Does normal hair growth "skip" chin length hair?

[intrigued]

So I've mentioned in random places that my first "goal" length is chin, growing out from a buzz cut. I did some minor trims to the back of my hair at around a couple inches to neaten it up a little as it grew out, but I haven't trimmed there in a while just to let everything go and get it over with ASAP. I'm looking at where I'm at and thinking about the "chin length" I was trying to grow to. I think I need another 4-5" to get there with the hairs coming from the top/front of my head. If the hair in the back grows at the same rate, it might be down to shoulder length at that point, so it would be like a layered chin/shoulder, skipping right past the part where it's a "chin length" hair cut.

I guess that makes sense, but now I don't know what to do. My goal length is apparently something I'll pass right over. Has anyone else had this experience? I'm guessing not many here were actually "targeting" chin length, but what are your experiences in growing out from buzzcuts/shaved/pixies of roughly one length?

My current thought is to just let it grow out all over, and then when all my hairs have reached chin length+, I can probably eyeball it and make an educated decision on whether I want to chop the back to remove the "layering" caused by natural growth. It just sucks that I was looking forward to being at "chin length" for a little while and making a decision on whether to keep growing vs growing past chin length and having to make a decision whether I want to chop to get back there. Anyway, I know I'm rambling at this point, and I'm not sure what my question is anymore, but if anyone has any thoughts I'd love to hear them.

[lapushka]

My current thought is to just let it grow out all over, and then when all my hairs have reached chin length+, I can probably eyeball it and make an educated decision on whether I want to chop the back to remove the "layering" caused by natural growth. It just sucks that I was looking forward to being at "chin length" for a little while and making a decision on whether to keep growing vs growing past chin length and having to make a decision whether I want to chop to get back there. Anyway, I know I'm rambling at this point, and I'm not sure what my question is anymore, but if anyone has any thoughts I'd love to hear them.

It's easy, right? If your goal is chin, then just keep trimming the back.

[2peasinapod]

I grew my hair out from a short pixie (buzzed at the nape), and I think I understand what you mean. I never had a proper chin length bob because the back of my hair was longer than the front. I got it trimmed once to even out the mullet effect, but I wanted my hair to grow as fast as possible so I could pull it back. It would have taken months to get that long if I kept evening it out.

You will have to decide if you want even chin length hair or to have long hair faster. Your hair will naturally grow faster at the back, so you will need to trim if having one length all around is important to you. Good luck with whatever you choose! :)

[intrigued]

@lapushka - The problem is that it's not my "goal length" in terms of where I want to end up, it's more of a milestone I was looking forward to. It's the first length that I felt would be beyond the awkwardness and might look "good", so I set it as a goal to at get there before considering chopping. So I wanted to see how chin length looked, but I'm interested in growing it at least a little longer. If I keep trimming the back, it'll take longer to get farther, if I don't trim it, I skip over what I was originally going for in the first place. Maybe I need to just flip a coin :confused:.

@2peasinapod - I think you hit the nail on the head, sounds like your experience was similar. How much did you trim from the back to neaten it up? I don't really remember since it was months ago, but I don't think I removed more than an inch or so in total.

So what do you all think of the layered phase where the front would be chin length and the back would be ~shoulder? In my head I can see it going either way, being a good look or possibly being mullet-y, for lack of a better term. Maybe it depends on the person?

[lapushka]

@lapushka - The problem is that it's not my "goal length" in terms of where I want to end up, it's more of a milestone I was looking forward to. It's the first length that I felt would be beyond the awkwardness and might look "good", so I set it as a goal to at get there before considering chopping. So I wanted to see how chin length looked, but I'm interested in growing it at least a little longer. If I keep trimming the back, it'll take longer to get farther, if I don't trim it, I skip over what I was originally going for in the first place. Maybe I need to just flip a coin :confused:.

If the back is beyond chin already and shoulder or on its way to, then you've past chin length, the milestone has come and gone. Your hair's just layered, is all.

[2peasinapod]

I only trimmed about a half inch or so. My hair was still piecey and a bit shaggy, but not as scraggly. This was a few years ago, when I was growing out my hair for the first time. It is a trade off, but if you do decide to trim to chin, it will be easier to grow your hair out, and you won't have the awkward growing out stage. But, of course, you will have a longer wait for the other long hair milestones.

You might want to check out this thread (forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=18405&highlight=) (any super shorties out there?). It's long, but there are people who have gone both ways. Seeing how long some people who trimmed their hair regularly were stuck at the shorter lengths help me to decide, and I'm sure seeing how uneven my hair looked helped others decide, too. It gets much less complicated when your hair gets to shoulder, or even collarbone length. When all else fails, there's always the coin toss! ;)

[Anje]

I think on many people, the nape hairline is about even with or even a little below chin, so I can definitely see where this would be confusing. "Chin" seems only to be a length if you're starting from a bob or measuring the hair in front, from your part. Some people grow out from pixies without re-shaping the hair, but I've known several others who found the look too "mullet-y" for them, so they kept trimming the back until they got a more even hemline instead of the natural layering that comes from growing from scalp length untrimmed.

What you do totally depends on what look you like on you, and maybe how fast you want to get to the "I have long hair!" point, since trims will make that take longer.

[sweetinlace]

My mother is growin her hair out from a pixie. She goes to the hairdresser about once a month the get the back brought up. I personally think it's helping her with some of the awkward phases of growing out a pixie and would definitely sugesst it.

[sweetinlace]

Also, I forgot to mention, hair length milestones are usually measured by the longest layer. So just because not all of your hair is at chin length yet doesn't mean that your hair wouldn't be considered "chin length". It's just chin length with layers.

[sumidha]

From my experience growing out a buzz cut, and trimming/styling my roommate's hair after she got a buzz cut, I had to trim nape hairs many, many more times than any other hair to avoid some pretty major mulleting. Around four times I think before she got to chin length. I had another friend (in high school) who shaved her head and decided to let it grow out without trims at all- she had a mullet for around two years before the growth evened out.

I think the TLDR moral of my story is that unless you really enjoy mullets, you'll need to trim your nape hairs frequently. :)

[robin000]

When I was growing my hair out from a pixie, I trimmed up the shape frequently until I hit about APL. Especially when my hair was around the length it sounds like yours is, I had to trim the back/bottom layer every 2 to 4 weeks to lessen the mullet/ducktail effect. That's a big part of why the first stage of growing your hair out takes so much longer than later stages. Pixie to shoulder took like a year and a half and shoulder to APL took almost another year, while APL to waist took less than a year. Even though APL to waist is a farther distance, it went quickly because I didn't have to trim it.

For me, getting length faster wasn't worth hating my haircut for a year or two. If I like the shape it is, I let it keep growing. If I don't, I do frequent but conservative trims until it looks right.

[Night_Kitten]

If you don't mind having layers while growing it out and are OK with slowly microtrimming to gradually get rid of them eventually, just change your "assessment goal" from chin to shoulder :D
If you mind the layers and want an "all one length" start for your growth journey, then I suggest trimming the back to keep it at chin till it all gets one length (for me cutting back a substantial amount is much harder than maintaining - I feel like I'm taking a step back)...

Another thing to consider is do you really need an "assessment goal"? I mean, if you grow it past chin or shoulders and at some point decide longer hair doesn't look on you the way you wanted / the way you like, you can always go shorter to the length that you consider the most flattering... (keep in mind though that some stages are more annoying than others and once the hair grows past them it starts looking and feeling much better again, so make sure to give it some serious thought before you decide you want to go shorter) :)