Split Ends, Breakage, Trimming, And General Ends Care: Let's Share What We're Learning

[YvetteWithJoy]

Greetings!

Most of us know by now that to see increased hair length, the ends of the hair must be retained as new hair grows out of the scalp. If the hair at the ends is lost, hair length will either:

1. increase substantially more slowly than growth out of the scalp occurs, or
2. seem to never increase if loss of ends occurs at the same rate as growth out of the scalp occurs, or
3. decrease if more hair is lost at the ends than has grown out of the scalp in a given period.

I have been newly concerned about split ends due to seeing the extent of my split ends after a 5 month period. It probably wasn't terrible, but I feel I can reduce the extent of the splitting. I'm thus doing a personal mini 3-month challenge to try to minimize them. My goal is to shock the stylist with how little my ends have split since my last trim.

To support my efforts, I've been learning what I can about split ends, breakage (especially of the ends), trimming, and ends care in general. I will share in a post below the best or most helpful or interesting material I have encountered so far. PLEASE ADD TO THIS THREAD YOUR INSIGHT AND RESOURCES (video, links, books, scientific articles, anecdotal evidence, experience, salon reviews, tools reviews, product reviews, techniques, etc.).

Caution: PLEASE TAKE ALL INFORMATION WITH A GRAIN OF SALT, DO YOU OWN RESEARCH, SEEK TO VERIFY/VALIDATE INFORMATION YOU SEE, AND LISTEN TO YOUR HAIR AND YOUR OWN REASONING AS NO ONE KNOWS YOUR HAIR QUITE LIKE YOU DO. We are not about that setback life.

Happy healthy hair journeying, all!

 

[YvetteWithJoy]

Here is what I've found so far that has been insightful and/or interesting:

1. The creator of the Natural Haven Bloom blog — an amazing and high quality blog about the science of natural — issued a web magazine about split ends! It is WELL WORTH your time to read it, IMO, either to learn something new or reinforce what you know. Here is the link: https://issuu.com/thenaturalhaven/docs/naturalhavenmagapr
2. Also, here are the results when I did a search at the Natural Haven Bloom blog for the phrase “split ends”: http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/search?q=split+ends. It yielded QUITE a few posts of hers, and several toward the end of the results are quite informative for regimen design purposes. (I'm currently revamping mine to yield less splitting of the ends). There is a video in one of the posts of a longhaired natural who finger detangles on dry hair!
   
   
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5. New-to-me technique/advice: If using a brush to detangle, the advice was to hold it vertically to detangle and horizontally only to define (hadn't heard of that and will try detangling that way to see if it sounds like there is less tension/damage occurring).
6. New-to-me technique/advice (has anyone else heard of this?): The advice is to use somewhat stiff bristles instead of ones with give. This is very counter-intuitive to me, but it resonates with the stylist who recently detangle my hair with a Denman brush so smoothly with extremely little hair in the brush.

This video shows the vertical brush movement:

That's it so far. I'm still reading and viewing. I picked up some of that Mane Choice Split-End Treatment. It's only been a few days, but so far I like the way my ends feel with it.

I've been thinking my hair care regimen was healthier than it actually ended up being. I'm having to maintain a teachable spirit and an open mind to re-look at things about which I'd previously made up my mind, like use of silicones and heat and detangling tools. My hair twin (well, cousin) on this board tried to tell me about silicones, and I jessssst wouldn't lissssen.

I'm listening now, @cutiepiebabygirl! It only took some substantial splits to get my attention. Lol. Thank you for trying to help me before. I will reread your tips. Hope you are well!

 

[VictoriousBrownFlower]

Yvette thank you for posting the natural haven magazine on split ends. It was a super good read. Very insightful and interesting. I learned so much good info from it.

 

[waff]

Thank you for posting! So much great information.

 

[cutiepiebabygirl]

@YvetteWithJoy This fine hair is a beast!

 

[Prettymetty]

I don't know if this was a fluke, but aloe gel made my split ends (temporarily) disappear. I put it on my scalp and ends for 30 minutes prior to washing.

 

[LushLox]

Is the Mane Choice Split End Treatment that good? I'm hearing a lot of positives about it. Any other reviews?

 

[YvetteWithJoy]

Is the Mane Choice Split End Treatment that good? I'm hearing a lot of positives about it. Any other reviews?

Good question.

I don't know. I'm going to use it for 3 months, examine my ends, and base my assessment off of the results. I feel that's the only way I can know whether it works on my hair. Thankfully, I got it for 40% or 35% off or something like that.