Stall at waist? Help!

[Long_hair_bear]

Hey there, chappies!

I wondered if anyone else's hair stalled when they hit waist or abit past it. I've been stuck at 32" now for several months (no trims) and its getting irritating. My ends are starting to thin too (also irritating) I'm planning on going for a trim soon to thicken my ends, but my growth stall is bugging me. I can't afford hair vitamins right now, though my normal vitamin has biotin in it. I really hope I haven't hit term at waist :(

[melusine963]

It's not unusual for people to have the occasional stall that lasts a few months. It's certainly happened to me plenty of times, which is why I only really measure my hair once a year and try to forget about it in the meantime. That way I always end up assuring myself that my growth is on track. Unless your stall lasts for a much longer time, I'd say it's too soon to worry. It can be really frustrating if you're trying to reach a specific hair goal, but try not to stress about it.

[Long_hair_bear]

My temp goal is that when I sit down, it falls in my lap. I'm close but no cigar. /facepalm I try to measure it less than I did, which was once a month, but its like weight loss.... I like to see rapid progress. :?

[long&blonde]

I felt like I stalled between bsl & WL. And now I'm at Bcl, and feel I'll never ever hit Cl. I don't blame it on slow hair growth, I blame it on body build.

[Callifornia]

My hair also stalls at waist! It did it when I grew my hair to almost classic a few years ago and it did the past few months as I still growing out from my big chop. The good news is it can start back up growing! Mine did, even after a several month stall and thinning ends. The tips of my thin ends are now past hip and I am waiting until I am past tailbone to trim.
Good luck! Just have patience and one day you will realize it grew an inch while you weren't looking! It seems to get easier from there

[BlazingHeart]

I stalled right at waist, as I recall. My thyroid had dropped again, and my hair just stopped growing for like...6-7 months? It was very frustrating, and right around the time I joined LHC. I'm at classic now, if that's any comfort?

[Panth]

Do you wear it down daily? Although there are many potential reasons for a stall, it could be that you have got to the stage where your ends are wearing away as fast as your hair grows in at the roots. If so, you'll need a way to baby your ends and length to reduce the amount of damage they are receiving. If you don't do anything terribly damaging (e.g. flat ironing, bleaching, dyeing) then wearing it down is a prime suspect for the problem.

I had exactly this problem, though a little further along than you. For me, daily loose hair = "terminal" at TBL, whilst daily updos = still growing at about 2" before knee.

[lunalocks]

I stalled at 36 inches forever. (about a year) Not really a stall, per say, but certainly slow growth as every time I had a mini trim, I'd be back to 36. I finally said no to trims and dealt with my splits using catnip tea. For 6 months. I have finally made it to 37 inches.

[Tota]

I stalled just above waist (25 inches) for almost whole last year and half of this year! It was frustrating! I lost all interest in my hair growth this spring because of that stall and practiced benign neglect. I measured at the end of the summer and woohoo - 2 inches of growth (whish is a lot to me) and a solid waist! I don't use any other food supplements than fish oil but I use that for more than a year now. Don't give up just yet, sometimes hair has it's own agenda ;)

[ceruleansky]

... For me, daily loose hair = "terminal" at TBL, whilst daily updos = still growing at about 2" before knee.

Wow, what a great case for the use of protective styling, it's amazing to hear the impact it can have.

[AmyBeth]

Wow, what a great case for the use of protective styling, it's amazing to hear the impact it can have.

True. You can be certain that your hair is still growing, you are just not realizing the growth by a hemline moving lower. The cause has got to be damage and breakage. I tried to grow my hair for 20+ years and could never get past waist and then only with the sorriest, most tattered hemline ever. Uneven, splits and white dots everywhere. I had no idea of how to really care for hair, and wore it down always, never bothered with any kind of conditioner, ripped through it with combs and brushes. But I would never ever trim, because I didn't want to lose any length. When I finally gave in and got a trim, I couldn't believe how fast I regained that trimmed length and then some. Now I am a devoted 1/4 inch ever 3 months microtrimmer (self- trim) and my hair is as long as it ever was, with a nicer hemline than I ever had. But I also work hard to protect that growth, from updos during the day to sleep caps at night. As I think Spidermom says- life is damaging to the hair, no matter how careful you try to be. So it's sort of a race between how fast you can grow your hair and how quickly it breaks off. Don't worry too much about spending money on supplements, instead, try to eat healthfully. Real food is better for you than any bottle of pills. I am convinced that a daily scalp massage can speed up growth a little- just a few minutes a day, until you feel the circulation picking up- a sort of warm tingle.

[jacqueline101]

I'm at a stall now my hair with the Monistat hasn't grown much. I do know how fusterating that is to have goals then to have a stall. I just wanted to offer moral support.

[Anje]

I stalled at 27" with my ends in great condition, so I'm convinced that sometimes your hair just takes breaks. (If I remember right, I got 7" that year even with a 5-month stall, so my hair apparently came rocketing back after its break... But I know my hair grows in fits and starts sometimes.)

That said, it seems like a LOT of people stall in the BSL zone, and my suspicion is that it's usually within a couple of inches of where their usual chair back starts. I've seen a number of heads with hair worn loose that has breakage right at chair back height, too. (This was a lecture pit observation, incidentally.) Therefore, my recommendation if you have breakage at the ends is to switch to buns or over-the-shoulder braids for at least the weekdays for an extended period of time.

[alyanna]

I'm going through this right now too, except for me it is right before BSL. My hair is very, very fine though. I was at this exact same point last year, when I decided to trim back in December. I am only now at the same length I was before the trim, and it seems my hair does not want to grow past that point. This time, I may skip the yearly trim and just bear through the fairytale ends for a bit longer. This APL to BSL stage has been going on for far too long!

[Alun]

My hair is stalled at waist too. If anything I suspect it is even getting shorter :(

Yes, I do wear it down all the time, but I'm a guy. I think a French twist or WHY might draw some weird looks!

[Magalo]

My hair is stalled at waist too. If anything I suspect it is even getting shorter :(

Yes, I do wear it down all the time, but I'm a guy. I think a French twist or WHY might draw some weird looks!

Buns look normal on a guy. :)

[Quahatundightu]

I stalled at hip for at least a year and the thing that got me past it was microtrimming. Could be worth trying :)

[MidnightSunlite]

Since I started trimming my hair I feel it stopped growing like.. say I'm at 35" I trip a few to say 30" or so.. I grow back maybe to 33" or 34" and then I trim that.. I can't get back to where I was.. that's kinda a stall.

[ceruleansky]

Buns look normal on a guy. :)
I once saw a guy wearing a bun held with two sticks of bone, it looked very normal to me and that was a couple years before I found LHC.

[TrapperCreekD]

I think I'm a staller, too. Granted I dropped my benign neglect routine and started paying attention to my hair about a month ago, my hair doesn't seem like it's ever gotten much longer than it is at the moment. I'm at about 32" and ~1" above waist. I keep my hair up 95% of the time and it's nowhere near growth-eating chair backs, so my hair should be on its way to goal length.

:idea: If my hair has a slow growth rate, being a wavy would "hide" the small amounts of new length (I've only measured once)....

[Lissandria]

My hair stalled at 25" for about five/six months it grew so slowly that cutting 1/8" off every month was cutting off all growth for awhile there. Now I'm 27.5" easy like almost overnight :)

[Kittney]

Yes, I have been at waist length for a year. My roots are 5" but I have stayed at 30-31" the whole year....obviously this is easily explained by breakage....sigh. Good luck!