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Hi guys, I need your opinion, as I don't know how I feel about what happened to me yesterday.
First off... My hair is very wavy all over, except on the sides near my sideburns, where it is super curly and very frizzy, no matter how much care I take of it. The end of April will mark my 16th month of growing my hair. Yesterday, I decided to get my sides cut so I could have normal sideburns. This part I am actually very pleased about.
This is the part about which I don't know how to feel. I went to the salon to get an opinion from a woman stylist, and she told me that my ends were thin and lifeless. She asked me how long it had been since I got a trim... I told her 8 months, and she was shocked that my "dead" parts were so short, meaning that I had taken excellent care of my hair.
The woman wasn't scissor-happy at all. We talked about exactly what she would do. Now, before I got any ends trimmed (she took about .5 in in some places and 1 inch in others), I couldn't pull the front part of my hair all the way back into a ponytail. Obviously now I certainly can't.
The strands in the front are about 15cm, and the ones in the back are about 18cm. It's been 15 months of growing just about... is this good pace?
At school today, no one even noticed I had gotten my hair trimmed and the sides cleaned. But I noticed out of the shower this morning that my hair had a lot less weight to it (or maybe it's my mind playing tricks on me.)
If I wait another 8 months to trim it again, do you think I'll ever get that metal-looking hair? Will I ever be able to pull it into a ponytail or donate it to locks of love? What are your opinions on trimming?
I've seen some long-haired guys with frizz and crappy hair because they never trimmed it. I guess if it takes a little longer to reach my goal, that's ok as long as I end up with healthy long hair.
I don't know what to think. Part of me is happy for looking better, but the other part is sad because I feel like I took a step in the backwards direction :(.
I don't plan on actually getting my hair "cut" during the next four years.
Also, I bought some putty to put into my hair to contain it and style it. It looks great and makes my hair more manageable. I wonder if I had just bought that and not trimmed anything or cut anything, would it have looked the same?
Well, it's difficult to say. Everyone's hair grows at different rates, and 15cm for 8 months of growth equates to just under 2cm (3/4 in) per month. That is not unusual- in fact, quite average.
Having the ends of the hair split and fray is common as well. The ends of the hair suffer the most abuse in daily life, and is the oldest hair. When in the shower, your hair is saturated with water, and it's weight is increased dramatically. When you cut a little but off, the weight is usually pretty noticeable, because you have decreased the volume of water, as well as the gravitational pull of said water... so even if you only trim a small amount, the water-weight will be noticeably different- so nothing to worry about there.
You obviously take good care of your hair, so you probably can wait another 8 months to get a trim. The more often you get trims, the more length you will have cut off. (For example, if you go every two months, you may lose 1-3cm of growth to "evening out" and "eliminating split/dead ends". Over 8 months, that is 8-16cm! You just went 8 months without a trim and only had to cut 1-3cm.) And, at your current rate of growth, you'll have another 14 cm added to your length, which should give you the look you are going for.
If you want to keep your hair healthy, a few things to watch out for are styling products with high concentrations of alcohol, (this dries out the hair unnecessarily.) Shampoos and conditioners without alcohol are hard to find, and often more expensive, (good luck finding many at your local supermarket or department store!) but will make significant improvements in health. Obviously, avoiding 'hair unhappy' conditions like blowdrying, extreme sunlight or UV exposure, excessive chlorine (ie; pool water,) etc. You can also help your hair by treating it with Keratin spray- again, just watch out for products with drying elements like alcohol and acids.
Good luck, and happy growing. :)
No, it's not 15cm for 8 months of growth. It's 15 for 15 because she trimmed off about an inch. It was probably around 17 cm.
Thanks for all of your advice and help! It looks a lot cleaner, but it does feel like I cut off a lot. I'm going to Europe in exactly two months.... so when I go, I'll have gained back the extra inch she cut off. When I start college, it will be even longer.
Thanks again!
I guess I'll have to start a new series of monthly pictures to track my progress. My hair grows about .5 inch a month, so I'll gain it back in no time. I'll probably get my hair slightly trimmed again and the sides cleaned in December.