the ends...what to do?

[Katze]

Last week thanks toChicken's method I did another trim, and cut off about 1.5 cm on the very ends of my hair.

Gradually I am noticing less splits, and my hemline looks thicker. But the bottom, let's say, 2-4 inches (it is hard to see, I can only view from the sides) are very thin, see-through, dry, wispy. This is the part of my hair that was bleached several times and the color is, well, orange.

My hair seems to be growing, but the ends don't look like I want them to, and I worry that they will never thicken up, but, rather, just split and become wispier and wispier. I oil them almost every day, don't use shampoo, don't blowdry, wash with good conditioners, etc etc.

Should I cut them? I don't want to lose length, on the one hand, but on the other hand I am self-conscious about how my hair looks.

I like to wear my hair down, but when outdoors am usually clipping it up out of the wind, especially for bike riding. But I don't want it to look ratty!

What do you all think I should do?

thanks

Katze

[Kuchen]

Why not set yourself a schedule of trimming 1cm a month till the worst damage is gone? If you have average growth then you'll still gain 1.5cm a month.

I feel your pain – I have bad bleach damage in my shortest layer, and no matter what I do it catches a comb/brush every time... Not good. if it was in the longer length I'd do exactly what I'm recommending! I'm going to start that when I hit BSL though...

[Capriquarius]

I am going through something similar to what you describe...the last few inches of my hair are definitely dry and chemically damaged from before I started growing my hair and switched to henna and natural hair care, but I have just been trying to "baby" them and ride it out until my hair is long enough (is it ever long enough?) to where I can cut off the damaged part without sacrificing a lot of length. For me, personally, that was the best decision, to cut off tiny amounts until the damaged parts are gone. I do realize that this method requires the most care and patience, but for me it has been most rewarding! On the other hand, if I had noticed rampant breakage and splitting I might have cut the offending ends off in one fell swoop.

[spidermom]

You probably already know this, but if it were me - I'd cut. Then you will have gotten it over with, and your hair will be nice from scalp to ends. Then you can just grow and grow and grow and stop worrying about it.

[DMARTINEZ]

I second Spidermoms advice. I am dealing with layers and not damage, but
I am not trimming yet. Its so hard once you get some length to think about
losing it.

Deb

[Joliebaby]

If you are self conscious and truly think the ends look ratty, then maybe a trim is in order. I never had much patience for damaged hair myself..
I want to enjoy my hair on the way there as well.. It's not just about the end result, it's about the journey.. If it will have to come off eventually anyway and it is irritating you.. why not trim.. maybe a few small trims if you don't want to lose so much length at once.

[kimo]

Katze--Since we're practically hair twins, I have to relate. Remember, I posted just yesterday about wanting a trim? My ends are drier than the rest of my hair, plus they look lighter from being damaged. HOWEVER, not everyone notices. Perhaps because they're your ends, you see the damage that isn't all that noticable to others.

Personally, I'm holding off for a few more months before I trim. In the end, you know best, but I'd advise taking a few weeks to think about it. It sounds like you baby your hair and take good care of it (unlike me) so you may, indeed, be ready for a trim. Good luck!!!

--Kimo

[Amalthea]

Katze, my advice would be to try doing just a small trim once a month for a little while and see how that works for you. If your satisfied, great- you get to keep your length and improve the condition and thickness gradually. If your still not satisfied with how your ends are shaping up after a couple of months of doing this, I recommend that you go for it and trim off all the damage. Your going to miss the length regardless of whether your hair is BSL, waist, tailbone, or any other length.
I recently trimmed off several inches of old dyed, damaged hair. While I'm excited to see my hair colour again, and enthusiastic about the idea of my hair being in better condition now it is really, really hard to have hair this short again. I wish that I had bit the bullet and trimmed the parts that needed to be trimmed off months ago. I think it would have been a less disturbing change. Anyway that's just my experience, but its something to think about.

[Molster]

Katze - I too have very similar hair to you which suffered chemical damage about 2years ago (a product reaction between hair and metal pony-band join) in my canopy, thus causing damage to my otherwise fairly reasonably-conditioned hair.

I ended up with frazzled ends, a chunk chemically burnt off leaving me with the 'badly-chewed fringe' (bangs) look in my one-length hair and me naturally devastated.

Since then I have oiled and micro-trimmed in an effort to get rid of the frazzles and trying to it growing so it blend in the the rest. I'm getting there slowly, but it's still not right and still a bleach-blond colour (that'll teach me not to use Sun-In) and pretty strawlike if I'm not careful. COing and SMTs have helped a bundle.

Keep plugging away with the love and care, Katze - you probably notice it more than others do and eventually it will blend in with the rest.

[daeana]

i also vote for a cut/trim. for one thing, it's obviously bothering you. and personally, i'd prefer "quality" length over "questionable" length, if that makes sense.

[CryssieWillow]

My honest opinion: cut.
It is length you want to get rid of anyways.
When you choose if you want to trim it at once or trim gradually, you will have to weigh the benefits and the downsides.
When you don't want to loose the length, you can maintain your length, but you will have to live with the ends.
And right now I get the impression that it is causing you so much frustration that it is knocking the fun out of having long hair for you.

It is really up to you. You can either grow your hair longer but keep the thin ends that you hate, or you can trim them off, forget them and focus solely on growing and keeping your hair nice without having to worry about the ends. Just grit your teeth once with the cut, and then it will keep growing.

[chainedangel]

I won't tell you what *you* should do. But I will tell you what *I* am doing.

I am getting one inch cut off sometime this weekend. Once my hair gets back to it's current length or when I have gotten comfortable with the idea I will have another inch cut off. I'm keeping this up until I get all the dyed crap out of my hair. Then I will continue on wil my lt goal of classic.

Let us know what you decide.

[Catarina]

What I would do is cut them. At least that's what I did over a year ago and had an almost chin length bob. I wasn't thrilled going short but I did like the feel of healthy hair after that . But it sure made a difference when I'd look at the back using a mirror and seeing healthy ends.


No amount of oiling I did was going to bring the ends back to health. Mine were horribley fried from chemical and heat damage.



Then you can concentrate on what's healthy. Good luck whatever you decide.

[Mrar34]

I'm dealing with this same problem right now, only slightly different: the majority of my hair is damaged! If you don't want to lose the length I recommend a henna/cassia treatment, henna has absolutely saved my terribly chemically damaged hair, considering the only way for me to cut off ALL the damage would be to get a pixie cut, and I'm not doing that.

But my ends are still bothering me, they tangle all the time and are FULL of splits, I S&D everyday, and while it helps, I still find split that are up to 4 inches deep (::tear:.

Right now I want to get to waistlength and then maintain for awhile, but really it's just annoying me so much (along with layers) that I might just cut off the layers and see if that helps, that would be about four inches for me.

Good luck! I know how you feel.

[Moezland]

If it were me, I would do microtrims. I would look at my ends and determine if they are really as bad as I thought or if perhaps continued microtrims and a several deep conditioning treatments might help.

As long as my ends were not damaging the rest of my hair, I think I would feel comfortable with only trimming a little at a time. For me, the big chop of 2 to 4 inches would be too overwhelming, I know I would spend a lot of my time afterwards wondering if I really needed to cut THAT much.