What Do Split Ends Look Like? [help is here!]

Split ends tend to attack most long hair. But what do split ends look like?

Sometimes we hesitate to know if our ends are damaged or just dry and with this doubt, you may not be sure what to do.

Split ends look like they have little white dots on the tips. Also when they are in a more serious stage you can find a strand of hair with 2 ends. A hair can start to split at the tip because it is separating or breaking in that area. Additionally, you can find in the last mm of the hair tips small doubles separated by a white dot.

There are several types of split ends and learning to recognize them will help you know how to cure them. Depending on the phase in which the tip is, it will require a deeper treatment or perhaps cut it.

Also, these signs can warn you to prevent this and avoid dryness and damage to your hair.

Read on for all the details.

What Do Split Ends Look Like In My Hair?

To understand this easily I will tell you that if you take a single hair you have 2 sides. The one that is attached to the head and the other side is the tip. The tip of the hair is usually counted from the last 4 fingers of the hair.

That tip can suffer different things such as dryness, malnutrition, or damage. Split ends fall into the damage category. They are hair that has suffered damage and therefore lacks important nutrients for its development and growth.

When it lacks nutrients and forces the tip, it loses its ability to stay together. The cuticle that surrounds the hair has been completely destroyed and other necessary molecules are not present either. For this reason, the tip has a reaction that begins to separate and open.

How Does Each Type of Split End Look Like?

Each hair is different but there are characteristics that will always be the same to reflect split ends.

There are 3 types of split ends:

• Basic
• Candle
• Tree

They are all split ends but they look different and represent different levels of damage. Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

#1 Basic

This is the one most famous and the most common. When there is severe sensitization, it is the first to appear. This opens right in the middle of the tip of the hair strand. It can reach between 4mm to 10mm upwards. Would look like hair with 2 heads. It is very easy to identify for this reason. This is the start of the split ends. From this will open progressively.

#2 Candle

In this case, the way that split end looks like the strand at the end is separated more deeply and has advanced upwards. The name helps a lot to understand what it looks like. A candle has the wick and flame on one side and the base of the candle itself on the other.

The base of the candle is much thicker and firmer than just the wick. The base of the candle is much wider and firmer than the wick alone. You will be able to identify how a strand of hair has a thickness and at the end of it thins in a very significant way. By leaving only a thin end at the end like the wick.

A big myth is that if you pull them up, the problem is solved. This is not true, in fact, the hair will now be much more sensitive and the problem more advanced.

#3 Three

One of the worst is the tree split ends because it’s like I have multiple split ends at the end of my hair. Because can happen by using hairstyles where the hair is subjected to turns and figures such as buns and braids. The three openings can appear when the hair is weak and tied tightly.

Most of the time when hair is weakened it is due to a lack of protein rather than chemical damage such as bleaching or straightening relaxers. Also styling the hair with heat styling tools can cause a lot of dryness and then breakage if it is kept in high temperatures constantly and without protection.

Taking care of your hair is essential to keep it healthy. Especially after coloring and bleaching are one of the most overlooked and most important actions to restore protein to the hair to prevent breakage. Split ends also have breakage and that is why they are splitting at various points because the fiber is already so damaged and weak. If this is your case I recommend you see what to do after bleaching hair to help with this.

Summary

Once you know what split ends look like you can identify which one you have. The idea is that you can change your habits to be able to solve this problem in the long term.

It is also important that you immediately take action by applying Hair Treatment For Damaged Hair to recover the split ends. This way you don’t let this problem progress and become more complicated.