From thick ends to fairytale ends, can I really do that?

[*ReiKa*]

Hello everyone!
Since my journey to long hair started, I have always been able to maintain full, thick ends.
Now that I have almost reached a full TBL I am starting to fancy some softer, fairytale ends. I really like when hair is healthy and thick up to TBL, and then softer, lighter ends go down through the backside.
Now you're wondering what my question is....
Basically I'm scared that my hair will loose that healthy shiny look that has always had by doing regulars trims and having super thick ends. That's one of characteristics that I love more about my hair and that others always compliment me about, the fact that my hair is long but HEALTHY. I worry that by not trimming anymore my hair will get a dull, neglected look.
The second thing is that from time to time I straighten my hair with a flat iron. If I won't trim my hair, I'll get some splits.
Now, if I'm not mistaken (tell me if I am) fairytale ends are a result of ends not trimmed for a long time that break off at different levels (not trimming hair for a long time won't result in split ends anyway?!), that's where the softer lighter look comes from, but will I get the same result with having split ends? How will that look?
I would really love to have "lighter" looking ends but I'm thinking that this is something that I won't be able to achieve without my hair looking awful, dull, damaged.
If anyone wants to have a look at my hair, here is a picture: http://i59.tinypic.com/2ch6yq9.jpg
I thank you in advance for your replies!

[cathair]

It shouldn't become dull just because you stop cutting it You don't have to treat it any differently and it will still be the same hair. It might take a while from hair as blunt as yours though!

You will get splits. You can manage them with S&D, which might speed up fairy tailing too. Some people can manage without S&D; I can't. It's the difference between my hair driving me insane and not. It wouldn't be combable if I didn't.

You may get people saying that it's not healthy. It won't be true, but a lot of people equate fairy tailed ends with damage. You'll just have to work out if you are thick skinned enough to cope with that or not. Your hair is enviable as it is. But I think it would look nice either way

[Arctic]

Hi,

I think big part of fairytailing is not necessarily from breakage and splits, but from hairs growing at different speed from oneanother. I daresay many of the lovely fairytaleing heads of hair we see here are very healthy and not damaged looking.

If you keep up S/D but stop trimming, your probably will have some fairytaleing.

[neko_kawaii]

Trimming does not impart shine except where it removes dull damaged hair. As long as you continue whatever care you have been providing to your hair that imparts shine, it will continue to shine (with the caveat that hair does become dull with age in the sense that the ends of your hair are old and have weathered much and shine may become difficult to maintain as your hair continues to get longer).

Fairytale ends may be the result of breakage over time, but the bulk of fairytailling is the result of reaching or approaching terminal and the natural growth cycles of your hair. There is a great explanation of terminal floating around here somewhere, I'll try to track it down for you if you still have questions about that.

There is a simple, time consuming, solution to split ends - Search and Destroy (S&D) - which is basically looking at each individual hair on your head and trimming just above any splits to remove them without trimming any of the neighboring unsplit hairs.

[EdG]

Fairytale ends are the result of hairs being at different points in their growth cycles. This results in a wide distribution of lengths.

I went from a blunt-cut to fairytale ends. Fairytale ends take some getting used to because one doesn't often see them.
Ed

[DweamGoiL]

Fairy tale-ing happens when your hair starts to taper at the ends. For example, I know I can grow to WL without trims, but from WL to TBL, one side starts to grow faster and the hair will start to thin out at the ends. To keep a blunt hemline, I would have to microtrim starting at WL to longer lengths. It doesn't mean it's any less healthy or damaged, it's just how my hair grows. With some people when they start to get closer to their terminal length, the hair also stars to taper. Like others have said, if you just let it grow without trimming, eventually it will do it, but since your hair is so thick, you are most likely rather far away from that happening.

[Anje]

My hair is fairytaled, soft and shiny to the very ends, and has under 1% splits. It's absolutely possible, because hair fairytales due to hairs hitting their terminal and shedding out and then new hairs growing in but not being full length yet, not only because of splits. (This is also where taper comes from, even in pristine hair.) To be sure, I do keep up on the splits with S&D, but I don't get tons of them. In my case, most of this is because of good handling -- my hair splits readily enough. (It doesn't typically split right at the ends, though, but an inch or two up. My splits seem to be more due to braid holders and tangles than from wear on the tips of the hairs.) I keep it contained much of the time and try to keep up with what its conditioning needs are.

A different question is whether YOU can get fairytales at TB and maintain length. Some hair grows WAY more evenly than other hair, so if you were to cut back to waist or BSL, you might still end up with thick even ends when it eventually reached tailbone again. Or say that you did that, and did get fairytales at TB; if you wanted to stay that length, your trims might well keep thickening your ends and making them blunter and blunter over time, unless you deliberately go in and layer the last few inches or start S&Ding out healthy hairs just to keep that taper there. I think most people who protect their hair, keep up with S&D, and maintain length will eventually end up with blunt ends unless they are getting close to terminal length. (I could be completely wrong in this... maintaining at TB, I thought I was near terminal. I've been letting it just grow for a while now, and have been completely surprised that the thickness moved down when I let it go. It's like my hair wants to fairytale at whatever length I maintain it! Maybe because I am prone to splits forming a few inches up from the ends.) If you personally easily have super-blunt ends at a length, it seems likely that you'll need longer hair or specific trimming to get a fairytaled look.

[cat11]

If you want to retain the thickness and the shine (from having old ends routinely pruned) but still have the same shape as fairytail hair you can just do V cut trims instead You can variate it to get whatever shape you want (deeper, softer, to mimic faitytail..)

That's what I'd reccomend

You'd still get the easy bunning benefts

[lapushka]

Just try going no-trim for a year, and just doing S&D (because that's still allowed in those challenges), and see where it takes you. You can always trim back at the end of the year! Or try it for half a year and see.

[spidermom]

As others mentioned, fairy tale ends aren't only caused by splitting and breaking off but by 1) hairs growing at different speeds, and 2) old, full-length hairs shedding out and newer hairs growing in to replace them. You can get more layering to simulate fairy tale ends (risky!) or merely stop trimming and see how it goes (very low risk).