Hair length goal that is unattainable?

[Llama]

My hair has never been past bsl/mbl in my life. Not even as a child. I never paid much attention to being gentle with or taking care of my hair until a year or 2 ago, but I also didn't start abusing my hair until I was in my teens.

As a kid, I remember just wearing a lot of headbands and don't remember doing much else with my hair. So I'm not sure why it never grew very long. This scares me, lol. I feel like I'll never be able to get much longer than where I am currently.

I am sure that I was rough with brushing and combing, in fact I have terrifying memories of my grandma ripping a fine tooth comb through my hair haha. But other than that I just let it do it's own thing (benign neglect?) as a kid.

Has anyone here been in this same situation? I can't help but feel like I'm reaching for something that I am just not able to achieve due to predetermined forces.

I have my goal length listed as MBL right now but I was just trying to be "realistic". Truthfully I would love to reach waist length- partly because I've just never had it before.

If anyone can offer any uplifting advice or words of encouragement- especially if anyone else has been in this same situation and had success- please let me know! :)

[Duchess Fuzzy Buns]

Hi :waving: I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. I mean you were probably having your hair cut regularly as a kid right? Or your parents were? If it was being trimmed regularly, any growth could have been trimmed off and that's why it never got any longer. Also, if you were nearing your terminal length, I would expect your hair to be tapering off a lot more than it appears to be in your sig picture. I'm willing to bet you could make it to waist length, but of course you'll never know until you try. :flower:

[YvetteVarie]

Don't worry abot it. My hair never grew past shoulder as a kid, mainly because my parents didn't take care of it in hair friendly ways. But I managed to grow it to close to BSL before cutting it off. I'm sure you can grow your hair beyond waist length :)

[Yarrow]

Yea, I have the same feeling sometimes. As a teen I always wanted really long hair but each time I reached waist/hip length, it had really noticeable taper so I cut it and it never got really long. And today it feels like every year or so, I get a big hair shed related to vitamin deficiencies and that's contributing to my taper. So my action plan is to pay attention to my diet, have somewhat regular medical checkups to monitor my vitamin levels and try to take good care of my health. Plus being gentle with my hair and scalp. So I'm just trying to optimise everything as much as I can and I still doubt I will ever reach my dream length of knee. But I have somewhat come to terms with it because I really cannot do anything else about it. So I just refuse to worry about it. If I can, I'll be happy and if not, oh well then. But I will never find out if I don't try.

[Quahatundightu]

I was in that situation when I came here and I'm nearing classic now. By the looks of your siggy pic I definitely think you could get to waist. The two main things that were necessary were microtrimming and wearing updos more often, along with the usual recommendations like gentle handling. It might feel like you are reaching for something unattainable - but with enough patience it can be really surprising how long your hair can grow, even if it is fine and fragile. You might as well give it a try :)

[Panth]

Even if the only "bad" things you used to do were rough detangling and wearing it loose lots, that can definitely have an effect. In my case, wearing it loose daily = false terminal at just past TBL. Wearing updos daily = at upper calf and still going.

The only thing you can do is try to grow and see what happens!

[Calypso]

I've also been worrying about this, but this is encouraging! Do braids count as updos, or do you really have to wear your hair in a bun every day to see a real improvement in growth?

[maria_asa]

For my entire childhood and teens my hair never grew past shoulder length and the only bad things I did to it was detangle roughly and occasionally use a curling iron to the ends. After finding hair forums and stopping this my hair is now finger tip length so I wouldn't worry too much if I were you.
I have added a few other thing to my routine now, for example always keeping it up and oiling the ends, but I still think it was the before mentioned things that prevented my growth back then. Especially with fine hair you have to be very careful about damaging things because it's, generally, very fragile.

[Nique1202]

I've also been worrying about this, but this is encouraging! Do braids count as updos, or do you really have to wear your hair in a bun every day to see a real improvement in growth?

Braids are more protective than wearing it loose, so you might see some extra growth from them, but updos are best for very long goals. But, if you're only shooting for waist or hip, almost everyone can make it that far even if they wear it down or braided all week and heat style or dye it chemically. Keeping it out of the way of mechanical damage (don't let it get stuck under shirts, chair backs, purses, backpacks, seatbelts, high pant and skirt waistbands, etc.) is most of the false-terminal battle won. Hair is pretty resilient stuff with a little basic TLC.

[MINAKO]

As a kid i had shoulder length hair too, mainly because my mom took care of it, but it grew quickly when i decided to take care of it myself in my early teens. It was waistlength before i even knew it, then hip, then i cut back to collar bone again, maintained there for some time and now its classic again. I really dont think there are alot of people with a real terminal lngth shorter than that tho. Just be patient, two years into the growing process does not mean you are nearing the end, not even close.

[Madora]

Llama, as long as you stick with benign neglect and stay away from unfriendly hair practices, you should be able to reach your goal in a few years. The more you wear your hair up the better it is protected (as I'm sure you know). This practice really helps when it comes to reaching longer goals..be they waist or longer. One more thing: don't become discouraged because your hair doesn't seem to grow at any particular time. Just be patient and wait it out. Good luck!

[Lyv]

I think you'll be able to reach waist. Your hair may not have grown as long while you were a kid but you were also brushing differently and playing (probably with loose hair), now you're doing things to protect it so I'm sure you'll see a big difference.

Personally I have an unattainable goal of healthy fingertip. While I know that I can physically grow to that length if I protect my hair, I also know that I'm not willing to give up wearing my hair loose and using heat on it (straightening/curling).

[hanne jensen]

I could never get my hair longer than between APL and BSL before joining LHC. I did the same as you-ripped through it, wore my hair down in all kinds of weather and generally trashed my hair. Since joining LHC the longest my hair has been has been waist. I had to chop 40 cm off due to old pre LHC damage. Once again I'm approaching waist with stronger, healthier hair. The floor is the limit!

My hair is fine and fragile. I've realized that my hair type will never change and I've learned to work with what I have. I'm always very gentle with my hair and wear it up in protective styles all the time. I micro trim every 3 months to keep my hemline thick and blunt. My micro trims are never more that 1/2 centimeter. I protect my hair from the sun in the summer by wearing a UV Buff and a scarf over that. In the winter I wear a thermal sports cap with a woolen hoodie over the cap (it's ugly) to protect my hair from freezing and from drying out in the wind. All of these things I have learned here at the LHC.

It is possible for you to grow your hair longer than MBL with proper care and protection.

Happy Growing!

[spidermom]

Grow and see.

[Hairkay]

I like the grow and see attitude.

My hair has been BSL since I was a toddler. No hair cuts. The most I've seen my mother's hair grown to was shoulder length when she was a child then collar length as an adult who did all sorts to her hair. My family has always been aware that curls can get dry and the ends are very fragile. I've mostly had my hair in braids/plaits. It's just that when I think of it BSL it's a problem area because it gets so much wear and tear. My curls shrink to just below my shoulders so hair gets caught in clothes, bag straps, rubbing against chairs, rubbing against my shoulders etc. I also had a habit of biting off or breaking of any split ends I saw and I'd play with the ends of my plaits when bored. There's also stress to consider because we'd move countries. When grandmother came to the UK her hair fell off, that was also the time her marriage ended. The family said she used to have around APL/BSL but I've only seen her with chin length hair.

Since it was rare to see any of my peers with hair up I assumed it was an old person habit so never adopted putting hair up. I also had problems with dry scalp and eczema and years of trying coal tar treatments that don't work but just dry out my already dry hair. I knew that some people used bed bonnets but didn't want the restriction or a line on my forehead from using them so I didn't. I just considered it normal to awake each day with bits of hair, 1cm to an inch all over my pillow and bed. Although there were those with longer hair than me there were also many that I could see with much shorter hair so I felt I had no right to complain.

Now I've consciously learnt to sleep with a satin bonnet. This year I've challenged myself to wear my hair up and leave my hair alone for awhile. I started a proper conditioning regimen last year including my own version of the LOC method or in my case a LOO method. I'll wait and see.

[endlessly]

Don't worry about it. Some people just have slower growth than others and since you mentioned you've only really been trying to grow your hair out for 1-2 years, that would definitely explain it. The average for growth is about 1/2 inch per month, but some have more and some can have a lot less. Mine grows between 1 1/2 - 2 inches every month and I attribute that solely to good nutrition - eat plenty of foods rich in vitamins and drink water, it's that simple. So, just take care of yourself and like they say, "a watched pot never boils", so try not to worry too much about why your hair isn't getting there because, it will. It just takes time.

[chen bao jun]

Follow advice on here and forget the past. Many of us on here are in the same position and yet have attained longer lengths. Yesterday I measured my hair, which never grew past bra strap straightened in the past and realized that if I straightened it, it would be only 3.5 inches away from waist. This happened in 3 years.
You will need patience.
And you really need to --no heat; no chemicals; very little if any trimming; and do protective styling.--follow the LHC 'rules' strictly, and give it time, before you say that you cnanot grow further. There are plenty of people on here who don't follow every single one of these rules, but it is best to go with them at first, and see what you might be able to bend later. I will bet that right after this post at least one person will post saying how they personally didn't follow this or that rule and still grew their hair long,b ut its safest to follow the rules at first if you've never grown.

[lapushka]

You can really only wait & see. I'd just treat it nice, use LHC methods, and not worry about it, TBH. I think your terminal is no where near in sight so I wouldn't worry one bit. :)

[Silverbrumby]

I agree with the wait and see and also taking care of it really helps. I've never been to waist even with the LHC help. Too much shedding. That's slowed down the last six months so I'll be chuffed with waist.

Your hair looks like there is little taper so i think you might have a good shot at a much longer length.

[Aleahcim]

I one thing to consider that as a child, your body grows in size pretty rapidly, so even if you did not notice ever reaching a new body marker mile stone, you may have grew in height, keeping pace with your hair growth. 30 inches on a 7 year old and 30 inches on a 10 year old look very different visually.

Add that with any trims and mechanical damage that occurred it's not surprising that your hair didn't *seem* to grow. Plus as children I doubt most of us were watching our hair like a hawk.

Even now, i've grown from above apl to 2 inches till bsl in about 7 months. If I had not been tracking my growth, it would have felt like my hair *never* grew.

[AmberJewel]

It looks like you and I have similar hair-types. I was in the exact same position when I first jointed LHC: had always had shoulder-to-BSL hair, and thought it could never get long. Thanks to good advice and encouragement found here I am now past hip and still growing. Now I see that a lot of my trouble was that I had no idea how to care for my fine hair, and my mom STILL thinks that any taper/fairytale ends = split ends. So she kept my hair trimmed. I don't blame her because her hair type is different than mine. But just because you've never had long hair doesn't mean you can't grow it if you try!

And just in case it turns out you are already close to your terminal length, I think your hair looks lovely in your pic!

[Llama]

Thanks for the encouragement! It's comforting to know that others here have been in my same boat and have been able to overcome.

I was already planning to "grow and see", it's just a little discouraging to have that thought in the back of your head that what you want to achieve may not even be possible. But I'm going to keep hopeful and continue with the good practices I have picked up here on this site for at least a couple more years to see what happens.

:D

[Silverbrumby]

I cant wait to see your hair in twelve months. If you keep growing at the same rate you'll be at waist.

[lapushka]

I was already planning to "grow and see", it's just a little discouraging to have that thought in the back of your head that what you want to achieve may not even be possible. But I'm going to keep hopeful and continue with the good practices I have picked up here on this site for at least a couple more years to see what happens.

I know it's not the easiest, to just wait it out, but... well, there's little else you can do. Do you trim or are you in a no-trimming mode? Because that might matter as well!

[Wildcat Diva]

Waist is so gonna happen; don't sweat it.

Just do the best you can. Watch your vitamins, protein intake, increase exercise maybe... Do what you can and this should be fun. For me just focusing on my overall health is better than trying a bunch of ideas about specific techniques for hair growth that I won't consistently do.

[Mammasaurusrex]

I don't have any advice but I just wanted to let you know that is how my hair is as well. Even as a child my hair has never been past about shoulder blade length and I have no idea why. I feel like it literally just stops growing! It sucks.

[Agnes Hannah]

For my entire childhood and teens my hair never grew past shoulder length and the only bad things I did to it was detangle roughly and occasionally use a curling iron to the ends. After finding hair forums and stopping this my hair is now finger tip length so I wouldn't worry too much if I were you.
I have added a few other thing to my routine now, for example always keeping it up and oiling the ends, but I still think it was the before mentioned things that prevented my growth back then. Especially with fine hair you have to be very careful about damaging things because it's, generally, very fragile.

This^^ I am also a finey and am currently at hip. It can be done if you look after your hair. Good luck!

[Llama]

Do you trim or are you in a no-trimming mode? Because that might matter as well!

I only trim twice a year, taking off as little as possible (no more than 1/2 inch)

[prettigurl]

As a child my hair never grewpast shoulder length. It was thick, coarse and tightly curled so it stayed short. Once I started getting relaxers and taking care of my own hair I was able to grow my hair to midback length.

Then I got pregnant and decided to ditch the chemicals...I chopped off all my hair and currently my hair is chemical free (except for ombre color on the ends) and I am near Bsl. I think it's possible to grow my hair at least to waist length. It just takes patience. Be careful when you style your hair. Eat clean, exercise and take a vitamin for hair, skin and nails.