nearing goal, but also a mystery

[EvelynMay]

Want to know the best and fastest way to grow out your hair?! Become really busy and also get sick! haha. My January was really busy and I guess I didn't really look in the mirror much before tackling my days. Then I was the sickest I had been in a loooooooooong time and was out of a commission for a whole week, just laid in bed like a zombie. I'm just now feeling better and really got a good look at myself in the mirror and couldn't believe how much longer my hair looked! I compared first with my hands where my goal length was and realized it look super close, so I got a ruler and (since my ends are uneven due to layers and long time since last trim) I'm somewhere between 2 and 3 inches away from my goal length of waist/elbows!!! Can't believe it! I was originally going to be getting my hair trimmed around this time, but have now decided to delay it another month. I know that getting it trimmed will set me back but I'm not going to get as much trimmed off as I usually do and I think I could easily slide into goal length by the end of spring/beginning of summer. I just can't give up my layers just yet, I love them, so I gotta keep maintaining them at least every 8ish months or so.

But here's a mystery for ya... I was looking back at a picture of me from an outing back in the beginning of Oct, and my hair looks quite long then too... like visually maybe an inch shorter than now... and that was 4 months ago!!! My hair usually grows pretty fast... I have never measured my growth though like some of y'all do, I should really start doing that so I can track my growth... but is there maybe some way that my hair barely grew in 4 months?! Usually there is such a drastic change with my hair after 4 or 5 months or more. I feel like my hair did all it's growing like this month only and didn't before... I know it's just going by a picture, but man, there seems to be little difference to now. I'm slightly concerned. I once grew from chin to about waist length in one year when I was in high school!!! I feel like I haven't changed my diet much at all, though I may be drinking soda slightly more than usual. But I still drink lots of water. I don't know!! Thoughts?

[RancheroTheBee]

Pictures are not good for well-tracked growth. You might have grown more than that. If you didn't, that's normal, too. You can go through cycles where your hair stalls, seemingly for no reason, and you can have phases where it grows very quickly for no reason as well. I noticed I grew a lot faster in high school as well. Maybe teenagers can grow their hair faster? I'm not sure. I know I went from ear to almost APL in eight months when I was younger. I was also wearing it up/away from my face all the time, and not paying attention to it is seriously the best way to grow it out. I wish I could ignore it right now, but I'm in that danger zone at the moment where if I don't gain some length I'm just going to shave it into a mohawk again.

[Hairitic]

Although it is possible that you had a stall and then a growth spurt recently giving you just a small amount of growth overall in all that time, it's more likely visual trickery. The picture may be at an advantageous angle, making your hair look longer than it actually was. Since you haven't actually measured, I wouldn't worry. I'd just be happy to be closer to GOAL. :cheer:

[Johannah]

You're at least very close to you goal. That's a positive thing for sure! I'd start with measuring so you know how much your hair grows on average and when it grows less.

[EvelynMay]

you all are so right about needing to be happy about being closer to goal :) and I am, for the most part. I guess a part of me looks at the older picture and is like... I feel like I should have more growth in that amount of time, and therefore should be even closer to my goal than I currently am! So a part of me is bummed out at the same time?? haha. I never knew that hair growth could differ so much on one person... I always thought that it stayed pretty consistent unless you did something drastic like major diet change or health issues. Interesting!

[ravenreed]

I can measure my hair five times and get five different measurements. I am a wavy and a lot depends on how I was wearing my hair previous to measuring. Braid waves make it look shorter versus just washed and air dried long, for instance.

[Loviatar]

I had a 1" pixie in March last year so I've been watching growth carefully. I had to comment because aside from growing a full inch in July (my usual shedding month) thanks to Whole30 eating clean, I also grew a full inch this January. I had surgery on January 3rd and I was just under 15". I'm now a solid 16". It struck a chord with me that your hair grew while you were sick too.

I have had less than average growth than what I've been used to over 2013-14 as a whole. I've grown 6 inches since last March altogether. But I've been stressed to hell and depressed, with a bad diet. So that's not unexpected. I used to get an inch a month on henna and good nutrition.