When Did You Start Feeling Like You Had Long Hair?

[pixietail]

I've been patiently growing up my hair for ages and, while it is growing well enough, I've been feeling this growing feeling of frustration that my hair isn't really "long" yet. Problem is, the longer my hair grows, the longer my idea of "long" becomes.

As a kid my mother made me keep my hair short - no longer than my shoulders at most. So to me BSL was my idea of long hair. As an adult I was able to get my hair to BSL, but it didn't feel long to me anymore. It just felt like medium length hair. I thought to myself "One I'm at waist length, THEN I'll have long hair!"

Now, I'm a couple of inches from waist. My very longest hairs are there, but the bulk of the hemline is about two inches away. Problem is, it still doesn't feel long to me. It feels, again, like "medium long" hair, whatever that means.

It's frustating because, inspite of the empirical evidence to the contrary, on an emotional level it feels like I've made no progress whatsoever.

Did anyone else go through this? At what point did you start feeling like "yes, my hair really is long now?" Did your expectations ever sync up with your reality? I'd really like to hear everyone else's experiences.

[Mandie]

I am the same way. I always thought waist length was super long because I'd never gotten there. Now I'm there and I often don't even put "long" when I'm talking about my hair type, to me it still seems like a short medium. Now I'm SURE tailbone will be long. :rolleyes:

[akilina]

I think that on websites and communities like this one, the standard for "long" is much much longer. No ones hair should be discounted or chortled at just because its not down to your butt or knees.

I personally consider people with BSL hair to have long hair. Anything from BSL on down, to me, is a good amount of length. It is long if you look at it, coming from the scalp and reaching all the way to that point on the body. Just getting there takes a long time.

My hair is between APL and BSL and I told a friend I go on a long hair website and her reply was "but your hair isn't long". It slightly bummed me out but not too much. My length is not "long" but it has brushed on my back sometimes and really surprised me. Since my chop it is actually feeling "long" ish.
What is sad is that you could look in a haircut book and my hair would probably be considered "long", though, I know it is not.

I feel like if I ever reach BSL, that will be the point that I finally feel it has a good amount of length. I know I won't be happy until at least Waist though :D lol. We shall see how this one goes. I probably won't feel really long until hip or TB if I ever get there.

[Vrindi]

My hair is at my hips, and whenever someone says, "omg your hair is so long!" all I think is, "really? It's not that long." But it is. It's long. To most people not on LHC, it's very long. I think it's because as we grow it, we get used to it. It doesn't shock us when we look in the mirror, like we would get shocked when we'd see a long hair when ours was short. Also, mine is so much easier to deal with when it's long! So, I'm not constantly fighting with it, or trying to shove it out of my face.

I wonder what our expectations of what long hair "feels" like actually are? I like the sensation of it on my back, and that "feels" long. But as far as thinking of it being long, what did we expect? Feeling like we have super powers? I really don't know what I was expecting it to "feel" like to have long hair, so that's probably why it doesn't really feel long. So now, I guess realizing that, I can just know that my hair is long, and start thinking of it that way, forget about expectations!

[iluvlovelylocks]

I feel exactly how you do, OP. I feel the longer my hair is, the longer my idea of long is too. I am at waist right now, and I honestly sometimes feel like my hair is "short" in comparison to how long I really want it. I want my hair at hip, and it seems like it is going to take forever!!!

[ghost]

Mine doesn't really feel long until it brushes my hipbones. When I happen to catch a glimpse of it in the mirror, though, I'm always surprised at how long it looks compared to how long I think it looks.

[PixxieStix]

Well, I'm a couple inches away from BSL, and to me that is where long hair "starts". Whether or not I'll feel it is long on myself I cannot say yet, is sure doesn't feel long at the length it is. I'm hoping waist is when it starts to feel long. :)

[lunalocks]

I always thought I would consider it "long" when I reached waist. That was a goal I never thought I would make. But now I am at hip and I am feeling like it is just STARTING to get long. That's what comes of viewing all the very long lovelies (or the very lovely longies) on this site!

[katiebeans]

I started to consider my hair as long when it reached BSL. That was before I was on LHC though, and my hair was longer than almost everybody I was used to being around. These days, WL doesn't seem all that long :p


I feel exactly how you do, OP. I feel the longer my hair is, the longer my idea of long is too. I am at waist right now, and I honestly sometimes feel like my hair is "short" in comparison to how long I really want it. I want my hair at hip, and it seems like it is going to take forever!!!

Agreed!

[dwell_in_safety]

Mine just recently started feeling long. I'd say it's about a third of the way from my waist to my hips. I'm not sure what exactly it is that made it cross the threshold for me; I think it's something about how it's suddenly somewhat difficult to comb it all out in an upside-down, bent-at-the-waist position, as I do every night when I'm putting it up for bed.

[Iolanthe13]

It seems to be kind of a gradual thing for me. It definitely hasn't felt long until recently - I'm just on the edge of waist length, depending how wavy my hair wants to on any given day. It is starting to feel long-ish now.

I wore it in a braid for the first time in a while today and was surprised to feel the braid against my back. But when it is loose, it doesn't feel long enough! It doesn't look long to me if I look in the mirror from the side, for one. I think it will feel properly long when it reaches hip or tailbone.

[maborosi]

It took until I hit waist before I considered my hair "long". I'm guessing that's the LHC effect, though.

Lately, when I wear my hair down or just let it down in the evening, it feels long, but that's mostly because I wear it up -constantly-

~maborosi~

[Natalia]

Objectivly hip is when it really felt long but inside i dont think it will feel long till it gets past classic. If i can braid it and sit on my braid thhat will do it for me.

[skaempfer]

I started to feel it when it started getting stuck in my armpits. That's the short answer. Of course, the long answer is that it still isn't long enough, but there's the difference between 'long' and 'long enough' for you.

[Aeris]

My hair only feels long when it's the longest it's ever been. For instance, at the beginning of last year, it was almost to my tailbone, but I cut it to a little above waist. Ever since then, it's felt medium-length. It felt long to me before I cut it, but it won't feel long again until I'm at that milestone again.

[TheHowlingWolf]

Mine is almost to hip length & it doesn't feel that long lol. I wore a paranda once that was down to classic (my ugl) & it felt long then. So I really can't wait 'til I'm at classic!

[DancingQueen]

I think it will start to feel long when I hit full BSL, when my hair is curly. Right now it is just below APL, and it is rare I feel that my hair is growing at all.

I agree with the ones who said it is probably due to LHC - we are a bit more 'extreme' than the rest of the world. :p The longest haired girl I have ever known had hair between mid back and waist - and she cut it back to BSL to reduce damage. Long hair is just not very common.

[HumanBean]

To me, anything in the APL range is medium length or shoulder length, and anything shorter or longer is "short" or "long" with a qualifier. That is if I am describing a person to some one else, I would say he/she has "shoulder length hair" or "short hair, about chin length" and then "long hair, about to her waist."

My hair is in the mid back abyss area, and I would say its long even now.

[Seeshami]

I still don't feel like I have long hair.

My new co-worker is working on getting me there. Any time people talk about hair or braids or bun's she brings up my length and "how cool" I can make buns.
Hey Mess, are you long yet?:confused:

The Naughty Mess says, "No. I can't strangle people yet, I am still short.":demon:

You don't bite either... :-(

The Naughty Mess says, "Yet." :smirk:

[anitacs9101]

The "long" feeling comes and goes, but it never feels long enough. :p

When I started growing out my shoulder-length mullet thing, my hair felt like it stayed the same length and never grew but it actually reached BSL. When I first took pics for LHC back in June, I was really surprised at how long it looked! It's funny, my hair only started feeling long when I joined LHC :P LHC just extended my goals :)

[joflakes]

For me, this length is long. I've always had short bobs around chin length! My hair is a few inches shy of APL. *shrug* Different lengths for different people I guess!

[Coolcombination]

I'm back up to 23" after a trim which puts me above bsl again! Grr! I had my first long hair moment the other day when I realised that when my hair is arranged on top of my chunky scarf it looks like a cape at the back! So around bsl is long.

[jacqueline101]

I'd say bsl. Where I'm at.

[rock007junkie]

When my hair got to bra-strap.

[Naughtalee]

When I was in Highschool, I never really paid attention to my hair (down to my butt). Wash, condition, maybe straighten once in a blue. But in the 9th grade, everyone wanted to play with my hair. Girls would braid it in class squealing : you're hair is soo long!" After that I started noticing my hair. Now I don't dye and use a board head brush and coco oil as a leave in. Now though, after some crazy ideas and regretful cuts. Im trying to grow it back out again sigh...

[jasper]

I felt liked had long hair when I could put it all in a pony tail. I don't expect that would feel long to me now, after hanging around the LHC. Now I can look at my tail bone length hair and wonder if it is long. :confused:

[CurlyCap]

When I hit BSL.

Suddenly my hair could "swing", and so I felt it was long. Dunno. But that's the truth.

[Vanille_]

Just recently now that I'm a bit past hip. I still look in the mirror and wonder if it's actually "long." Once I saw a girl with long hair and asked DH if my hair was as long as hers. He replied, "Are you serious? Your hair is longer."

ETA: My sig pic is pretty old... maybe a year or a bit more. It seems pretty short to me now.

[Rivanariko]

I've always had long hair, so a lot of the milestones weren't that big for me and it was just "normal". The first time it really struck me that my hair was *Long* was when I was a senior in college, submitting a video of me teaching a riding lesson to a certification committee. I had my hair in a pony tail in the video and I was somewhere between waist and hip at the time. At one point I turned away from the camera and I just remember thinking "holy crap my hair is really long!" It had never really occurred to me before.

Of course, now it's just past classic and the only time I feel like it's "super long" is when people see it down for the first time and go "Holy crap! Hair!" DH's friends were in complete awe of it the other night when I was getting ready to go out. They were trying not to be rude, so were whispering to him about it and I just heard him chuckle. This is longer than it's ever been in my life, and it still doesn't feel "crazy long" despite the fact that I've never met anyone in person with longer hair. I wonder if by the time I get to knee it'll actually feel *Long*?

[Naiadryade]

Having recently reached BSL, my hair no longer feels short. But it doesn't feel long either. My hair was MBL-WL for most of my childhood and adolescence, so I have a feeling it won't really feel long until I'm at least to waist, maybe longer--hip? Looking at others, the people I know who come to mind when I think of "friends with long hair" all have hip- to classic-length hair. But I hang out with hippies. Past that length becomes "extremely long hair," like my mom in the 70's.

[Sharysa]

With my thick and coarse hair, mid-back length still feels like an extended awkward-stage. People are saying my hair is long more frequently, and it is STARTING to feel long since it's solidly mid-back, but I feel like when my waves reach waist-length will finally nudge it into "long" hair.

Also, I adore paintings and fairy tales. That's definitely skewing my idea of long hair.

[sparrowswing]

Waist-length, generally. There are times my hair still doesn't feel long, but that seems to be an odd phenomenon related to spending so much time here and actually being aware of it during those rare instances when I see knee-length hair "in the wild".

[hypersensitive]

I felt like I had long hair when my hair was around hip length. Currently I am at tailbone and wearing a paranda to goes to classic, it feels like I've finally reached long hair.

[PraiseCheeses]

Past waist. Still waiting. :p

Oddly enough, there was a time between collarbone and APL that it did feel long. I had just chopped it and it was growing really fast when it was short. Guess the LHC effect kicked in after that!

[ysabet]

I think ever since my hair hit BSL (at age 8, so no B's actually involved) I've known I had long hair.

My hair is currently hip length or therabouts. On other women I see hair about waist level and think 'Wow, I wish my hair was that long ... owait'. I never wear mine out, though - the superfine weightless curly stuff gets in everybody's face in a metre or so radius, not just mine (and I can't stand hair on my face).

Long enough hair is something else entirely. I'm sincerely hoping I can get to knee, or maybe beyond.

[Bagginslover]

Only recently have I felt like my hair was long.
I hit waist around new year, and thats the longest my hair has ever been, and all of a sudden it felt really long, is catching in things, and feels uncontrollable (its not, its the weather/season but the length coupled with that makes it seem wilder somehow ;) ). I'm, loving the sensation, and general feeling of being an 'official' long hair, and the satisfaction of hitting my first growth goal, in under a year of membership (13 months after my last proper cut).
On to hip!!!

[PixieKitten]

Mine's starting to feel long now, and It's about an inch above BSL. I realise that it is still short, but I haven't had it this long in nearly 7 years so it feels so different to me!

[kitcatsmeow]

Right now...within the last month or two. My hair covers my boobs and when it's wet, it'swaist pretty close to wist.

[Sisko]

Somewhere around waist or hip length. Anything shorter than that looks unremarkable on me due to my stature.

[millyaulait]

My hair is between BSL & WL (is that MBL, or is MBL a specific point? :p) and it is starting to feel long.

I'm actually happy with the length. It's swishy, and I can feel it on my skin, and I can almost use it as a scarf. I love it. :o

[kaydana]

It's felt long since it was at APL, however it still doesn't feel long enough.

[Neneka]

My hair is just shoulder length but yesterday I was petting my hair and it felt so long. After all I have had to wait almost two years to get to this length. :)

[Simone_Fatale]

Since I've had really short hair all my life, it started feeling long as soon as I needed more than a bobby pin to keep it out of my face.

[lydiajo]

I imagine it will change but for now...I will think of my hair as long when it looks waist length. If I pull all the curl from it, I am at waist. When it's dry it looks like an inch below BSL. For now I am thinking I want it hip length.

[Becky9679]

I don't feel like I have long hair yet and I'm between hip and tailbone! Maybe when I get back to my previous length I might

[jesis]

I still don't feel like I have long hair! I get compliments all of the time, but I don't get that long feeling.

I hope I feel like it's long one day. Maybe at hip :D

[piffyanne]

I'm a bit less than a year from knee, and it's only STARTING to feel long.

[gillybeanxo3921]

Same, I'm liking the way my hair looks, but at almost waist, I'm not as satisfied as I thought I'd be. My goal was originally waist, but I attribute this to thinking that it would be waist in the front as well as the back, and that's not the case. Also, some of my layers are still very short in comparison. I'm just going to hold out, and when I get down to hip maybe I'll take off the layers and see what's up. I'm not liking all this fairy-taling.

I bet once my hair is hip I'll be satisfied, since it'll be closer to waist in the front then! Blah. I doubt I'll ever want longer than tailbone though.

[Copasetic]

Honestly, I felt like I had long hair at like APL. I think it's because where I am APL is pretty long.

[yoni]

Most of my hair is in my lower back and some even reach my belt, yet I just don't feel like it's long enough to be considered as "long" for me :(

[RavenBaby]

Totally not yet at all sadly.

[pixietail]

I think part of the reason my hair doesn't feel long to me is that when I imagine long hair I imagine a dense, silky, weight swinging behind me. But my hair is always up and I'm used to the weight, therefor it feels medium, maybe? But it doesn't feel that long when it's down either, so I'm not sure if that theory holds.

[Cheele]

I don't think I'll start feeling that way until I hit tailboneeee. Ah, LHC :D

[Springlets]

My hair is just above waist length, but lately I've actually felt that it is long. I think that may have more to do with the fact that I haven't cut it in awhile rather than actual length. Because I've been growing out my natural color for almost two years, I've been cutting it back 2" or so every few months so it feels like I've been at the same length for a really long time. Now though My roots are at a point where I feel I can just keep growing out the dye and it won't look so bad, so I guess my hair is longer than I've had it in almost 2 years. :D

[floralgem]

I'm passing APL (And getting pretty close to BSL.) but my hair still feels pretty short, especially with all the pics I see here. My consideration of long would start at hip.

[Majala]

I feel long haired as soon as my hair starts to get caught in zippers or under bag straps... which is already at shoulder length.

[bradlea]

I'm just brushing BSL, and recently it's been feeling pretty long because my boyfriend keeps laying on it in bed, haha.

To placate me after I say "OW JESUS DON'T DO THAT" he says "It's just so long and beautiful and LONG that I can't help it!" It works a little bit ;)

[MORE]

My hair has just recently started to feel super heavy while washing, my neck gets a workout everytime I do it nowadays lol... Maybe this is why many longhairs wash sitting down with head upside down?

But that's the only thing so far that makes my hair feel long. I am currently around hip and my ultimate goal is knee, so I think that contributes to my perception. I do think it will feel long at classic, but I am one of those who also thought waist would feel long before I got there...:shrug: Stupid brain!:doh:

[piffyanne]

My hair has just recently started to feel super heavy while washing, my neck gets a workout everytime I do it nowadays lol... Maybe this is why many longhairs wash sitting down with head upside down?

But that's the only thing so far that makes my hair feel long. I am currently around hip and my ultimate goal is knee, so I think that contributes to my perception. I do think it will feel long at classic, but I am one of those who also thought waist would feel long before I got there...:shrug: Stupid brain!:doh:

I divide my hair at the back and wash one half in the front of one shoulder and the other half over the other shoulder. It distributes the weight of wet hair onto my shoulders so well that I don't feel it.

I've been doing that for 2 or so years, and so I didn't even KNOW how heavy my hair can be wet until I swung it all back at once for the heck of it a couple weeks ago and my head snapped back from the unexpected weight, OW!

Have you tried this method?

[MORE]

I divide my hair at the back and wash one half in the front of one shoulder and the other half over the other shoulder. It distributes the weight of wet hair onto my shoulders so well that I don't feel it.

I've been doing that for 2 or so years, and so I didn't even KNOW how heavy my hair can be wet until I swung it all back at once for the heck of it a couple weeks ago and my head snapped back from the unexpected weight, OW!

Have you tried this method?

Thank you so much, I really have to try that! Ah, that makes me feel so much better. I've been a little worried about this (and how heavy it would be at knee) but I never thought about sectioning it while washing.

Oh now I really wanna try this, will check back after my next wash! :D

[Shaun]

Don't let the 8 month old profile pic fool you, I finally hit shoulders and can almost get it all in a pony. Coming from a male perspective, long hair pretty much starts around the collar or past it. I only have really felt like it was long when random people started asking how long it took to get here or made a (usually positive) comment.

However, like all the other posters here, I also feel my "long" standards have change as I've gotten longer. I remember my original goal was shoulder length, and well, I'm just past there but not fully satisfied with its length. So onwards to APL! And that's my 2 cents.

[flip-flop]

My hair doesn't feel long yet. Wet/stretched it's pretty much at hip, dry/curly, it seems barely at waist. I think once I hit hip while curly it'll finally start to feel long since it feels long when it's wet.

[OakTreeGirl]

In the past, whenever my hair was past my shoulders it felt long to me. But since I started growing it with the intention to let it get really long, APL seemed about "medium" length to me. I did have one moment of the "long hair feeling though" once when I was almost at BSL. I put all my hair into a ponytail, which I hadn't done in ages. Suddenly feeling the long swing of the ponytail made me feel that progress was happening. I avoid unbraided ponytails so I haven't had that feeling in a while, but now that I'm past BSL and am on my way to waist, I feel that "long" is within sight, even if it's not here yet.

[trolleypup]

As a teenager, when it got long enough to annoy my mom.

Since it has always been long since then, I don't really have any other benchmarks...and my length has always stayed longer than the moving target of what "long" is.

[Elithia]

Just in the last month or so I've had "long" moments, when suddenly I'm finding myself past hip curly (and now well past tailbone stretched -- every time I get in the shower I get a shock). Maybe it's because this is the longest my hair's ever been. But I've also only been growing three years (from a chin-length bob) and I wear it up so much that I often still feel like it doesn't count yet. :) My hair is longer than anyone else I know. I really think that LHC has changed my perspective -- before I came here it never occurred to me that hair past hip was physically possible outside of fantasy novels.

[Savvyhorsez]

I still don't feel as though my hair is long, lol.

[long&blonde]

My hair is at hip, I do not feel it is long. Classic would be long!

Just as my hair goal changed from waist, to tailbone, to hip, to classic,
What I considered long hair changed right with it.

I have noticed tho, the hot humid days of late summer, Any moment my hair's down then between up-dos,
Heat and humidity quickly have me acknowledging my hair's long.

[long&blonde]

I continuously forget and confuse, which is first, hip or tailbone.
I've passed one of them, so I'm just now at tailbone, not hip.
No, it doesn't feel long.
Long is always at
The next mile stone. :)

[Kwantslonghair]

I am at that same place. Some of my hair reaches waist but still have an inch or so for it all to be waist. I don't feel like it is long. It does seem longer when I see a photo of it than when I look in the mirror. I do notice the ends touching my waistline when I am nude. That makes it seem long for a second.

[jojo]

I came to this site with a goal of waist as i admired this length the most, saying that id not seen many very, very long hairs up to joining here in 2007. I am now half inch off hip and guess what? It doesn't feel all that long. I changed my goals a long time after being inspired by the most beautiful hair id ever seen ( on here! ) and thought classic would be my ultimate. So will see how i feel when I get there in a few years. But do i feel long at hip? Not really!

[Kristen121]

I started feeling like it was long somewhere between BSL and WL. I felt like it was long when I found I had to put it in a bun for work because even when it was a ponytail it got in the way.

[Lalital]

I've had hair to my fingertips before. My hair is hip length now and it still feels so short. It is super thick in volume so a braid down the back is so thick it doesn't even look long - it just looks fat. My hair starts to feel long on me when it's classic. Although I look at people mid-back and beyond and think it's long.

[theemeraldskull]

Ever since I was about 12, I had an ideal hair length in mind... long enough to tickle the top of my rear when hanging loose down my back. My hair is currently at that length now. I know what you mean (OP) about it not feeling long when at BSL/Waist, etc. My hair only feels long to me when it's within 1-2 inches of tickling my rear.

[Mesmerise]

I don't know... I guess, theoretically, my hair is "long"... but it doesn't feel that long (it's nearly waist). However, when I had short hair, I thought shoulder hair seemed long ;). It's all perspective! Because my hair IS the length it is, it just doesn't feel at all long, and yet when it was much shorter, I'd have considered my current hair length long!

[Bianca]

I am about 3 cm from waist and to me it feel long now :)

[hime_daruma_88]

My longest layers are getting past waist but it still doesn't look that long! I mean I can notice it getting longer cause it gets caught everywhere, like stragers on a crowdy bus and stuff :D But I feel that I need at least 4 inches of growth, then will call this actually long. :)

[Ligeia_13]

I have just started to feel like I have long hair now, I'm about a centimetre away form waist - which I'm sure seems like a joke to most of the long hairs here :p It just looks long when I look from the side too, which is a strange occurence for my hair and I.

[embee]

When my bangs and front hair had grown long enough to stay in a low ponytail I then knew it *was growing out*! Very happy.

When I could measure an actual hair at 36 inches I felt it was long. Thrilled.

When I was able to sit on my hair (just barely, and what a shock) I felt it was quite long and fortunately I was happy, because it seems to have reached term about that point.

[Leoslaire]

Mine started to feel long when it began catching between my back, and the back of the chair. I still get a little thrill when that happens, and it's been happening more and more often. I'm a "no-trimmer" and it's getting long fast.

[zift]

I realised I had long hair when some stranger commented on it and felt I had very long hair when I started sitting on it:)

[piffyanne]

Thank you so much, I really have to try that! Ah, that makes me feel so much better. I've been a little worried about this (and how heavy it would be at knee) but I never thought about sectioning it while washing.

Oh now I really wanna try this, will check back after my next wash! :D
:popcorn: :)

[mrs_coffee]

My hair is just below my bra strap now and I still don't feel like it's long. Kind of odd since I used to think shoulder length was long. Maybe it will start to feel long at waist length. That's my tentative goal for now.

[Achlys]

I remember walking outside last autumn, seeing my shadow with hair swinging behind it and thinking 'it's getting long'. I think my hair is long for most people and it feels nice to know it, but I don't really feel like it's long.

[hanne jensen]

I finally started to think of my hasir as long when I could do a braided bun.

[tigerblob]

My hair started feeling long at BSL. I think it always looks shorter from the front, but if you take a picture of your hair from the back you're always surprised by how long it really is!

[MORE]

:popcorn: :)

Ay ay ay, I've been so busy lately - but here I am! lol :D

I have now been washing my hair multiple times with your method and guess what? I no longer have a problem! :hifive: When I divide my hair the weight of it just feels like a feather. I'm really happy about it, because now I no longer see anything negative at all with growing to my goal (knee). Well, I'm sure there will be issues, of course, but at least I know I won't have to be afraid of falling backwards in the shower because of my hair anymore! My neck is finally happy again too. :D

Thank you so much piffyanne!:flower: