Growing for Thickness Instead of Length / Reaching Goal Length

[birthmarkie]

I sort of fell into maintaining this month. I've been unhappy with my layered ends for a few months now. My original goal was just to reach shoulder length, but after being here for a while, I quickly extended my goal. My final goal is TB in theory, right now, but I don't mind taking my time getting there. I plan to maintain here at a little past APL in order to let my layers even out. In this way, I kind of have the best of both worlds, because I get to even up my hemline while still seeing the growth of my shorter layers. Once I feel happier or at least at peace about my layered ends, I will grow on to BSL and waist, etc. But that could be next month or several months. I just consider this a pit-stop and those can be nice.

[vindo]

I am not at my goal yet and I am honestly not sure what my goal even is. I guess my hair will show me though.
If I notice its looking much too thin for my taste I will consider wearing it at a length that is still long but where I can have a thickness that is not see through.
So far I like my thickness until hip but I want to see if it grows down some more and if classic length is wearable for me.
I had a trim period in early 2007 (half year) and the results were stunning! I was so happy how quickly my hair evened up. I just had another shorter trim period and it worked wonders again..I will keep up that strategie of pausing fro trims all the way to classic ( Im 5-8cm away from it)

[Nightshade]

I hit my goal length of 36 inches (tailbone one me) a few months ago, and I've been trimming to maintain there.

With 8-10 inches of old dye left, the length goal really seemed more of a mini-goal. More of a, "Oh, good, now I can get down to business with the damage" feeling. Since I've maintained there (mostly, I think I'm past 37in now, though that fluxes a little) I can tell my ends are improving more quickly.

Once I get all that trimmed off, then I have all my old 100% henna to grow out and have only my lighter henna/cassia blend hair. So, I'm obviously a big fan of long-term goals.

As to what I may do when I finally have cassia/henna only hair with no damage, I'll probably be going gray by then and can work on growing my hair out all silver

Honestly, though, I find researching stuff (oils/henna/etc) almost more exciting that actually dealing with my hair.

[Saoirse]

Attempting to respond, inconclusively and semi-coherently, to Lady Godiva:

This is such a great thread. We can express our ambivalence with our hair length choices, can't we? We don't always have to present positive vibes, do we? As I've written before on other subjects, it's OK not to know, to have doubts, and even to be inconsistent on matters (not just hair). It all shows that we're thinking, weighing options and growing as persons. Those are good things.

I'm glad you think so. I do sense some subtle pressure to put forth the best of ultra long hair. You know, because I want something that unusual to be respected and appreciated. I guess the downside is getting oneself into a corner where, with the absence of total pleasure and satisfaction, one wonders if she has done something wrong. It's relieving to be able to examine all of my feelings about it.

Something I also believe is that how long a person's hair is has no moral bottom line. It's a personal preference; that's all. No one should feel compelled to grow longer unless s/he wants to. Hair has the inherent ability to be cut just as much as it has the ability to grow long, and really, this lifts the burden of feeling pressured to do either.

This is a liberating idea. Of course, on one hand I understand that it is just hair. On the other -- hair can tangle one's identity and other issues up within itself, making cutting it a much more complicated endeavour that it need be!

My feelings on this remind me somewhat of Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being and his discussion of lightness. Have any of you read this book? I think the lightest character in that book -- what would she do? Surely to her, hair is just hair. Do what you will. It will grow back, and so on. But how human, to make something light heavy, to make one's hair deserving of struggle over one's identity, one's conforming to society, and all these other things!

OK, philosophical aside finished ...

It's very relieving, Lady G, to read your thoughts on this -- because you also have super long hair, you experience similar things, you understand what I'm saying, and yet your attitude is totally not locked into 'long hair only!' and thus legitimizes my (inconclusive, wandering) thoughts. Thank you for your post. "As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others".

[UrbanEast]

Count me into the growing for thickness club. This is as long as I want my hair to be, especially since I wear it down a lot. (I do admire those who are shooting for classic or knee length though!)

Is anyone else who is growing for thickness using hair growth aids like Monistat?

[teadragon]

I'm not really doing either, specifically. I'm not just growing, nor am I stopped at a certain spot in order to increase thickness.

Once my hair reached waist length, I decided that it was "long" and I didn't have to think about growing so much anymore. Now, I trim a bit more than half of each year's growth. As a result, it's inching downward without sacrificing the healthy appearance. I'd like it to grow faster, but still I'm pretty content. I suppose my goal is classic length, but that's more for the novelty of sitting on it; I'd probably cut it back to tailbone once I'd had classic for a while.

[joyful373]

I am grateful for this thread and the honesty that is expressed on it. I am one of those "in between" as well, and as I approach hip length (or at least continue on toward it if I am not there) I wonder about the thickness vs. length debate that takes place in my mind. I know I will never be super thick- (I'm lucky to be a ii) but an even thickness is tempting and most likely where I will end up. Unless I don't. I do know however, that my hair was very grateful after having close to an inch cut from the ends, and my length is so much more healthy feeling and looking. So I suppose it "is what it is."

see why I love this place?

...joyful

[spidermom]

Congratulations on reaching your hair-length goals, CinnamonHair. I love looking at your web site pictures and have been there several times this year alone.

I've been approaching hair length bass ackward judging by most of the posts. My goals are
1) maintain thick, blunt ends and
2) grow to classic length.

Not that I haven't had a few ripples in my intention, but for the most part this has been my approach from the beginning. Number 1 isn't going as well as I had planned; I have taper in thickness despite regular trimming. It hasn't become so thin at the bottom that I feel I have to abandon goal #2, however. My hair might make it that far. If it does, my next thought is to grow it for one full year with no trimming out of curiosity. If I like it, I might extend the no trimming growth for awhile.

[Cinnamon Hair]

What have become very important to me are the social implications that surround the long hair choice, and I'm quite focused on those aspects because I really dislike the social injustices implied in them, the inequality that people face simply due to their personal preference to have a hair style out of the norm. The stupidity of western culture forcing a short-hair norm onto people and applying false values and pressure for us to conform to that norm riles me. There's that, plus the age-related pressure, and then there's the gender bias that men face, and again, I am disgusted by the unfairness and inequality of all that. These are the things that drive me to love my hair styling choice because these issues point to much greater problems in our world, and they're not small personal grooming matters. They are larger social issues that highlight prejudice, judgmentalism, societal norms, and even politics and religion. There's nothing small about those subjects.

LadyGodiva, I'm so glad you went beyond my initial questions. Your insight on what (super, freakishly, uber?) long hair means to you is very interesting. I also love that even at floor length, you aren't completely sure what you want at any given time. I'm so there.

[Ursula]

I recently did a larger trim to thicken up my ends, which needed it in spite of fairly regular small trims. This led me to do some thinking on how my trims/cuts overall have worked since I learned to self-trim and started trimming more often.

My take on keeping (very) thick ends seems to be that I do small trims frequently, to slow my growth to about half it's natural rate (so, for every inch of growth, cut 1/2 inch.) This works well for quite a while, but after a bit, it will still get thin. At that point, trim half the growth since your last major trim. (E.g., if you've grown 12" since your last big trim, then trim 6")

At this point, my ends seem as thick as they were when I was doing my pre-LHC trim cycle, which was to cut back to just above waist, then grow without any trims at all for several years, then cut back to waist again.

By contrast, when I'd just let it go without trimming, if I got to near-classic, I'd have to trim back to waist to get the same thickness, instead of hip - because the very ends grew faster, but got thinner faster, as well. It was harder to gain length with what I'd consider "quality thickness", because the effect of the racer hairs was more pronounced.

Based on this, I'm wondering if, in terms of having reached goal, and wanting to thicken up the ends, perhaps doing a somewhat larger trim, and then small trims to let it grow at a slower rate for a while, might be more effective than just holding the length. So that you're maintaining around an "average" length you like, but with a bit more up and down variation over time.

(E.g., trim back 3", then do 1/2" trims for every 1" growth, until you've gained 6" from the trim, or 3" below where you are now, then go back 6", and repeat the cycle until things have thickened up?)

This might give you more noticable increase in thickness, both for the small trims to even things constantly, and the occassional larger trim with a more dramatic increase in thickness at the ends after that.