This is a common question that seems to arise frequently — how often should you cut your hair, and more important — why should you cut it that often?

As a cosmetologist, I realize that many of your stylists (and mine in the past) have never exactly explained why trims are so important and vital to hair maintenance.  Us knowing why we’re doing something should be vastly important, as it determines whether or not we actually do it.

I guess that explaining how our hair is made, and what it is made up of is essential to describing why we need to cut it, and what causes split ends.

Our hair is made up of only two layers — the cuticle (the outermost layer) and the cortex (this portion contains the pigment).  Some of us have three layers, the absolute innermost layer being the medulla — which holds absolutely no purpose at all, so I’m not going to continue talking about it.

The cuticle protects the hair, but only to an extent.  When you color or lighten your hair, the peroxide swells the cuticle, raising it up to penetrate inside to alter the melanin (pigment) in your cortex.  Once rinsed, shampooed, and conditioned, the cuticle still won’t lay completely flat, especially after lightening.

The cuticle also swells under heat, which is why many stylists will have you under a dryer when they use color or lightener — to ensure that it penetrates the hair.  Yes, even heat damages the cuticle.  That is including and not limited to heat styling, blow drying, flat ironing, etc.

Splitting is caused by a continuously raised cuticle making the ends rough and easy to break.  The protective layer is so damaged that the rest of the hair has difficulty functioning without it.  Hello, split ends!

The only possible solution to repair split ends is by putting protein treatments on your hair.  This is something I would recommend having done at a stylist unless it is a leave-in treatment, as too much protein can also break your hair.  It still won’t completely fix it, but it will help.

So, how often should you get your hair cut, and why?

I recommend every 4-6 weeks, as do most cosmetologists across the board.

Now, the most important question, why?

The answer is relatively simple, however many people don’t think about it.  How often do you blow dry your hair?  Do you use a flat iron or curling iron?  Is it color-treated?  Do you brush it when wet?  Do you wash it daily?  All of these make your hair ends split, and once they start splitting, they do not stop, causing serious breakage of your hair shaft.

Typically, there is more breakage than there would be if you were getting a trim every 4-6 weeks (a trim is taking about a quarter inch off of your hair, it is not necessarily a hair cut, just removing the split ends).  Hair grows half an inch a month, taking off a quarter inch every month isn’t making your hair shorter at all, it’s just removing the dead ends and preventing breakage, which is the huge culprit.  Many people rarely get trims because they think they don’t have to, and they don’t see much of a change — that’s because their hair is breaking off from damage and it really doesn’t look like they need a trim at all — because all those damaged ends are gone from excessive damage!

Even washing your hair creates damage.  The heat in the shower raises the cuticle, and helps to cleanse, but many of us are not giving a cold shot of water on our heads afterward to seal the cuticle, and a number of people also do not use conditioner.

Let’s keep in mind that a hair cut and hair trim are two different things.  You get a hair cut to maintain a style, you get a hair trim to maintain hair health.  If your hair is tangling a lot, it’s typically due to damage and split ends, which has raised cuticle so it isn’t as smooth and won’t lay as well or be as easy to manage.

So here are some tips to maintain hair health in between hair trimming (which I recommend fully):

• Let your hair air dry if you can.  If you can avoid over-use of the dryer, you will have less split ends.  I let mine dry while I do my make up after towel drying it, and then blow dry whatever is necessary after that if I have somewhere to be.
• Pat your hair dry, don’t rub!  This causes a lot of friction and tangles which can also cause breakage.
• Use a heat protector when blow drying and heat styling your hair.  There are an abundance of them on the market, so talk to your stylist about the product that is best for you.  I find Chi Silk Infusions works for pretty much every one.
• Comb your hair when wet, never use a brush.  A brush pulls and pulls, and your hair has the most elasticity (stretching-ability) when wet.  If it’s damaged, it is going to break!  Use a wide tooth comb, please!
• If you do have split ends and don’t want to go to the stylist for a trim, use a protein treatment!  They have great conditioners for it that help to repair as much as possible and strengthen the hair so that it doesn’t break, and helps the cuticle to lay back down so the breakage isn’t obvious.  I also would recommend a gentle leave in conditioner.
• If you insist on coloring your hair at home, only color the regrowth area (get a friend to help) — don’t color all the way to the ends with permanent color.  And if you go to a salon, ask if she can touch up your ends with a demi-permanent color that matches, or just pulling the color through for the last 10 minutes.  This will refresh your color without nearly as much damage.
• Condition your hair when you shampoo.  Just condition the ends at least (I don’t condition the whole head, as the sebum from my scalp keeps the start of my hair from being too dry).  This will help to seal the cuticle and keep it moisturized!
• Remember, your hair grows half an inch every 3-4 weeks on average.  A trim is only taking off a quarter inch every 4-6 weeks to maintain hair health.  Your hair is still growing faster than you are trimming it, and trimming it will prevent breakage which will take off more than a trim!  Cut your hair every 3-4 weeks if you need to maintain a certain style (depending on how rapidly your hair grows).

Proper hair care will help keep your hair more beautiful, for a longer period of time!  Keep that in mind ladies and gents!