Shoulder | Armpit

[Corvana]

Crawling out from the lurkers corner to say ....... I've reached apl after joining this thread in January!!! Woot!!!!
No trims for 2017 has been brilliant for growth, i'm well ahead of my expected target date.
Just shows you, if you don't cut it, it grows....
Keep growing peeps, shall see you on the next thread... (from my lurking corner )

Congratulations!!

Did you shampoo? If you got less foam, the water's harder. If you got more, it's softer. Another way to check for hard water is to look at the shower head and the (hot) taps. Hard water will leave a crusty calcium deposit on everything it comes into regular contact with. Even if the last people did a good job of descaling, you're likely to find a bit round the inside of hot taps. You might find you'll need to change your routine a bit with different water.

Are you sure it's the shower head that's causing the low pressure, and not the water pressure itself? I'd check that before spending money on a new shower head. Also, if the shower head is scaled up, that will make it slow. (If it is scaled up, make a 2:1 mix of boiling water and white vinegar, and leave it to soak in it overnight. By morning, it should be sparkly clean.)

Yeah, and it lathered less that before. But I only did one lather, which always lathers less than wash #2, so I'm not making much of a judgement call until my next shower. We already had hard water at the old place, and I know it's still hard here. I just don't know if it's more hard or less. But it tastes better, which is a nice difference lol. It wasn't horrible before, but it wasn't good either.

I don't think it's the water pressure? Every other tap is totally fine, including the tub. So unless it's something between the tub faucet and the showerhead? But we can't get a new one for awhile anyway, and it's not horrible it just adds maybe a couple minutes total to rinse time. The shower head's spray reminds me a bit of those rain-style ones, with how gently the spray comes out. It's like a semi-strong rain Our old one was the kind where you could set the stream yourself, with the massaging one, super hard one, and the "gentle" one (which is like the current one). I'd always set it halfway between the gentle and hard ones to get the perfect amount! The hard one felt like a power washer on my back But at halfway it was (of course) half the pressure through that part and the other half through the larger holes for the gentle spray.

I'm trying to decide how often to take photos, too. I don't see much difference month-to-month so I'm thinking of taking a formal length photo every other month. I just learned a new technique for taking a good pic. I've had really good luck with cleansing conditioners. Hopefully you get many washes out of yours, and if not, hopefully you can find a less expensive alternative. I haven't, yet, but I'm still looking. It would be nice to just use a CC every wash and clarify once a month or thereabouts. And yeah.. literally.. my hair is exactly Ron hair. All I need is a set of vintage dress robes to complete the look. I'm sure it will look fantastic in about 6 months.

While monthly photos are super cool, I'd rather see a bigger jump in growth with photos less often. And I will probably still take a few in between, but since I'm forgetful I figure that takes some pressure off me lol.

[Joyful Mystery]

Years ago I lived in an apartment where the shower pressure was awful. I would take baths and wash my hair first, using a big plastic cup for wetting and rinsing.

[Alibran]

Yeah, and it lathered less that before. But I only did one lather, which always lathers less than wash #2, so I'm not making much of a judgement call until my next shower. We already had hard water at the old place, and I know it's still hard here. I just don't know if it's more hard or less. But it tastes better, which is a nice difference lol. It wasn't horrible before, but it wasn't good either.

My water here is crazy hard. I'm having to descale the kettle and coffee machine weekly, and the pump on my dishwasher has already stopped working twice because it scaled up. I only moved here in April! I've been trying to fit in ACV rinses once a week (hair gets washed twice a week, but wet daily) to keep it from building up on my hair, but I'm tempted to switch to heavily diluted cleaning vinegar because it's cheaper!

I don't think it's the water pressure? Every other tap is totally fine, including the tub. So unless it's something between the tub faucet and the showerhead? But we can't get a new one for awhile anyway, and it's not horrible it just adds maybe a couple minutes total to rinse time. The shower head's spray reminds me a bit of those rain-style ones, with how gently the spray comes out. It's like a semi-strong rain Our old one was the kind where you could set the stream yourself, with the massaging one, super hard one, and the "gentle" one (which is like the current one). I'd always set it halfway between the gentle and hard ones to get the perfect amount! The hard one felt like a power washer on my back But at halfway it was (of course) half the pressure through that part and the other half through the larger holes for the gentle spray.

I like the shower heads that are like a deluge - like standing outside in 'Spanish' rain!

While monthly photos are super cool, I'd rather see a bigger jump in growth with photos less often. And I will probably still take a few in between, but since I'm forgetful I figure that takes some pressure off me lol.

I think I'm going to avoid taking photos at regular intervals. Once I've found somewhere I can get a good photo of the back of my head in natural light (still trying to figure it out), I'll just take one when I feel like it, and see what happens. I'm trying not to focus too much on growth, and just enjoying it as it is right now. It will get long soon enough.

[Joyful Mystery]

My water here is crazy hard. I'm having to descale the kettle and coffee machine weekly, and the pump on my dishwasher has already stopped working twice because it scaled up. I only moved here in April! I've been trying to fit in ACV rinses once a week (hair gets washed twice a week, but wet daily) to keep it from building up on my hair, but I'm tempted to switch to heavily diluted cleaning vinegar because it's cheaper!



I like the shower heads that are like a deluge - like standing outside in 'Spanish' rain!




I think I'm going to avoid taking photos at regular intervals. Once I've found somewhere I can get a good photo of the back of my head in natural light (still trying to figure it out), I'll just take one when I feel like it, and see what happens. I'm trying not to focus too much on growth, and just enjoying it as it is right now. It will get long soon enough.

Same!

I don't have a regular schedule for taking photos, just whenever I feel like it. My family is very supportive and will take pictures when I ask. I hear you on the natural light struggles. I'm not very comfortable having the back of my head photographed outside where my neighbors might see, lol. Maybe I'll get over that someday. My avatar was taken inside on a cloudy day. I might update it when I reach APL, hopefully in better lighting.

[HairPlease]

While monthly photos are super cool, I'd rather see a bigger jump in growth with photos less often. And I will probably still take a few in between, but since I'm forgetful I figure that takes some pressure off me lol.

Exactly! I agree! I think monthly photos would be too discouraging to me because I wouldn't see much change unless I looked back at a picture from several months before. Might as well not torture myself. Plus, sometimes my hair "waves up" more on some days than others so anything less than an inch of growth simply is not going to be visible.

Now, monthly progress pics that document the health and shine of the hair are worth it--that way I can line up my hair photos with my products and say, "okay, from May through July I used so-and-so and it looked much better than the February-March pics when I used such-and-such."

[Corvana]

My water here is crazy hard. I'm having to descale the kettle and coffee machine weekly, and the pump on my dishwasher has already stopped working twice because it scaled up. I only moved here in April! I've been trying to fit in ACV rinses once a week (hair gets washed twice a week, but wet daily) to keep it from building up on my hair, but I'm tempted to switch to heavily diluted cleaning vinegar because it's cheaper!

I like the shower heads that are like a deluge - like standing outside in 'Spanish' rain!

I think I'm going to avoid taking photos at regular intervals. Once I've found somewhere I can get a good photo of the back of my head in natural light (still trying to figure it out), I'll just take one when I feel like it, and see what happens. I'm trying not to focus too much on growth, and just enjoying it as it is right now. It will get long soon enough.

A shower head like that sounds really nice! I like a strong stream, but not "power blasting your flesh from your bones" strong

And that's a great attitude! I'm more focused on growth than I'd like to be. It took me a couple hours to think through my disappointment on my lack of growth (or really, lack of expected growth) this past month. I know that until I've gone through a year or more of growth I can't know what my actual growth rate is, so I should be more relaxed about it. But I finally want long hair again, and I miss it so much and want to do fun stuff with it, and I don't want to be patient! So much for being a Hufflepuff I do think, though, that once I've got a few more inches, and definitely by APL, I'll be more calm and patient about my growth. As it is right now, I don't have too many things I can do! If I had an inch or two more several things I've tried would've worked a lot better. I think that really makes my impatience worse, honestly!

I don't have a regular schedule for taking photos, just whenever I feel like it. My family is very supportive and will take pictures when I ask. I hear you on the natural light struggles. I'm not very comfortable having the back of my head photographed outside where my neighbors might see, lol. Maybe I'll get over that someday. My avatar was taken inside on a cloudy day. I might update it when I reach APL, hopefully in better lighting.

I need some sort of schedule, written down somewhere I look regularly enough, or else I'll just forget altogether. I decided on the quarterly schedule so that I could do a bare minimum tracking through the year, but still have plenty of room between that I can take more if I feel like it.

My husband would gladly take them for me, as well, but I feel a bit weird asking him to LOL. No reason to, really, because we've been together almost 9 years and I've asked him to help me with much weirder things, but I still do!

Exactly! I agree! I think monthly photos would be too discouraging to me because I wouldn't see much change unless I looked back at a picture from several months before. Might as well not torture myself. Plus, sometimes my hair "waves up" more on some days than others so anything less than an inch of growth simply is not going to be visible.

Now, monthly progress pics that document the health and shine of the hair are worth it--that way I can line up my hair photos with my products and say, "okay, from May through July I used so-and-so and it looked much better than the February-March pics when I used such-and-such."

Oh yeah that's a good thing to track! I've just been going by feel when trying new things XD

[_fred_]

Congratulations, alimc!

I went away on holiday, then couldn't keep up, but back now! The growth progress pics that have been posted lately are really inspiring I'm at the stage where I know mine's growing, and I know it's getting longer, but it doesn't feel like it. It's that that eternal grey area that, regardless if it's collarbone or below, just looks shoulder length for ever.

It's not too bad though, the longer it gets, the better it looks, and this length kinda suits me, at least from the front. I've definitely still got Triangle Head when I wear it down straight after letting it dry, but it tends to behave itself when I've worn it up for a while. My go-to style right now is an English braid kinda coiled up on itself, secured with one of those magical comb clip things. It's usually tidier than this, but this is the only decent photo of it to hand!



Pretty sure the length has recovered after my tiny trim, so yay! The ends have been a bit dry lately, so I'm going to try clarifying with my next wash and give it some extra moisture. It's amazing to think I've been growing it out now for nine months.

[alimc]

Congratulations! I'm in the No trimming 2017 challenge and going strong! I've made great progress so far and can't wait to see where I'll be at when the year is over.

Congratulations!!

Congratulations, alimc!

Thank you so much you lovely people....

It always feels to me like shoulder to apl is THE LONGEST ever part of the journey, but i know thats only because i start to feel more like myself when my hair gains length. Hang in there guys, it won't be long...

[HairPlease]

Thank you so much you lovely people....

It always feels to me like shoulder to apl is THE LONGEST ever part of the journey, but i know thats only because i start to feel more like myself when my hair gains length. Hang in there guys, it won't be long...

Same here! It's that part of the journey where hair goes from being technically short to technically long. I don't mean short and long as literal lengths, but more as "feels" and the way it moves, and what can be done with it style wise. It's a humongous milestone. I feel like if you can make this journey, all the rest of the milestones will be much easier. APL to BSL is a breeze for me compared to shoulder to APL. For some people's hair types and textures it might be different, though, and depending on your perspective, shoulder to APL *could* be considered the easiest because it has the most visible results and changes, whereas after APL to BSL, long just gets longer. I'm rambling. They're all mega awesome milestones though and equally cause for celebration!

[fhairyqueen]

Does anyone know roughly how long it takes to get to apl once you hit your collarbone ? I know there's no exact time frame but my longest hair is about 1cm below my collarbone. I thought maybe by Christmas I could expect to be at apl ?