I just don’t know what to do! I thought my trimming schedule was really good but apparently, its not. I just chopped off a big chunk of hair last December 2011 to get rid of split ends which I didn’t realise were appearing. Spent last few months growing my hair back. Had it straightened last weekend and had to do the same thing again! My ends were so raggedy and what’s annoying is that it was getting quite long again!

Any suggestions would be helpful.  I rarely use heat on my hair. Maybe I’m just not doing enough trimming in the interim. Does anyone think that could be the problem. I hadn’t had another trim since last December - should I be doing more? I’m tired of growing my hair and then having to chop it off and start again!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

lela7 - 20 March 2012 12:19 PM

I just don’t know what to do! I thought my trimming schedule was really good but apparently, its not. I just chopped off a big chunk of hair last December 2011 to get rid of split ends which I didn’t realise were appearing. Spent last few months growing my hair back. Had it straightened last weekend and had to do the same thing again! My ends were so raggedy and what’s annoying is that it was getting quite long again!

Any suggestions would be helpful.  I rarely use heat on my hair. Maybe I’m just not doing enough trimming in the interim. Does anyone think that could be the problem. I hadn’t had another trim since last December - should I be doing more? I’m tired of growing my hair and then having to chop it off and start again!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

sorry to hear that lela7! I haven’t dealt with split ends as of yet, but defo some raggedy ones. how often are you trimming your hair? and how do you trim? maybe you need to shorten the time in between as your hair has quite a bit of length to it, you may need to keep a closer eye on it than previous.

I tend to trim my ends the way i saw AfricanExport do it on youtube, which is trimming it while its in twists rather than going through individual hairs.

maybe you need to change something in your regime to combat it also!

I don’t know if tis is good advice, but i’m going with what your post says, hope it helps!! 

Thanks for the help! Will look for stronger protein treatment!

Could it be that the person who is trimming your hair isn’t doing it properly?...A bad trim can leave your hair looking worse and sometimes you wont see how bad it is until it starts to grow out a little!

Plus if you understand how curly hair grows then its best to trim/cut when its wet/in its curly state. Not straightened in my opinion.

As an alternative could also try dusting your ends regularly (every 2-3 months) rather than having to hack off large chunks every time you straighten.

Hope you figure out what the problem is, its really annoying having to hack off inches that take so much care & time to grow.

Lela7…I feel your pain…my ends were looking raggedy too. I had mini-splits and knots on the ends….I don’t use heat…I think I somewhere between November and March I didn’t do as much protein treatments as I should have. So I’m back on ensuring my hair gets protein daily with a weak protein, weekly with a medium protein and doing the aphoghee every six weeks. My hair is very fine so it is definately not protein sensitive! Also in examining my hair after winter’s protective styling. I realised that a lot of my knots where formed from shed hair so I have stepped up my detangling to get it all out once a week so it doesn’t re-tangle and re-knot on the hair that is healthy and still growing. Also for the rest of the week I leave my hair alone so low manipulation and protectively styled after being washed,conditioned and detangled.  An afro is great but not great for knots and tangles! I trim every three months ie remove a 1/4 of an inch of the ends of my hair. I get a hairdresser to do it twice a year and I do it inbetween. I do a bit of dusting if I feel a knot/see a knot while styling. You could try a combination to see what helps your hair. Good luck and Cheers.

marleyhill34 - 09 April 2012 07:18 PM

Lela7…I feel your pain…my ends were looking raggedy too. I had mini-splits and knots on the ends….I don’t use heat…I think I somewhere between November and March I didn’t do as much protein treatments as I should have. So I’m back on ensuring my hair gets protein daily with a weak protein, weekly with a medium protein and doing the aphoghee every six weeks. My hair is very fine so it is definately not protein sensitive! Also in examining my hair after winter’s protective styling. I realised that a lot of my knots where formed from shed hair so I have stepped up my detangling to get it all out once a week so it doesn’t re-tangle and re-knot on the hair that is healthy and still growing. Also for the rest of the week I leave my hair alone so low manipulation and protectively styled after being washed,conditioned and detangled.  An afro is great but not great for knots and tangles! I trim every three months ie remove a 1/4 of an inch of the ends of my hair. I get a hairdresser to do it twice a year and I do it inbetween. I do a bit of dusting if I feel a knot/see a knot while styling. You could try a combination to see what helps your hair. Good luck and Cheers.

Thanks! I may go and try an aphogee treatment!

Lela, I last had my hair trimmed in December and loads of split ends are appearing for me now too! I think four months is quite a long time to leave between trims - I certainly couldn’t get away with leaving it longer than that. I tried to dust my ends last month as well, but the scissors I used were a bit rubbish and probably made things worse. Could it be your scissors?

folkoono - 11 April 2012 05:08 PM

Lela, I last had my hair trimmed in December and loads of split ends are appearing for me now too! I think four months is quite a long time to leave between trims - I certainly couldn’t get away with leaving it longer than that. I tried to dust my ends last month as well, but the scissors I used were a bit rubbish and probably made things worse. Could it be your scissors?

I realise now, that I can’t go that long, I’m definately going to start dusting my ends.  I had hair that the longest part allowed me to tuck it under my armpits. Now its only about an inch below my collar bone. I was really upset, but I now I’m more determined to recover my longer healthy hair.  I had to keep reminding myself that hair grows back all the time and it should be back to my old length by the end of the year! We all make mistakes!

The scissors are important because poor scissors can make your hair split more because the ends aren’t cut smoothly. The worst type of scissors, are the type you would use for cutting paper and stuff like that - too blunt. I was using some cheap hair scissors from Pak, but in case they were causing the problem, I got some proper hairdressing scissors from Sally’s. They cost £20 but I think it will be worth it.

Just be careful with the Aphogee two step treatment. it is super strong. It hardens while drying into your hair and then you need to gently rinse it out (it softens once you wet it again)and do a deep very moisturising treatment afterwards so the hair will go back soft.

I’m having very similar issues. It’s really disheartening, trying to retain length but having to cut the ends off because they’re so unhealthy.

Can you buy the aphogee treatment in the curl emporium? I searched but couldnt find it

Hi Sisi. No it would be online or in your local Black Beauty Supply store.

Sisi - 11 April 2012 10:22 PM

I’m having very similar issues. It’s really disheartening, trying to retain length but having to cut the ends off because they’re so unhealthy.

Can you buy the aphogee treatment in the curl emporium? I searched but couldnt find it

They sell it at Pak. I’m wondering if it is too strong. II’m so unsure!

Oh my goodness, just checked out Pak - they have so much stuff!

Yep you’re right about the strength. I find it hard to decide how much of things my hair needs. I tend to think (incorrectly I know) that more = better. If it’s really strong then just do it less often? You’re only supposed to use it once a month anyway I think.

Hi Lela7,

You could try a protein like aubrey organics GBP and use it weekly for a while. its very affective but not as strong as aphogee. ( which i wouldn’t touch personally, in my opinion, its too strong and better suited to those who use heat often or have a relaxer)
The times i had the worst split/thin ends were when i pressed my hair regularly and for some reason, when i regulary, wore 2 strand twists. Now i do neither my hair is in much better condition. i also dampen / wet my hair at least every other day. I think this helps me alot.  i also found finger detangling ( i havent used a comb or brush in about 2 months) with loads of conditioner in, to be excellent even though i have coily/curly hair ( which is meant to be a nightmare to detangle.

i hope you get to the bottom of this soon   if you had to cut your hair fron APL to collar bone in a relatively short time, your ends must have really suffered for some reason. Have you changed products/ how were you / have you been styling it? maybe that is part of your solution.

Another thought, i know you mentioned reading science of black hair, does it have any useful tips on split ends etc that you could try?

lela7 - 20 March 2012 12:19 PM

I just don’t know what to do! I thought my trimming schedule was really good but apparently, its not. I just chopped off a big chunk of hair last December 2011 to get rid of split ends which I didn’t realise were appearing. Spent last few months growing my hair back. Had it straightened last weekend and had to do the same thing again! My ends were so raggedy and what’s annoying is that it was getting quite long again!

Any suggestions would be helpful.  I rarely use heat on my hair. Maybe I’m just not doing enough trimming in the interim. Does anyone think that could be the problem. I hadn’t had another trim since last December - should I be doing more? I’m tired of growing my hair and then having to chop it off and start again!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

tripleA - 12 April 2012 01:01 PM

Hi Lela7,

You could try a protein like aubrey organics GBP and use it weekly for a while. its very affective but not as strong as aphogee. ( which i wouldn’t touch personally, in my opinion, its too strong and better suited to those who use heat often or have a relaxer)
The times i had the worst split/thin ends were when i pressed my hair regularly and for some reason, when i regulary, wore 2 strand twists. Now i do neither my hair is in much better condition. i also dampen / wet my hair at least every other day. I think this helps me alot.  i also found finger detangling ( i havent used a comb or brush in about 2 months) with loads of conditioner in, to be excellent even though i have coily/curly hair ( which is meant to be a nightmare to detangle.

i hope you get to the bottom of this soon   if you had to cut your hair fron APL to collar bone in a relatively short time, your ends must have really suffered for some reason. Have you changed products/ how were you / have you been styling it? maybe that is part of your solution.

Another thought, i know you mentioned reading science of black hair, does it have any useful tips on split ends etc that you could try?

lela7 - 20 March 2012 12:19 PM

I just don’t know what to do! I thought my trimming schedule was really good but apparently, its not. I just chopped off a big chunk of hair last December 2011 to get rid of split ends which I didn’t realise were appearing. Spent last few months growing my hair back. Had it straightened last weekend and had to do the same thing again! My ends were so raggedy and what’s annoying is that it was getting quite long again!

Any suggestions would be helpful.  I rarely use heat on my hair. Maybe I’m just not doing enough trimming in the interim. Does anyone think that could be the problem. I hadn’t had another trim since last December - should I be doing more? I’m tired of growing my hair and then having to chop it off and start again!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I really don’t know. It was APL and then I it was trimmed to collar bone length in December. Grew it back recently. It wasn’t quite at APL yet, but growing quite well, beyond shoulder when stretched and when I had it professionally straighted, it was obvious that a lot had to go. I was able to grow it to this length before without split ends, so I don’t know what the problem is. I’m not sure what the issue was because in my 1st couple of years natural, I haven’t had these problems. I read the science of black hair but it wasn’t that helpful. I barely use heat. I’ve used more heat in the past and not had this problem. Maybe it was the scissors? I’ve used the same poducts before - nothing has really changed, and I’ve never had this problem.  Maybe I need to do more protein. Ita a bit disheatening, because I must have lost about 5 inches - not sure what could be going wrong. It could be that I’m not trimming regularly enough. I was trimming about every 3 months, but I think I’ll start dusting more frequently. I’ll also add more protein treatments or get something done professionally maybe….....

I also wear at lot of protective styles - canerow under wig.

tripleA - 12 April 2012 01:01 PM

Hi Lela7,

You could try a protein like aubrey organics GBP and use it weekly for a while. its very affective but not as strong as aphogee. ( which i wouldn’t touch personally, in my opinion, its too strong and better suited to those who use heat often or have a relaxer)
The times i had the worst split/thin ends were when i pressed my hair regularly and for some reason, when i regulary, wore 2 strand twists. Now i do neither my hair is in much better condition. i also dampen / wet my hair at least every other day. I think this helps me alot.  i also found finger detangling ( i havent used a comb or brush in about 2 months) with loads of conditioner in, to be excellent even though i have coily/curly hair ( which is meant to be a nightmare to detangle.

i hope you get to the bottom of this soon   if you had to cut your hair fron APL to collar bone in a relatively short time, your ends must have really suffered for some reason. Have you changed products/ how were you / have you been styling it? maybe that is part of your solution.

Another thought, i know you mentioned reading science of black hair, does it have any useful tips on split ends etc that you could try?

lela7 - 20 March 2012 12:19 PM

I just don’t know what to do! I thought my trimming schedule was really good but apparently, its not. I just chopped off a big chunk of hair last December 2011 to get rid of split ends which I didn’t realise were appearing. Spent last few months growing my hair back. Had it straightened last weekend and had to do the same thing again! My ends were so raggedy and what’s annoying is that it was getting quite long again!

Any suggestions would be helpful.  I rarely use heat on my hair. Maybe I’m just not doing enough trimming in the interim. Does anyone think that could be the problem. I hadn’t had another trim since last December - should I be doing more? I’m tired of growing my hair and then having to chop it off and start again!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Just wondering if you use the aubrey organics GBP weekly as a deep treatment, or leave in or just as your normal conditioner?

I’m looking for a protein treatment to try now. The CJ ones I’ve seen are all a bit steep and I have a normal conditioner I really like so I’m just looking for a once in a while kind of thing..