Doing the Splits - a Look at Split-ends

Trichoptilosis is longitudinal splits of the hair fiber, commonly called split ends. No one likes them! They come in all shapes and sizes and despite their name, can occur anywhere along the shaft.

Check them out below

So what causes these little rascals? There are a myriad of reasons such as:

• Too much heat
• Excessive manipulation
• Unfit combs and brushes
• Harsh Shampoos
• High porousity
• Enviromental factors like sun, air, wind
• Friction against clothes
• Impatient and improper detangling
• Chemical processes like relaxing or coloring and
• Some products which contain "bad" alcohols.

It may even be caused by hard water!

Remedy

While some products claim to "repair" split ends, this just cannot be done. Products claiming this may temporarily bind the hair together but splits will soon reappear. One can only get rid of these with shears. You can decide to get regular trims to deal with this issue or, if you are like me, you may prefer to use the search and destroy method.

Prevention

Having gotten rid of your trichoptilosis (for the most part anyway), there are some things you can do to minimize the reoccurrence; add moisture to hair through by deep conditioning, hot oil treatments, and moisturizing and sealing, keep your porousity in check by doing a final rinse with cool water, ACV (apple cider vinegar), or a conditioner designed for fixing hair's porousity. You can check your hair's porousity level by doing the "strand test". Also, based on the list of causes, there are some obvious ones like reducing heat, not over-processing with color or relaxers, protective and low manipulation styling, getting rid of culprits such as alcohol-based products and tools which snag your hair. Using moisturizing shampoos or co-washing at times, instead of shampooing, as well as gentle manipulation of your tresses.

I've had my share of split-ends, but I keep them at bay by keeping my hair moisturized and by doing S&D.

How do you get rid of split-ends? Please share your secrets.

XOXI,

Abbi