Slide a strand between your thumb and index finger, from top to bottom. For the first three-quarters, the fiber is full. Then something changes: it catches, it thins. You've just touched the exact spot.
The ends are the oldest part of the hair. They have gone through every wash, every detangling session and every hairstyle since they left the scalp, and the sebum has never reached them. That's why they give out first, and that's also why they decide the length you keep. A complete Rituel Texture® every seven to ten days provides them with the essentials, but it's especially the days between two routines that decide their fate. Our step-by-step tutorial details the six steps of the method.
Recognizing an end that's at the end of its rope
Three signs can be seen without equipment. The first is tactile: the strand slides up to a point, then catches. The second is visual: the end appears lighter, almost bleached, sometimes distinctly thinner than the rest of the strand. The third is mechanical: the ends catch on each other and form small isolated knots, those tight curls that no detangling can undo.
The three say the same thing: the surface layer that protects the fiber is gone at that spot, and it does not come back. The underlying cause is dryness, which reaches the bottom of the lengths first, and we explain this mechanism in why kinky hair is often dry. What follows concerns the consequence, that is, what we do with the last twenty centimeters, day after day.
The cutCut to keep
It is the most counterintuitive gesture, and the one that changes the most things. A split fiber does not close back up: the split progresses upwards and damages, strand after strand, a portion of hair that was in good condition. Keeping a split end therefore costs more length than the snip that removes it.
Count eight to twelve weeks between two sessions, and ask what you really want: only the damaged ends. On kinky hair, the cut is done on dry and stretched hair, after protective drying, because shrinkage makes any assessment misleading on wet hair. We detail this point in how to cut kinky hair and when to cut your hair.
No treatment glues a split fiber back together, whatever the labels say. A product can smooth its appearance for a few hours. Only the cut solves the problem, and everything else serves to prevent it from coming back.
The routineStart from the bottom
Most care gestures start from the top, out of habit, and end up lacking product where it is needed most. You have to reverse the order, and that is pretty much the only thing to remember from the Rituel Texture® when thinking about your ends.
The Repair Mask is applied section by section starting from the ends and going up, so that the bottom of the lengths is served first and stays covered the longest. Ten minutes of leave-in time is enough, under a bonnet if you have one. For detangling, same logic: we work from the ends toward the roots, never the reverse, because a comb pulled down from the top pushes all the knots in front of it and concentrates them at the most fragile point of the strand. The Man Dol' Comb passes over hair coated in mask, and we go back to the fingers as soon as resistance appears. See the two-step detangling method.
After washing, La Crème Coiffante is applied to damp hair, focusing on the bottom of the lengths: it helps maintain the hydration provided during washing. We no longer seal the ends with an oil or a butter as a step of the Rituel Texture®, because this gesture weighed down the fiber without retaining anything more. A drop of light oil keeps its place as a complement, only on the ends, between two routines, the day the bottom starts to pull before the next wash.
DryingThe last minute
Drying is the moment when the ends take the most risks without it being seen, because they are the ones that receive the flow the longest and move the most under the air.
In the salon, I always keep the end for last. It is the oldest and most fragile part of the hair, and treating it like the rest of the strand is the error I correct most often during drying. I hold it between the thumb and index finger, and I barely let it pass under the air.
Ghana Elin, founderProtective drying holds in three points. La Crème Coiffante first, always, on damp hair: we never dry a bare fiber, and it is what protects the fiber from the heat. We then work in small strands, from the roots toward the lengths, in bouncing movements, the device constantly in motion and never stopped on an area. The end, finally, passes last and very briefly, held between two fingers. Between two routines, air drying works very well, and the terry towel is replaced by a microfiber fabric that we pat instead of rubbing.
The eveningEight hours on a pillow
It is at night that the ends wear out the most, and it is the easiest moment to correct. Eight hours of rubbing against cotton wears out the bottom of the lengths first, because it is what moves on the pillow with every change of position. The evening gesture takes two minutes and is repeated every day, which makes it the most profitable on the list.
Undo the hairstyle of the day. Put back a little Crème Coiffante focusing on the ends, without excess. The comb only passes if the hair is really tangled, for example on Thursday for a routine done on Sunday. Then make six tight braids on themselves, never tight at the root: they group the lengths and put the ends safe in the center. Tie them with a silk scrunchie, or tie a silk scarf, and sleep on a silk pillowcase. Our night hairstyles detail each setup.
The dayWhat rubs without us thinking about it
There remains what acts every day, in silence, and what we never count in what damages.
- The collar and the straps. A wool coat collar, a bag strap, a scarf: the ends rub on them for hours. Tuck them into a braid or a low bun on the days you wear one or the other.
- The hands. Checking your ends twenty times a day, twirling a strand during a meeting: each pass removes a little surface. It is the hardest gesture to stop, and the one that costs the least to correct.
- Repeated ties. An elastic band placed in the same place every day ends up marking the strand in a line. Change the height of the tie, and prefer a fabric tie to a bare elastic band.
A hairstyle that stores the ends, low braid, low bun or French braids, solves all three at once, provided it does not pull on the root and that the lengths continue to receive a complete routine. On what the length gains from these precautions, see can kinky hair be long and our length retention tips.
Your ends are breaking despite the care?
Our experts review your routine with you online and distinguish what is due to a lack of water, an excess of protein or a gesture to correct.
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