How often should I trim my natural hair?

How often should naturals get their hair trimmed when trying to grow ones hair?If you are trying to grow your hair then logically you would try and trim as little as possible. I do however think that in order to attain length, you do need to cut off any knots and split ends as the cuticle in these areas is damaged.

Trim a set amount - Decide on the length, maybe half an inch or quarter of an inch every 4 months or so. Taking a little off every so often will mean you keep most of the length throughout the hair.

HOW DO I TELL SPLIT ENDS
They do not look any different on curly hair. When you have one you can see it. The hair has a forked end. Many of us confuse thinning ends for split ends and this is why with relaxed hair we often chopped off the see through parts of the hair. These are not necessarily split ends, in some cases they could be ends that split already and hence the hair is thinner but not always, it could just be the hair tip becoming thinner due to normal wear.

Yes hair has its terminal length. Supposing we take the low average, hair grows about half an inch a month and will do so in general for upto 3 years. This means 6 inches a year and a terminal length of 18 inches.

In reality this is not the case for everyone. African hair is thought to  grow much slower

There are many factors that stop curly hair from attaining its terminal length. This is especially true for African hair. It can break much easier, it has a tendency to be dry and combing can be the equivalent of a hair cut.