Growing as long as it will go! (The Terminal Goal Thread)

**nicolezoie** · February 3rd, 2015, 09:03 PM

My hair has been to the floor now (72" from my hairline) for about 2 years or so. In the past two years I have cut 6-8 inches twice, so without trims, I suppose my hair could be 14-16 inches longer, but truthfully, those ends had to go each time they went. There wasn't much there. I've had a few stalls over the years, but suspect that had more to do with breakage equaling growth, and so with a couple good trims, the breakage stopped and my hair began making visible progress again. MSM helped some as did Biotin, but I haven't taken either of those in years (the biotin did help bump-start a stall once). I can't even say for sure if MSM helped prolong my growth cycle, now! My hair *wants* to get longer!

I'm not exactly out to see what my terminal length is, but I started out that way. Here we are many years later, my hair still continues to grow around 9+ inches a year, and is reasonably thick at the ends. It tapers, sure, but not down to a single strand, yet. What's curious is the ends are gradually getting thicker with the occasional trims.

I don't have all that many splits at the tippy tips, but I do get plenty of them throughout. If one sticks out glaringly, I'll snip it off, but for me S&D caused more splits than cured, even with good scissors. I suppose that just means my hair requires moisture and slip over anything else. I don't like detangling it so I'm always careful to not let it get tangled (up, protected, etc), and routine detangling is just running a brush through the length a few times to pull out any fallout and to scratch my scalp.

I suppose if I were to add up all the trims I've done over the past 15 years, my hair would be about 3 feet longer, but I don't think of it in those terms. The net result is what I have managed to keep, and that is an astounding amount.

**lapushka** · February 4th, 2015, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by TaterTot

The desire is ancestral!

Yeah, probably.

**JadedByEntropy** · April 16th, 2015, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by nicolezoie

My hair has been to the floor now (72" from my hairline) for about 2 years or so. In the past two years I have cut 6-8 inches twice, so without trims, I suppose my hair could be 14-16 inches longer, but truthfully, those ends had to go each time they went. There wasn't much there. I've had a few stalls over the years, but suspect that had more to do with breakage equaling growth, and so with a couple good trims, the breakage stopped and my hair began making visible progress again. MSM helped some as did Biotin, but I haven't taken either of those in years (the biotin did help bump-start a stall once). I can't even say for sure if MSM helped prolong my growth cycle, now! My hair *wants* to get longer!

I'm not exactly out to see what my terminal length is, but I started out that way. Here we are many years later, my hair still continues to grow around 9+ inches a year, and is reasonably thick at the ends. It tapers, sure, but not down to a single strand, yet. What's curious is the ends are gradually getting thicker with the occasional trims.

I don't have all that many splits at the tippy tips, but I do get plenty of them throughout. If one sticks out glaringly, I'll snip it off, but for me S&D caused more splits than cured, even with good scissors. I suppose that just means my hair requires moisture and slip over anything else. I don't like detangling it so I'm always careful to not let it get tangled (up, protected, etc), and routine detangling is just running a brush through the length a few times to pull out any fallout and to scratch my scalp.

I suppose if I were to add up all the trims I've done over the past 15 years, my hair would be about 3 feet longer, but I don't think of it in those terms. The net result is what I have managed to keep, and that is an astounding amount.

That's amazing.. I imagine when you hit floor a lot more damage is natural. The thickness thing is odd to me, maybe its just getting a preferred diet in general in the last 5 years to thicken it up, or your thick section has come back. 9x7=63 so you're growth cycle must be longer than 7 years too! With all this put together you have a chance at becoming a super-super-impossibly long hair!

**gthlvrmx** · April 16th, 2015, 06:50 PM

Wow, I just read my first comment on this thread and I saw how my goals have changed except for the golden goal of reaching terminal length. I used to want to get to classic and then maintain there to thicken up my ends, but now I really do not care about my thickness. I just want length. I guess you appreciate length more after you go bald.

Who here has reached terminal? What length are you at now compared to your body markers? (like BSL, knee length, classic, etc.)

**nicolezoie** · April 16th, 2015, 07:11 PM

The damage was worse when my hair was much shorter, mostly because my hair is very brittle, and broke much more often when I wore my hair loose all the time. Most of the damage I have now is at about the length where my arms run out in my brush strokes. My detangling method involves switching between pulling down from the roots then pushing down to the ends. It's hard to explain, but detangling from the bottom up like everyone recommends is kind of difficult. At the point where my arms run out I wrap my hair around my fist so I can push the tangles the rest of the way down without pulling strands out of my scalp. But now, I'm at that point where I have to adjust my technique again, otherwise that damage spot is going to expand (split ends and breakage rub against otherwise healthy strands and cause weak spots, at least for me) and the breakage will begin to overtake growth again.

**Chromis** · April 17th, 2015, 06:31 AM

I don't like brushing from the bottom either. I detangle with a wide comb and pause the moment I run into resistance. Then I run my fingers down and smooth the hair to the bottom checking for loose hairs. Often there is a little web of them right near the bottom that just falls right out and then I can finish combing. Otherwise I finger detangle first. I just use the boar bristle brush on my scalp mainly, it always seems to take out so much hair from the canopy no matter how well I detangle! I only brush the length after I oil (once or twice a week, after washing it)

I wrap my hair around my neck when I want to reach the bottom, especially for braiding.

**ravenheather** · April 17th, 2015, 03:18 PM

I can't wait until I have to figure out how to braid or comb longer than I can reach.

**Squirrelspring** · April 17th, 2015, 04:57 PM

Can I join this thread? I think terminal is my goal. I've never really had it longer than about mid back, it was usually the tangles that kept it shorter. But I'm going for terminal now with hopefully no trims. I have no idea where it will be but judging from my hair the way it is and how it grows, stays thick etc. I think it will be pretty long. Hopefully past floor because it would be fun to shock people with that length. Luckily my hair doesn't seem to have damage or splits, because I haven't been able to find a split for more than a year or something. I guess I'm lucky, or maybe it's just because my hair is so short right now.

On a side note, how many people on this thread have hair above bsl? How many do have terminal length hair? Where do you think terminal is and how long do you think it will take to get there?

Nicolezoie, that's amazing that your hair is so long. Congratulations.

Good luck to everybody in reaching your goals.

a cheese for good measure. I decided to mix up the font.

**gthlvrmx** · April 17th, 2015, 05:14 PM

Originally Posted by Squirrelspring

Can I join this thread? I think terminal is my goal. I've never really had it longer than about mid back, it was usually the tangles that kept it shorter. But I'm going for terminal now with hopefully no trims. I have no idea where it will be but judging from my hair the way it is and how it grows, stays thick etc. I think it will be pretty long. Hopefully past floor because it would be fun to shock people with that length. Luckily my hair doesn't seem to have damage or splits, because I haven't been able to find a split for more than a year or something. I guess I'm lucky, or maybe it's just because my hair is so short right now.

On a side note, how many people on this thread have hair above bsl? How many do have terminal length hair? Where do you think terminal is and how long do you think it will take to get there?

Nicolezoie, that's amazing that your hair is so long. Congratulations.

Good luck to everybody in reaching your goals.

a cheese for good measure. I decided to mix up the font.

Of course you can join! Welcome! My hair is above BSL but I am growing it out until it doesn't grow anymore.
Terminal length (or terminal "time") varies from person to person. I think most people can grow to at least classic, when they stretch their hair. Every hair on your head has it's own time when it falls off, some fall off when they are 2 inches long and others don't fall off until they have grown 3 feet long! If your hair grows fast, you might be able to reach longer lengths and still keep growing before the hairs start falling out.

**AmberJewel** · April 18th, 2015, 05:57 PM

Well, I was going to wait to join this thread until my hair had gotten a little longer, but what the heck? I have no idea where terminal length is on me but I hope it's past classic. Fingertip is my ultimate goal if I can get there. Who knows? Maybe once I'm there I'll be comfortable with growing even longer! LHC-itis.