Sometimes It Really IS Hard To Trim

Thank you for the nice comments to yesterday's blog entry. I really am happy with my colour, my hair is shiny and I have no split ends. I don't know why I felt the need to apologize for the photo just because the ends looked uneven due to bun dents, but that's how it is sometimes in the world of Crazy Longhairs; we are our own worst critics.

Lulu made a very interesting point in her comment yesterday. She said that having a small trim seems like such a big decision all of a sudden. I don't think that there is any committed longhair who can't relate to how you feel.

Now, in my first year of growing, I had considerable damage from the days before I knew how to care for my hair. My hair had previously been blow-dried, hot-ironed and over-lightened. It's not surprising that after 9 months of growing without any trims, my hair was covered with splits and was extremely thin at the ends. I was just a whisper away from waist length, but the bottom 6 inches were see-through.

My decision to dye my hair medium brown, which required two full-head dyes did not help matters. My hair looked pitiful and felt like straw. It was the easiest decision of my life to cut off those six inches and have a fresh start.

A year later when it took repeated dyeing to get back to my blonde shade (before I knew about the wonders of coconut oil protecting from peroxide damage), again, it was easy to chop off six inches of visible damage once again. I even cut off a further two or three inches. For the next year and a half, I merely maintained my above APL length, so I was trimming frequently.

Once my hair felt healthy enough to start growing again, this past January, suddenly trimming has become very difficult. Logically, I know that for me, trims are essential. My hair is so fine and so straight that any true unevenness shows up like crazy and thin ends simply are not for me. Yet doing that mandatory trim is getting harder and harder to want to do.

My head and mind know very well from experience that where my hair is concerned, the old saw, "A stitch in time saves nine.", surely applies. My emotions and my heart on the other hand, are getting excited about reaching that next goal.

And so with that disconnect between head and heart, the decision to trim when necessary suddenly becomes huge.

The bottom line is that I have to be strict with myself, assess my needs honestly and be disciplined enough to trim when it's time to trim.

In my case, I trim when my hair begins to look uneven. Other times, it may be that I can simply feel with my own hands that it's time to trim.

If my ends feel like velcro and I've tried the usual first aid of clarifying and then doing a deep moisturizing treatment and that hasn't worked, then chances are that it's time to trim.

Having learned the skill of trimming and cutting my own hair and bangs has proved to be invaluable. As I've mentioned before, I use Feye's Self-Trim Method, with excellent results. It still amazes me that I, who can't draw a straight line to save my life, or cut a straight line freehand on a piece of paper, can cut my hair successfully.

To this day, I've never unintentionally cut more hair off than I wanted.

In any case, this month was slated to be my trim month, but since my growth rate has been slower than normal this summer, I may hold off until October. I've given my hair an extra day of rest since I touched up my roots on Monday, so I won't be washing until tomorrow morning. I'm going to do a deep moisture treatment, comb my hair straight down and really look at my ends. If they're uneven, then I trim this month. If they're still okay, no trim until October.

I think I'll have a photo taken of my ends combed down so that I can really see it clearly before I make my decision. Whichever decision needs to be made, I'm going to make sure that I post about it and stick to it, without regret.

I have realized that I really do have to let my brain do the talking when it comes to my hair and not my emotions.

I think it's hysterical that I've written so much on the topic of trimming just a half of an inch, but that's the way it can be with Crazy Longhairs. In any case, I'll let you know tomorrow what the verdict is.

'Til then, my friends. Love to all, and extra hugs to anyone in pain.