later. I am feeling like the splits will never be gone. What am I doing wrong? My fear is that I'll never gain growth that stays because of the splits so I trim them but they never seem to disappear. What have you done to deal with the process of growing out damaged hair? Products recommendations, cones or no cones, trimming schedule. I am currently sulfate and cone free but I'm willing to change that if I need to. I'd like my hair to get longer (not shorter!) WHILE growing out the damage....literally every hair I have is split even in my long bangs that are not that long. Thank you in advance for advice :-)

[Maktub]

probably not the advice you would like to read, but I would simply cut the damage off, and then grow from there without damaging the new hair. Best of luck !

[lapushka]

Hello all! I'm feeling very discouraged with my hair. I've been having good growth (my first month at LHC I gained 1 inch) but I'm experiencing severe split ends. I hot styled and bleached my hair for years before LHC so I understand I have a lot of damage that I'll need to grow out. I just feel like every time I S&D (I can spend hours) I have just as many splits and white spots including breakage (sometime 2 inches up shaft)a few days later. I am feeling like the splits will never be gone. What am I doing wrong? My fear is that I'll never gain growth that stays because of the splits so I trim them but they never seem to disappear. What have you done to deal with the process of growing out damaged hair? Products recommendations, cones or no cones, trimming schedule. I am currently sulfate and cone free but I'm willing to change that if I need to. I'd like my hair to get longer (not shorter!) WHILE growing out the damage....literally every hair I have is split even in my long bangs that are not that long. Thank you in advance for advice :-)

You're not doing anything wrong, but damage is damage and the damage is done! It has to come out somehow, whether that is with S&D or with frequent trims is up to you. If you have to S&D half your hair, then it's better to (micro)trim as you will be thinning out your hair *considerably*, and that's just as bad, IMMHO.

[panffle]

First, make sure your scissors are very sharp! Also I would recommend keeping tangling to a minimum, by wearing it up in a protective style most of the time. I know it sounds boring, but you'll get used to it...
My hair was very damaged too, I had to trim it monthly for my first year on LHC. But after most of the worst damaged parts were gone, it got much easier. I still have a lot of dyed hair to grow out, but it's nowhere as 'splitty' as it was before.
If you don't have the patience, I suggest just cutting most of it off at once.

[blue_eyes]

I've been trying to grow out dye damage for a year now, and I've been doing S&D along the way, but I totally agree with lapushka. S&Ding really thinned out my ends & make them look really ragged because nearly every hair is at a different length, haha.

If you have a lot of split ends then it's probably best to just cut off as much as you can, or mircotrim. I did a microtrim recently and it made a big difference. I've decided to do a microtrim every 4-5 months, so you're still gaining length, but getting rid of the damage at the same time. Hang in there!

[Firefox7275]

Are your scissors sharp enough for the task? Duyll scissors can cause splits and breaks by crushing the end of the hair.

I just accepted I wasn't going to gain length and that my hair might continue to look rubbish for a year or more. Some hair was simply not in salvageable condition. A bit like the advice to new mothers: weight (damage) nine months on, nine months off.

Then I researched ingredients and worked out what I should and should not be using. My regime is not just sulphate free but anionic surfactant free (actually co-wash), mostly silicone free (only use amodimethicone occasionally) and my hair is healthier and more resilient for it. I use a fair bit of penetrating oils, hydrolysed protein, panthenol, some ceramides, leave in conditioner rich in the major emollients (fatty alcohols/ cationic surfactants), very wide tooth comb or fingers ONLY no brushing, dry shampoo.

[queenovnight]

In my opinion, S&D is ideal for those who are not dealing with chemically damaged hair. If I were you, I would micro-trim and maintain until the damage is gone - That's what I did. That's also not quite as painful as going in for a full on cut.

[Sparklylady82]

Are your scissors sharp enough for the task? Duyll scissors can cause splits and breaks by crushing the end of the hair.

I just accepted I wasn't going to gain length and that my hair might continue to look rubbish for a year or more. Some hair was simply not in salvageable condition. A bit like the advice to new mothers: weight (damage) nine months on, nine months off.

Then I researched ingredients and worked out what I should and should not be using. My regime is not just sulphate free but anionic surfactant free (actually co-wash), mostly silicone free (only use amodimethicone occasionally) and my hair is healthier and more resilient for it. I use a fair bit of penetrating oils, hydrolysed protein, panthenol, some ceramides, leave in conditioner rich in the major emollients (fatty alcohols/ cationic surfactants), very wide tooth comb or fingers ONLY no brushing, dry shampoo.

My scissors are new from the grocery store (conair brand)...is that good enough? I've never heard of anionic surfactant free. Did you mean you DO or DO NOT co-wash? Where do you get all of the penetrating oils from? Sorry newbie.

[Sparklylady82]

In my opinion, S&D is ideal for those who are not dealing with chemically damaged hair. If I were you, I would micro-trim and maintain until the damage is gone - That's what I did. That's also not quite as painful as going in for a full on cut.

I think you are right. I am going to have to change my sig photo (regretfully so) to microtrimming damage off. I have a lot of layers and the outer layers are the most damaged. I also noticed that even when I cut a dot or split sometimes a new split forms right away...Maybe my scissors are NOT sharp enough as well.

[queenovnight]

Well, how old are the scissors? I use Conair scissors, but I replace them every year. Imo, they aren't bad at all ^_^

But I did have the same exact issue when I attempted to S&D chemically damaged hair, so I honestly think it's the damage and not the scissors.