newly devoted long hair

so i promised myself 2 years back that i was gonna grow my hair out.. of course that never came into play. i was supposed to grow it for grad 2004 but did a hair show right before my grad date and had short hair.. not to short.. as you can see from my pic it was up...

but i've finally trusly devoted myself to it.. by hair is layered.. and a little past my shoulders nothing to shout about... the ends are very dry and my roots(the only hair that hasnt been subject to my torture) is lookin wonderful.

i'm however driving myself crazy cause my ends are in terrible condition after the numerous times i've dyed it. not to mention i have swore off trimming cause of fear of what would happen if i possible sit in that chair.. though i do believe myself to have some self control at least now.

i would really like to know what i should do about my dry hair delima. before i go crazy and do something wack to it cause of bordem lol.. i love my hair very much.. and any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Katrianna

Feye's method is found here. It's a method of trimming your hair by yourself. Take off as little or as much as you need to. The method is pretty fool proof.  However I think it works best for hair that is at least mid back length.

Anais

I use this same method to trim my own hair.I used to only trim my own hair and am trying to get it long enough so i can again.

1.part your hair down the very middle of the back of your head.         2.take each side over the fronts of your shoulders.        &a mp;n bsp;         &a mp;n bsp;      3.Hold each section side tight with your fingers making a straight clamp on the hair.I'm sure you've seen how the pros do it.         &am p;nb sp;      4.Next cut straight across.Check each side to see if they measure up.

Its super easy.I think I actually figured it out years ago when I was feeling lazy.Turns out it actually worked better than any method i've tried.As far as trimming goes.I swore off stylists cause of getting ripped off and them always cutting so much hair that It didnt grow for  a year.My hair is still the same length it was last year. The trick to trimming IMO is cutting off only what needs it.That search and destroy method Anais has talked about is wonderful.And just because you see one split end an inch up doesnt mean every strand is split an inch up.My top layer is prone to splits the most(but I protect them with a leave in spray with Spf).So whenever my Ex stylist would see the top layer she would trim the whole thing Even though she knew I wanted to grow it out.Eventually I got fed up and decided to do it myself.As for the dry thing.Get a good deep conditioner and give your hair a badly needed break.No heat or chemicals.You will be suprised how much better it will look.Dryness can be remedied with lots of extra moisture.

Definitely try search & destory Katrianna.  I've probably saved about 2 inches of hair from the hairdresser by cutting it that way.  Just make sure your scissors are REALLY sharp.

Also, if you don't already, try brushing your hair with a boar bristle brush.  That will help distribute your hair's natural oil from your roots to your tips and your ends won't be as dry.

And just remember that hair that has been chemically processed a lot needs a lot of extra care and a lot of time to recover.  But it'll be totally worth it in the end

Hi Hi:

Kat - I am also scared to trim my own hair.  Try to find a stylist that you TRUST.

Susan

Just jumping in to say that boar bristle is not for everyone. It is not for most wavy or curly hair types, and oftentimes is too harsh on fine hair. It pays off to buy a cheap one and try that first, before splurging on a big one only to find yourself not using it.

Hope this makes sense

Anais

p.s. to make links that go like this, just highlight some random text and click on the Earth button, kinda next to the Spellcheck. A window pops up that asks for a URL. Put in a URL and click OK, and you will have a highlighted text link. Happy Linking