Am I the only one that wants length ..

[SexyC]

First? I refuse to cut my hair at this point cause I made so much progress. Yeah its thin and my ends are not blunt but at this point I don't care. I wear wigs and braided styles all the time so therefor I want to see how long I can go without cutting it. Come on someone speak up with me, I know I can't be alone here.

 

[blkmaryland]

Nope your not the only one. What I am realizing on my journey is that as I take on healthy ways to maintain length, my hair is also getting healthier. Remember patience is the key. You have been doing unhealthy things to your hair for years so....it can't be fixed in a day by a shampoo, conditioner, vitamins, oil, etc. Just keep doing what your doing as long as it's healthy.

 

[Cowgirl]

No, you are not alone. My hair has made much improvement but the last two inches should probably be trimmed to make the overall appearance a lot better. However, I have seen some great progress in the last 8 months and I hate to make that drastic of a cut. So I have decided to just keep wearing my ponytails and buns which I do 90% of the time anyway until I get to brastrap and then I will start trimming a little at a time until the bottom two inches are gone.

 

[SexyC]

Thanks ladies
I've been taking pictures of my progress but after seeing some of the pics with everybodies hair looking all nice and thick , I think I might be a little embarrassed to post pictures of my see through hair when I do decide to relax it again. The one good thing I can say is that ever since I joined this forum, I have retained almost 3 inches since Oct. For me thats major. My hair would never pass my shoulder and now it is at my armpit with about 5 months worth of new growth.

 

[Cowgirl]

Thanks ladies
I've been taking pictures of my progress but after seeing some of the pics with everybodies hair looking all nice and thick , I think I might be a little embarrassed to post pictures of my see through hair when I do decide to relax it again. The one good thing I can say is that ever since I joined this forum, I have retained almost 3 inches since Oct. For me thats major. My hair would never pass my shoulder and now it is at my armpit with about 5 months worth of new growth.

Just hang in there, it will happen. If you don't want to cut, then don't cut. Just keep those ends tucked away and retain your lenght until you feel comfortable enough to start trimming them away. I know some people will disagree and say cut all the see through ends away, but do what's comfortable for you.

 

[Quinny]

Girl cut those ends!

I'm just kidding. My sister went through exactly the same thing you are. I was constantly badgering her to cut her ends and even her hair out. She said to me that at that point she was afraid of cutting her hair. She had been through enough trauma (severe breakage in the crown) and just wanted to see her hair long no matter how bad people might think it looked. She went through more than see through ends. I will tell you that after several months she started to relax (her emotions) and nip away at the ends a little at a time. Just where she felt comfortable. Not trying to do anything drastic but even it up a very slow pace. It worked for her and now she has bra strap even length hair. I think you just have to go at your own pace. If you aren't comfortable right now then don't cut it. Just remember that it is hair and it will grow back.

 

[SexyC]

Thanks Cowgirl!!
We will see in a few months how it turns out. I hope not to be a setback.

 

[Ennyaa]

Don't feel bad. Though I find I'm much happier with my hair when it's healthy I've never really done a big chop. Even when I decided to go natural I just had deep trims to get to that point. I'm happy I did it that way too. I don't think I'm strong enough for a chop.

The better you take care of your hair to maintain length, the healthier it will become as well. And guess what, once you see that healthy stuff sprouting you might just cut off the ends. I know on my journey I got disgusted with my straight ends when I saw my bangin healthy fro trying to break free!

 

[Porsche19]

I'm like the exact opposite. I have problems with cutting my hair too much because I don't want ANY splits, see through ends and I want my hair to be perfectly blunt. Go figure

I'm not going to cut my hair again until June, just a little dusting here and there until then. Hopefully, I'll see more progress.

 

[Isis]

Cathy Howse said she did not cut or trim her hair during her hair growth journey. She was proving it was not necessary.

 

[TigerLily]

Nope you're not alone!

Had to trim the ends though. Made things much better for me.

 

[ChoKitty]

Cutting the hair does not promote hair growth. It's really only to make it look neat. Hair is dead. Aside from the root, that is. I think it even says that in one of the books on the booklist. So, go ahead and keep your ends, it's all about taking care of your hair, not cutting it. Besides, if you cut it, that just exposes a new fragile end to everything...

 

[carletta]

I'm with you on this one. my hair has see threw ends too girl I go as long as humanly possible w/o cutting. I only dust my ends maybe every 3-4 months ! that works better for me !!!!!!

 

[Kimberly]

You are clearly not alone. I went all of last year only getting my ends clipped once. This year, I'm trying to do more of it myself and actually clipped my own ends last night. I have see through ends but, after I relaxed, it was looking so much longer, it didn't hurt so bad to take a 1/2 inch off the back (andf I took an inch off of the sides). I still have see through ends but I'm going to try to be brave and snip them away a little at a time.

 

[senimoni]

Cutting the hair does not promote hair growth. It's really only to make it look neat. Hair is dead. Aside from the root, that is. I think it even says that in one of the books on the booklist. So, go ahead and keep your ends, it's all about taking care of your hair, not cutting it. Besides, if you cut it, that just exposes a new fragile end to everything...

I always thought you had to trim split ends in order to keep the hair from breaking further up.....kinda like a rope that is unraveling. Is that not true.

 

[Falon]

I always thought you had to trim split ends in order to keep the hair from breaking further up.....kinda like a rope that is unraveling. Is that not true.

Nope that is not true at all. Read this: This was from Super Girl and it's one of the best pieces of advice I got on the forum. I haven't had a trim since Sept and I am doing fine.

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=6726&highlight=trimming+split+ends


I love this thread I go back to it freqently.

 

[MomofThreeBoys]

Nope that is not true at all. Read this: This was from Super Girl and it's one of the best pieces of advice I got on the forum. I haven't had a trim since Sept and I am doing fine.

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=6726&highlight=trimming+split+ends


I love this thread I go back to it freqently.

Thanks Falon!!! I had never seen that thread b4

 

[HairQueen]

Ok now I am really confused!! A few weeks ago I posted this thread:

Ok I know this topic has been mentioned like a zillion times on here already but pleeeeeeeeeeease ladies I need some reassurance.
What I need to know is, if I continue to:

Wear my hair in protective styles /bun daily
S-curl them daily (haven't been doing the baggie tho sorry)
Deep condition twice a week
Use NO HEAT
[FONT=Book Antiqua]Will this mean that my ends will not get any worse? I have some ends which are REALLY bad but I have noticed they are not crumbling / breaking anymore but they just look really horrid and frizzy. They are not dry they feel VERY soft now that I have been doing the above, but will these ends just stay as they are but not get worse if I continue to look after my hair?[/FONT]

I have read that some of u ladies have gone for 9 months etc without a trim which I find amazing. I am just scared that if I go too long without a trim my ends will get thinner and thinner.

Is the way to grow long hair to hang on to bad looking ends (but keep them in GOOD condition) until it grows long enough to be trimmed?

(p.s. not all my ends are bad I have some which are really healthy)i

The general answers I got were that I basically had to cut my hair but it seems that others think you can hold on to it for longer. Please help a sister out cos I am confuuuuuuuuused now!!

 

[sengschick]

Just make sure you aren't making things worse. I'm not a frequent trimmer either, but if my ends continued to thin, I'd cut them off for fear that the damage was travelling. Basically you want to see that as you hold on to them that you are gaining more healthy length (its out pacing the damage) and not staying the same b/c the damage is moving up the strand.

Personally I need to cut about one more inch off, but I won't be doing that until next Fall when I won't miss it. I just take a little at a time since I rarely wear my hair down. I only wear my hair down after trimming b/c I can't stand for my ends to look hit . To me it makes the whole head look terrible.

 

[Dubois007]

I had see through end and I decided to cut my ends because my hair looked so fragile. Now I put them in twist extention and I condition with Wave nouveau (never liked S-Curl). I will take out my extention in the beginning of May hopefully I'll gain length and my ends will look think and free of split ends.

I've also added vit. B5 to my regimen I've learned here that it help to make hair thicker, will se...

 

[Cowgirl]

I think there is a misunderstanding here. Please jump in if I am reading this incorrectly. However, what I understood SexyC to say is that she had thin (see through ends). Which to a certain degree, I also suffer with. What HairQueen's thread was about was "split ends". In my opinion, there is a difference between these two problems. As most of you guys are stating, split ends may need to be cut in order to prevent further splitting up the shaft. Thin (see through ends), do not necessarily mean split ends. I have thin (see through ends); however, I do not have and have never had a problem with split ends. My thin ends have resulted from excess shedding and breakage in certain areas before I learned how to properly care for my hair. So all that hair that I was ripping out of my head because it was not properly moisturized has resulted in some areas not being as thick as other areas. But no split ends. Does this make sense, or am I dillusional ?

Ok now I am really confused!! A few weeks ago I posted this thread:

Ok I know this topic has been mentioned like a zillion times on here already but pleeeeeeeeeeease ladies I need some reassurance.
What I need to know is, if I continue to:

Wear my hair in protective styles /bun daily
S-curl them daily (haven't been doing the baggie tho sorry)
Deep condition twice a week
Use NO HEAT
[FONT=Book Antiqua]Will this mean that my ends will not get any worse? I have some ends which are REALLY bad but I have noticed they are not crumbling / breaking anymore but they just look really horrid and frizzy. They are not dry they feel VERY soft now that I have been doing the above, but will these ends just stay as they are but not get worse if I continue to look after my hair?[/FONT]

I have read that some of u ladies have gone for 9 months etc without a trim which I find amazing. I am just scared that if I go too long without a trim my ends will get thinner and thinner.

Is the way to grow long hair to hang on to bad looking ends (but keep them in GOOD condition) until it grows long enough to be trimmed?

(p.s. not all my ends are bad I have some which are really healthy)i

The general answers I got were that I basically had to cut my hair but it seems that others think you can hold on to it for longer. Please help a sister out cos I am confuuuuuuuuused now!!

 

[dreemssold]

I think there is a misunderstanding here. Please jump in if I am reading this incorrectly. However, what I understood SexyC to say is that she had thin (see through ends). Which to a certain degree, I also suffer with. What HairQueen's thread was about was "split ends". In my opinion, there is a difference between these two problems. As most of you guys are stating, split ends may need to be cut in order to prevent further splitting up the shaft. Thin (see through ends), do not necessarily mean split ends. I have thin (see through ends); however, I do not have and have never had a problem with split ends. My thin ends have resulted from excess shedding and breakage in certain areas before I learned how to properly care for my hair. So all that hair that I was ripping out of my head because it was not properly moisturized has resulted in some areas not being as thick as other areas. But no split ends. Does this make sense, or am I dillusional ?

Yes, that makes sense. I think some people have thin ends because they experienced breakage from poor hair care, others from breakage due to split ends, and then there are the semi-lucky few whose hair just don't grow the same way in every area (so that instead of, for example, a V-shape, they have a zig-zag shape).

I think trimming is a matter of preference. To me, it just depends on how you can stand your hair to look. I also love the thread Falon linked, and it makes perfect sense to me, and as Isis pointed out, Cathy Howse didn't trim. My last trim was 5 months ago, and the one before that was 11 months prior. I doubt I will trim again before the year's end. My ends aren't thin, so I can't say if I wouldn't trim if they were, but I do know I don't see the point in trimming healthy hair.

 

[sengschick]

I understand what you are saying as well Cowgirl . My hair just did this on it's own. All of those ends that had been heat exposed and were fragile, dry, etc. just broke off. I just evened it and up and now my ends are as thick as ever. I guess my point was that you wanna make sure you see an end to this and that whatever the damage is... it isn't traveling up the stand and compromising the health of the rest of the strand.

 

[sharee]

SexC- I feel the same way. I am holding on to these raggedy ends too and I also feel the same way about posting pictures now. I am also going to trim just a little at a time as I feel comfortable.

Falon and Cowgirl- I love the explanations you two gave. Great information!

 

[Babygurl]

When I first started my hair care challenge my ends were RAGGEDY, I did trim them jsut to get a fresh start but I havent had a trim since October 2003! MY ends are still in fairly good shape, they could be better but I still see no need to trim until I get to my ultimate goal, dont know what that is yet though LOL!

 

[cutebajangirl]

My last trim was April 2004 and I dont plan on trimming again until the end of the braid challenge. I have uneven ends because of poor hair care practices between braidings. I greatly misunderstood the need to press my roots straight in order to prevent the braider and myself from ripping through them during combing. If not for that I would be 2 inches past bra strap (as evidenced by the 25% of my hair that has reached there already) instead of some hair past it and the rest two inches above it. At the end of the braid challenge I will correct alot of things ie. different textures, length and either will start to transition or go back to straight, not texturized hair.

 

[SexyC]

Thanks for the replies!!
I guess I shouldn't be afraid to post pictures but yall got to promise me you won't laugh!! Sike na , Its not thaaat bad.

 

[HairQueen]

I think there is a misunderstanding here. Please jump in if I am reading this incorrectly. However, what I understood SexyC to say is that she had thin (see through ends). Which to a certain degree, I also suffer with. What HairQueen's thread was about was "split ends". In my opinion, there is a difference between these two problems. As most of you guys are stating, split ends may need to be cut in order to prevent further splitting up the shaft. Thin (see through ends), do not necessarily mean split ends. I have thin (see through ends); however, I do not have and have never had a problem with split ends. My thin ends have resulted from excess shedding and breakage in certain areas before I learned how to properly care for my hair. So all that hair that I was ripping out of my head because it was not properly moisturized has resulted in some areas not being as thick as other areas. But no split ends. Does this make sense, or am I dillusional ?

Thanks Cowgirl that was a brilliant explanation. I guess the problem is that I don't know the difference between see through ends and split ends. I just assumed that thin, see through, frizzy ends automatically meant split ends.

Maybe I don't have split ends then???? I am not sure now, I feel a little silly asking this but how do I tell the difference?

Can anyone tell me please!!

 

[mrslee]

Thanks Cowgirl that was a brilliant explanation. I guess the problem is that I don't know the difference between see through ends and split ends. I just assumed that thin, see through, frizzy ends automatically meant split ends.

Maybe I don't have split ends then???? I am not sure now, I feel a little silly asking this but how do I tell the difference?

Can anyone tell me please!!

yes, my hair does this since I am growing out my layers. It looks see through in certain areas. I am waiting for about two more inches of growth before I cut it even.

 

[A_Christian]

Thanks Cowgirl that was a brilliant explanation. I guess the problem is that I don't know the difference between see through ends and split ends. I just assumed that thin, see through, frizzy ends automatically meant split ends.

Maybe I don't have split ends then???? I am not sure now, I feel a little silly asking this but how do I tell the difference?

Can anyone tell me please!!

With split ends you can actually see the ends split apart; the strand will look like a Y (an upside down Y). See through ends might just be thin but not necessarily split.