Health Over Length.....Trimming

I have been hearing the phrase "health over length" a lot since I have been on my hair journey. Although I hear many people say it, I  had not given it much thought until recently. I started experiencing breakage and I just became extremely unsatisfied with my ends that. Lately I've been fighting the urge to give myself a good trim. I have not found a stylist who I trust to put shears to my head, so I decided to self-trim. What I can't really finalize is when this trim will occur. I'm currently 2 days shy of 11 weeks post relaxer. I'm waiting on a job interview to come through before I end my stretch (I know it's coming soon). I will either flat iron my hair and trim next month or wait until I relax to trim.

Most people dread getting trims whether it is self-trims or trims from a stylist. They are afraid of loosing their progress or not reaching their length goal by the planned date. For me neither are that important. Don't get me wrong. I want to reach my length goals. Just not at the expense of my hair's health. Truthfully, since I have been on my hair journey my main focus has been on the health of my hair. This is why I don't own a length check t-shirt yet and I don't do frequent length checks. My hair is pretty healthy now, but I still have a ways to go. So the thought of trimming 2 or 3 inches off does not scare me. I know that my hair will grow back and my ends will look amazing.

Now that I think of it, I have always been unsatisfied with my ends. I have been prone to splits, which I now know was the result of improper use of heating tools (my flat irons). I had NEVER used a heat protectant and I don't remember any stylist using one on my hair either. Shocker, I know. My dissatisfaction with my ends has caused me to always bump my hair when getting it straightened and to not flinch at frequent trims from my now ex-stylist (about every 4-6 weeks). I'm not talking about dusting either. This was full out trims.

I'm looking forward to wearing my hair straight and my hair looking full and healthy from root to tip! I hope that you ladies realize that health is way more important than length. I'm a strong believer that if you hair is healthy, length will follow.

HHG!