Growing for Thickness Instead of Length / Reaching Goal Length

[Cinnamon Hair]

I think I may be at the end of my length journey. Thinking of making knee my final length goal.

I would love to hear thoughts from anyone else at his/her goal length!

Tell me about your experience. How long have your been growing for thickness and trimming off length? Is it satisfying? Boring? How has it affected your long hair hobby? Now that you are at your goal, do you focus on your hair more or less than you did while growing out?

[Dianyla]

I would love to hear thoughts from anyone else at his/her goal length!

Tell me about your experience. How long have your been growing for thickness and trimming off length? Is it satisfying? Boring? How has it affected your long hair hobby? Now that you are at your goal, do you focus on your hair more or less than you did while growing out?

I reached my goal of ankle-length about 6 months ago, and have trimmed a few times since then. In some ways I feel a sense of relief, like I don't have to worry or wonder or feel impatient about getting somewhere. I can just be where I am.

When I joined LHC and decided to stop keeping my hair cut back to knee-length, I felt sure that I did not want to grow beyond floorlength. And yet I feel a little bit wistful when I trim to maintain where I'm at. I find myself peeking over that edge thinking "Well, maaaaaybe I should just let it get a little bit longer and see if I can stand it!"

I don't find myself focusing on it any differently because of it's current length. The biggest change has been that my life got much busier a few years ago when I went back to school (while still continuing to work full-time) and since then I've really just about forgotten that I even have hair. I'm just lucky that it's clean every now and then.

[Shanarana]

Good thread.....I think for me my goal lenght will be hip. After that I plan on doing small trims until all my layers have caught up.

[Juliet's Silk]

When I joined (my, long time ago) my long term goal was TBL. When I reached it, my ends were in a state I really didn't like - I had a massive shed and had my hair grown out with little to no trims at all. So I stopped growing and started maintaining, I think in late 2006.
I didn't like it. I mean, on the one hand you stop worrying so much about your hair because you're going to trim off the ends eventually anyway, so you don't have to baby them too much (at least that was my thinking ). For a year, all I did to my hair was washing and bunning, nothing else. Like Dianyla, I almost forgot I had hair. But stopping to grow after you did that for such a long time was quite a change. And now, looking back at pictures I took almost two years ago and seeing no change at all, is a little bit frustrating to say the least. My ends aren't THAT much thicker, so there isn't a real change in thickness as well.
Of course, my hair is much shorter than yours, so maybe your thoughts will be different - I myself have resolved that I at least want to try to reach classic/fingertip length and to cut back if I don't like it. I'm not happy with TBL length anymore although I think it's a very flattering length... but somehow I need a change and TBL doesn't seem long enough to me anymore. I always thought TBL was a length I could be happy with for prolonged periods of time... but having been there for quite a while now, I realize that I want something different.
I know that I needed the time of maintaining because I couldn't have made it to classic with the state my ends were in, the bulk of hair had to catch up a bit, due to that massive shed. But yeah, I'm still wondering how my hair would look like if I hadn't trimmed that much off. I'm not sure about the entire amount, it's something between 10-15". ETA: I checked, I cut about 13" all in all, I made a good guess

[willowcandra]

I have been at my goal for five months now and so far I am loving my regular trims. My hair looks thicker every time I trim and I hardly see splits anymore.

[Anje]

I'm not to my goal yet, but I can't help thinking that the idea of regular trims is strange, particularly if you're at or near floor length and don't want it touching or trailing much. (High heels only go so high, after all. I haven't seen much more than 8-10 inches.) Then again, I've always been the sort who would let my hair grow for 6 to 18 months, then chop it back, so growing hair long isn't a change to me. Maintaining a length would be.

[Gothic Lolita]

Reaching my goal and then maintaining there is exactly what I plan to do now. My hair is layered, so when I've reached true hip length I let my leayers catch up a bit and then go for TB.

I think if you stop growing but just go for thickness, this impatience falls off you. You don't wait for going somewhere, all you do it trim. And if you don't, it doesn't matter. Also I do think that regular trims add to the condition of your hair (although I trim about once a year)

[mira-chan]

I'm growing for thickness a bit now. My taper is absurd as in it drops to 1/4 thickness about 2/3 down the length. I want to try to lessen that if I can. I've passed my goal and may or may not grow longer later but there is a lot less of a feeling of pressure in needing to reach a goal. I forget my hair a lot more and have a relatively stable routine now so otherwise it is benign neglect with sometimes variety in updo's.

I've only been doing this for half a year or so but so far it hasn't had too much of an effect except I worry less.

[harpgal]

I am very near to the end of my lengthening journey. I plan to stay at mid thigh for a year or two and then reevaluate. I have a feeling of relief and contentment about it.

[zift]

Nice thread
Actually the times when I didn't know anything about the long hair boards/world in internet and I wasn't growing my hair purposely to super length I had an incident happen. One of my friends came and told me that she had seen a lady with very long hair and she's sitting in a banch and her hair is sitting next to her. She told me that because I love long hair and had long hair back than.I was so surprised and wanted her to show me where she is. There I saw I haven't really seen before a lady with hair so long! So long that is past classic length. That was wow for me cause I haven't seen or thought if hair can grow so much until that minute. (But this happened years ago.) I never forgot how beautiful her hair was and that may be a big part of the inspiration for me searching for long hair on internet years later. I just wanted to tell you this hehe now probably my hair is as long as hers and I honestly can't believe I've achieved to grow as long as this,wow I rock OK what was the thread about tehehee. I've put ankle length as my ultimate goal for the start but it's on writings really,in my mind I kind of see knee length as the real goal or turning point. The reason is it's more achievable for me and I'm starting to feel my hair is becoming too long for me to handle.Well really, I really believe that, I have my reasons. And while I want to reach knee length very much I'm loving mid-thigh length a lot too. It's so proportionate to my body and looks nice on me and while I still have some volume at my ends(I mean if you can call that little amount volume, I mean I never had that much potential beyond classic) I'll keep it at mid-thigh for a while. I'm thinking more and more to rest at this point for a time. I'm one of the people who gained a bit more thickness by trimming. I mean I've reached 49" more than two years ago but than there's one strand on the last inch and now there's hundreds down there,and they all grew by trimming frequently. I guess trimming at one length does help for people with thickening ends and it'll be nice to let the burden of trying to reach some length go.
Cinnamon Hair I've been an admirer of both your hair and your consistent,patient and amazing growing journey even before I joined LHC. You reaching at a goal means a lot! It gives me such great inspiration and also bumps up my motivation for growing. Thanks for sharing your success with us all.
And congratulations and good luck with maintaining!