For those who have grown their hair past BSL

[Arwenlily]

I'm in the process of growing my hair from APL when curly, to at least MBL when curly (for now). I'm just curious for those who have grown their hair past BSL ...

How long did it take you to grow your hair? What was your starting point?
What is was your routine like? Is it the same now?
Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims?
Are you at your goal length? If you are, are you happy with it now? If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why?

[kganihanova]

I'm in the midback abyss now and its awful. It takes a lot of patience. Make sure that you keep up a good routine and avoid mechanical damage as much as possible :) I trim about every two months maybe- but I"m cutting out layers so......

[Lyv]

My hair was about 1/4" away from waist before I cut to a pixie. It took me 28 months to get there from an a line bob with about 5-6" trimmed off. I didn't get frequent trims I had it cut twice the first time 3" and the second time 2". The first probably year and a half I used blow dried/straightened everyday and bleached or dyed it every month but stopped and have been heat/dye free for almost a year. I'm definitely not at my goal length since I decided to cut the old damage out and I probably won't be for a few years, my goal is Hip or TBL.

[ladylowtide]

How long did it take you to grow your hair? I have been growing my hair since November 2011 I believe.
What was your starting point? Almost APL
What is was your routine like? Wash hair maybe 3 times a week with SLS shampoo, didn't really use conditioner. Hair chop every 6-8 months. Hair dye of every variety, including excessive bleaching. No heat.
Is it the same now? No, I don't dye or bleach, I wear my hair up which I never used to do. I use sls free shampoo, and cone free conditioner. I am also a big fan of shea moisture's reconstructing elixer and deep treatment.
Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims? Trimmed split ends off once since july 2011. No hair cuts.
Are you at your goal length? I have passed 4 goals (APL, BSL, Waist and Hip), still going for TBL
If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why? I'm very happy with my hair now. When I originally joined LHC I thought classic would be the perfect length for me. Living with longer hair has made me realize that I want it as long as possible without sitting on it, so TBL for now. I would like to maintain there but my fiance loves my bleached and hennaed tips, and has told me to never cut them off, so who knows?

Good luck on growing your hair, the time flies!

[Islandgrrl]

How long did it take you to grow your hair? I have been growing my hair since 2005 in the summer.

What was your starting point? Pixie!

What is was your routine like? I started out shampooing every day when it was short. As it grew I adjusted and moved to a CO routine and now it's a combination of CO and WO. I used steam roller things until it was about BSL, but no other heat.

Is it the same now? I kind of answered that one already. :)

Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims? I trimmed frequently in the beginning. That gradually reduced as my hair got long enough to trim on my own. Now, it's whenever the ends look nasty.

Are you at your goal length? I will be at my next goal in about 4 inches. After that, I don't care.

If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why? My goal length is knee. four inches away. Why? Well, why not? After knee I guess I'll just see what happens. It's already stupid long, what's another foot?

[restless]

About 3,5 years ago I had a horrible shoulder lenght cut with lots and lots of layers. My hair was being heavily abused with hair spray, dye, heat, teasing and on top of it all I wasnt eating properly. The abuse made it breake off and the poor eating caused it to barely grow. Slowly but surely I changed my routine (and most of all my eating habits) and its now very close to BCL.

My routine is very minimalistic; daily washing with a little shampoo on the scalp only and conditioner on the ends. A couple of times per week I do a deep treatment with oils (preferably coconut oil). Braid it for the night when its still slightly damp and have fun during the days- I dont like updos so I keep it loose as often as I can. No heat, no dye, no hair spray nowadays ;)

During these years Ive been microtrimming away straggly ends- a centimeter every now and then. I dont really keep a schedule when it comes to trims, I just go by feeling and looks.

My goal lenght is TBL and Im not that far away. As I mentioned, Im now closing in on BCL and TBL would be another... Idunno, 5-6 centimeters? Im hoping to get there this year with some microtrimming that´ll thicken up my hemline. Why TBL? Hm... I dont know, I just think its very beautiful on others so I figured Id try it out too :) Not sure Id like to go further though because like I said, I do like to wear my hair loose and I dont want to sit on it... But then again LHC has a tendency to change the hair goals for its users so who knows what Im thinking once I sit here with TBL hair :p After all, my goal when I first started growing was waist/hip.

[Selkie-]

How long did it take you to grow your hair? Hard to say as I wasn't seriously 'growing it out' till about 2 months ago. It got to beyond BSL out of laziness!

What was your starting point? Again hard to say but the last big cut I had was a chin length bob in June 2010.

What was your routine like? Shampoo and condition about three times a week with organic sulphate and mostly cone-free products (figured this out by accident) Blowdry after each wash and wear hair in a ponytail everyday. Trim about every three months. My hair got to BSL on this regime. It was only in the last year that I stopped trimming so often and only went every six months - my hair is now in the MBL abyss.

Is it the same now? No, I only decided to seriously grow it longer in Nov 2013 and since then I have stopped all heat and the blow-drier. I now also don't wear ponytails but either braid my hair or put it up into a bun or other updo. I have started experimenting with oils in the last month or so and have found I enjoy argan oil the most and use it on damp hair after washing.

Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims? In the last year I have gone less often - every six months and plan to do so again this year.

Are you at your goal length? No, definitely not.

If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why? My goal length is tailbone probably but I will see how it goes! Why? - Why not! I have never had hair longer than it is now and am curious about how long it can grow and what it will look like. My hair has been much easier to manage once it got past BSL - easier to do updos, hangs better and is more versatile.

[Lirona]

How long did it take you to grow your hair? What was your starting point?

I started out from shoulder length or slightly lower. Now, 2.5 years later, I'm at hip. I should really get the exact measurements.

What is was your routine like? Is it the same now?

I used to just shampoo and call it done (!). But then conditioner become essential for detangling/preventing mechanical damage. And taking care of my ends never crossed my mind before; now I give them way more attention (currently trying out Nightblooming's Panacea). I use the blow dryer a lot less. As for other elements (shampoo, oils, etc), I'm still trying to figure out what works, ugh. :p Maybe this forum has made me overanalyze things a bit...

Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims?

I've had two or three trims since I started growing it out (about a trim a year). Pretty infrequent.

Are you at your goal length? If you are, are you happy with it now? If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why?

I'm not at my goal length just yet. I keep moving it down as my hair gets longer, haha. Now my goal length is tailbone. That's my cutoff, I don't want to be in danger of sitting on it when it's down. I hope tailbone will allow me to do a nice brioche bun too, among other styles... Though if it gets to where the majority of my hair toys are too short, I'm going to cut it back. I don't want to have to replace them all. :bigeyes:

[Mizumi]

How long did it take you to grow your hair? Six years, I'm at solid hip length.

What was your starting point? Shoulder length.

What was your routine like? When I had BSL length.. I used cheapest bad quality shampoo every day and sometimes condition, always blow dry. Always wore it down, never used oils, deep condition, S&D or so..

Is it the same now? It's completely different. I oil my hair every second wash, use SLS free shampoo, condition properly, deep condition at least twice a month. I also protect ends with oil / silicone serum and try to wear it up.. and almost never blow dry.

Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims? I used to trim few cetimeters every 3 moths at hairdresser. It was too much..

Are you at your goal length? Not yet

If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why? I want to reach classic length. I want it because it seem to be enough for ,,super length" - in public I see hip-tailbone as the longest. Also, I think it doesn't ,,overwhelm'' a figure yet, and it's probably reachable with my fine hair. Oh, and I think I wouldn't have longer than that because I don't want to sit on my braid too often xD

[Federica]

How long did it take you to grow your hair?
My hair is always work in progress, I reached my goal (CL) five years ago after growing it for 6 years, then destroyed everything with bleach, so I had to start back from BSL (which for me was VERY short) and it took ages for growing back the damage and get rid of it, almost 4 years.

What was your starting point?
The first time I grew my hair I started from a bob and got to past classic in 8-9 years while I chemical dyed it every 3 months and salon trimmed every 6, but I wasn't properly caring of it since the big chop.
Now that I'm growing it back from bsl, it took me 3 years and a half and several trims to get to can-I-call-this-hip with a blunt hemline, still growing front bangs.

What is was your routine like?
Before destroying everything, I used to wash once-twice a week with a little amount of shampoo only to the scalp and a lot of conditioner. I used to blow dry only the first 20-25 cm from the scalp then braid the lenght.
As I said, I also used to chemical dye quite often, which caused some splits and dryness, but I didn't care at the time.


Is it the same now?
Quite the same for washing, but I added some new good habits like henna, oilings and self trimming.

Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims?
Yes, I had to trim a lot to get rid of bleach damage and a massive amount of layers. It seemed to take forever with no progress at all. But it worked, and now I'm planning to not trim at all for this year.


Are you at your goal length?
I'm not. My goal is CL, it's a long way to go.

If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why?
If it doesn't feel long, I keep growing it. And it never felt like, REALLY long, so I always kept growing it.

[spirals]

How long did it take you to grow your hair? What was your starting point? I think I started an inch or two below APL. That was in June 2012. It took until the fall of 2013 to reach waist. In that time I took about 2 inches off my length via trims.

What is was your routine like? Is it the same now? I have really changed. I kept it around APL and used shampoo, conditioner, lots of gel, and leave-in. I airdried and wore it down, never up. Now I wear it down on wash days (twice a week usually) and up the rest of the days. I wash with castile soap and then do a rinse, which I leave in. I oil almost every day; I had never really heard of that. I brush every day, while I never brushed before. (I was so concerned about encouraging curl, and now I don't care about that). I don't use any styling products, save a bit of tea occasionally if I feel like wearing it down and wavy on a non-wash day. The one thing that varies is washing. I try to keep it to every 3 or 4 days, but will do it more often if my scalp bothers me or I over-oil. I guess I'll say I wash 2 to 3 times a week, not every/every other day as I used to.

Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims? I've trimmed a couple of inches total, but I don't have a regular trim schedule. If I do it, it's about 1/8 inch or less. Mostly I search and destroy, once or twice a month.

Are you at your goal length? If you are, are you happy with it now? If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why?Waist was my original goal. I'm there now. I think knee is my ultimate goal, since it will fall at fingertip then. I just want to see if it will go that far, but honestly, I think I'd look good somewhere between tailbone and classic, which would fall between tailbone and BCL. I'm not happy at waist because it shrinks up. When it falls a bit past waist when wavy, I will feel like it's moderately long. But you know what LHC does to our perception....

[ellenajordans]

How long did it take you to grow your hair?
From roughly collar bone length to 1 inch past BSL I think about 5 months maybe but i did have quite a few hair cuts and used a lot of heat for the first few months, because I only committed to growing my hair out long a couple of months ago

What is was your routine like? Is it the same now?
I oil my hair when i feel like it needs it and wash it every other day, sometimes more and use a deep conditioner probably every time in the winter. I don't use heat and try and wear my hair up a lot. And do lots of the hair protecting stuff that I can't remember at this minute but has become more of a habit now.

Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims?
I trim every 4 months.

Are you at your goal length? If you are, are you happy with it now? If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why?
No I want to get to MBL/WL, maybe longer I'm not sure but I'm only 3 inches off waist now!!!

[HintOfMint]

I'm in the process of growing my hair from APL when curly, to at least MBL when curly (for now). I'm just curious for those who have grown their hair past BSL ...

How long did it take you to grow your hair? What was your starting point?
What is was your routine like? Is it the same now?
Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims?
Are you at your goal length? If you are, are you happy with it now? If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why?

My starting point from my last big chop was around shoulder, although my original decision to grow long hair started from chin.
My routine from APL was a lot of LHC experimenting. I did CWC for a while but found that to create a particular kind of buildup that was specific to that method, so I went back to shampoo and conditioner. I now use a sulfate shampoo and coney conditioner but I add honey and ACV to my conditioner and I oil beforehand.
My trims are about 2 - 3 times a year. I can't go longer than 7 months, even if I'm careful with my hair. The ends just get old and crunchy.
My goal length is Classic and now I'm at TBL. I'm moderately happy with it now although it's still overlayered from my last trim and I'm waffling as to whether I should cut off the last four inches for a thicker hemline. It's fine when I wear it in curls, but not ideal. Classic is my goal length because I'm kind of over the idea of conventional fashion and conventionally long hair. It's different and I think I can pull it off.

[Kiwiwi]

I am a curly like you. My goal was also waist/midback while curly (so even longer when stretched).
I am now almost hip length when stretched. BUT, my hair looks just past BSL when brushed out. And when I wear my curls it's between APL & BSL. Gahhhh, quite frustrating. But, I have noticed that my head of curls is SO much fuller now that it's longer. It's quite nice.

How long did it take you to grow your hair?
I had a 1cm (pixie/very short) cut in June 2009 and started growing. So, 4,5 years now.
And like I said, the actual length is between waist and hip now.
I'd say I'm an average to slow grower.
I'd also say I take about a year for every step. I started going for long lengths (and joined LHC) in august 2011. Then I was APL. In 2012 I reached BSL. In 2013 I reached WL. And in 2014 I will reach Hip.

What was your starting point?
Like I said. 1cm/pixie. But APL when I joined LHC.

What was your routine like?
Before LHC every day washes with harsh sulfate shampoos, no conditioners, no treatments. Some heat styling.

When I joined LHC I started using a sulfate free, mild shampoo. Washing my hair every 2 to 3 days. Added (silicone free) conditioner. Started using oils as a leave in and as treatments. Bought a satin pillow case. Bought a Tangle Teezer. Started micro trimming my hair every 2 to 4 months. I already wore my hair contained a lot but now even more. Mostly 2 pigtail braids.

Is it the same now?
As when I joined LHC, yes. I really don't do that much actually. Just treat it right and let it be.

Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims?
Between 2009 and 2011 once a year, my sister would cut a cm or 2.
Since 2011 I micro trim my own hair every 2 to 4 months. And I mean micro ^^

Are you at your goal length?
Nope.

If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why?
My goal is still waist while curly but I'm starting to think that'll be like classic while stretched :)
Why, cos I think waist length curls are pretty :)

[ExpectoPatronum]

How long did it take you to grow your hair? What was your starting point?
-My starting point was APL. I grew from APL to BSL in three months. In another month or two, I'll be in the MBL abyss :)
What is was your routine like? Is it the same now?
-Wash and condition every other day. I apply a leave in, a smidgen of oil, and a smidgen of a cone-y serum and let air dry. Same as always. I make sure to eat a healthy diet and I wear a sleep cap now. I also S&D as needed. It's a pretty no-frills routine which I like. I'm challenging myself to wearing my hair up for a month, but other than that I usually leave it down. I also oil my hair before I wash it.
Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims?
-Since my cut last Sept/Oct, I haven't trimmed my hair. I plan on limiting my trims to one at the end of the summer when I have chlorine damage to chop off.
Are you at your goal length? If you are, are you happy with it now? If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why?
-My ultimate goal length is classic because I want to see if I can actually grow my hair that long.

[MultiCultiCurly]

Hello fellow curly :-). My adventures in hair growth have been a lot of trial and error, but so far so good thankfully!

How long did it take you to grow your hair? What was your starting point? I've been officially trying to grow my hair since around mid-2010, my hair had heat damaged pieces from years of constant flat-ironing, and it was around shoulder length curly. I only go by my curly length, not stretched, as that's how I wear my hair.

What is was your routine like? Is it the same now? My routine in the beginning was very "natural" with the Curls line, which was ok but expensive, so next was the Tightly Curly Method, which is still a standby, I just incorporate oil and protein now when I do it. Then I tried being CG, then organic and making products from scratch, but that didn't make my hair as happy as I thought it would (my hair needs weight, and I've learned cones are my friend, lol). Otherwise, my current routine is wash (preceded by an oil pre-poo, then castille soap shampoo), condition (usually Aussie Moist or some sort of moisturizing/protein cholesterol---and I leave it in), then detangle (fingers and wooden comb, as the denman takes too much of my hair)

Have you had frequent trims, infrequent trims, no trims? At first I was trying to be a regular trimmer, but then I realized that it really didn't make much difference in growth or retention unless breakage was an issue (due to ssk's and splits), and I was just getting rid of hair for no reason, especially since no matter what I'm bound to get a few ssk's and splits anyways (it's just the nature of tighter curls). So I've done without trimming for at least a year or so. I only recently did a little search & destroy, but that's all I'll do if anything. A blunt hemline isn't a necessity for me. I had a couple of setbacks along the way though, one was cutting layers (which I now regret) and another was flat ironing my hair at the end of 2011, and I caused a bunch of heat damage to the front (which necessitated the layers). I've just now grown that front area to just about chin length curly.

Are you at your goal length? If you are, are you happy with it now? If not at your goal length, what is your goal length and why? No, my goal length is at least full waist length while curly, which will be around tbl or classic stretched. I'm currently in the midback abyss while curly (almost at waist, but not fully---I want my layers to catch up too), between hip and bcl stretched. That's my goal length because I think waist length curls are sooo dreamy :crush: