Dusting

“Nikki, your ends look very healthy. How often do you get trims and do you get your hair shaped?”

Once every three months or so, I survey the ends of my hair, and snip off the last 1/8-1/4 of an inch. This keeps my ends healthy, and detangling sessions short, while maintaining maximum length.

In between dusting sessions, ‘search and destroys’ keep my ends looking good . I basically go on hour long missions (usually when I’m posted up in front of the TV), where I seek out splits, knots, and jagged/torn ends. I snip directly above the split/knot, and seal the end with a little butter.

I dust on freshly twisted hair- snipping the last 1/8-1/4 of an inch off the bottom of each twist. This allows me to keep up with which hairs I’ve already snipped. When doing ‘search and destroys’, my hair is usually out, dry and ready to be re-styled. I pull each curl in front of my face and inspect the ends closely. Usually by the end of an extensive S&D, my hair is a big undefined fro! During the past year, I’ve done fewer dustings, and far fewer S&Ds. I did a S&D two nights ago, and only found 6 knots and 1 split!!! You have no idea how HUGE this is for me. I’ve come a long way.

I haven’t had my hair shaped up since February 2007 (this is also the last time I had it straightened). Since I never wear my hair straight, I don’t see the need for a shape. However, if my hair begins to grow noticeably uneven, I’d probably seek out a professional for a blunt cut. But until then, my current methods work great! Plus, my hair naturally shrinks into a bob, so I guess I’m lucky!

ETA: Be sure to only use Hair Scissors when trimming. This is VERY important! I purchase my scissors from Walmart, Sally’s or Ulta and they usually run me between 10 and 20 dollars. I hide them from my Husband, and only use them for hair. Dull scissors will do more harm than good!!!