5 Signs it’s Time to Cut Your Natural Hair
hair + beauty, Thank God Im Natural
January 22, 2019
Ashley
Cutting your natural hair can feel like a setback, especially if it’s been more than a few years after you’ve transitioned or did the big chop and you were gunning for waist length tresses. Sometimes a cut can be the best thing for you and for your natural hair. After 7 years of being natural and growing out my hair I went through tons of hair ups and downs from heat damage to color damage, split ends and thinning it out to the point of no return. After finally making the decision to cut my long natural hair I am so much happier and my cut truly fits my features, lifestyle and personality. If you have struggled with any of the aforementioned hair issues, you should consider a cut in your near future.
Here are five reasons why a drastic cut may be necessary.
 1. Thinning Hair
Despite trying to hide it with protective styles, hats and scarves you know that your hair is damaged beyond repair. After years of being natural, only putting heat on my hair three times a year and rarely coloring, I noticed my hair had thinned out towards the ends and it was due to my impatience when styling, and not always following the golden rule of detangling from the ends to the roots. When hair is thinned out it looks damaged and the longer your hair is the worse it can appear. After cutting my hair and removing the thin ends, it looked much more voluminous and shiny.
2. Heat Damage
Heat damage is the worst. It can happen over the course of straightening your hair out daily and it can happen after straightening it one freaking time! Having heat damage doesn’t mean that you have to cut off a drastic amount of hair, you can always trim the ends unless it is extremely damaged and your hair simply will not curl – I’d suggest cutting it into a trendy style and enjoying that for a while and avoiding heat like the plague.
3. Split Ends
Split ends can definitely be a drag when it comes to long hair. It can be more difficult to tend to your hair as efficiently. Snags and split ends can also occur far too often. If you’ve skipped more than a few trims and your split ends have made their way a little further up your hair shaft than you’d like, it’s time to cut. Once you get your haircut start keeping up with regular trims or simply do the search and destroy method and cut split ends as you see them.
4. Color Damage
Excessively coloring your hair or even one bad dye job can leave your hair lackluster, dry and stretch your curls beyond repair. Getting rid of all of that dry color damaged hair can give your hair the refreshing start it desperately needs. Step away from the dye and head to your stylist for a much needed cut. As an alternative try using henna to slightly color your hair or avoid dyes all together for a while and simply enjoy your natural hair color.
5. A Change
Your hair doesn’t have to be heat damaged, color damaged, thinning or have excessive split ends for you to cut it. Maybe it is just simply time for a change. Perhaps long hair doesn’t suit your face shape. Maybe you just want something different. Something drastic doesn’t have to happen for you to want to cut your hair. Allow yourself to try something new. If you’re nervous about how you will look with short hair try a wig similar to the cut you want before you make the big cut. Remember at the end of the day it is just hair, and it will grow back!
Is it time for you to chop it off?
Ashley Renee is a licensed esthetician, makeup artist, natural hair enthusiast, writer and poet from Chicago, residing in Los Angeles! Follow her on instagram @ashleyreneepoet, twitter and personal blog why I Waited