I did it! I had been mulling over cutting my ends for months now and decided today to just go with it! I had my mom to cut the last few inches off.. we didn't measure, I pointed and she cut a straight line across. I think it looks much better; she did an excellent job, although I can feel how much was lost. A few of the locks on the towel were at least 5", if not more, while others were only an inch or less. It could still be thicker, but I'm not going any shorter.
Thank you all for the advice, you're the reason for my hair being healthy -before coming here I used Pantene. Sorry for lurking so long!