Does cutting your hair make it healthier?
Although my profile picture shows me with quite long hair, I've recently actually cut it significantly shorter.
After a holiday during which I (a) swam in a saltwater pool that also had chlorine added, and (b) also had the benefit of some glorious sunshine, my hair was looking dry and felt brittle. So there wasn't much choice, really, other than to get the dead bits cut off!
Whilst I am a bit annoyed at having to do this, I have to say that my hair certainly looks and feels much healthier. It's quite amazing. I haven't been, in recent years, very rigorous about getting regular trims, but I think I may change my ways, especially as I have found a hairdresser I really like.
So I was wondering - do you think that a haircut improves hair health? Are six-weekly trims, even when you are growing your hair, really necessary and not just a myth?
Katie
i think its a good idea to gt your hair trimmed every 6 weeks if you style or colour your hair often and around 8 weeks if you take good care of it. it definetely improves the look of your hair getting a regular trim and taking off the bad ends and if you leave split ends uncut then they can travel up the rest of your hair and damage it.
My best friend is also my hairdresser - mine always looks so much better after being trimmed, she would have an explanation for this, but I think it's something to do with shaping, styling and the actual weight of the hair, if it is just a bit shorter and layered, it seems to bounce up more, not drag down and pull any waves and curls out!
I'm growing mine for my wedding as I desperatly want to have it put up. Its quite fine so my hairfresser said I should grow it even longer to ensure that there's plenty to work with. At the moment I'm trying to go 5 months between hair cuts and have managed it twice. Even with these cuts it's grown from an inch all over to just about shoulder length with a semi decent pony tail in a year. I'm pleased with progress but do find it looks better after a trim.
Well, my six month must be up - because I'm booked in at the salon tomorrow. I have specified a cut and a colour.
So on to the bigger decisions: shall I be a blonde, brunette, redhead - or a mix?? Shortish, long layers, shoulder length, choppy? With a fringe, or without?
Or shall I leave it in the lap of the gods - aka my extremely excellent hairdresser, who manages to find just the right shade of whatever tone I desire, however daft (think platinum blonde with auburn lowlights - no kidding - and only 2.5 years ago (post baby number 2!) and ALWAYS does me a cut which will grow out gracefully into something I can continue to manage - for about 6 months. And she's great at gossip, too!
Now, I'll have to pat down the sofa and my coat pockets for enough loose change to PAY the lady in these cash-strapped times of ours - but that's another topic altogether!
Shel
I had my long hair cut off just over 18 months ago, and I can't say there was any noticeable difference in it's condition even though all the old bits were gone. It was more shiny although that has more to do with the follicles laying flat after a good blow dry and hair straighteners being used than having it cut
I go every month to get my roots done and have a trim - I am completely grey and have been for some years now after finding my first one at age 18, so if I don't go every month I would have a lovely grey streak down the centre of my head LOL.
I have also noticed my hair is becoming less thick as the years go by which is great for me because my hair is so thick it is almost unmanageable.
I had my hair cut two weeks ago, it's very short, shorter than I normally have it but my hairdresser was sunning herself in Spain so someone else did it. She said that my hair was very coarse but cutting it would make it better. I've never had coarse hair in my life so don't know if she was spinning me a line or not. I don't think cutting it makes it healthier, just easier to manage.
I am 47 and had my first grey hair the day I got married when I was 24. I've got loads now and if I didn't colour it every six-eight weeks, I fear I would be totally grey by now. :(
My nan on my mum's side didn't go grey until she was in her seventies and at 71 my mum has very few grey hairs now.
I've actually decided to cancel my hair appointment, Fee. My hair isn't growing as fast as i would like, so I reckon it can stand to miss out on this particular trim. Six weeks is just too soon, I'm now thinking, if I want it to actually get any longer!
I've got quite fine hair, in fact, and I do worry that it is getting a bit more sparse as time goes by.
Katie
Well, at 49, my regrowth is more grey than brown these days.......I highlight mine blonde LOL The grey has only come in the last 5 years though until 45 I didn't have any. It makes the blonde easier to keep up with anyway, as the regrowth is much less obvious and it 'takes' the blonde better. There have to be some perks to getting older!
I have a layered, choppy style that sits just below my collarbones..................I get it trimmed about every 10 weeks or so. It doesn;t seem to make much difference to the condition though.................
Hello everyone,this will be my first post so pardon me if I just jump in at the deep end!
I hate having my hair cut and am growing out quite a severe cut. I went from almost waist length,to that cut that Posh had until recently, and actually got a round of applause at the hair salon. Prior to that, I think I probably had a trim every six- eight months. In fact, I am growing my hair back cos the finances dictate that I cant afford the luxury of £35 cuts every six weeks! LOL. Must say, Katie you have beautiful hair? Any greys yet? I will be 44 tomorrow and dont have any (although I do deserve them).
I do get split ends but use one of those 'serum end' oils which I find excellent. HTH!
And Faryal, like most mums I lost an inordinate amount of hair after having my son!!! its quite normal!
Hello Fruity! Welcome to TP - and please do just jump in the deep end! There is an introductions thread, and also a few fun questions for newbies to answer, too.
And, oh, thank you for the compliment. I am quite funny about my hair as it all fell out some years ago (well, not all of it but it felt as if!) and I just can't bear the idea of having short hair again! I can't wait for it to grow back to the length my profile picture shows.
Nope, no grey hairs just yet - although I did find a suspiciously pale hair in my hairbrush the other day! I'm not too bothered about grey hair - I have this strange idea that it might quite suit me!
Katie
Hi there Faryal,
Don't worry about this seemingly colossal hairloss - it's just your hormones and it will all sort itself out, I promise. Apparently when we are pregnant, our bodies stop the hairs falling out: the hair follicles don't die and so they stay in for longer, but new ones still grow too, so our hair gets thicker and more full of body.
Can't say I noticed the shampoo-ad hair myself, with all the nausea, discomfort and the huge belly, but apparently that's what happens.
So when the hormones start to fade away after baby is born, the hairs which your head was hanging on to, all seem to come out at once. It's just getting you back to where you should have been, had you never been pregnant - you won't go bald because of it!
Hope that reassures you a little,
Shel
Hi faryalumer and welcome to TalkPerfection.
As Shel says try not to worry about your hair loss - it is perfectly natural. I have four children and this happened to me every time - but I still have quite the head of hair, as you can see!
Do let us know how things settle down - and remember, it does take about a year to recover from pregnancy and childbirth.
Katie
I have a wonderful hairdresser who does herself out of my cash by always managing to do me a style which grows out perfectly, and really doesn't NEED more than a visit every 6 months!
The idea of finding a couple of hours every 6 weeks is unthinkable to me! Even if it made me look like a timotei girl hahaha
Shel
Ah, now, see - I find a haricut to be a very soothing experience. And it is the one and only time my hair gets blow-dried straight; it's actually very wavy. And usually pulled back to keep it under control.
As it happens, my firend's hen night is the same day as the next trim, if six weekly, would be due - and in the same town as my hairdresser's is, too! So it looks as if I will have a six week trim this time.
Long term, though given that I want to grow my hair back down, I think I will be leaving it a bit longer (pun intended!) than six weeks.
Katie
