How to Trim Your Ends

...Okay so ya'll know last update I was really upset because the scissor happy stylist "trimmed" too much of my hair. I am now thinking that for my Aug update she probably cut alot then. That was after I didn't relax for a year. I wonder how much of THAT progress went down the drain. For all I know I could have been full APL if she didn't trim too much in Aug and Dec. Anyway I vowed that was the last time a stylist would trim my ends! If I am going to learn to take care of my hair then I need to learn it ALL. So I did some searching on the Internet and found these helpful tips on trimming or dusting my ends:

How To Trim Your Ends

Step One
Separate your hair into four equal sections, pinning the sections you're not working on out of the way.

Step Two
Identify your split ends. This will be easy because when looking at the ends of individual hairs, the split ends separate at the bottom of the hair shaft.

Step Three
Hold a section of hair in your hand no wider than an inch across. Use your first and middle fingers to hold this hair about one inch from the bottom.

Step Four
Use the shears to cut off only the bottom of this section. This shouldn't be more than one quarter to half an inch.

Step Five
Repeat steps two to four all the way around your head. Trimming hair in the back of your head will require a mirror and might be too difficult to do on your own. See if you can have a friend help you on the back sections.

Step Six
Make sure you're trimming evenly, especially if you have straight hair. People with curly hair don't have to worry as much that their hair falls in a straight line, but a sloppy trimming job on very straight hair will be obvious.

How To Dust Your Ends

Start with a section of hair and cut off the split ends of individual strands. You can use one of the methods described below if you wish.

Take a small section of hair, and twist it. The ends of the hair will pop up out of the twist and you can see split ends and trim them.

Spread out a section of hair with your fingers. Place your index finger over the top of the section, the middle finger adjacent and underneath, and your ring finger over. Basically weave it through these three fingers. As you slide your fingers down the section you should see bad ends popping out, so trim them. Continue all the way down the strand. Be prepared for eye strain!

Take a section of hair, leave it loose and search through it for split ends.

Tips & Warnings

Trimming split ends on a regular basis is important if you're trying to grow your hair out. Left alone, split ends can travel up the length of the hair, which leads to further damage.

If your hair has badly damaged ends due to neglect, visiting a professional stylist will yield better results.

Use shears made for hair trimming, not scissors that are used for various household tasks.

Dull shears can further damage your hair, so make sure your shears are sharp to get the best results.