Healthy African American Hair
Starts with a Good Trim

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If your goal is to have healthy African American Hair before you work on achieving long hair, then trimming should be your first course of action. There are a lot of options, techniques, and questions regarding to trimming. In this page, I will share with you what I have learned to be true in regarding to achieving long, healthy hair by trimming.

What Exactly is a Hair Trim?

Typically a hair trim involves 1/2 to an inch of hair being cut. Trimming is done for various reasons including eliminating split ends, preventing split ends, reducing breakage, and improving appearance.

Some people also use the term dusting which refers to an even smaller amount of hair being cut such as 1/4 of an inch. Dusting can also be used to refer to cutting split ends individually.

Some scissor happy stylists think that a hair trim is 2 inches or more. That is more of a hair cut. You can get healthy African American hair without cutting it all off! Beware if you have a scissor happy stylist and make sure they trim no more than what you ask for.

What are the Benefits of Trimming?

Improving the appearance of hair
Making hair even
Getting rid of split ends
Making ends thicker
Preventing split ends
Keeping the split ends from splitting higher up the hair shaft
Getting rid of damage
Removing knots if your hair is curly

What Happens if You Don't Trim?

One thing I commonly hear regarding healthy African American hair care: Do ends need to be trimmed? There are people who are on both sides of the fence on this issue.

My opinion is that trimming is absolutely necessary to achieve long, healthy hair. (Now, should you just be wishing for long hair, then trimming may not be necessary for you.)

Here are a list of issues you may experience as a result of not trimming:

Thin Ends - If you have split ends or damage at the ends of your hair and don't cut it off, then they will eventually break off on their own. Since ALL of the hair won't have the split ends or damage, you'll only lose some of the hair. The result: Thin ends.
Tangles - You'll experience tangles do the split ends you have that are tangling around each other. If the ends split and leave "half an end," then that end is thinner mingling in with thicker ends causing tangling. African American hair that is natural or curly may form knots that will contribute to tangles. in the same way
Unhealthy appearance - Healthy African American hair has a better appearance when the ends are thick and healthy appearance. Thin ends do not look healthy whether or not the ends are split. (There are some things you can do to disguise this if you're slowly trimming thin ends away though.)
Gradually Worse Split Ends - Not trimming split ends can sometimes lead to further splitting of that hair. Meaning that had you trimmed sooner rather than later, you wouldn't have to trim as much.
Dryness - Dryness can occur when the ends are so damaged that they are no longer able to retain moisture. You may have noticed this when no matter what you do to your ends, they are still dry. Trimming them could relieve this provided that your hair is healthy otherwise.
Frizzy Ends - This occurs when there are split ends, knots, and damage. Sometimes frizzy ends may seem to be there but show no signs of knots, damage or split ends. Sometimes end just get old from daily styling or products. I would guess that trimming a small amount would result in less frizzy ends!

Who Should Trim Your Hair?

Most people prefer to go to a stylist to have their hair trimmed. In most cases, this can result in a very thorough and beautiful trim. However, as I mentioned before, there are some scissor happy stylists out there. So you must make sure to be vocal in what you're looking for as far as a trim. Make sure to tell them whether or not you want layers and how much you want trimmed. You need to find a stylist who understands your goal for healthy African American hair.

You must also explain to some stylists that you want a trim section by section or layer by layer. This simply means that instead of just pulling your hair straight down and trimming across, the stylists parts your hair, trims, parts again, trims, and so on doing a final trim across the bottom for evenness.

You can also choose to trim your own hair. If you choose to trim your own hair make sure that you have professional shears or scissors. Using raggedy old scissors will leave you with raggedy old ends! As always with doing anything to your own hair, take it slowly! Or better yet, have someone you trust do it for you!

What Does Trimming Have to do with Hair Growth?

Frankly speaking, trimming has absolutely nothing to do with hair growth! However, trimming has a lot to do with retaining length!

If you have breakage and split ends and never trim, it will seem as though your hair isn't growing. Yet, you see that you continue to need a touch-up for new growth. Why? Because your hair IS growing. It is just breaking at the ends. Thus, you end up with the same length hair or shorter.

On the other hand, if you trim off the split ends and damage, over time you will gradually see that your hair is getting longer. It is simply retaining length. That is what healthy hair care is all about! Keeping your hair healthy so that it can retain length. Trimming is an essential part of healthy African American hair!

How Often Should You Trim Your Hair?

How often you have your hair trimmed depends on several factors:

Your daily styling
The current state of your ends and hair overall
Your hair goals
Type of hair

Generally speaking, trimming your hair every 8 weeks will keep it in tip top shape! Trimming every 8 weeks generally works no matter what the current state of your hair.

If you're experiencing split ends and damage, every 8 weeks will allow you to gradually get your hair up to healthy standards. You can start off with getting maybe a 3/4 to 1 inch trim every eight weeks and gradually get down to 1/2 inch once you've gotten rid of most of the damage.
If you already have healthy hair, you can choose to trim your hair every eight weeks having only 1/4 an inch taken off. This will keep the ends neat and tidy.
However, if you are wearing protective styling, keeping your ends moisturized, and are noticing that your ends are staying healthy and thick, then you can choose to go longer between trims. I will leave that timing up to you. It will all depend on your hair and the goals you are trying to reach.

Some people even trim their hair according to moon phases!

If you would like my opinion further on how often I think you should trim to achieve healthy African American hair, please feel free to contact me.