Trimming Your Ends

Trimming is an important part of a healthy natural hair routine. Trimming helps keep your ends clean and rid of damage.  This should ultimately allow your hair to keep and gain length (if that is one of your goals)

Trimming your hair should be a normal part of your routine, it should not be something that you dread doing or avoid doing.  I know many of us have experienced scissor happy stylist back in the day that when you said "Girl...go ahead and trim the ends" you went from long hair don't care to rocking a bob.  LOL!! This has so happened to me before. Those experiences have hindered many from trimming the ends all together, which is not good.  We should be comfortable with this part of the healthy natural hair journey and you can take matters into your own hands if you don't feel comfortable with someone else doing it for you.

A trim should be just that a trim, so you should take off about half an inch of hair.  You can also do a dusting which is about a quarter inch or less of your hair. You could also do the "Search and Destroy" method which is when you go though your hair very carefully and find damaged/split ends and just cut those away.

Now that you know how much or how to trim lets figure out how often or when you should do it.

 I have heard of so many different rules and received so many different suggestions it's really hard to figure out which way is the best way.

This is what I have been told:

• You should trim once every 6 weeks
• You should trim once every 8 weeks
• You should trim once every 3 months
• You should trim once every 4 months
• You should trim once every 6 months
• You should trim once a year
• You should trim when there is a full moon (o_O)
• You should trim as needed

Seeing this list above can definitely make anyone confused and not know what to do.  Some people may follow trimming the hair every 6-8 weeks and after a year of doing that may find that their hair is still the same length as the previous year.  That could be because you are trimming to much of your hair off or could be doing it too often.  Others may follow trimming every 3 months to a year and find that they experience a lot of growth, but they have to trim more than a half of inch of hair because they have a lot more damaged ends.

I personally following trimming as needed.  I monitor my ends and do my best to keep them moisturized to avoid them over drying which can lead to damage and split ends.  This "as needed" method in my opinion has helped me retain length and overall healthy hair.

Your schedule of trimming is really up to you and your hair. Please do your own research and figure out what works best for you. You could visit with a natural hair stylist to get a professional opinion about what schedule if any you should follow.

I hope this was helpful.

Leave a comment below letting me know what trimming schedule you follow.

Until next time, 
Take Care and God Bless~

Tiffany N