To Trim or Not to Trim??

Trimming is such a controversial subject in the hair world. There is a school of thought that says you need to trim your hair every "x" amount of weeks, and then there is a school of thought that says trimming isn't necessary. My opinion has been influenced by what I've learned from research, training, personal experience, and general knowledge I've gathered in my young career. It must be understood first and foremost, that hair is DEAD. Yea, I said it.

Courtesy of Cosmetics & Toiletries              

The hair follicle (where growth occurs) is alive, the strand that you see, is not.  Secondly, it must be understood that hair grows from the root, not the ends. I'm not saying that trimming hair isn't necessary because it is, especially for those with damaged hair. Unbeknownst to most, hair is easily damaged. I've learned that hair is damaged in the following ways:

*Physical Damage:
- Heat Styling (flat ironing, blow drying)
- Combing and/ or brushing (which pretty much means regular/ daily styling)
- Washing and drying (the tugging and tangling of the hair)

*Chemical Damage:
- Sun Exposure (yes...the sun can harm your hair as well as your skin)
- Coloring/ Highlighting
- Perming/ Relaxing (Relaxed hair is permanently damaged!)

Courtesy of Cosmetics & Toiletries

This chart shows the levels of damage as it relates to the health of your hair. Very helpful I must say!


With that said, if you do the actions closer to the "bad hair" end of the scale, you will need to trim or even cut your hair, depending on the level of damage. Trimming your hair cannot MAKE your hair grow, but it does HELP you retain length. That is, in my opinion, where the confusion occurs! If your ends are damaged you will not retain length. The ends will break off from split ends, being weak and dry, losing elasticity and tensile strength, single strand knots, etc.
So the moral of the story is hair is DEAD and cutting something that is dead will not make it grow. On the other hand, trimming is essential to maintaining healthy looking hair and retaining length if you partake in any of the above damaging activities regularly. So I do not believe there is a set time of how often everyone should trim their ends.  I think it's subjective. My hair tells me when I need to trim it! When my twist outs and roller sets look frizzy at the ends, or if I can't smooth my ends out in a roller or curlformer set, I generally get the idea that my hair needs some tender love and care. So don't be afraid of those shears if you're goal is to retain length and have healthy looking hair.

Signing Off,

Hair I Stand's NaturalBornDiva88

*The diagrams and information discussed and shown in this post where obtained primarily from Cosmetics & Toiletries, Complete Cosmetic Chemist Training Program, Lesson 3: Hair Conditioners, Led by Perry Romanowski