0 Haircare: Trimming ends

How to trim, how often to trim, what to trim and how much to trim; are big topics in the haircare community. I'm going to go over what I know about trimming and let you know what worked for me and what didn't.

How to trim: According to most experts, hair needs to be trimmed while straight or pulled taunt. Take a small thin section of hair and trim right above any splits or thinning hair. Do not trim your hair in chunks! You will end up with uneven choppy hair.

How often to trim: This depends on your hair and how well you maintain your ends. If you're not seeing splits or experiencing breakage (from thin ends), don't trim. Trimming doesn't make your hair grow, it simply gets rid of split, breaking ends. For most people trimming every 6 months is enough. I trim whenever I feel my ends getting more tangled than usual.

What to use: Hair cutting shears. You can get these from your local beauty supply store. Do not use regular craft scissors.

How much to trim: 1/4 of an inch is usually enough. It really helps to know what a split end looks like so you know what to cut.

Check this post from Natural Hair Haven to see what splits look like.

I trim my hair on average about 4-6 months. I retain about 3 inches every 6 months, so I average 1/2 inch a month, even with trimming. If I don't trim often, I find that my hair breaks off easily and my ends look horrible.

Some people claim to not need trims, but I find these people few and far between. Unless you're keeping your hair protected constantly and taking extremely great care of your ends, you'll need to trim.

Now for single strand knots, trimming is not the answer. I'll do a post on this later.


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