For ladies who search and destroy.

[Growingmyhairlong]

Hello everyone,

I just had a thought, how often do you search and destroy? Do you think this is an effective way to get rid of split ends without doing a trim?

 

[pre_medicalrulz]

Probably not. *shrugs* In order for me to minimize my split ends really, really good - I have to trim in little sections to make sure every layer of my hair gets at least an inch cut off.

 

[lamaria211]

I can't search n destroy way to time consuming I just do light trims very often about 1/4"

 

[faithVA]

I search and destroy when the ends of my twists start tangling together. I do this when I'm in the middle of my dusting schedule which is 6 to 8 weeks. I don't think it is as effective as trimming. My hair is curly and I can't see splits in my hair. The only thing I am doing is removing SSKs and any ends that tangles. This just lets me extend the time until I am ready to dust my ends.

 

[Growingmyhairlong]

OK ladies thanks for sharing. I was wondering how many people did it cause it is so time consuming. Also I did a light trim about two weeks ago and then today I looked at my ends and noticed a few strands were still split. Although some was so small you really needed to stain to see it I still had some that went up the shaft. So with that said I didn't know if u should be doing light search and destroys weekly or not. It takes so long to do but I don't know if a trim or search and destroy will get rid of all split ends.

 

[Nonie]

@Growingmyhairlong, I'm with @pre_medicalrulz, S&D is not only a waste of time but a futile task. To effectively search and destroy, you'd have to look every one of your 100,000+ strands otherwise what's the point when you aren't inspecting every single strand. What's more, would you see a split as small as this dot .? Or if you looked at two strands and saw this:

...would you only trim the one with the fork?

If so, well you just failed the search and destroy test. Coz what you don't know is the strand that doesn't look split is actually a POST split strand. I tampered with the image to show what happens if splits are not cut off. One arm tears off. So if you're busy scrutinizing your ends to see which are split, without measuring the diameter of each strand, how can you tell that the ends that don't look split are those of a whole strand and not part of a strand? Coz part of a strand means you have damage like this:

And what good does it do you to hold onto that^^ when it can't hold moisture and isn't strong enough to endure normal styling? Leaving it behind just means it'll break in a rugged way that continues the tearing that is known as splitting.

Below is the original image. You can see both locks are damaged:

So you would do better to just dust all your strands on a regular schedule. If you are still seeing splits after you trimmed, it means you didn't cut off all the damage. You can't go for months w/o dusting and get away with a small trim. Regular dusting has to be done to maintain ends but if you are just starting off, you need a nice good cut to get rid of all damage.

If your ends look like the image below and you cut at C, then you can see how much damage you leave behind.

Note also the damage on the stands that don't look forked. Goes to show that just coz you can't SEE splits, doesn't mean your hair hasn't already split and split (literally).

 

[Growingmyhairlong]

@Growingmyhairlong, I'm with @pre_medicalrulz, S&D is not only a waste of time but a futile task. To effectively search and destroy, you'd have to look every one of your 100,000+ strands otherwise what's the point when you aren't inspecting every single strand. What's more, would you see a split as small as this dot .? Or if you looked at two strands and saw this:

...would you only trim the one with the fork?

If so, well you just failed the search and destroy test. Coz what you don't know is the strand that doesn't look split is actually a POST split strand. I tampered with the image to show what happens if splits are not cut off. One arm tears off. So if you're busy scrutinizing your ends to see which are split, without measuring the diameter of each strand, how can you tell that the ends that don't look split are those of a whole strand and not part of a strand? Coz part of a strand means you have damage like this:

And what good does it do you to hold onto that^^ when it can't hold moisture and isn't strong enough to endure normal styling? Leaving it behind just means it'll break in a rugged way that continues the tearing that is known as splitting.

Below is the original image. You can see both locks are damaged:

So you would do better to just dust all your strands on a regular schedule. If you are still seeing splits after you trimmed, it means you didn't cut off all the damage. You can't go for months w/o dusting and get away with a small trim. Regular dusting has to be done to maintain ends but if you are just starting off, you need a nice good cut to get rid of all damage.

If your ends look like the image below and you cut at C, then you can see how much damage you leave behind.

Note also the damage on the stands that don't look forked. Goes to show that just coz you can't SEE splits, doesn't mean your hair hasn't already split and split (literally).

This really helped me out a lot. Thanks so much for this diagram. Now everything really makes since. Just because you can see an actual damaged part of the hair does not mean that other strands aren't damaged just because you can't notice it. So how often do you think is good for a regular dusting. Would you do it monthly?

 

[divachyk]

Search and destroy doesn't trim enough hair to keep my hair healthy. I only search and destroy between salon visits when I glimpse splits. I rely on regular trims by my stylist to ensure my hair remains properly manicured.

 

[Nonie]

This really helped me out a lot. Thanks so much for this diagram. Now everything really makes since. Just because you can see an actual damaged part of the hair does not mean that other strands aren't damaged just because you can't notice it. So how often do you think is good for a regular dusting. Would you do it monthly?

@Growingmyhairlong, if this thread had not been bumped up, I would not have seen that you asked me a question. Please mention people when you address them, since folks don't always return to threads they posted in. To mention someone, you type @ immediately before their name--like I did yours--and they will get an alert that brings them directly to the post where you addressed them.

I started regular dusting after hearing from some hair gurus that it should be done every 6-8 weeks. So I kept that schedule. Now I do it every 8 weeks.

There's really no rule as to how often you should do it. Just know if you wait too long to dust, then your ends will be badly damaged and you will have to cut off a lot. If you dust sooner, you can get away with taking off just a tiny bit. But do start off doing a good trim if it's been a long time since you dusted, and then maintain those good ends with regular dusting, sealing and protective styling.

Also keep in mind that every month, you get about 1/2 inch of growth so you don't want to be dusting 1/2 inch every month. If you're doing it every month, you can probably cut a dust of hair as tiny as _. I dust every 8 weeks (2 months) and while I claim to cut a 1/4 inch, it may be a little more than that. But I do aim for about this much __. But if more of my hair feels thin, I have no problem snipping off more. I usually have my hair in mini-twists and I snip off the same tiny amount from the ends and so if a twist's end is skinnier than I would like I may cut off more than I do the others. I don't worry about the slight difference in length coz the difference is not obvious. I figure one day, when my hair is a good length, I could get it cut to even it out. For now, I just want to try to keep my strands as strong as possible, so I might make the great lengths I dream of.

 

[BostonMaria]

I do S&D's about every 3 months or whenever I have time.

It's time consuming, but for some reason I find it relaxing.

Sent from my iPhone 10 using LHCF

 

[leiah]

I do it "for fun". I don't really think i'm making a difference, but it's satisfying. I don't do it regularly, just whenever I have some time and the lighting is right and my kids aren't around

 

[ChocolatePie777]

I mainly search and destroy......and get trims every few months( and search and destroy oat the same time)......it is time consuming but i split it up into multiple days and wear a wig(when im trimming plus s and d ofcourse.......

S and d is not a waste of time at all for me.......i get mid shaft knots all the time and mid shaft splits(usually when i use som kind of hair tool).......i am not cutting off 5inches of hair just to get rid of randomly placed damage and sacrifice awhole lot of healthy hair

 

[Nonie]

I mainly search and destroy......and get trims every few months( and search and destroy oat the same time)......it is time consuming but i split it up into multiple days and wear a wig(when im trimming plus s and d ofcourse.......

S and d is not a waste of time at all for me.......i get mid shaft knots all the time and mid shaft splits(usually when i use som kind of hair tool).......i am not cutting off 5inches of hair just to get rid of randomly placed damage and sacrifice awhole lot of healthy hair

@ChocolatePie777, I don't follow the bold. Search & Destroy IMO means when you find damage you destroy it. So if you search and find mid-shaft splits, and ignore them because you don't want to cut off 5 inches, what was the point of searching? Or did I misunderstand?

Those of us who don't S&D but just trim a tiny amount from all the strands, don't cut of 5 inches of hair nor do we sacrifice healthy hair that we would notice. We do the trims as a way to prevent damage from becoming visible. We cut it off before it extends to where our eyes would see it. It's not a sacrifice because when I was paying attention to my growth, I went from one inch to 9-11 inches in 2 years dusting every 6-8 weeks. I didn't sacrifice healthy hair. I didn't worry about whether what I was cutting was damaged or not. It was so tiny for me to even miss it. Assuming I grew 6 inches of hair a year, then I cut about 1.5-2 inches a year dusting every 6-8 weeks in order to retain 9-11. (I should mentioned, this happened w/o me moisturizing my hair or sealing it at all.)

So when I say S&D is a waste of time, it's coz it doesn't eliminate damage (coz you can't tell a hair that split and tore off from one that isn't split) and it takes too long w/o you even getting to see every single strand. I think you need to dust if you want to effectively target damaged ends and keep them to a minimum.

I once posted this image of my own hair magnified. The end you're looking at is less than 1/4 inch--maybe even less an 1/8? If it were not magnified, I'd not see that it was a post-split end (meaning it was forked at one time and then part of the fork broke off, hence the thinner end):

Now if I just dust all my strands, I would get rid of that damage and have nice ends in a jiffy. I'd be sure I didn't miss any coz I did it to all strands. That's why I consider dusting all strands more effective than S&D.

 

[Growingmyhairlong]

Nonie, thanks for letting me know about the @ sign. I never really knew how to tag people so they can know I was addressing them. Also thanks for letting me know about the dusting. I do find that for me although I do get a chance to cut off some split ends by the search and destroy method I am sure I am missing so many and don't realize the ones that have already broke off. I think I will begin to incorporate the six to eight weeks in my hair regimen and then see how my hair does from there.

Thanks everyone for your input. I think this thread really has helped me understand the difference and what is best for my hair.

 

[alive]

OK ladies thanks for sharing. I was wondering how many people did it cause it is so time consuming. Also I did a light trim about two weeks ago and then today I looked at my ends and noticed a few strands were still split. Although some was so small you really needed to stain to see it I still had some that went up the shaft. So with that said I didn't know if u should be doing light search and destroys weekly or not. It takes so long to do but I don't know if a trim or search and destroy will get rid of all split ends.

I definitely won't recommend doing this weekly. it's just too time consuming and will probably become frustrating after a while. i once tried doing it to just one section of my hair and quickly found that i don't have the patience for it

but some ladies do it and find it to be better than regular cuts and trims. i'd say try it out once or twice and see if it's something that's worth the effort

 

[Meritamen]

I get trims about twice a year. I do S&D irregularly in-between those trims. It's pretty effective for my hair. I just trim away any knots, splits or anything that looks like it going to split. It is time consuming but I only do a section at a time.

 

[Raine054]

Nonie you are soooo right! I've been meaning to send you a message to say thank-you because your advice changed the game for me.

I hit tailbone length earlier this year but my ends were thin and raggedy. I was doing S&D whenever I could but my ends were still breaking off. If you've ever rollerset your hair and after it's dried you take it down only to find your tank top sprinkled with scores of short broken hairs, you know what I'm talking about.

There was another thread where someone thanked Nonie so I decided to try doing a full head trim in small sections. I took off such a tiny amount of hair that there was no loss of length at all. For the last month however, no broken hairs! I have not seen any of those short broken hairs on my clothes since I did that trim!

I am sold.

I will be a trimming (dusting) every 2 months from now on.

ETA: I just heard that I may be using trimming when I really mean dusting. I cut a very small amount.

 

[Nonie]

Raine054, I appreciate your feedback. Congrats on TBL! :notworthy

Your story confirms what I have always suspected and believed is the reason people are stuck at a particular length (eg like I was at SL for over 30 years of my life!). It isn't coz hair isn't growing. It's coz it's falling off dust by dust. If you don't dust it yourself, the withered ends break off by themselves due to being damaged and too weak to hold on. When you dust, you stop nature from taking its course. You take charge of what comes off so that nature doesn't behave like SHS and reverse your progress.

Because I'm so meh about my hair, I always appreciate when someone with hair worth writing home about shares his/her success story--or at least confirms something the poor excuse I am suggested--as it is inspiring to all of us when the proof is in the pudding. Thanks again for sharing!

 

[Kinky4Agirl]

what is dusting? I know this has been asked 1 million times but I can't find the thread that actually explains what it is. And how often do we really need to cut our hair? I mean, with all the washing and conditioning that we do, how long does our hair strand stay.. "unsplit." lol, I guess I need to know what actually causes a split end.

 

[yaya24]

Kinky4Agirl

Dusting- Cutting only a tiny bit of the hair so that the pile of cut hair on the floor looks like dust and not clumps of hair.

 

[ChocolatePie777]

@ChocolatePie777, I don't follow the bold. Search & Destroy IMO means when you find damage you destroy it. So if you search and find mid-shaft splits, and ignore them because you don't want to cut off 5 inches, what was the point of searching? Or did I misunderstand.

No i am not ignoring mid shaft damage......i am saying that dusting or trimming alone would never get rid of all the damage for me since it is just done at the ends........and if i did want to get rid of all damage without having to look through all my strands then i may as well be cutting off five plus inches..........i destroy more damage than i ever could with s and d then i ever could with just dusting or trimming