This will always be the thorn for natural hair

[OsnapCnapp!]

Im talking about split ends. This weekend I did a blow out just for ease of styling because no product can penetrate my roots to make them combable enough for me to style my head. I moisturized and dc'd for 4 hours prior to my blow out and I used a good heat protectant with the dryer on low heat. Well this morning as I was styling I noticed splits.....again. And I just got done cutting off a bunch last month (Sept. 4). I keep my ends moisturized daily, even went out a limb on my broke student budget and spent major bucks on some good top-of-the-line products but still.....splits. I haven't met a 4b natural female yet that hasn't had this problem. I REALLY and I mean REALLY want to retain length....I do. But I can't and there's nothing more I can do. I moisturize and seal everyday to every other day and 99% of the time Im in protective styles.

Later today I will post some pics of what Im talking about for u guys. Right now I have to go but if there are any 4b natural hair females, or any natural hair females for that matter, if you have problems with split ends in the past and you now consider yourself to be split-end free, please tell me your regimen so that I may follow because right now Im stuck.

 

[Solitude]

Just wondering... How often do you trim or dust your hair? Eta: never mind...I see you said you cut last month.


Sent from my iPhone 4 using LHCF app

 

[I Am So Blessed]

Thank you, im sorry for this happening to you, but you just reminded me of why im not natural anymore, i was thinking about going back to natural heavy this month becuase i miss my big hair. I was also going over in my head about all the single strand knots i would have to deal with again. Ill stay texlaxed for sure. When i was natural i never had split ends though, I kept my ends really moistured and never used oils.

 

[Saga]

I stopped cutting my hair completely.
Cutting my "damaged ends" has done nothing but hinder my progress.
What really made me realize it was when I looked at pictures of my hair at a 4 month time difference and noticed that NOTHING HAD CHANGED. My legnth was exactly the same as before.

I was doing everything right (I thought). PSing, moisturizing/sealing, washing in braids to prevent SSK's, DCing regularly-nothing was helping. I tried taking out heat and my ends would still get dry as the desert. Now I just ignore it. I haven't trimmed since the beginning of the summer. I'm finally beginning to see progress.

I'm planning on locing soon so it really doesn't matter to me now =/

 

[otegwu]

4b/z chiming here...I always had splits and knots and found I was cutting every 2 months so was more or less staying the same length...I was even having splits through the strands.

My hair care practices were perfect, I never usesd heat, DCed weekly, and cowashed.
In the end I relaxed...no more splits Ive only trimmed once in a whole year and am almost at my BSL goal!

I think course hair is prone to this, if you can keep your hair streched, blowdry on cool regularly, you will be able to keep ontop of the ends. even keeping your hair in single braids could help.

 

[NaijaNaps]

I'm sorry you're so frustrated :hug: Hang in there

As a fellow 4b/c head, I can totally relate. Even when I moisturized and sealed twice a day I would still have dry end and splits/breakage.

I'm now baggy/ghe almost every night and I think it's helping. I've only been doing it for a little over a month but my ends feel MUCH better. I just run some water through my hair and seal with either amla, evoo or shea butter and that's it. I wake up to softer ends.

The other thing I'm doing is DC'ing on dry hair with AO GBP weekly and that's making my ends MUCH softer as well. I think my hair needs not only moisture but a light protein for the perfect balance and to keep our ends in tact. I know some naturals think they don't need protein but my hair likes it.

Like I said, just started doing this so no real results to share yet but I am noticing softer feeling hair. Only time will tell if it leads to less splits and breakage.

 

[Nonie]

OP, not sure why you are convinced this is something that happens only to naturals. Splits happen to everyone. As soon as you trim they start to happen at a microscopic scale and depending on how long you wait to dust, they can grow to a size that causes you problems.

There are naturals who don't have problems with splits and don't need to trim often. These are usually people with thick strands (eg @ms-gg). Then there are those like me who dust them before they happen. And I know you say you trimmed a month ago, but how long before that did you trim? You can't leave hair undusted for months then do a trim and be 100% sure you got rid of all the damage, especially if your trim was about an inch or so. Not sure what made you trim, but if your ends were looking thin, then the splits might have extended beyond where your trimmed...so you may have left frayed ends behind which continue the damage.

I once posted a magnified image of my hair to show you an end that wasn't split but it was what was left after a split had torn off, hence the reason it's pointed.

It was less than a millimeter long (because that's my thumb nail you see). But because I dust every 8 weeks, and dust about 1/4 of an inch or so, I usually cut off about 5 mm AT LEAST so I guess I do a good job of ridding my hair of those dangerous ends.

So yeah, all hair splits. How fast this happens depends on how fine the strands are. How much this will cost you retention depends on how long you allow the splits to stay in your hair and grow. The more frequently you dust, the more you're likely to keep them from being a nuisance. But remember if you're only starting to dust now, it may take many months before you start to reap the fruits of this good practice, because as I've said before, your trim may be at C which leaves problems.

Cutting at A is better, but even then, you can see some of what's to the left of that is damaged. So it may take a few more big cuts to get to the point where your cut leaves whole ends that have a long way before they get ugly. And THEN you can start the prevention program of regular dusting instead of a repair program of big trims.

 

[NaijaNaps]

Nonie I like the 2 month dusting strategy. I think it will really help as dry ends/hair will always be an issue for some of us. It's proactive rather than reactive, a concept I'm trying to adopt with my hair care regimen

 

[Seamonster]

Nonie you are so helpful, I have been doing search and destroy weekly, and trimming bi weekly for two months. My hair is about three inches longer than it has ever been, and that is where my hair was splitting and cracking. It just meant something to me to fight for that three inches.

I still have a heathen patch in the back that feels like at least an inch of knots so I will keep on till I am able to do a monthly trim. In two months of this heavy trimming my hair is only an inch shorter than when I started.

OsnapCnapp! I notice my splits, knot really bad, multiple knots catch on each strand, and the thinner strands split and knot more than the thicker ones. Since I have been slowly trimming away the baddies I only have a few broken hairs a day. Keep on trying something will work.

 

[SmilingElephant]

I think i might do a light dusting today even though i dusted already back in July....my ends are starting to feel dry and weird.

I have this problem too...where i'm finding a few strands that are joined together by knots like monkeys in a barrel....not a lot of em....i think i just need a better moisturizer or something. I'm not a 4 b/c but i too am having some issues with my ends/strands.

 

[Nonie]

Seamonster, Search & Destroy isn't something I would recommend to anyone. IMO it's a bloody waste of time. There's no way you can examine 100,000 strands and you cannot possibly see ever split when splits can be as tiny as a millimeter, and if you aren't examining each one, then what's the point? You're basically flogging a dead horse. Coz let's imagine you are anal and actually look at each strand with a magnifying glass...and today you examine 100 strands. You style your hair and move to the next hundred. By the time you get to strand # 25,983 what do you think has been happening to the strands you haven't yet got to...and what do you think has happened to those you trimmed two days ago?

Common sense tells me that all my strands endure the same elements. I wash them, style them, etc together, so chances are they experience similar wear and tear. So why anyone would assume that only a few strands get damaged and therefore must be sought completely boggles the mind. You're better off putting your strands in mini twists or braids and snipping off the same amount from the ends. So you won't get to cut the shorter strands but they are newer and therefore less likely to have the "aging" of older strands, plus they are protected within the longer strands. It's the oldest ends that are usually worn so focus on those and call it a day.

 

[SmilingElephant]

Seamonster, Search & Destroy isn't something I would recommend to anyone. IMO it's a bloody waste of time. There's no way you can examine 100,000 strands and you cannot possibly see ever split when splits can be as tiny as a millimeter, and if you aren't examining each one, then what's the point? You're basically flogging a dead horse. Coz let's imagine you are anal and actually look at each strand with a magnifying glass...and today you examine 100 strands. You style your hair and move to the next hundred. By the time you get to strand # 25,983 what do you think has been happening to the strands you haven't yet got to...and what do you think has happened to those you trimmed two days ago?

Common sense tells me that all my strands endure the same elements. I wash them, style them, etc together, so chances are they experience similar wear and tear. So why anyone would assume that only a few strands get damaged and therefore must be sought completely boggles the mind. You're better off putting your strands in mini twists or braids and snipping off the same amount from the ends. So you won't get to cut the shorter strands but they are newer and therefore less likely to have the "aging" of older strands, plus they are protected within the longer strands. It's the oldest ends that are usually worn so focus on those and call it a day.

I just LOVE how you explain stuff!!

 

[Nonie]

SmilingElephant, July is such a long time ago. By now my hair'd be thinning like crazy! I dusted on August 14, and I'm due to dust again on October 9.

To show you why I don't joke about with dusting regularly, this is what my hair looked like in August 2003 after keeping the 6-8 week dusting schedule religiously.

This was in December 2003:

I literally had to cut off 2 inches to get my hair back to how it was in August:

So not worth it! The reason I had stopped dusting was because I learned from people on LHCF that it wasn't necessary. Not true! It most certainly is necessary. If I had continued dusting, I'd only have lost about 1/2 inch in those 4 months. I lost 2 inches!!! So you wait too long, you will either have to chop off a lot to get your hair back to normal, or just deal with recurring problems as each time you leave behind some damage with inadequate dusting.

 

[choconillaprincess]

the tightly curly method helps my split ends

 

[Nonie]

the tightly curly method helps my split ends

What is the tightly curly method choconillaprincess?

 

[pookaloo83]

Nonie I have my hair in mini twists. I was thinking of cutting the ends off of them. Or would it be better to unravel each and dust? I believe I asked you this before. How do you dust again?

 

[Misseyl]

I don't think I suffer much from split ends, what bothers me is when the hair strand is weak in a particular area. It happens over and over again and now that you guys are addressing split ends, I just want to know whether the hair is actually splitting or it is weak on a particular hair strand. It's like when you use a rubber band to secure your hair and where the hair meets the rubber band has an indentation. If you were to bend that hair strand the hair would just break off. I am going to focus more on this when I remove my braids and start relaxing again because that was one of the major issues with my hair. I wonder what causes it?

 

[Embyra]

I think the tightly curly method works for curlier hair rather than kinky 4bhair and hair that isnt dense

 

[tHENATuRALhAiRpRoJEcT]

I just LOVE how you explain stuff!!

girl she's a beast wit it!!! you don't know the half

I'm still working her nerves to drop a book!

 

[choconillaprincess]

http://www.tightlycurly.com

eta: i dont separate curl by curl like she does... too time consuming... also sometimes i seal with oil

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie I have my hair in mini twists. I was thinking of cutting the ends off of them. Or would it be better to unravel each and dust? I believe I asked you this before. How do you dust again?

pookaloo83 I dust in the twists. I just stretch the ends till I'm holding a tiny amount and then snip. I don't try to make it exactly 1/4 inch. Because my hair is coily, I'm sure it's a little more, but the joy of having nice ends that don't tangle and twists that end in a fullness instead of tapering to nothing is well worth it. You will find that after dusting, especially if this becomes a ritual, that you enjoy your hair so much more and actually look forward to dusting days. I actually get excited on dusting days because I have a peace of mind of knowing my ends are in better shapes and psychologically I feel as if redoing my twists becomes easier.

 

[pookaloo83]

@pookaloo83 I dust in the twists. I just stretch the ends till I'm holding a tiny amount and then snip. I don't try to make it exactly 1/4 inch. Because my hair is coily, I'm sure it's a little more, but the joy of having nice ends that don't tangle and twists that end in a fullness instead of tapering to nothing is well worth it. You will find that after dusting, especially if this becomes a ritual, that you enjoy your hair so much more and actually look forward to dusting days. I actually get excited on dusting days because I have a peace of mind of knowing my ends are in better shapes and psychologically I feel as if redoing my twists becomes easier.

Thanks! I will dust tonight. Ok lemme see if I can explain this. When I have my hair in twists, some of the hair isn't enough to twist. Meaning the hair on the ends. It coils. I usually just dust that part. The parts that are not twisted in the 2 strand twist. Get what I'm saying? Is that what you do Nonie ?

 

[Embyra]

I personally think with true kinky hair you are going to have to trim/dust more often as this hair tends to be more fragile thin strands not ALWAYS as you have people with thick strands but i see more people with thin strands


Also do you know your porosity? all the moisture and dusting in the world is not going to help with split ends if what you really need is a good dose of protein it can take a while to figure out what protein your hair likes and how often

 

[Nonie]

Thanks! I will dust tonight. Ok lemme see if I can explain this. When I have my hair in twists, some of the hair isn't enough to twist. Meaning the hair on the ends. It coils. I usually just dust that part. The parts that are not twisted in the 2 strand twist. Get what I'm saying? Is that what you do @Nonie ?

pookaloo83, yes but don't need to cut all of that. Just the tips. So like in this image:

You can see the ends spiral and aren't twisted but just pressed together and rolled between fingers. I slide my fingers down the twist toward the end that isn't twisted then use fingers of the other hand to stretch it out so I can slide my fingers further down till only a little piece is showing then I use very sharp scissors and snip that off.

I would either cornrow the twists forward first so I can just pull out one at a time to snip and that way not miss any, or put them in a plaits or pony elastics for the same reason. Sometimes one or two strand may appear to stick out longer, but I try to snip the majority so if it means that one will be cut more, I just want to make sure I take care of the majority. And really if you see the circles of what you cut, it's so minimal that you'll be so happy you did it and feel positive about what you did.

 

[pookaloo83]

Thanks Nonie.

 

[pookaloo83]

People were reporting her.

Dear Zinnia, I am very sorry that I offended you. My blog was solely meant to detail my adventures in South Central, and nothing more. It was not meant to be racist in the least, and now that I see that people were getting offended by it, I deleted it. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, as it was never my intention to hurt anyone. I have notified my supervisor as well.

Truly sorry.

 

[Nonie]

pookaloo83, you're welcome. But pray do tell, what you talmbout here:

People were reporting her.

Dear Zinnia, I am very sorry that I offended you. My blog was solely meant to detail my adventures in South Central, and nothing more. It was not meant to be racist in the least, and now that I see that people were getting offended by it, I deleted it. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, as it was never my intention to hurt anyone. I have notified my supervisor as well.

Truly sorry.

 

[pookaloo83]

My bad!

 

[Country gal]

I have split ends too. I think my split ends came from excessive heat. I need to fiqure what to do with my hair because it looks a mess.

 

[GoodMernin]

@Seamonster, Search & Destroy isn't something I would recommend to anyone. IMO it's a bloody waste of time. There's no way you can examine 100,000 strands and you cannot possibly see ever split when splits can be as tiny as a millimeter, and if you aren't examining each one, then what's the point? You're basically flogging a dead horse. Coz let's imagine you are anal and actually look at each strand with a magnifying glass...and today you examine 100 strands. You style your hair and move to the next hundred. By the time you get to strand # 25,983 what do you think has been happening to the strands you haven't yet got to...and what do you think has happened to those you trimmed two days ago?

Common sense tells me that all my strands endure the same elements. I wash them, style them, etc together, so chances are they experience similar wear and tear. So why anyone would assume that only a few strands get damaged and therefore must be sought completely boggles the mind. You're better off putting your strands in mini twists or braids and snipping off the same amount from the ends. So you won't get to cut the shorter strands but they are newer and therefore less likely to have the "aging" of older strands, plus they are protected within the longer strands. It's the oldest ends that are usually worn so focus on those and call it a day.

I just twisted my hair last night and I was considering dusting my ends with the twists in but I was not sure if I would be taking too much off.

Have you found that dusting/trimming with this "twist in" method has worked for you?