Split ends are a messy but unavoidable subject. As a result of their ubiquitousness, misinformation abounds when it comes to how to best deal with them. You’ve heard conflicting advice and so have we, so we wanted to set the record straight. We reached out to a handful of pros to answer, myth or fact? Does trimming hair with split ends help with hair growth? It seems like the jury is still out on this polarizing subject. Read on to find out.
The Verdict: FALSE, Trimming Hair Does Not Directly Affect Hair Growth
Cheryl Roberts of the popular celebrity Mecca 901 Salon is one of the naysayers. “Trimming the hair and split ends does not make the hair grow,” she begins. “What it does is it encourages growth because once a hair has a split end, it will continue to split resulting in breakage or what seems like no growth,” she explains. Her tip? “Frequent trims makes it seem like the hair is growing faster because it isn’t splitting and losing length.”
Eloise Cheung, a NYC based professional digs into the topic. “New hair growth only comes from the scalp and roots, so trimming or dusting the ends off the hair is more of a prevention and maintenance measure,” she explained her logic. “By getting rid of the spilt and dry ends, you’re ensuring that damage does not move up the hair shaft towards the roots which it can do ultimately causing breakage,” she continues. “Hair outside of the scalp cannot be stitched back together again, so cutting off the damaged parts will save the healthy hair, allowing the whole head to grow more. You just want to be careful not to take off any of the healthy hair or your hair will seemingly never grow,” she concludes.
Tish and Snooky, are the founders of Manic Panic and they have been in the hair industry for over 40 years. They think this hair trimming business is all bogus. “Myth! While trimming split ends will prevent them from getting worse, and generally make the hair look better, since your hair doesn’t grow from the bottom, cutting it will not help your hair grow faster,” they say.
And their you have it folks. They jury is still out but one thing is for certain, if you have split ends you need to trim them constantly in order to avoid hair splitting further.