5 Vital Signs That Your Hair Needs a Trim

In trying to grow our hair long, healthy and strong, one thing natural and relaxed girls share in common, is that many of us neglect, avoid, even feel faint at the idea of trimming our hair! Scissors happy girls must have something else going on because the rest of us?

Jk, jk! In the last 2 years, I have come to accept that trimming one’s ends is simply non-negotiable. I’m not going to give you a specific timeframe within which you MUST trim. I have committed to EXAMINING my hair every 3 months for a trim. Maybe I’ll get one. Maybe I’ll trim 2 inches or just ½. It depends on where my hair is at the time.

So, how do you know if your hair is at the point where you should trim? Here are 5 vital signs!

1. You have way too many single strand knots at your ends

As naturals, single strand knots/ fairy knots are no strangers. They’re pesky, we see them but try our best to ignore. Is your hair loose? Grab a portion and see; do you have more than a few SSKs? If the answer is yes, you will definitely need a trim soon.

2. Split ends

Split ends appear in various forms and the truth is, once it happens, the split will continue to go up your hair shaft, compromising more of your hair in the process. NO product in this world can fix your split ends, sis. Do yourself a favour, you need to cut it!

3. Detangling has become war

Now, when your ends are a crazy combination of reasons 1 and 2, detangling your hair becomes a battle because it’s driving you knots, sorry, nuts! From washday to styling, working with your hair is stressful, even with your favourite detangling product. You need a trim!

4. Your hair is unmanageable, period.

In addition to the tangled situation, your hair is dry. You aren’t retaining moisture like you used to. Your products don’t seem to be working as well, and your hairstyles aren’t coming out right. Your ends are the oldest part of your hair. Because they’ve been around the longest, they may suffer from wear and tear, and this makes them more porous. It always helps to concentrate products on your ends as maintenance, but when your hair gets to this point, close your eyes, get that trim!

5. Your hair is “not growing”.

Two years of growth and not much to show for it? When last did you trim your hair? How often do you trim? I had to learn this the hard way. It is not correct that trimming makes your hair grow. However, trimming makes it easier to retain the length that your hair dutifully grows, and this translates to longer hair, evidence of growth that you can refer to. So, once your ends are in bad shape- see situations 1-4, it only follows that your hair will break off. Those small small pieces of breakage you experience on the regular, translate to much more in the long run. It pays to let go of the unhealthy bits of your hair, because they WILL compromise more of your hair with them.

6. Your ends are thin

I know I said 5 signs, but here’s a bonus sixth! 🙂 If you have managed to hold onto some growth, but the thickness of your ends is in such sharp contrast to the rest of your hair, trust me when I say that they need to go! Thin, see-through ends are not healthy, and the sooner you let go of them, the better!!

So, tell us. When was your last trim? How does your hair let you know that it’s time to cut it?

 

Source: 5 Vital Signs You Need a Trim

 

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