Advice for guy growing out for first time?

[Fanshawe]

Hello all, very glad I've found TLHC. Recently I've been encouraged to grow my hair out, and though I didn't quite make it the last time I was skipping haircuts, now I'd like to go in with a bit of advice from people who know about caring for long hair.



I have very dark and wavy hair. It's about 6" on top when pulled straight and cut down shorter on the back and sides. I'm hoping to grow it out to around the length pictured h (http://www.mamapop.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/aidan-turner-being-human.jpg)ere, (http://www.mamapop.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/aidan-turner-being-human.jpg) and then maybe to here, (http://25.media.tumblr.com/5b7d1f7844ed869db5917625871e10ab/tumblr_mfdolsIz9Z1rybtmlo1_500.jpg) which looks to be a bit longer. (Though this may not be long by TLHC standards, it's very long for me!)



My hair grows quite quickly, but now that I actually have a goal I'm really interested to know how long it will take. Does anyone here have any estimates? What's the best way to maintain my hair so that it gets to the length in the pictures? Are there any styles I should be looking at during the 'awkward stages' I've been told about?



Any advice is really appreciated.

[browneyedsusan]

Welcome!
My hair was shorter than yours when I started, but I think men can pull off the awkward stages better than women. Grow out your facial hair a little and rock the grubby, movie star look! I grew mine by pinning it up (I needed to camouflage the mullet; people get all kinds of goofy ideas when a girl my age quits getting haircuts--midlife drama?, "letting herself go", Hormone crazy?....) and ignoring it. I got one trim in February 2013, but that's it. You can do half-ups with the long top section and still look masculine. Good luck, and keep us updated!

[Mesmerise]

Honestly, I don't think it'll be too hard, and it probably won't take too long either! It's hard to say exactly without seeing a picture of how it is now, but if your hair grows quickly it shouldn't take more than a few months to a year at the most. If it starts getting annoying, you could pull it into a half up style or something, which can look masculine enough, but really I think it should look fine while you grow it!

[Hairitic]

PERSEVERE! lol ;) It's what we all do. And if you run across any particular problems, give us a shout out.
A big Welcome to you BTW. Warning; You may find that when it gets to your current goal length, you may decide you want it longer, ha ha!

[EdG]

Hair grows an average of half an inch per month (although each person's rates can vary widely).

"Awkward stage" describes hair that is long enough to fall in one's face, but not yet long enough to stay put over one's shoulders. The photos that you linked show hair at this length. That is all the more reason to grow hair longer.

Welcome to LHC!
Ed

[Fanshawe]

Thank you all for your kind replies and welcomes. It's a slow process and it really helps to have somewhere to come back to. I've already been getting compliments, which surprises me as I've been doing nothing but leaving my hair 'natural'. It's starting to look curly and very dark. I'm looking forward to the moment that I can see it showing from behind my ears.


Welcome!
My hair was shorter than yours when I started, but I think men can pull off the awkward stages better than women. Grow out your facial hair a little and rock the grubby, movie star look! I grew mine by pinning it up (I needed to camouflage the mullet; people get all kinds of goofy ideas when a girl my age quits getting haircuts--midlife drama?, "letting herself go", Hormone crazy?....) and ignoring it. I got one trim in February 2013, but that's it. You can do half-ups with the long top section and still look masculine. Good luck, and keep us updated!

Thank you especially! The progress picture in your signature is just what I needed to see. On your scale I'm getting to the 'shaggy mess' stage, which I think will suit me well. As for facial hair, I'm always stuck with a stubble. No problem there.

I'm also happy to see you grew it out despite those goofy ideas. I've been lurking for a little while and one of the things I like about TLHC is that everyone seems very supportive. Your pictures have also got me interested in henna, something else quite new to me that I've only learned about since coming here.

On everybody's recommendations I'll be looking at half-ups when the top really starts to get going. I'm thinking of maybe attaching pictures to my next post, would this be alright by TLHC rules? In the meantime thank you to everyone else for your encouraging messages! I'll be back here in a few weeks.

[Firefox7275]

Appreciate you are not a girl but if you are looking curly already try the Curly Girl method, it fits in well with LHC wisdom and techniques. There is a list of Curly Girl friendly high street products on the British Curlies forum, they also have the Curly Emporium if you are interested in more 'specialist' curly hair products. People here love to see progress photos!

[intrigued]

Just wanted to stop in and say good luck, I didn't expect to find anybody else in a similar situation, but it looks like you're in pretty close to the same mindset as I am. I'm a guy joining for hair health info, and shooting the first time for something as strikingly long as *gasp* chin length or so. I'm starting from a buzzcut and sitting around 4" long at the moment. Opposing yours, my hair is fairly light and straight.

I think the advice here is pretty dead on, I tried doing a lot of searching for what to do when I hit the "awkward stages" that everyone kept talking about, but I think different people have different definitions of what those stages are. Like above, I think they can be worse for women, but they have a lot more options to directly deal with them, whereas we just have to power through it. In other definitions, we're actually trying to grow TO the awkward stage (where hair is awkwardly hard to manage), so it's not something to avoid.

I will say that you may start getting a mullet-y or shaggy type look that doesn't work well, and may warrant a trim. If you're trying to grow LHC long hair, the general consensus seems to be not to trim. If you're shooting for what's in the picture, you'll be trimming up sooner or later, and you probably want to at least consider trimming up the back at some point while the top length catches up, and your sideburns area. For that, I heard the rule "whatever is too low to push behind your ear, trim to beard length". When I did a quick self trim I did that and lopped off a bit from the neck area, and I was happy with the results. YMMV.

[jacqueline101]

Welcome to our happy group. Awkward stage is where you style it and it comes out of the hair style. Layers can be awkward for some. Hair grows half inch a month roughly. Knowing your hair type can help establish a care routine. Vitamins and water are great for hair growth. I agree the curly threads would be a good place to start.