Split Ends

[La_Mari]

How long after you get your haircut do you start seeing split ends? And what do you think you do to contribute to them? I used to get them but never noticed the amount of time, so I can't really answer the question.

But the other day my friend was asking me what I do differently because I don't have any and I haven't had a cut or trim in almost 7 months. I know it's bad, but I've always been intimidated by haircuts.

I can't say this is why, but the only difference than her is I style my hair less than 4 times a week. That's including blow drying and flat ironing it. I also use more condtioner at the ends and if I towel dry, I don't rub it with a towel, someone toldl me it created frizz anyway, I kind of just pat it. And I try to be gentle when I brush it. I know she's tough with her brush. And I stopped using hairspray in it. Only a few times a month.

Do you guys have any more tips?

 

[Johnnie]

Mine are the same. I steer clear from the blow dryer and the flat iron. Mmm...maybe there's some kind of split end repair serum or something?

 

[Adrienne]

When I used to do my hair daily I would see split ends at least 3-4 months and then get a trim. Now that I haven't done anything, three years later, I'm just now barely getting split ends.

 

[Lucy]

i know you can't do anything to get rid of them once you have them... all those serums or shampoos that say they repair split ends are just gimmicks, the only way to loose them is to cut them off!

 

[Annelle]

i think anything that's rough on the hair just helps to promote them. if you don't use stuff like that too often, and your overall health/hair health is good, then it shouldn't be super common. (kind of like how nails chip when you paint them -- if you're doing house repairs an hour after doing your nails -- you'll probably get chips. If you spend the next few days doing absolutely nothing besides watching tv -- probably not so much.)

i think blow drying, curling/ironing, and over brushing (completely non-scientific and non-professional guesses), and certain chemicals would attribute to more split ends.

The healthier your hair is (which is also representative of how overall healthy you are -- and remember hair is longterm so being healthy for 2 months will show for those 2 months (maybe an inch or a few inches) of hair length you were healthy for -- not the entire shaft of the hair), the stronger it is, and likely the more resistant it will be to breaks and splitting.

 

[HairEgo]

Here we go again with explaining split ends:

You're hair is bonded with something called Ceramides. Certain things we do to our hair contribute to the loss of ceramides, the main two are...if you chemically treat the hair and if you use a lot of heat (blow drying is actually worse for the hair then flat ironing is but dont get me wrong, flat ironing still does a number on the hair). This is really hard to explain via typing so bare with me. Ceramides are like the glue that bonds that hair toogether; if your hair is healthy and you are treating it properly, the hair will look like this ||. You get split ends when ceramides are lost via protein from the hair and it ends up looking like this / aka a split end. The hair is no longer bonded together at the end.

The best thing you can do for your hair is trimming it often; I trim my hair every 4 weeks. I do blow dry, colour treat and flat iron my hair, so to make up for the ceramides I loose during the process, I use a protein based treatment once a week.

 

[Orangeeyecrayon]

i see mine after about 2 months.

i think the only reason my hair lasts so long is because i only heat style for special occasions aka less than once a month. but at the same time i am a natural blonde so my hair is intrinsicly weaker than brunette hair

 

[Johnnie]

Very informative Gina. I'm sure a lot of us didn't know that.

 

[Ozee]

Goof info Gina

 

[XOffendr]

I had no idea about ceramides!

I never noticed any split ends until I started highlighting my hair. Even though I don't style it frequently, the bleach does a real number on it. My hair is probably the most neglected part of my appearance/ health. I will definitely need to get a protein treatment and take better care of it!

 

[laurie_lu]

I've reduced my splint ends by....I quit using a curling iron. I switched to a Tourmaline dryer. Stopped using hairspray which contains alcohol. Only use Tressemme Vit E shampoo and conditioner.

 

[usersassychick0]

I have fine hair so it gets damaged easily... I can still be finding split ends as soon as I leave the salon and thats probably due to the fact that I came in with so many split ends and breakage that its nearly impossible to get rid of them all.

I do blow dry and straighten.... but I also wait until my hair is atleast half dry before I dry it and always use a heat protector before I do anything(and I know its good since I bought it after the millions of raves on another site with product reviews... I know its tresemme but I forget the exact name, its black with red detailing).

 

[ox0xbarbiex0xo]

I blow dry my hair and straighten/curl it about 3 times a week I would say, give or take. My new years resolution was to get a hair cut about every 2 months this year. My hair is looking WAYYY healthier.

Last year, I think I had one hair cut total and when I finally DID get it cut, I ended up having to cut off about 3 or 4 inches!

 

[cinderella]

I use natural oils jojoba, almond or coconut butter to avoid split ends. But in my opinion it depends on the hair type mostly. If you have fine or dry hair the split ends are inevitable. In this case the regular cutting is the answer.

 

[Noir Sakura]

I haven't had a trim or cut in over a year (don't plan to get another one until January 2010), but I rarely get split ends because I don't really do anything to my hair. No chemicals or heat and lots of deep conditioning and protective styles.

 

[hippieman556]

i never knew much about split ends i just get my hair cut every month