BSL vs MB question

[Dr. Girlfriend]

I did a forum search and couldn't find my answer, so I'm sorry if this is kind of a common question. :blossom:

I'm having a little trouble discerning between BSL and MBL. Until today for some reason I thought that BSL was when your hair reached and covered the bottom of your bra strap in the back, but when I was looking at length marker pictures on Google it looks like BSL is the TOP of your bra strap in the back, and MBL looks like it begins after you clear the bra strap. If that is true then I would be a squeak away from MB, and might have even had it before I had my hair trimmed two weeks ago. I feel like I've stalled out at BSL for months now, so it would be awesome if I was in the next stage before waist. Seems like I'll never get there. :( Here is a picture:

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3232/lunapic1355689984896601.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/13/lunapic1355689984896601.jpg/)


Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)


Sorry about the awful picture, I had to take it myself in front of a mirror, and I feel weird about the shirtless picture but it's the only way I could think of to show the strap. I'll take it down immediately if it's not appropriate.

My hair is about as straight as it gets in this photo without flat ironing it. I washed it yesterday and was messing with it yesterday trying to do various braids so it's not as wavy-wurly as it usually is. The length hits about 1/2 to 1" below my strap, but I have layers and the longest one stops around the top of my strap when the are pulled straight.

So is this BSL, or am I getting very close to MB?

[GrowingOut]

Well, you seem very close to MB! Just give it a month, and you'll be solid.

[woolyleprechaun]

I called MB when I passed the bottom of my thickest granny-bra strap. To be honest, I'd call it at any pont between BSL and WL just to break the monotony of the waist-land. For me, BSL-WL is around a year of growth, so I would call my hair Montgomery Bernard just to pass the time....;)

[jacqueline101]

I could never understand the difference between the two. Like you said charts on the internet are different then our definition. I'd say you're mbl.

[Ligeia_13]

I'd say its pretty simple to differentiate between bsl and mbl, really, anything after the bottom of your bra strap and before waist seems like a good way to separate them.

[Oksana]

I'd say its pretty simple to differentiate between bsl and mbl, really, anything after the bottom of your bra strap and before waist seems like a good way to separate them.

Exactly how I would define it :)

[spidermom]

For me, BSL is the length where your hair touches your shoulder blades in the back. It gets into MBL territory after it passes the bottom of your shoulder blades.

[pogo0685]

I would say your at MB. I feel so confused all the time about the lengths, I look at myself almost daily and wonder if I'm at waist yet or not.

[Dr. Girlfriend]

Thanks for all the responses. :) I'm going to go ahead and call it MB since it's past shoulder blades, and a little past bra strap. I also measured the length to waist for me today for the first time and found out it's 31". I'm at 27", so only 4" to waist. This definitely cheers me up, because it seemed like I'd been at BSL forever. I do trim like I said, but I kind of have to because I've started seeing damage from some ill-thought out blonde highlights that I had before I joined LHC. This might sound ridiculous but I was really starting to wonder if some variation of BSL was terminal for me since I've always given in to the urge to cut by the time it reaches that point so I didn't know if it WOULD keep growing. I'm really hoping it has at least another 4" before terminal. I think I'd be okay with that, but I at least want waist-length hair.

[teela1978]

I've always considered mid-back length to be the gender-neutral version of BSL, which in my mind includes the entire bra strap and maybe an inch or 2 past.

[CurlyCap]

Bah. I think MBL only applies to people with long torsos. On me, they are about 2" apart at most. So I moved from the BSL goal onwards toward the WL goal.

[torrilin]

I consider BSL and MBL to mean the same thing. BSL is specific to people who wear bras, and MBL doesn't require a bra. This site tends to skew quite feminine, so we have APL to BSL and BSL to waist threads rather than the more inclusive MBL. It probably would be good to change that to be fairer to males and users or users who are transitioning between genders.

Since I do identify as female and I do wear a bra tho, I called the length BSL on myself. I'm a gamer and I get a bit tired of the assumption that all gamers are guys, so I do explicitly ID myself as female where I can.

[sun-kissed]

My bra strap is three inches thick, so I've always identified BSL as the bottom of the strap. I consider MBL to be anywhere between BSL and waist length, just as LBL is between waist and hip.

[millyaulait]

For me MBL is right between BSL and WL.

[dancingrain91]

According to this I'm almost at MB then!

[sun-kissed]

According to this I'm almost at MB then!

According to what? We're all contradicting each other! :p

[Dr. Girlfriend]

I still think I'm gonna call MB, if only to make myself feel like I've made some progress since March. Part of the reason I always start itching to cut at this length is because it seems like it just stops growing, at least to me. It might also just be that the growth becomes less apparent at this stage because an inch or two is not as noticiable as it would be when going from to SL to APL for example. I went back and looked at pictures from High School, and I think this is probably the longest I've had it as an adult, which makes me think it might keep growing. Sorry if I'm labeling wrong, but calling it MB after over 6 months at BSL makes me feel like I might actually have a shot at getting to waist and strengthens my resolve to not cut it. :o

[sun-kissed]

I still think I'm gonna call MB, if only to make myself feel like I've made some progress since March. Part of the reason I always start itching to cut at this length is because it seems like it just stops growing, at least to me. It might also just be that the growth becomes less apparent at this stage because an inch or two is not as noticiable as it would be when going from to SL to APL for example. I went back and looked at pictures from High School, and I think this is probably the longest I've had it as an adult, which makes me think it might keep growing. Sorry if I'm labeling wrong, but calling it MB after over 6 months at BSL makes me feel like I might actually have a shot at getting to waist and strengthens my resolve to not cut it. :o
Isn't it amazing what getting to change your signature stats can do for your hair-joy?

[Mountaingrrl]

Enjoy the MBL journey! You'll likely be at WL by the end of 2013. :cool:

[akilina]

I have sort of changed my thought process on the whole MBL and BSL thing..

BSL and waist for me are like 2 inches apart tops..so Obviously I wear my bra too low but I have to. I have completely given up my "BSL" goal. By the time my hair is at the bottom of my bra it will basically be at waist...For me, MBL feels like between APL and waist.
MBL in my mind for me, is about where a normal persons BSL might be (normal meaning someone who wears their bra normally, and not super low to hide fat)
Also, I associate "mbl" with the middle of the upper portion of my back for some reason.

I have a picture on my profile of my own back/hair and where my future goals hit..Its making me think I put my mbl in the wrong spot but it makes sense in my own mind so that is all that matters... And that brings me to the fact that it really doesn't matter what other people say...if you feel like your hair is in the "middle" of your back then you may as well call it whatever you want since all of our bodies are pretty much very different.

[spirals]

Maybe we should call MBL TRL: top rib length, or ribcage length--RCL.

[DancingQueen]

Well, I think there are lots of different definitions to that. Personally, I define BSL when I hit the bottom of where my bra strap is supposed to be (for some people the strap slides up a little during the day). MBL is simply the middle of the back, between top of the shoulder and the hip bone. On me, they are very close, as I have a short torso. But I would probably say you are BSL at least. :)

[Bedhead]

For me I felt I was MBL once I was an inch past my bra strap. I have a short waist, but there's still those few inches where MBL reside, which was my goal.