Does curly hair reach terminal sooner?

[Marchpane]

I'm just wondering what happens to curly hair when it gets really really long... does it just straighten out? Or does it get to terminal length sooner? I just don't think I've ever seen very curly hair that's super super long lol, that I can recall... if anyone has pics though that'd be cool too! ;) Thanks!

[Elainehali]

I think it depends on how tight the curls are. I went to middle school with a girl that had very tight curls, and at the top of her hair it looked like ripples. then from the top of her ears down it was nothing but spirals. Her hair was to her waist when curled.

I have no idea how long it would be streched!

a little before summer she cut it up to shoulder length, though. =(

[Fillette]

Wow... that is a very good question. I don't know if curly hair reaches terminal lenght sooner... I sure hope not!!!
I think that one of the reasons why there aren't very many people with LONG curly hair is because it requires a lot more attention than straight hair, especially when it get extremely long... Curly hair can be soooo voluminous. Another reason might be that a lot of curly haired people have a hard time accepting their curls and tend to abuse their hair constantly with chemicals and constant flat-ironing.
As for people with long curly hair, the only person who comes to my mind right now is Keri Russell back when she was playing Felicity. I will post a picture as soon as I find one.

[Fillette]

here is one picture that I found where she still has long curly hair: http://www.hollywoodteenmovies.com/KeriRussell.html

Here is the website of another curly who has long hair: http://biracialhair.org/Welcome.html

I hope I get there someday!!!

[systemaurora]

there was a girl at my college last year with longer-than-tush-length red hair, I think it was at least 3b if not 3c. It was gorgeous. :D

[beyondcute]

I hope not....

[Marchpane]

Wow... that is a very good question. I don't know if curly hair reaches terminal lenght sooner... I sure hope not!!!
I think that one of the reasons why there aren't very many people with LONG curly hair is because it requires a lot more attention than straight hair, especially when it get extremely long... Curly hair can be soooo voluminous. Another reason might be that a lot of curly haired people have a hard time accepting their curls and tend to abuse their hair constantly with chemicals and constant flat-ironing.
As for people with long curly hair, the only person who comes to my mind right now is Keri Russell back when she was playing Felicity. I will post a picture as soon as I find one.

Those reasons make a lot of sense; that's probably why you don't see long curly hair much then. I'm glad I was always too lazy to straighten. Lol I suppose when my hair gets longer I'll find it a huge pain too. ;) Oh well, I want waist-length anyway!

Thanks for the links too!

[Slug Yoga]

One thing I wonder is... how much "shorter" is curly hair versus straight hair? What I mean is, say that hair grows half an inch a month (or whatever). A curly-haired person is going to end up having a bit less vertical length for the same amount of hair growth, much like a person walking up and down hills is going to cover less ground, as the crow flies, than someone walking on a plateau.

But how big is the difference? (Obviously things like how tight the curl is would affect this too). As a non-curly-haired person, I honestly don't know. Insights? Like, curly people, how much longer is your hair when you stretch or iron it straight, how tight are your curls, etc.?

[Marchpane]

One thing I wonder is... how much "shorter" is curly hair versus straight hair? What I mean is, say that hair grows half an inch a month (or whatever). A curly-haired person is going to end up having a bit less vertical length for the same amount of hair growth, much like a person walking up and down hills is going to cover less ground, as the crow flies, than someone walking on a plateau.

But how big is the difference? (Obviously things like how tight the curl is would affect this too). As a non-curly-haired person, I honestly don't know. Insights? Like, curly people, how much longer is your hair when you stretch or iron it straight, how tight are your curls, etc.?


Hmm, well for me I find some days my hair just looks longer to me, and some days shorter. And it just depends on how tightly curling the curls are that day. I know that when I've straightened it my reaction to length was just 'Wow!' because it is much much longer straight. Same with when it's really wet, it's probably... for me, maybe an inch or two longer? Not super much. Just enough to notice. But actually I'm not so sure for exact length, next time I straighten I think I'll record it and see the real difference. ^_^ Lol sorry... I think my answer didn't end up being a very good answer. :rolleyes: Oh well.

[ZaBasDa]

Well my hair keeps getting wavy-er and wavy-er the longer it gets. I really wish it would just stay curly. But as for the curly length vs straight length, I have to say that visually I don't see much of a difference. But my longest hair near my nape is much straighter than the rest of my hair. But the rest of my layers lengthen a good 3 or 4 inches when straight.

[Velouria]

The longest I ever got was BSL (when dry and curly). I was hennaing at the time. This was pre-LHC; I think and hope I can get a bit longer now (once I trim away all my previously box-dyed hair and am henna-over-virgin again) with the care info I've gotten here.

I don't think I had reached terminal at BSL, but my ends were quite frayed, so I started trimming.
Although, looking back, my hair was healthier and easier to care for then that it is now at just-past shoulder length (again, dry and curly)....the difference being attributable to henna-over-virgin vs. henna-over-dye, I'm sure.

[shrimp]

I'm not sure baout earlier terminal. I guess curly hair tends to be drier so may be more prone to breakge and thus maybe hitting false terminal.

I'm just past classic straightened to braid waves (but with a lot of taper from old layers).
Curly it's between waist and tb on a good day, tb on a bad day. So yes, curly hair can grow long.

But - I keep my hair in braid waves rather than curls as it is easier - plopping is the best way for me to dry my hair curly and it takes forever at this length!!!! I change the towel 4 or 5 times and it takes well over 24hours. It gets big too when left curly.

So, for me my curls at this length are more effort than keeping it straighter. I love my curls, know how to care for them and accept them, but honestly, they are just that little bit of extra work and I'm very lazy :wink:

[sexyjacksparrow]

I hope not! Although I only really want to get to waist so it's not crucial to me to be able to grow super-long.

But yes, I guess even if we have the same terminal length as a straight haired person, it would look shorter with the springing up. My hair is shoulder length curly and APL pulled straight.

[Arctic]

Good question! From our members Wonderlywroughte and Starr come to mind and there are propably many more.

[nappywomyn]

One thing I wonder is... how much "shorter" is curly hair versus straight hair? What I mean is, say that hair grows half an inch a month (or whatever). A curly-haired person is going to end up having a bit less vertical length for the same amount of hair growth, much like a person walking up and down hills is going to cover less ground, as the crow flies, than someone walking on a plateau.

But how big is the difference? (Obviously things like how tight the curl is would affect this too). As a non-curly-haired person, I honestly don't know. Insights? Like, curly people, how much longer is your hair when you stretch or iron it straight, how tight are your curls, etc.?

It definitely depends on the tightness of the curl. Stretched, my hair is about shoulder length. Unstretched, it barely covers my ears! :lol: *sigh*


Good question! From our members Wonderlywroughte and Starr come to mind and there are propably many more.

Ooooh, yes!!! Starr is an excellent example of how much some curly hair can shrink - her hair is tailbone, I think, but 'shrunken' it's about BSL?

Heh. To answer the original question, no, I don't think that they reach terminal sooner, but I think that because of the unhairhealthy habits that most curly-heads subject their curls too, you don't see many terminal length curlies.

[Arctic]

Oh my, I noticed now I had chose my words a bit wrongly, I'm glad Nappywomyn understood me :) What I meant was, that from our members, Wonderlywroughte and Starr have beautiful, looong curly hairs, so there are curlies with long hair :)

Sorry :flower:

[tkywa]

My hair is very curly and it grows very long. I've had it short and medium length before, but right now it's at my buns and still going strong. It's been slightly longer but I trim it occasionally when I get tangled in it too often. It doesn't straighten out really, but the spring curls stretch out a little from the weight.

[josie4]

I don't think curly hair would reach terminal length any sooner, but it may look shorter than straight hair at terminal.

[Iylivarae]

I think curly hair just looks shorter, so the "terminal length" with curled hair could be waist, or tailbone, but when it is stretched, it is much longer.
I think normally curly hair has a shorter curled terminal length than straight hair, because the hair roots work for a certain time and then stop, so the hair falls out, no matter how long it looks...

I think I didn't really get to the point... too tired, maybe :o

[Aries_jb]

At my longest, my hair was to my waist when dry and tailbone when wet. Hopefully that was not my terminal length, but I will say that I did shed a lot at that length and my hair thinned out quite considerably to the point that I had to cut it. Right now, my hair is shoulder length (bsl when wet) and I'm testing whether or not that was my terminal length or just the result of me not fully understanding long hair care by tweeking my routine.

[GlassEyes]

I think it only appears so because curls can absorb more length.

[Friesiangirl]

I had a friend with tightly curled hair (crimply on her scalp and tight rings all the way down), and her hair was to her hips. When straightened... well. She never did until she cut it to BSL. Now she's gone and chemically straightened in, and cut it SL. Crazy Girl.

HAyley

[Arctic_Mama]

I would wonder if it reaches terminal a *little* sooner, actually, because the strands are often much more delicate than straight hair, which is more resilient and with a more forgiving cuticle. It's just SO easy to damage curly hair, and it also tends to be more fine than it appears. Plus curlies tend to have fewer strands on their heads, too, so it might be prone to premature 'thinning' because it can't grow long enough, fast enough, to stay looking 'full' with normal shedding?

Just a thought. Don't know if it's coherent though! I know that even with pretty kind treatment my hair was more delicate at BSL than my straight friend. It's all anecdotal, though!

[Buddaphlyy]

I don't think it reaches terminal sooner, it just looks shorter. My hair is almost shoulder length, but shrinks up to about 1/4 an inch. So that's a good 4-5 inches of shrink vs stretch. Also, my curls do stretch a little the longer they get. so my texture appears to be constantly changing.

I think most curlies just don't try for terminal because it would probably take a lot of upkeep and time to do so.

[Anne~]

Curly here. Mine went from tight curls to this, wavy at the top and spiraly for the rest. I am at 45.5 inches and still growing.

[Marchpane]

Thanks for all your answers guys! It seems like the reason is probably that it's tough to keep up curly hair so long. Your hair is gorgeous though Anne! Thanks for posting! Very inspiring. :)

[Tangles]

When my hair is very long, (waist and longer) it just looks like loose braid waves. At shoulder length or even APL, my hair looks pretty curly, though still in the 2 range. So another reason might be: people you THINK are curly might not be anymore once they reach goal (like Anne said).

[Arctic_Mama]

Oooh, I hadn't thoiught about the weight aspect - that was a problem even when my hair was BSL - the curl got weighed down a bit so it didn't seem as curly as it was, but when I chopped it short I had TONS of curl and wave.


Smart girl ;) And Anne, I second your BEAUTIFUL hair!

[beyondcute]

As a child (12-ish) I can remember my natural hair being about the length it is now, maybe a TAD longer. I remember it being waist when straightened. But since then Ive grown in height. The only thing I can do now is sit back and wait it out. I do see stretching of my curl as it gets longer but nothing drastic. Im still 3b/c LOL. If I ever get to BSL when curly. I will be ecstatic. I think... Im brushing APL curly now and boy am I feeling hairnorexic...