what causes split ends and how can one help treat them besides getting them trimmed?

Tha hair is made up of long bands of keratin protein, bound together to create a tight strand. When the hair is brushed with a plastic bristle brush such as the vent brushes we use when we blow dry our hair, they create static in the hair. Static will cause the hiar to become wound around the bristles of the vent brush, and they are then stretched beyond their capacity to 'snap' back into place (elasticity) and they snap in two. When they snap in two, the inner bands become frayed and create a 'split' end.

To demonstrate this, remove ONE hair from your head at the root. Stretch the hiar slowly between your fingers and you can see how it will stretch. Do not stretch it until it breaks, but relax it and watch it regain its original length. Stretch it again, but this time, stretch it until it breaks. Look at the ends with a magnifying glass, and you will be able to see the split end forming.

After brushing, blowdrying, etc, the split becomes more apparent.

You can get rid of the split ends by trimming or by a little used technique called 'singeing' where the split ends are burned off. If one does not know how to do this properly, the hairs without split ends can be biurned off as well, so opt for trimming them off.

i wanna try the singeing!

If your hair is long enough, you can "dust" the ends. It still involves cutting, but in VERY tiny amounts. My hair is long enough that I can pull it to the front and examine the ends of my hair very very closely and snip JUST the splits on individual hairs - time consuming and tedious, yes. But a quick fix that makes you feel better.

I cherish my long hair, so personally when I go to the salon my stylist knows I only want "micro-trims" - still a trim, but not your normal 1/2-1 inch kind of trim, more like a 1/8-1/4 of an inch!