Long hair and Split EndsSunday, April 29, 2007
If you have long hair, you are probably worried that you have split ends. We could make it sound even more serious by referring to it by its medical name “trichoptilosis”. People ascribe different reasons to how you get split ends. For example, backbrushing or backcombing, the sun, the wind, hair coloring and hair perming, shampooing and drying your hair, hard water and some hairstyling products.
I even have clients with short hair asking me “do I have any split ends?”
I am writing this article to alleviate your fears about split ends and your worry that you might end up with no hair. Actually you will see that there is really nothing to worry about. The worst thing that could happen is that the ends of your hair are not blunt but have a slightly uneven length, which is not a bad thing at all and makes the periphery of your hair look more natural. So, you see, nothing terrible is happening to your hair.
Now let’s just consider for a moment what split ends really are and what causes this condition. Split ends occur in long hair. Hair is like a fiber and once it has been washed, dried, styled, colored and mayby permed over a long (two and a half years) period of time it starts to wear out at the ends.
If you haven’t cut your hair for two years or more it tends to tangle at the ends, which can also be described as “porous”. The cuticle starts to stick out (you can see this under a microscope) which causes the hair to tangle easily, it is hard to comb through. Because of the wear and tear the hair starts to split, maybe a millimeter or two.
You will see hair conditioners that claim to to work for split ends, but this unfortuanetly is an illusion. However, a conditioner does wonders to detangle your hair. The best thing to do if you are concerned about split ends is to cut your hair about half an inch.
Oh yes, and by the way, you probably have figured it out by now, short hair cannot have split ends. It’s simply not old enough.
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