Signs it's time to cut your hair

Growing up, I always had long hair. In fact, I had long hair well into my teens until I had an unfortunate incident with do-it-yourself bangs that forced me to get an unplanned, and slightly traumatic, pixie cut.


If you like having long hair, I sincerely hope that you never have to go through any DIY hair-cutting disasters because, let's face it, it sucks to have to cut your hair when you don't want to. However, it is sometimes necessary for you to get a haircut, especially if you want to keep your hair strong and healthy.

I spoke to several hair professionals to find out the clues you should look out for to avoid any hair disasters and that may indicate that it's time for you to get a haircut, even if you might not want to.

You have split ends

Do you have split ends? Michelle Lee, co-owner and Master Designer of Salon Eva Michelle in Boston says that the way to tell if you've got split ends, is to check if the ends of your hair are frail, thin, and see through, in comparison to the rest of the strand. "You can physically see split ends and white bulbs at the tips," she told me. "It's better to let go of the ends because hair can seem to break faster up the hair strands than grow from the scalp."

"Once a hair splits on the ends the best cure is to trim the hair just above the split end," said celebrity hairstylist Philip Carreon, Creative Director of Eufora International. However, if you wait too long, the split can move up the shaft making the hair weak and vulnerable if you don't get to it in time.

"The splits can progress all the way up your entire hair length," he said, "which means that you'll have to cut your hair a lot shorter than you might want." Your best advice if you start to notice that you've got split ends is to get a trim as soon as possible, to avoid further damage.

You hair has color damage

If you've ever colored your hair, you probably know that it's possible for your hair to be damaged.

"Hand painted bleach and high lift color is so popular, but it leaves the ends the lightest and the most damaged," Carreon told me, adding that you need to "keep in mind, the ends of our hair are already the oldest hair and the most fragile."

This means that if you frequently color your hair, you'll have to get frequent trims as well to avoid damage to your ends. Another way to determine if your hair has color damage is if you or your stylist begin to notice that color won't hold on your hair. You may also experience "lots of color fading," according to Lee. "When hair is damaged, especially from color or bleach, hair will have lost elasticity, and when wet it could just snap off when pulled on," instead of bouncing back like healthy hair.

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