Neith's Split End Theory

[Neith]

I'm getting all Stephen Hawking about hair now.


I was thinking about split ends and the need to trim them. I don't feel that trimming is necessary for healthy hair unless it's done for style.

This doesn't apply to unhealthy chemically processed, colored, heat damaged hair that needs to be cut because it's weak.


My theory:

Even freshly trimmed healthy hair isn't split end free. The ends of your hair are just a portion of all the hairs in your head. see figure 1

If you zoomed into all the hairs of a person at bsl, you would see that not all of the hairs are even. It's completely natural for people to have varying lengths (although with healthy hair it's not noticeable) throughout the hair because of the hair's growing cycle.

So at any time even the healthiest of hair has hundreds, maybe thousands of split ends on the ends of shorter hairs. Not to mention mid shaft splits. Even if we were to dust ends continuously, we don't get all of the splits. There are simply too many to get rid of.

I truly don't believe that simply split ends are a huge problem. If they were, then none of us would have healthy hair.



What do you think?

 

[thinkpinkprincess]

interesting!

 

[Ericka]

Some split ends eventually break off on their own, without the need to cut them. Then there are splits that travel up the hair shaft causing further breakage and when your trying to retain length, this can be a serious problem.

I guess it all depends on the person. A trim will definitely get rid of 95% of your split ends as oppose to not trimming and the splits getting worse and the hair began to look dull and raggedy at the ends.

 

[Lucky's Mom]

Nice to meet you Dr. Hawking..... I agree that hairs may not alwyas be even.

I think the combonation of dusts, and optimal conditioning can get your hair to nearly zero splits.........

Great Job!!!

I love when people post CONTRIBUTIONS!

sj

 

[Irresistible]

I'm getting all Stephen Hawking about hair now.


I was thinking about split ends and the need to trim them. I don't feel that trimming is necessary for healthy hair unless it's done for style.

This doesn't apply to unhealthy chemically processed, colored, heat damaged hair that needs to be cut because it's weak.


My theory:

Even freshly trimmed healthy hair isn't split end free. The ends of your hair are just a portion of all the hairs in your head. see figure 1

If you zoomed into all the hairs of a person at bsl, you would see that not all of the hairs are even. It's completely natural for people to have varying lengths (although with healthy hair it's not noticeable) throughout the hair because of the hair's growing cycle.

So at any time even the healthiest of hair has hundreds, maybe thousands of split ends on the ends of shorter hairs. Not to mention mid shaft splits. Even if we were to dust ends continuously, we don't get all of the splits. There are simply too many to get rid of.

I truly don't believe that simply split ends are a huge problem. If they were, then none of us would have healthy hair.



What do you think?

I agree, Ive inspected my hair , so yeah I agree, I havent done it in a long time but who knows what I would find, I think split ends are more critical on already weak hair

 

[Neith]

Some split ends eventually break off on their own, without the need to cut them. Then there are splits that travel up the hair shaft causing further breakage and when your trying to retain length, this can be a serious problem.

I guess it all depends on the person. A trim will definitely get rid of 95% of your split ends as oppose to not trimming and the splits getting worse and the hair began to look dull and raggedy at the ends.

I don't believe it does get rid of anywhere near 95%

We have hundreds of thousands of hairs on our head. Thousands of hairs that do not reach down to the length of our longest hairs. Hundreds or thousands of hairs that are split that we don't get to by trimming or dusting.

It's nearly impossible to get that many of them... just looking at the sheer numbers.

I love when people post CONTRIBUTIONS!

sj

Why thank you!

 

[DivaD04]

Some split ends eventually break off on their own, without the need to cut them. Then there are splits that travel up the hair shaft causing further breakage and when your trying to retain length, this can be a serious problem.

I guess it all depends on the person. A trim will definitely get rid of 95% of your split ends as oppose to not trimming and the splits getting worse and the hair began to look dull and raggedy at the ends.

do u mean when the hair itself is going through the telogen phase.

telogen phase: The telogen phase is the resting phase of the hair follicle.At any given time, 10%-15% of all hairs are in the telogen phase. This phase lasts for about 100 days(<3mths) for hairs on the scalp.
During this phase the hair follicle is completely at rest and the club hair is completely formed. Pulling out a hair in this phase will reveal a solid, hard, dry, white material at the root.
About 25-100 telogen hairs are shed normally each day.

if so, yes i can picture this because our hairs go through a 3 phase cycle and each strand has it's own cycle but the likelyhood of ignoring a split end in hopes for it to fall off is pretty radical. not all/or most hairs that are split shed. some have theory that the longer the hair the less you'll shed. i find more splits in my natural twa than i ever did when i was relaxed.

Neith, good point but i think u'll know when splits will become a problem. if ur hairs are traveling north faster than it can grow down south then I'd say: ya'll get off ur duff and cut....

 

[Neith]

Neith, good point but i think u'll know when splits will become a problem. if ur hairs are traveling north faster than it can grow down south then I'd say: ya'll get off ur duff and cut....

I agree

but I think that they are only a problem with damaged hair, not healthy hair.

If your hair is breaking off and not growing, that's a lot of individual hairs that are just too weak to hold on. The majority of hair on your head is just horribly damaged.

A healthy head of hair will have less splits... most of which are completely unavoidable. The hair isn't very weak, so it doesn't just break off.

 

[DivaD04]

I agree

but I think that they are only a problem with damaged hair, not healthy hair.

If your hair is breaking off and not growing, that's a lot of individual hairs that are just too weak to hold on. The majority of hair on your head is just horribly damaged.

A healthy head of hair will have less splits... most of which are completely unavoidable. The hair isn't very weak, so it doesn't just break off.

true
i've meant to say if splits are traveling north faster.... i never thought i'd have split ends until i went natural. i've never had a split end when i was relaxed

 

[Jazala]

I agree with most of your theory except this part:

So at any time even the healthiest of hair has hundreds, maybe thousands of split ends on the ends of shorter hairs. Not to mention mid shaft splits. Even if we were to dust ends continuously, we don't get all of the splits. There are simply too many to get rid of.

The "healthiest of hair" will have very little splits even on the shortest hair because that hair is being taken care of in a way that will prevent split ends from occuring in the first place.

If you have thousands of split ends on shorter hairs, I wouldn't consider that hair "healthy". I think it would be easy to see them as the hair wouldn't lay smooth.

 

[vestaluv1]

This is the way I've always thought about split ends... I'm so glad someone else thinks the same!
To be honest I have not had a trim since somewhere around 2003/2004... and I've never dusted . Make of it what you will!

 

[Neith]

I agree with most of your theory except this part:



The "healthiest of hair" will have very little splits even on the shortest hair because that hair is being taken care of in a way that will prevent split ends from occuring in the first place.

If you have thousands of split ends on shorter hairs, I wouldn't consider that hair "healthy". I think it would be easy to see them as the hair wouldn't lay smooth.

Think about it... say I have 1000 split ends.

That's only 1% of all the hair on my head.

Definitely not enough to cause any problems.

I dunno, I just see splits as a part of life. Even someone with thick, healthy type 1 hair that takes very good care of it will get splits from normal brushing and combing, the weather, sunlight, etc... Hair goes through normal wear and tear no matter what.

 

[SW2011]

The overall idea makes sense to me. That's why I stopped trimming my hair. I do the search and destroy method, but even that is sporadic. The only time that I trim my hair is when I want to make it look even since one side grows much faster than the other.

Great observation and great explanation!

 

[Finewine]

Neith, I'm suing you for copyright infringement for stealing this idea from my head . ITA which is why I stopped trimming after a big one in Dec. My rationale was, if all races generally get 0.5 inches of growth, but Blacks tend to have much shorter hair, why could this be. 1) problems with retention/breaking (i.e. moreso a damage issue) 2) trimming for a "healthy" look or personal preference. If your hair is healthy, then #1 shouldn't be a big problem. I only search and destroy as needed now. My current plan is to trim/cut for aesthetic purposes when I reach my goal.

 

[almond eyes]

I agree. I see many women of other races and they don't keep trimming their hair. I saw one white woman at the Aveda Salon who had very thin hair and the hairdresser was not trying to lop it all off. Some people just have thin or frizzy ends and it may not be split ended and many times if you have fine textured Afro-hair it may also just look that way.

Best,
Almond Eyes

 

[Empress Yahudah]

I totaly agree. I have always thought this.

Ur hair strands are different lengths all throughout ur head. There is noway just by trimming the bottom ur are making a dent. U would have to trim/dust every strand on ur head.

I just focus on keeping my hair healthy. Since my hair isnt damaged I dont worry about regular trims.
I like my ends to be even so i dust twice a year now.

 

[JustKiya]

I totally totally TOTALLY agree with you on this - - which is why I always think/thought that search & destroys would do MUCH better to get rid of splits (if you truly cared about having totally split free hair) than any trim could, simply because of the varying lengths of hair on the head.

I'm also one who hasn't trimmed since I cut off the last of my damaged hair - and as my hair is getting longer, I can start to see some splits - I might start S&D'ing next year, sometime.

 

[Nonie]

I haven't given this much thought but my take is the shorter hairs that are a bit far from reaching the end of their growth cycle haven't been on your head long enough to experience the wear and tear that the longer hairs have experienced due to being on your head much longer. So dusting is important on the longer hairs to kinda bring them to the same playing field as the shorter hairs.

ETA: I guess I use the search and destroy method because I dust my hair as I redo my braids if the ends of the particular section I'm working on look thin and unhealthy. I don't worry too much about the unevenness this might cause. I'm just happier having more or less the same thickness of my strands from base to ends.

 

[ladylibra]

i see ya Neith!

when i was relaxed i had splits that would travel several inches up the hair shaft. erplexed but like i said, i was abusing heat back then too. since going natural and cutting WAY back on heat usage, i've been pretty much in the clear on splits... last month (or 2? when did i get it cut? ) was an exception cuz those old colored ends started to split and i didn't even give them a chance, i just lopped them all off

but i think you have a point, which is why i S&D. really i find more knots than splits at the ends of my hair...

 

[cieramichele]

And this is exactly why I dont agree with the "cut the hairs that stick out of the twist" .."cutting technique"

 

[charmtreese]

BUMP!!! For those who missed this thread!

Very interesting.

 

[gorgeoushair]

And this is exactly why I dont agree with the "cut the hairs that stick out of the twist" .."cutting technique"

True b/c just because the ends stick out of the braid or twist doesn't mean it's split.

I noticed this a few years back while trying the twist method of cutting your split ends.

 

[anon123]

Neith, I have been saying what you are saying for the longest! But to clarify, those are not split ends. A split end is when a single stand of hair splits into two parts. These are just somewhat uneven and yes, since all hairs on your head are not of the same age, they will not all be of the same length. My hairs are different lengths just like any other non-bald human, but I do not have split ends. Seriously, I've been paying attention and I've seen one split end in 10 months.

 

[Neith]

Neith, I have been saying what you are saying for the longest! But to clarify, those are not split ends. A split end is when a single stand of hair splits into two parts. These are just somewhat uneven and yes, since all hairs on your head are not of the same age, they will not all be of the same length. My hairs are different lengths just like any other non-bald human, but I do not have split ends. Seriously, I've been paying attention and I've seen one split end in 10 months.

You're talking about the diagram?

I didn't draw any splits. I made it to represent hair the way it really is. No one's hair is truly all one length.

My point is that some of the shorter hairs are split and some aren't. Just like the longer hairs.

Imo there is no one that has absolutely no split ends. It's really impossible. Some hair is going to split no matter what you do to it. If you brush, comb, manipulate your hair or you expose it to the elements and your environment, some will split. This normal wear and tear (the reason the older ends of your hair are a little more fragile than the rest of your hair, btw) does not make your hair unhealthy. Healthier hair has much less splits, but no one is split free.

 

[winnettag]

I'm getting all Stephen Hawking about hair now.


I was thinking about split ends and the need to trim them. I don't feel that trimming is necessary for healthy hair unless it's done for style.

This doesn't apply to unhealthy chemically processed, colored, heat damaged hair that needs to be cut because it's weak.


My theory:

Even freshly trimmed healthy hair isn't split end free. The ends of your hair are just a portion of all the hairs in your head. see figure 1

If you zoomed into all the hairs of a person at bsl, you would see that not all of the hairs are even. It's completely natural for people to have varying lengths (although with healthy hair it's not noticeable) throughout the hair because of the hair's growing cycle.

So at any time even the healthiest of hair has hundreds, maybe thousands of split ends on the ends of shorter hairs. Not to mention mid shaft splits. Even if we were to dust ends continuously, we don't get all of the splits. There are simply too many to get rid of.

I truly don't believe that simply split ends are a huge problem. If they were, then none of us would have healthy hair.



What do you think?

I agree. I would only trim it to get a certain shape. Otherwise I only cut single strands of hair if I notice splits (or knots).

 

[cecilie]

Interresting ...
Cecilie .

 

[anon123]

You're talking about the diagram?

I didn't draw any splits. I made it to represent hair the way it really is. No one's hair is truly all one length.

My point is that some of the shorter hairs are split and some aren't. Just like the longer hairs.

Imo there is no one that has absolutely no split ends. It's really impossible. Some hair is going to split no matter what you do to it. If you brush, comb, manipulate your hair or you expose it to the elements and your environment, some will split. This normal wear and tear (the reason the older ends of your hair are a little more fragile than the rest of your hair, btw) does not make your hair unhealthy. Healthier hair has much less splits, but no one is split free.

Oh, I see. I got thrown off because you were talking about splits but no splits were in the actual diagram. Well, I may have split hairs but if so they are really hard to find. Like I said, paying attention for 10 months and I've only seen 1 split (and it was, no exaggeration, less than 1/16 inch split) so if I'm not split-free, I am about as close to it as one is going to get.

But now that I understand what you are saying (I think), I'm not sure if one's getting a trim wouldn't really help. Say that hair was more likely to have splits the older it was. This would make sense since it's been exposed to all the things you've mentioned for a longer period of time. I don't think it would be right to think that shorter hairs were just as likely to have splits on them as longer hairs. Therefore, when you do a trim, you are getting a fairly high percentage of the splits cuz you are getting the oldest/longest hairs. This is just a guess since I don't have that problem, but based on what people say and feel for single strand knots acting in this manner, might be the same for splits. Just a thought.

 

[Neith]

Oh, I see. I got thrown off because you were talking about splits but no splits were in the actual diagram. Well, I may have split hairs but if so they are really hard to find. Like I said, paying attention for 10 months and I've only seen 1 split (and it was, no exaggeration, less than 1/16 inch split) so if I'm not split-free, I am about as close to it as one is going to get.

But now that I understand what you are saying (I think), I'm not sure if one's getting a trim wouldn't really help. Say that hair was more likely to have splits the older it was. This would make sense since it's been exposed to all the things you've mentioned for a longer period of time. I don't think it would be right to think that shorter hairs were just as likely to have splits on them as longer hairs. Therefore, when you do a trim, you are getting a fairly high percentage of the splits cuz you are getting the oldest/longest hairs. This is just a guess since I don't have that problem, but based on what people say and feel for single strand knots acting in this manner, might be the same for splits. Just a thought.

It's true that older hair has a higher chance of splitting than younger hair, but it's not as if 90% of splits are only in the last inch of hair. They are way more spread out than that.

I feel that some people with healthy hair are unnecessarily trimming the ends of their hair. Unless there is a problem with health, there really is no need.

Dusting makes more sense, but I still see it as being a little ineffective. We just aren't able to go through 100 thousand or more hairs and get every or even most splits.

 

[Irresistible]

It's true that older hair has a higher chance of splitting than younger hair, but it's not as if 90% of splits are only in the last inch of hair. They are way more spread out than that.

I feel that some people with healthy hair are unnecessarily trimming the ends of their hair. Unless there is a problem with health, there really is no need.

Dusting makes more sense, but I still see it as being a little ineffective. We just aren't able to go through 100 thousand or more hairs and get every or even most splits.

Yeah I think the only time someone is split free is when they have done a close cut of many inches wacked off!

my sister said she thought I had discovered some secret to split ends just because my hair is long

I was like 'nah girl I probably got splits all over the place I just aint trippin off them or even looking anymore' because its true when its healthy and strong the splits are not a major issue, unless your wearing it out and for appearance!

 

[ladylibra]

Dusting makes more sense, but I still see it as being a little ineffective. We just aren't able to go through 100 thousand or more hairs and get every or even most splits.

actually that's exactly what i did...

i put my hair in a bunch of box braids and went one braid at a time, section by section looking for split ends and snipping. it takes a ridiculously long time too, i wouldn't suggest doing it often!

not to counter your theory though. ITA that i still probably wasn't 100% split-free. but as long as i don't have a ton of splits that are either breaking off my ends so badly that i can't retain length or shooting up the hair strand and making my hair's health take a nose-dive... it's okay.