By Chicoro

Thin ends can mean that your hair is either breaking or growing. If the ends of your hair are not as thick as the bulk of the hair, or if you can see through the ends more so than you can see through the rest of your hair, you have thin ends.

How do you tell if you’re growing or breaking?

Put the scissors down and hold off with the trim before you make a decision!

Straighten your hair or stretch it and take a good, clear, picture of the back of your head to measure the length (Since you are looking at the ends, you don’t want to pull and stretch a section. It is best to straighten or stretch out all of your hair.)

Perform your routine or regimen for at least a month.

Straighten and measure again and take a photo.

This critically important photo will be your baseline measurement.

If your hair is shorter than before, or the same length as before and your ends are thin, it is very likely that your hair is breaking. If your hair is longer than the last time you measured it, but see -through or a bit thinner on the very ends, then your hair is most likely growing to longer lengths. This is how I determine what thin ends mean for me. Right now, my thinner ends mean growth! My ends will not be trimmed because I am using my “Goal Point Method” to reach newer and longer lengths.

To learn more, read my book entitled, “Grow It!”.

originally posted 2/3/08

The first thing I did when I decided to grow my hair out was throw away all of my boar bristle brushes. Why? Because they rip your hair out. They are not your friends! I had dozens of them in all different shapes and sizes and I just cut them off cold turkey. If you feel bad about throwing them away give them to your dad, brother, husband or homie-lover-friend. Some of you are reading this and thinking you won’t be able to part with your brushes, I was like that too. You’re probably using them to smooth the edges of your hair and when you’re doing an updo or ponytail, right? Well, you don’t need to do that anymore. When you want to wear an updo or you want to slick your hair down just apply water, a conditioner and perhaps even a gel and slick your hair down with a wide tooth comb. Next, tie a scarf over the area and allow it to dry for at least 15 minutes before taking it off. If you’re in a rush, use a blow dryer to help the area dry quicker (with the scarf on).

Do a Google image search for “split end charts” and you will find an exhaustive list of images featuring the amazing chart you see below.  Now that you know what to look for, find a sharp pair of hair shears and begin trimming them away. My favorite way to find these annoying ends is to do it outside in the sun, in front of a bright window or in front of a bright computer screen. Sometimes when you look at your hair in normal light it’s hard to see the ends, but once you’re in the right lighting situation and holding your hair at the right angle, they will stick out like a sore thumb.

Unfortunately, most women are all too familiar with the bad stylist horror stories. What makes women so submissive when it comes to stylists? Why do we sit there and not speak up when we aren’t comfortable or if we feel that something is wrong? Listen, you’re the client. Don’t be afraid to speak up! That being said, you don’t want to come off as disrespectful or annoying. Explain to them that you are very particular about your hair and make sure that you have that understanding before they put their hands near your head. If you don’t see eye to eye on something that’s important to you, then it’s time to find another stylist. Stylists don’t know everything. It’s perfectly ok to question them and voice your concerns in a respectful manner.

A lot of marketing is focused on trying to get you to buy products because they will grow your hair. Stop wasting your time looking for a miracle product that’s going to grow your hair quicker. Hair growth phases are based on genetics. Why focus on something you can’t control?  Instead, focus on length retention. Practice low manipulation, deep conditioning and make sure your hair is well-moisturized. Take care of your ends and the hair that you already have on your head so that you can see longer lengths quicker. Our ends are the oldest and most fragile area of our hair, babying them will ensure less split ends, less hair that has to come off when you trim and more length retention.

MakeUpAlley.com is one of my favorite sites for product reviews. If I am at a store and get an impulse to buy a beauty or hair product, I always pull out my handy iPhone and pull up MakeUpAlley.com to read the reviews before I buy. It is one of my favorite sites for product reviews. I love it there because most of the women are very articulate and specific in their product reviews. I am working towards writing 20 reviews so that I can create new reviews for products not already on the site. It’s different from reading the reviews at Sephora or other beauty sites because you can be sure they aren’t moderating the comments to increase sales. Well, you can’t be sure of anything these days, but I feel very confident in making purchases on items I’ve read about on MakeUpAlley. I pay close attention to how many reviews the product has and if the reviewers would purchase that product again. I think we all have purchased something on an impulse and it didn’t work. Many of us have shelves full of stuff that just didn’t work. If you use this website to your advantage, you will save lots of money. I hope that all of you will join and rave about your favorite products and rant about the horribly expensive products that you regret purchasing.

It seems like every time you look up there is a new hair blog or new bandwagon in the hair care forums. Be very cautious of who and where you’re getting your hair care advice. I’ve seen some scary stuff out there. I’ve even seen people steal my pictures from this blog and try to pass them off as their own, giving hair advice. Can you believe that? Now, I admit that when I first decided I wanted to grow out my hair, I tried every trick in the book and hopped on any bandwagon that seemed plausible. Luckily, I never suffered  any adverse effects, but I sure lost a lot of time and money. Be especially careful of mixing ingredients, just because it’s in your kitchen and it’s edible doesn’t mean it can’t cause an adverse chemical reaction when mixed with a hair product or another ingredient in your kitchen. If you don’t know what you’re doing or if you have any doubts, just don’t do it.

The baggy method makes use of plastic shower cap or sandwich bag to help lock in hair’s moisture. I used the whole head “Baggy Method” during my first year of transitioning. I would do it at night to help retain moisture. Most of the time I use this method, I just moisturize my hair and seal my ends with an oil, but some people like to coat the bag with an oil or moisturizer. The elastic on the plastic cap bothered me, so I rolled them up around a headband and then covered with another head band (see video below). I typically use a wider band than the one I feature in this video. I cover the bag with a satin bonnet or scarf and then go to bed. This method is not for everybody. Some people complain that they wake up with wet hair. I suggest this for women that wear “wash ‘n gos” or women that don’t mind if their hair is a little damp. A couple of ways to prevent that damp feeling in the morning is to use less product and just baggy your ends. I don’t do whole head overnight “baggying” anymore (unless I’m doing an overnight deep treatment). I wear my hair in braid outs with the ends set on flexi rods 95% of the time so when I do my flexi rod/braid out, I just slip a plastic shower cap over the rollers on the ends of my hair and secure a hair band around the cap to make sure it doesn’t slip out while I’m sleep. When I use this method consistently, I never see split ends. If I get lax about it and fall off the regimen, I notice a decline in the condition of my ends. The better condition our hair ends are in, the less we have to trim and the quicker we can see longer lengths.

Do everything in sections. It will be easier to style, detangle and apply product in sections. When applying deep conditioner in these sections, you’re ensuring that you reach every centimeter of your head.

I part my hair in six sections. The first part goes straight down the middle of my head from my forehead to the nape of my neck. The next part runs from the left front of my ear to the right. The next from the back left of my ear to the right. That leaves me with 3 even sections on the right and 3 even sections on the left. I co-wash, wash, detangle, oil, deep treat, braid, roller set, twist and trim my hair using this 6 section foundation.

I used to do four sections while I was transitioning and when I went completely natural, I realized that I needed more sections because I have at least two different types of hair on my head that are polar opposites. The crown section of my hair is naturally frizzy and the curls are not defined. This section is also very dense. The hair at the crown of my head makes up 90% of my hair. You could literally take the front section and nape of my hair and multiply by three and you might get close to the amount of hair in the crown section of my hair. The back, sides and nape area of my hair are smoother with well defined ringlets. Sectioning allows me to segregate the sections because they need to be treated differently. The crown area requires a lot more attention: more moisture and more smoothing to ward away frizz and one strand knots. I strongly suggest this method for transitioners, as it helped me successfully transition from relaxed to natural for over a year and a half while retaining most of my hair. I still attribute much of my length retention to using the sectioning technique.

Originally posted 11/18/08, updated and revised.

This tip was submitted by Erin.

“Banana clips” are an excellent and safe way to create a pretty ponytail on natural hair. This is especially true for naturals who want to put their hair up in a ponytail but don’t have quite enough hair to secure a ponytail with an ouchless hair band. The teeth on the banana clip help to keep your hair in place without creating tension. The banana clip can also give the appearance of a longer, fuller ponytail because the hair is distributed along the length of the clip. It allowed me to pull my natural hair into a ponytail during the winter months so that my hair wouldn’t touch my coat or my scarf. Ponytails are sometimes a controversial protective style because the ends are still exposed. I’ve had no problem with this, but you can always tuck those ends under to create a stylish bun. For those who are worried that this is a dated hair accessory, I found that it hardly showed in my hair. I arranged the banana clip vertically on the back of my head, and the only visible part was the top joint of the barrette.