Do I Have to Trim My Hair??

To professional stylists, this must seem like a silly question. And it seemed like a silly question to me, too when I first started wearing my natural texture. Growing up I'd always heard that we had to trim our hair "so it could grow" (which actually is not true - see below). But I didn't know how I could successfully trim my hair if it wasn't blown out or straight.

So I embarked on my no-heat journey without the slightest clue as to how I was going to go about trimming my hair! Finally I did research it, though, and I found that there is a lot of misinformation out there about trimming. Growing up, I'd always heard that trimming your hair helps it grow, but the more I researched, I learned that that isn't true. Trimming helps our hair grow healthier, but it doesn't make it grow longer. Once I stopped and thought about it, it made so much sense! How can cutting your hair make it longer? DUH!! LOL!

After watching a few YouTube videos and reading some articles, I felt that I should go through my hair and only trim off the knots and split ends. I have yet to stretch my hair prior to trimming, so it has been difficult to single out each end that needs to be cut. I had a lot of knots because my hair is so curly, but I was thrilled to discover that I had very few split ends! YAY! I guess I must be doing something right. :)

I haven't developed a trimming schedule yet. I've been doing it really randomly, actually. I think I should definitely stretch my hair and do a thorough trim, though, before I straighten my hair. The idea of straightening knotted hair makes me nervous....