TRIM OR NOT TO TRIM...IF SO HOW OFTEN

Should You Trim Your Hair Every 6 to 8 Weeks?

A trim is defined as, "To put into a neat or orderly condition by clipping, paring, pruning, etc." A trim is also defined as, "A haircut that restores the previous cut to neatness without changing the hairstyle." Now that we have a common definition of what a trim is, should you trim your hair every 6 to 8 weeks? Let's talk about it.

Trimming your hair based on a time frame, such as every 6 weeks or 8 weeks is not a method to make your hair grow faster. Trimming does not make hair grow. For most of us, trimming the hair this frequently is a way to MAINTAIN our current length.

For some of us, it is way to keep our hair ends neat as the hair gains length, slowly. For almost all of us, trimming the hair based solely on a timetable of 6 to 8 weeks is not the fastest way to gain length.

Why not? This is because hair, especially afro textured hair, grows in whorls.

Think of hair used for weaving. It is all the same length. If you take that hair and wrap it around someone's head, around and around, that's a kind of whorl.

Although that weaved hair is the same length, once you start wrapping it around a head, some of it seems longer or shorter. This is due to the location of the weaved hair on the head. Think of a sea shell. The shell goes around and around, in whorls.

Our natural hair grows the same way as that wrapped piece of weaving hair and that shell. These are all examples of whorls.

My suggestion is to trim your hair on a time based schedule only when your goal is to neaten up the ends of a style you wish to maintain, at your hair's current length. A trim is for maintenance. A cut is used to CHANGE the hair. A cut is used to give yourself a new style, to completely remove split or damaged ends or to shorten the current length.

If you are trying to gain length, a trim can be useful for your purpose. The caveat or catch is that the trim should not be time based. The trim should be length based.

Chicoro