Hey Hair Sisters!
Just some notes that might help someone out. If you will notice that my # 1 hair care tip (in my signature) is to stay away from SHS's. (scissor happy stylists). I feel strongly about this.
The following is just my little 2 cents--well more like 2 dollars.
Well, we are often told that we should have our ends trimmed because splits will travel up the hair shaft. I have tested this theory. I actually plucked a hair from my head that had a split-end and then physically tried to further separate the two split pieces up the entire hair shaft. It didn't happen. In fact, I've never seen this happen on anyone's head of hair. Now, what did happen is that the weaker of the two split-pieces broke right off, leaving a hair end that was "half" as strong as it originally was. A tiny trim would be good just to snip off that weak end.
But, many times when the stylist wants to cut--the ends are not even really split. They may indeed be thinner, but I personally don't believe that they are unhealthy--just older than the rest of the hair. The thinness of the ends is just age. I am speaking of hair that has not been abused of course. If the hair is abused then the ends probably are split and/or damaged. Trimming the hair will not prevent the thinness on the ends, because the hair will always be aging. So weather or not you get a trim every 6 weeks or every 6 months--the hair that is one inch(just as an example) from the ends will be the same age whether or not you've recently had a trim or not. So instead of being fooled into thinking that your hair one inch above the ends is thin because you failed to get a trim and the thinness infected the hair above it with thinness--know that even with the trim, it would have still aged and gotten thinner.
Another reason your stylist may want to give you a trim is to even your hair up. If your hair is uneven, most likely it just grows that way and a "trim" will be such a temporary fix. Because in 2 more months, it will be uneven again. Will your stylist want to trim it again? Evening up the hair takes away length usually. My right side is my "weak" side right now and a stylist evened up my left side with it once (about an inch loss, plus what she trimmed on the right normally) and had the nerve to tell me that my right side broke off to a shorter length than my left, like I don't know my own hair. I was taking very good care of my hair and knew it wasn't breakage. And to further prove my point, my left side is longer and thicker than the right side now. Evening it up was done in vain.
Most trims are strictly for the appearance of the hair. But if when you wear your hair down, it has some kind of curl or bump to it--then it looks fine. The only reason you'd need a blunt trim/cut is if you wear your hair bone straight when you wear it down. (no curls, no bump)
Many times, we do not realize that we are the victim of an SHS. It took my mother pointing it out to me several times that my hair was getting shorter. And I knew it was in great condtion, so it wasn't breakage. Especially (ESPECIALLY) if you are getting your trims at re-touch time. This is the best time when a stylist can take off length and you never even know it. How? Because the re-touch straightens hair that was previously curly thus "stretching" out the length of the hair. You get up from the chair and your hair doesn't look shorter. It looks fine to you. You don't suspect anything. But after so many months, you notice that it ain't gettin' any longer. Your SHS is cutting whatever length you've gained by each re-touch
If your hair is not breaking--you should have gained additional length after each re-touch. If not, you may be the victim of an SHS!
I truly believe that we (black women) have to grow our hair on purpose. It's not something that we can do passively like our counter-parts from other cultures and races. It has to be done intentionally. I believe one of the important steps to intentionally growing the hair is to stay away from scissor happy stylists.
Ask any one of the ladies from this board that trims her own hair and/or does not get trims very often if it has helped or hindered her progress. I'm one of them.
If someone has damaged, abused hair, then they should get a trim and a good one and go from there, taking much better care of the hair from that point on.
I am writing this because I remember how many times as a little girl that I desired to have long hair, but would leave a salon after some woman had said "I'm going to trim your dead ends now baby" and I'd leave with 3-4 inches of hair GONE! When I got older, I said to myself the hair is already dead so there's no such thing as "dead ends." Also, even split ends are rare if you are a frequent wearer of protective styles and use very little to no heat on your hair.
Another thing--if you air-dry your hair, like a good girl then your ends will not look up to par most of the time. But actually, they're fine and healthy. Something about air-drying gives that pitiful looks to the ends, but after a good roller set, you can see that your ends are in great condition. So, don't make a hasty decision if your ends "look" bad one day after air-drying. If you reallly want to know, have a good conditioning and roller set (at home or salon) and then check your ends out. If they still look bad, then you might decide you'd like a trim.
Also, if you know that you are knowledgeable about hair care and are doing a good job with yours--don't let someone just because they are a "professional" with a "license" make you feel like you don't know didly. I've had this experience too.
I hope I have enlightened someone and always remember Supergirl's #1 hair care tip!
Pictures
Album: Supergirlj
