Does anyone else constantly have split ends?

[Reyn127]

Hey everyone, long time no see.

As the title says, does anyone else seem to always be getting more and more split ends, despite following a “good” haircare routine? I’m not looking for advice so much as to just express my frustration and see if anyone else is in this same boat.

About 2-3 times per year, I go on a thorough S&D mission - I’ll spend a few days at a time using pretty much all my free time to go through my hair cutting out split ends, to the point where I basically cannot find anymore on my head after a few days, so I’ll stop. Within a few months it will get bad again, so I’ll repeat the cycle. It gets to the point where about 1/4 to 1/3 of my ends are split, no exaggeration. I probably spend 15-20 hours per year doing S&D spaced out over a few chunks, and I have been doing this for 3-4 years at this point.

It drives me kind of nuts that my ends can’t seem to keep it together! I don’t have any scalp issues, I’m pretty sure I have a good moisture/protein balance in my hair, I’m super gentle while combing/brushing, never use heat, I keep my hair in a nautilus bun for probably 23 hours a day, and I’ll only wear it down (actually braided) probably once a month. I have noticed that using tools to comb my hair HAS made the splits worse compared to when I was strictly finger combing for a couple years, but even back then I’d end up doing almost the same amount of S&D as I am now.

I’m guessing that this might just be the result of me growing out my hair beyond the point of where I started to really care for my hair after joining LHC. I’m really hoping that this split end fiasco will end at some point once I finally manage to trim off all the pre-LHC hair, but also I’m kind of anticipating that maybe my hair is just super prone to splitting no matter what I do.

Does anyone else deal with something like this?? Has anyone with splitty hair managed to trim off their pre-LHC hair and seen an actual difference in the hair that received “proper” care? Thanks everyone for any insight.

[spidermom]

Yes! No matter what I'm willing to do, my hair just loves to split, sometimes so horrendously that the ends look like feathers. There are things I haven't tried like no water or water only, but I'm not willing to give up washing my hair. I love it when it's fresh and clean! When my scalp area gets oily, I add oil to the length and comb it through, then wash it hours to a day later, shampoo to the scalp area, finger-combing motions through the hair closest to the scalp, rinse, conditioner to length, allow to marinate while I finish my shower, then rinsed out while combing through. Sometimes I blow-dry it, but never on hot. I wear it braided and bunned most of the time but sometimes only bunned and sometimes only braided. Rarely, I'll wear it down. I'm gentle with combing.

Recently I went a year and a half without trimming, but it didn't grow much, and to my horror when I examined the ends under strong light, almost every single end was split. I gave myself a 4-inch trim then and there, and my hair has been gaining length since then. I'm seeing a lot of split ends again so will trim soon.

[baanoo]

My hair also likes to split - it’s fine and wavy and easily frazzled. Periodically (read: once every 3-6 months maybe?) I s&d whatever splits catch my eye (mostly my braid tail; if they’re further up I tend to let them go. I keep the ends oiled, use a strong leave-in, and wear it in a bun most of the time, a braid some of the time, and down rarely.

I suppose I consider splits to be part of the cost of doing business for me; if I were to keep them all cut out I’d have either hair that never made it longer than mbl - or else the most psychedelic hemline this side of the Atlantic.

When I look at the other lovely heads around here I notice that our friends with M and C tend to be more diligent s&d-ers - maybe those hairs are easier to see? Maybe this is not actually true but I had perceived is to be so? I don’t know what the “right” answer is beyond “do what makes you feel good and not obsessive”

[GoddesJourney]

Mine used to do this to where growing to, let alone past SL was just ugly. The ends would all stick together and I had the "feathers" that spidermom described. I found out my hair hates silicones and is also not a big fan of sulfates unless very watered down with conditioner and oil. I no longer get many split ends. I stopped s&d and trim once, maybe twice a year.

There may be some ingredient or some source of friction that is sabotaging you. If not, maybe you just need a micro trim every few months. No big deal.

Oh, and as you said, it may just be that you still have some pre-LHC hair that has taken extra damage. I can definitely tell what part of my daughter's hair was exposed to baby shampoo.

[Zesty]

If your ends have seen less-than-stellar hair care then that might be the issue, since hair doesn't heal. When you trim away the pre-LHC stuff it might improve. Though it's also not impossible that your hair might just be prone to splits by nature. I think most of us have to accept having splits as part of growing long hair, and just do what we can to protect our ends and minimize the look of any damage. Plus, it's doubtful that anyone will notice your split ends as much as you do while S&Ding.

[Ylva]

My hair also likes to split - it’s fine and wavy and easily frazzled. Periodically (read: once every 3-6 months maybe?) I s&d whatever splits catch my eye (mostly my braid tail; if they’re further up I tend to let them go. I keep the ends oiled, use a strong leave-in, and wear it in a bun most of the time, a braid some of the time, and down rarely.

I suppose I consider splits to be part of the cost of doing business for me; if I were to keep them all cut out I’d have either hair that never made it longer than mbl - or else the most psychedelic hemline this side of the Atlantic.

When I look at the other lovely heads around here I notice that our friends with M and C tend to be more diligent s&d-ers - maybe those hairs are easier to see? Maybe this is not actually true but I had perceived is to be so? I don’t know what the “right” answer is beyond “do what makes you feel good and not obsessive”

This would be such a cool feat to claim, though! Love it!

[Finda]

My hair also likes to split - it’s fine and wavy and easily frazzled. Periodically (read: once every 3-6 months maybe?) I s&d whatever splits catch my eye (mostly my braid tail; if they’re further up I tend to let them go. I keep the ends oiled, use a strong leave-in, and wear it in a bun most of the time, a braid some of the time, and down rarely.

I suppose I consider splits to be part of the cost of doing business for me; if I were to keep them all cut out I’d have either hair that never made it longer than mbl - or else the most psychedelic hemline this side of the Atlantic.

When I look at the other lovely heads around here I notice that our friends with M and C tend to be more diligent s&d-ers - maybe those hairs are easier to see? Maybe this is not actually true but I had perceived is to be so? I don’t know what the “right” answer is beyond “do what makes you feel good and not obsessive”

That's my take on things as well.

[Siv]

My hair also likes to split - it’s fine and wavy and easily frazzled. Periodically (read: once every 3-6 months maybe?) I s&d whatever splits catch my eye (mostly my braid tail; if they’re further up I tend to let them go. I keep the ends oiled, use a strong leave-in, and wear it in a bun most of the time, a braid some of the time, and down rarely.

I suppose I consider splits to be part of the cost of doing business for me; if I were to keep them all cut out I’d have either hair that never made it longer than mbl - or else the most psychedelic hemline this side of the Atlantic.

When I look at the other lovely heads around here I notice that our friends with M and C tend to be more diligent s&d-ers - maybe those hairs are easier to see? Maybe this is not actually true but I had perceived is to be so? I don’t know what the “right” answer is beyond “do what makes you feel good and not obsessive”

Agree!

I have constant split ends at any length beyond MBL-WL. I hated it so much I wanted to chop for that reason at around WL. Now I trim four times a year to keep them relatively in shape, because S&Ding with my translucent hairs is just impossibly frustrating. I do notice my own splits but I've been told no one else does so I've learnt to be satisfied with that

[foreveryours]

Mine doesn't split at all. It just breaks off

[Jane99]

I get constant split ends too. Sleeping in a braid has helped tremendously especially with the back layers. I believe catnip tea hair rinses also helped but I just don’t ever remember to do them. I S&D and microtrim 4 times per year. But aside from the ends the rest of my length feels awesome with keeping it in a protective style, prepoo oiling, post poo oil, washing less, gentle hair care. But yeah those pesky splits.