terminal calculator?

[nostalgic]

some very depressing news: i tried the formula in the articles section (under misncellaneous) to determine terminal length and according to that, i won't even hit bsl! i can't remember ever having my hair much longer than apl but it's because i always cut it since i was always in search of a 'cute' new cut or trying to get a more classic bob or something...
anyhow, does anyone know how accurate those things are? i'm going to say not a whole ton, but reassurance is needed! :(

[Bene]

:(


those calculators are automated, they don't know about your genetics and hair care. i say, stop messing around with those things because they aren't well informed. don't lose hope.

[Gumball]

I'd say if you keep growing and it passes BSL then that's all the reassurance you'll need. :) You won't know if it's accurate until the time comes where you'll see if you can pass that measurement. I wouldn't put too much stock in the calculator at the moment. No need to get down! :flower:

[CurlyOne]

Feh, I say ignore it! You don't know what is possible, after all, the world was flat until someone took a boat trip.

[trolleypup]

Most of the calculators don't give useful answers...ranging from way too long to way too short. I've gotten answers ranging from BSL to past floor, I've never gotten an answer between TB and Knee...which at least would be in the range!

That said, if you can get an estimate of the number of hairs on your head, your shed rate, and your growth rate, you may be able to figure out a rough terminal length.

Or you can just be patient. ;)

[Ndnlady]

:) I just think of those things like those internet trivia games that people email me once in a while! I would not go off of something like that, it's definitely not accurate!

[nostalgic]

haha, thanks everyone, this is exactly what i needed to hear!
the funny part is that i had to intention to grow to terminal (*pictures ankle length hair tapered beyond belief*)..... but it was rather depressing to think that i wouldn't even get to my first major goal, let alone waist!

so thanks again, and time will tell!

[Darkhorse1]

Can you link to that article? I'm curious to read about this term as I keep seeing it and don't know what it means. :) Remember, bodies don't go by a calculator--only numbers do :D

Editing to say I found the article and, to be honest, that seems like a lot of boo-hockey.

For start: Hair grows at a different rate. not all hair grows equally. Therefore, if you are growing out layers, your hair will grow uneven, there for that method of measurement will show only the longest/fastest growing parts.

2. Depending on stress, pregnancy, menopause, genetics, damage, hair cuts, cats, dogs, kids, food, diet, illness (get the picture?), hair is affected by SO many things, including hair shedding and growth and so forth. I wouldn't think that you can 'predict' when your hair will be at it's ideally length. Much like nails, they will keep growing until they are cut or break.

3. Better calculator? Look at your family. Does their hair grow fast? Slow? Does it stop at a certain point? How has your hair grown in the past? Those are better ways of judging how long your hair will take to grow and how long it will get.

I've known a few people who can't grow hair long. They get to bsl, and it just stops. Both were blonds, and it was odd because their siblings had long hair, but it was also different in color and type.

Enjoy your hair, eat healthy, exercise and that will show in your hair :D

[camara]

Once I tried a calculator for terminal lenght that is out there in the net. (Sorry, I´ve got no idea nowadays where it can be found.) It gave me a terminal lenght of...something around waistlenght. :shrug: Now I´m at classic, and it is still growing, so there you´ve got the accuracy of terminal lenght calculators.

[Igor]

Well it is called ”estimating your terminal length” because its not accurate enough to give you the correct answer, there are simply too many unknown factors for that :wink:

[anna1850]

Did you measure in the LHC way or the normal way? These calculators tend to give results the normal way (ie from back of head rather than hairline) so you have to add about 6" to the result to get an LHC style answer.

I don't really trust the calculations in general. It's very difficult to calculate. Remember that if you treat your hair right, most people's terminal length seems to be around TB to knee I think. There are some odd cases but if you didn't get massive tapering at APL then I don't see why you can't grow it much longer.

[Sarahmoon]

Please girl, ignore that calculater! I tried it once and it said my hair would grow 10 cm :laugh: It was already way longer than that and I'm almost at tailbone length now. No worries!

[spidermom]

When I tried it, I got 27 inches. My hair is now 34 inches. Ignore the calculator.

[yogachic]

It said mine would be BSL, I've already been past that. So I wouldn't go by that.

[spidermom]

Hmmmmmm ... so what is the non-LHC way of measuring hair. From the nape? From the part? I'm wondering where 27 inches would put me with a different measuring method.

[EmmaRose]

you know, I didn't know there were terminal length calculators out there. Of course, I never wondered what my terminal length would be.
As a side note, I have a painting of my great-grandmother with floor length hair, so I just hope I got her hair genes!

[Meli]

I think the result is an estimated terminal length of the individual strands, not a certain length measured from a certain point on the head. So, if the estimated terminal length is 27", as mentioned earlier in the thread, this will be a big difference in length depending on if you measure the LHC way from the front hairline, or if you measure from the top of your head or even from just above the nape. On me, 27" from the front hairline is about BSL, but from the lower back on my head, where my currently longest hairs are located, 27" is very close to tailbone.

Also, with all the unknown factors - even a very small change in growth rate and/or shed rate can give very different results, and unless you don't count all the hairs on your head you won't know for sure if you have 80 000 or 120 000 hairs either...

[Ursula]

Those calculators are useless. All depend on somehow knowing the number of hairs on your head, and the number of hairs shed in a day. But no one knows the number of hairs on their head. And the error in guessing the number of hairs on your head is far greater than the number shed - and even a small change in the number shed gives huge differences in the answer.

Ignore the calculator. All you can do is wait and see.

[Bene]

used an off site hair calculator out of curiosity. it old me my terminal length is 84 inches. that's longer than i am :shocked:



and while i know those thingies are garbage, i have to admit that i can't help but hope it's true in my case :o

[starla_zero]

I'm glad I read this, I did one of these calculators this week and it said my growth potential was 0, so at least you guys are more optimistic :)

[Anje]

Ignore the family, too, unless you have lots of people who took excellent care of their hair as examples.

My mum claims her hair would never grow much past her shoulders, even when she was young. I don't know what her haircare regimen was, though I am aware that at least once in highschool she tried straightening it with a clothes iron. (Ah, the 70s and wurly hair!)

Mine's at high tailbone and still growing. My brothers have corkscrew curls well past their shoulders (unstretched) which promise to get much longer if no one drags them to the barber.

Be nice to your hair, be patient, and see what happens. Just about everyone has the genetics to make waist. (Oh, and don't get discouraged if you have long pauses in growth, especially somewhere near BSL or waist. It seems quite normal.)

[nostalgic]

well, everyone has effectively disproved this whole calculator thing and put my fears to rest! THANKS!
as i think i said before, it's not even that i wanted to try to get to terminal length per se..... as long as that number was longer than my goals :p. i knew it wasn't concrete but it was scary to think that i wouldn't even make bsl!
but you guys have not only proved that they're nonsense: you have been very supportive and told me many ways it can be possible (if that makes any sense....)
:flowers:

[Charlotte:)]

LIES! I used the same calculator and it told me my hair could only grow 12.12 inches! My hair is mid-back and before I cut it, it was past my tailbone!

[tanya222]

Ummmm can someone point me to that calculator?

I can't seem to find even the Miscellaneous section, let alone that? :confused:

Course it's way past my bedtime :D

[naereid]

I found it here: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=75 --> http://www.allvidzhaze.com/phptest/hairgrowth.html

It tells me my growth potential is around 10 inches. What? :laugh: (I have no idea what my shed hair number is so I just went with 100)

[HotRag]

Great calculator! I will have 0.10 inches as terminal LOL Less than my monthly growth.

Numbers I put in:
growth: 0.5
shedded per day: 25
hairs on head: 150,000 (just estimating, may be more if 100,000-120,000 is normal)

[HotRag]

Oh, now I see, "omit" means "leave out" I thought it was "allow", meaning "you must use commas" (for the estimated total of hairs on your head).

X)

I then got 97.56 inches. Just wait and see then.

Can be fun, not understanding XD

[ButterCream]

Nostalgic:
I wouldn`t exactly bet on this so called haircalculator, lol..

This calculator does not tell the truth...
about my hair at least!

I entered my data and it gave me "Your growth potential is 0.00 inches."

Really?? My hair doesn`t grow AT ALL???:confused:
Uhm, ok.....:rolleyes:

I entered in 0,5 inch growth pr month, 100000 hairs and 40 hairs lost a day.
And 0,00 inches of growth was the results...

Well, I`ll better bring the news to my hair then, so it will stop growing, as it apparently aren`t supposed to do that with my results...:p

Strange, because it is starting to move past my bsl at the moment, even with a small trim of a cm a week ago...
Oh well...

ETA: I noticed I had put in a comma in the 0,5 inch amonth growth and replased it with a . instead....the score changed!
I am apparently terminal at 36.23...
Ok...less than a meter?
Well, we will see about that, won`t we terminal calculatoooooooor! BEH-RING IT OhhNN! Put`em uuup, put`emm uuuuuupppp..
:luke::slap::mrt::hatchet:

[Sammich]

I don't think it's very accurate...

I put 0.75 as my hair's growth rate per month, because it changes alot.
Hair's lost is about 50, I very rarely shed. :p
and I guessed the strands as: 150000, because my hair is thicker than normal brunettes! :p I remembered to remove the comma and I got:
Your growth potential is 60.81 inches.

Hmmm... *Goes to measure that on myself* Errm, from the top of my hairline, from the back, that's about calf length. Woo if it is my term, because I don't plan on growing further than thigh/knee! :p

[PiroskaCicu]

I don't think the calculator is truly accurate. It can't combine all of the factors that effect hair growth completely. Don't worry and be patient, just wait to see what happens as you grow :).

[HotRag]

ETA: I noticed I had put in a comma in the 0,5 inch amonth growth and replased it with a . instead....the score changed!
I am apparently terminal at 36.23...
Ok...less than a meter?
Well, we will see about that, won`t we terminal calculatoooooooor! BEH-RING IT OhhNN! Put`em uuup, put`emm uuuuuupppp..
:luke::slap::mrt::hatchet:
:D :D :D

USA (and maybe other countries) has the opposit way of putting punctuation in tousends and decimals.
Sweden (and Norway I think?):
0,5
150.000

USA:
0.5
150,000

This made me bid 5111 dollars at ebay once :mad: I won the auction at several hundred dollars, and I wanted to just bid 51.11 dollars (I always add 1 dollar to my max since people often bid even, and put 0.11 more if someone think like I do ^_^, it's about nanoseconds at the end of the auction, and bidding 0.11 too little means very little chance of bidding higher).

I had to just not pay, but after several weeks, the seller said she believed me and I got no negative.

***

If one calculates with the "normal" numbers for normal people, it doesn't give the same result as the "normal term length" is said to be.

Maybe it is the "normal 100 shedded per day" that is wrong when it comes to "normal term length" beeing longer than the calculated from "normal numbers". I haven't yet heard anybody have 100 hairs shedded per day. If so, "normal term length" should be longer than calculated from "normal 100 shedded hairs".

[HotRag]

Normal term for normal numbers (0.5, 100, 100 000), would be 10.10 inches. Seams false.

[Pierre]

A more accurate way of estimating terminal length would be to make a ponytail in the middle of your scalp, measure it at 0 and (say) 200 mm from the scalp, and use this formula: L=D/(1-(C0/C1)^2), where:
L is terminal length
D is the distance between the two measurements
C0 is the ponytail circumference at the scalp
C1 is the ponytail circumference at distance D from the scalp.
This is wrong if you have layers, unless you pick D to be less than the shortest layer. If you have broilers, all bets are off ;)

[HotRag]

A more accurate way of estimating terminal length would be to make a ponytail in the middle of your scalp, measure it at 0 and (say) 200 mm from the scalp, and use this formula: L=D/(1-(C0/C1)^2), where:
L is terminal length
D is the distance between the two measurements
C0 is the ponytail circumference at the scalp
C1 is the ponytail circumference at distance D from the scalp.
This is wrong if you have layers, unless you pick D to be less than the shortest layer. If you have broilers, all bets are off ;)
Maybe damage can create false taper? Or other things can cause false taper, like one or more extra heavy sheds? But high enough, as 200 mm should be rather free from the damage problem at least (like you described for layers).

If it is long enough, find where the hair is half as thick as at the beginning, and double ;)

How is it amongst the members with terminal length? Do you have even(linear) taper all the way?

[MrsGuther]

Meh. I don't put much stock in terminal length calculators, as nobody really knows the precise numbers to use concerning their own hair or anybody else's for that matter. It's really all guesses and estimates. I would say just keep on growing!! :) I've outgrown the 'longest' length that my hair has ever been, and I'm on my way to classic. I didn't know that was possible for me but now I'm like whoop whoop and doing the figurative happy dance about my hair growth. Lol :)