Nonie
Well-Known Member
Neith, I'm kinda with Mwedzi, and while you're right it's impossible to get rid of all the split ends, taking care of the longest hairs and dusting them as I do, braid by braid, seems to make a difference to me.
I shared pics before of what happened when I didn't trim/dust my hair for about 6 months, and I'll be happy to share that again:
The year I transitioned, I went from about 1 inch of natural hair to this length of natural hair with regular trimming/dusting:
A year later, I was here, also with regular trimming/dusting (notice how the hair seems to be somewhat uniform in thickness along the length):
It was around then that I found this forum and Cathy Howse's book and decided to try to go w/o trimming. Big mistake.
I could hardly recognize my hair because the ends were so thin. Methinks the split ends that I usually got rid of on the oldest and longest hairs had spread up the shaft and then broken off leaving very unsightly ends. What's more, my hair's length seemed to be at a standstill:
I had to dismiss about 2 inches of hair, instead of the 1/4 inch or so I normally did when I was dusting regularly, to get my hair to the uniform thickness I was used to.
So for me, while my S&D isn't as thorough as LadyLibra's, it does make a difference to the appearance of my hair if I snip off the ends of the oldest hair every now and then to make the braid section have a more or less uniform thickness from base to ends. I seem to retain length better this way, ironic as it may sound, and thus see the evidence of growth.
I shared pics before of what happened when I didn't trim/dust my hair for about 6 months, and I'll be happy to share that again:
The year I transitioned, I went from about 1 inch of natural hair to this length of natural hair with regular trimming/dusting:
A year later, I was here, also with regular trimming/dusting (notice how the hair seems to be somewhat uniform in thickness along the length):
It was around then that I found this forum and Cathy Howse's book and decided to try to go w/o trimming. Big mistake.
I could hardly recognize my hair because the ends were so thin. Methinks the split ends that I usually got rid of on the oldest and longest hairs had spread up the shaft and then broken off leaving very unsightly ends. What's more, my hair's length seemed to be at a standstill:
I had to dismiss about 2 inches of hair, instead of the 1/4 inch or so I normally did when I was dusting regularly, to get my hair to the uniform thickness I was used to.
So for me, while my S&D isn't as thorough as LadyLibra's, it does make a difference to the appearance of my hair if I snip off the ends of the oldest hair every now and then to make the braid section have a more or less uniform thickness from base to ends. I seem to retain length better this way, ironic as it may sound, and thus see the evidence of growth.
