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Hey, I'm growing my hair out, and was wondering when would be an appropriate time to get the just the ends trimmed. I've been growing it for about a year and three months, and is slighty past my shoulders. My real question is, if you never cut it, does the growth rate slow down?
Also I'm new here, and I'm looking forward to any advice you guys can offer me here, what a good idea. If only I'd known about this place I might have avoided The Fatal Mistake. In Sept. '96 I cut my hair because I resented the mainstream idea that I had long hair simply to "play the part". (I'm a musician, but only incidentally) After some thought I just learned to deal with it and resumed hair growth learning a valuable lesson; I've been pretty terrified of scissors ever since. Live and learn...
-James
It is a good idea to trim at least every 4 to 6 months. Otherwise, split ends develop and eventually start trailing back up along the shaft.
My situation is just like James's. My hair is about four to six inches below the shoulders and its growth seems to have really slowed down. I understand that trimming split ends is a good idea for a man maintaining his hair's length, but is it a good idea for someone still wanting more length?
I spoke with two beauticians. One said "If you don't cut off the split ends the hair will split all the way back to the roots and fall out and you will be bald." I've never heard of such a thing, and I suspect it was hype. So I sought a second opinion, and she said just that it wouldn't grow any longer if I didn't cut off the ends. Both of these people wanted to cut off about a centimeter from my longest strands.
The second beautician asked me if I dyed my hair because the bottom half of it is light brown, while the top half is black. I said no, and that I suspect it is because I am out in the sun most of the day, and that part is so curly it sticks out beyond my hat. My hair where it is black is very smooth and silky; where it is light brown it is dry and scratchy. I changed from washing it every other day to once a week in late fall, and that helped the scratchiness and dryness a lot, but I still definitely feel a difference.
The other day I took a magnifying glass and looked at 17 hairs which fell out with my combing, and only one had split ends.
OK guys! Any advice? My first priority is length, my second is appearance, and third is feel. So should I go for the trim, since length is top priority? Is there any particular brand or type I should be using for shampoo? Or any particular conditioners? Or should I just resign myself to the situation that hair out in the sun all day won't last more than about a year? Is that really the case? I've heard there is sunscreen for hair. Does anyone have experience with it, as to how it is to use, and how effective it is?
Any ideas from you guys on here would be appreciated! Thanks.
Bill
I'm sort of against popular opinion on this one, with a caveat, however. I think that in general, having split ends does not hamper hair growth. Sure, if the hair splits/breaks it will get shorter. However, if you trim it, it will get still shorter.
This is ridiculous. I've gone without a trim now for about 6 years. I do have some split ends. However, they're not bad. More importantly, they don't propagate themselves as alluded here. In fact, if you take a hair with split ends and pull on each side of the split, what will happen is that a small portion of the hair will tear right off. The counterargument to this, of course, is that the hair will split again along the tear line. This may be true, but I haven't found it to be that significant of a factor.
Well, that is definitely a sign of damage. The hair is just scuffed up some, as you would expect for something that has been combed/brushed thousands of times, which it would be if the hair is mid-back or longer.
Take out the magnifying glass again and look for something else. Go out into the bright sunlight with your magnifying glass (a reversed camera lens is excellent for this) and notice the texture/coloration of the hair along the length. I think you will notice that the hair is smooth, dark, and evenly colored near the root but not quite so even (has lumps, bumps, perhaps frays) closer to the tip, and lighter, with spots that are lighter still. These light spots are areas of damage and can turn into splits.
According to a hair book that I have (see http://the-light.com/products/wwwboard.html for excerpts), there is currently no hair product available that has been shown to have an effective sun block. The problem is that in order to get any degree of significant protection, your hair would look way too greasy to be presentable. The products with sunblocks use this entirely as a marketing gimmick, since there are no studies to back up their claims.
Thanks, Victor, for warning me about the uselessness of sunscreen for hair. Since the stuff for skin must be applied several times a day and washes off when it gets wet, I suspected the stuff for hair would not be very effective, but you've convinced me to shade my hair the best I can and beyond that just accept whatever sun damage occurs as being part of being a guy who is outside a lot.
As to the trimming, you've given me a lot of encouragement to do what my gut reaction is - to not trim. Besides what you said about split ends not traveling up the strands much, it has also occurred to me that any hair cut off just will expose other hair underneath to more sun, and the decreased weight of the trimmed strands will cause them to curl up more and thus end up in the sun more, higher up.
Thanks for your information-packed reply!
Bill
James, I think since you are just a musician incidently as you stated and musicians come in all styles/variations you should not worry about scissors get a buzz cut for the summer and see if that gives you the look you want, if not as it grows out have the edges trimmed a little bit as each time its growing seems to slow down it will stimulate the follicles to make it grow faster and healthier for you and will help you to fin d the perfect hairstyle for you. and if you cut it 1/2 " all over I will cut mine off too same length and all and we can exchange photos as our hair grows to our desired lengths, email me with your decision.