How can I tell that my ends are split?

[Latomian]

I am scissor-happy, I admit. I trim wayyy too often but I'm not really sure what split ends look like. When my stylist used to trim my hair, it would look straight and clean but it never seemed to grow. When I trim my ends, I never get that "clean" look. Is that what I should be looking for?

 

[victorious]

Here's a split ends chart for quick reference:

 

[drasgrl]

It's not hard to tell at all just grab a strand and look at it the end. If you see two pieces of hair at the end of a strand, like a Y shape, then it's split.