cutting long hair

Trims are good for hair, they can prevent splits from climbing the hair, which will allow it to grow longer in a healthier condition.  They aren't 100% necessary though, some people like "fairy tale ends" and never cut their hair and it grows super long anyway.  Its a personal choice really how you want your ends to be.  If you want it to grow longer faster, and you do trim it, make sure it is only small trims.  Hair grows an average of 1/2 inch a month, so you can calculate how much you cut off vs. how fast it will grow back to that length.

This is just my opinion, but I find curly hair much easier to cut than straight.  I have cut both, and my straight hair is much harder to get a perfectly straight cut across on, because any unevenness will show up.  With curly hair, you sort of just have to see how your bounce goes.  I cut my ex boyfriend's long curly hair wet, and his would bounce up dry and look even, but some people's if you cut it wet, it will curl up and one side will be noticeably shorter than the other.   I suppose the best thing to try first is to cut it dry.  If you are just giving it a trim, you won't be cutting off that much, so if it looks even before you start you'll probably be alright if you carefully cut off the exact same amount from each section. Just start by cutting much less than you want off, that way if you get it uneven you'll have some room to fix it without going too short. 

Since your hair is mid back, consider using Feye's method, its super easy and comes out straight.  http://community.livejournal.com/feyeselftrim/

Oh, and just to add, if you don't really want to trim it, but only do it because of pressure from other people, consider their reasons for pressuring you.  If they don't have good reasons (and usually people don't have good reasons for trying to tell others what to do or how to look), you don't have to listen to them.



Edited by Susan W - February 12 2008 at 8:23am