short terminal length

[cdonald2]

I was curious if anyone has a "short terminal length". I am far from my goal let alone terminal. I have heard some people complain that their hair wont grow past shoulder or collarbone. Could it be that it wont grow due to damage or impatience? for those of you who have reached terminal, where is terminal for you?

[Apriori]

I would say that it is extremely unlikely to have reached terminal length at only shoulder/collarbone. The people I have met, who haven't been able to grow it any longer, are people who have either mistreated their hair or people who have cut off all their progress because they believed in the whole 'trimming makes hair grow faster' thing.

[Flor]

Yeah, collarbone terminal length would be VERY rare. I would dare people who say that their hair doesn't grow past shoulder to simply avoid any dying, bleaching, trimming, cutting and heat styling for a year. Shampoo/condition, comb and go.

That said, for some people terminal length can be BSL or waist, for example. Nothing wrong with that.

[Bitstuff]

How long have you been growing and what have you done? Trims, treatments etc.

[spidermom]

I did have a roommate in the past whose hair only grew to around BSL. She didn't abuse it, and she didn't have much taper, either. I believe that most of her hair simply had a short growth cycle before shedding out.

[two_wheels]

It's hard to see growth at that length, especially when you're newly interested in hair. I suggest you measure how many inches until (say) APL, then multiply that number by 2. Then wait that number of months. If you still aren't much closer to APL and you didn't trim, then there may be a problem.

This helps me to have a realistic approach.

[lapushka]

How long have you been growing and what have you done? Trims, treatments etc.

Exactly this. A very important question to answer!

[Silverbrumby]

[
I've used no heat, dyes, mostly hair up for the past three years and my hair fairytales at APL and stops around BSL with a few runners getting an inch past that. I did keep trying to get a blunt hemline but it doesn't work past APL.

I have a short terminal.



QUOTE=lapushka;2742356]Exactly this. A very important question to answer![/QUOTE]

[cdonald2]

I am both relieved yet worried. My goal is MBL and I was never able to get past BSL in the past, i did however abuse my hair at that point (i was 15). I'm really hoping terminal for me is at least MBL. Apparently there wouldnt be much i could do if it wasn't though.

[BroomHilda]

I think I m one of those with short terminal. In my life I wasnt able to get past waste with extreme fairytale ends.I ve been dying my hair constantly the last 5 years so it could be that.
However even in my teens I was not able to get bast bsl even thought I was not abusing my hair. I didnt know how to take care of it tho.
And I shed a lot, I see lots of hairs with bulb atteched and naturally tappered at the ends.
My dream is tailbone length. I cant even imagine myself getting there. I concider very lucky those who can

[AmyBeth]

I suspect I have a pretty short terminal, I've never been able to grow much past waist with pronounced fairytaling in almost 30 years of growing. Since joining LHC and learning how to nurture my hair, I've been able to get 3 or 4 more inches, and I'm still growing out dye/bleach on the last 20 inches, so maybe when that is all microtrimmed off, I'll be able to grow even more. But past waist, the growth has been agonizingly slow with lots of stalls, even though I can tell by my hendigo roots that it is still growing at a very slow pace, less than 1/4 inch per month. So I don't know if my growth rate can outpace my shed rate. Whether or not it can, I am happy with what I've got, it's better than I ever thought my hair could be, so I'll just keep taking the best care of it I can and be happy with it. Although I'd really be ecstatic if I could get to classic!

[ExpectoPatronum]

I thought I had a short terminal length because my hair never grew past BSL. With updos and better care, I'm finally getting past BSL and into MBL. I think a lot of people with short terminal length are dealing with damage or have some other thing breaking their hair off as it grows. This isn't the case for everyone, of course.

[lapushka]

I thought I had a short terminal length because my hair never grew past BSL. With updos and better care, I'm finally getting past BSL and into MBL. I think a lot of people with short terminal length are dealing with damage or have some other thing breaking their hair off as it grows. This isn't the case for everyone, of course.

Plus once it's damaged, the damage will take a long long time to grow out. It's like starting over with a shaved head almost.

[Silverbrumby]

Just liking at that lovely braid and thick hemline makes me think you'll have success getting longer hair.



I thought I had a short terminal length because my hair never grew past BSL. With updos and better care, I'm finally getting past BSL and into MBL. I think a lot of people with short terminal length are dealing with damage or have some other thing breaking their hair off as it grows. This isn't the case for everyone, of course.

[chen bao jun]

After thinking for years that my terminal length was BSL (stretched), it's startling to be on LHC and hear people who say that waist is a 'short terminal length'. for years and years I thought that only extremely genetically gifted people could GET to waist, because it was so long.

I think now that I can probably get to waist (stretched) and I know now that terminal length for Caucasian people (and Asian people) is usually a lot longer than that with proper care, but it still does give me a slight shock to hear waist called 'short', lol. It's a different world on here.

[YvetteVarie]

After thinking for years that my terminal length was BSL (stretched), it's startling to be on LHC and hear people who say that waist is a 'short terminal length'. for years and years I thought that only extremely genetically gifted people could GET to waist, because it was so long.

I think now that I can probably get to waist (stretched) and I know now that terminal length for Caucasian people (and Asian people) is usually a lot longer than that with proper care, but it still does give me a slight shock to hear waist called 'short', lol. It's a different world on here.

I agree, here I nwas thinking I would be pretty darn happy getting to BSL coz its rare to find anyone with BSL hair, and then hearing about waist/hi[ being short... Its a different world alright, amd I'm learning everyday ;)

[YvetteVarie]

After thinking for years that my terminal length was BSL (stretched), it's startling to be on LHC and hear people who say that waist is a 'short terminal length'. for years and years I thought that only extremely genetically gifted people could GET to waist, because it was so long.

I think now that I can probably get to waist (stretched) and I know now that terminal length for Caucasian people (and Asian people) is usually a lot longer than that with proper care, but it still does give me a slight shock to hear waist called 'short', lol. It's a different world on here.

I agree, here I nwas thinking I would be pretty darn happy getting to BSL coz its rare to find anyone with BSL hair, and then hearing about waist/hi[ being short... Its a different world alright, amd I'm learning everyday ;)

[chen bao jun]

Yvette, I like this new world. I have seen lots of pictures now with us hypercurlies at waist or tailbone and I guess you have now, too. I should get there stretched about two years from now, if things keeps going the same. My goal is waist while curly, I don't know if I will make that or not, but I am pretty sure I will make make stretched.
I wish there was some more info on hypercurlies and terminal length but the info out there is so skewed as we are the people most likely to be frying and putting chemicals in our hair, so the most likely to have destroyed hair--and not even know it. I didn't know my hair was a mess--I was so proud to be BSL (straightened).
I do notice that most of the tightly curlies I see at waist length have measured while straightened. Or else they have some very protective hair style like constant braids or twists or micro locs. You have to know what you are willing to do and I am not willing to either wear my hair straightened again OR to have it in teeny tiny little braids all the time (much too much trouble to maintain for me) so I will see how far I can get with just wearing buns, unstaightened. (I no longer straighten even to measure).
I am not yet longer than I have ever been. I'm BSL stretched. When I get to mid back stretched (should be by December), I will be so pleased and a bit more confident about reaching my goals. I hadn't had BSL stretched since I had chemical straightening though (that kept me around APL stretched) so I AM pleased to see the length again and feeling hopeful.

[meteor]

Thankfully, not only straight(ish) hair can grow extra long. One certainly doesn't need to be Asian or Caucasian.
I think extra-curly hair does require some protective styling to get very long, but it doesn't have to be microbraids or locks, even simple buns may work well. And long curly hair is so gorgeous, IMHO it's more rare, massive and striking than long straight hair.
This lady's hair is super-impressive, no wonder she's in the Guinness Book of World Records:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjOAv0esEo8

[chen bao jun]

What a sweet and encouraging post, Meteor. Thank you for taking the time to write that.

So far my hair keeps growing and feels much better now that I know about leave in conditioner, gentle methods and wearing it up in buns to protect the ends. I will see what happens. I am by no means knocking people who wear tiny braids or locs or dreads. Just I myself would prefer to stop at a shorter length rather than go through what is to me, trouble. I have never had locs or dreadlocks but did have micro braids once and I truly hated them. I don't mind bunning every day, but I personally dislike the process of having a lot of miniature braids put in (and even worse, having them taken out) almost as much as I hate having my hair chemically straightened.
And I absolutely don't want dreads. So its going to be a bun or a single braid.
I will feel I achieved something when I can do a nautilus bun that isn't very tight and uncomfortable. I have only just recently been able to do one at all, and am so pleased with myself, but its only over one finger and its TIGHT.

[AmyBeth]

It's my understanding that you really can't compare dreads to regular hair, whether braided or not, because the dreads don't shed. The naturally shedding hairs get caught up in the "tangles", for lack of a better word, and the hair just keeps growing, so there really isn't a terminal length when it comes to dreads. Nevertheless, that is some impressive hair! I think it is beautiful. I couldn't deal with the burden of having hair that long though.

[chen bao jun]

Yes, her hair is impressive looking and its an accomplishment.
It's my personal opinion also (no offense) that dreads are not the same as long hair which is actually all growing out of your head (as opposed to your sheds staying attached forever). But that's not why I don't want them. I have very high density hair and the one time I got it put into tiny little braids it took a hairdresser forever to do it. And I wasn't able to wash them well enough in that state to stop my head from itching, so I spent almost $200 (1980 money) and something like 8 hours at the hairdresser for a style that lasted two weeks, if that, and was a HUGE pain to unravel.
Unless you have free-form dreads, they have to be maintained by a hairdresser, also.
At least once a month. I don't think I could get to my scalp easily to wash as much as I want. Unless they are very, very tiny dread (micro locs), you can't do much in terms of hairstyles other than keep them up in a hat or wrap, or keep them down. It's just not for me and the little braids are not for me either and if it turns out that the only way my hair can reach my goal of waist unstretched is by doing this sort of hairstyle, I would prefer not to reach my goal.
Of course I hope that won't be the case, but only time (and patience) will tell. We don't all have the same genetics (I'm not thinking of race when I say that) and that's fine with me. I've already got a lot from LHC. (I never would have believed my hair could be so easy to care for, so soft and so tangle-free).