Where do you find the patience?

[afreckledgirl]

Hiya all, hope you're well.

I am a new member of this forum and already feel so impatient with my hair growth. I know I definitely won't cut it all off again, because that will make the issue worse but I do want that miracle treatment where I wake up with long locks ;).

What do you guys do when you are feeling so frustrated about the whole process?

Where do you find the patience?

[Hasse]

3 inch long hair? I've been there! When I feel impatient I try to find new ways to style my hair or divert my attention to something else, like my stretched ears (putting weird things through the holes is quite fun :P) or fancy make-up or something. When your hair gets longer, you'll find that putting your hair up and away will make it easier not to think about it all the time. At least, that's what I've experienced and read here.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Hi, welcome here :) It can certainly be frustrating waiting for hair to grow. The best thing is to treat it gently, and get busy with Other Things In Life, and it will grow while you aren't watching it.

Of course, there are still going to be times when you are really impatient and that's just one of those things.... Buy yourself a bottle of Patience, and use it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ciMuVhDXA

[Sora Rose]

I had a dreadful bout of impatience when I had to cut off four inches of hair - voluntarily going back to BSL - to get rid of old mechanical damage. It lasted nearly a month, but gradually faded away. Now I don't think about it that much and just enjoy taking care of them. I still do get bouts of impatience, but nothing as severe as the first few weeks of deciding to grow my hair beyond what I'd ever done before. It gets easier with time, just stick with it.:toast:

[Anastasia Hope]

ohhhhh its soooooo hard

[ponine]

I seem to get obsessed and impatient with hair for few weeks and then forget it for a while. You can guess from me visiting this site that I have an impatient phase on right now.

[Joules]

Of course, there are still going to be times when you are really impatient and that's just one of those things.... Buy yourself a bottle of Patience, and use it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ciMuVhDXA

Ok, where's the "order" button? :rollin:

No, but really, patience is key. Especially when your hair is just a couple of inches long: it doesn't really need that much attention and treatments, your natural sebum will take care of everything, and there's no miracle product that's gonna make it grow 5 inches a week. We all have our bouts of impatience :) Just try to relax and enjoy the journey, find something else to focus on.

[embee]

Patience is very important in many areas of life. Growing hair, watching paint dry, and waiting for the coffee to brew come to mind. :)

Benign neglect is helpful here. I also found that big earrings, fancy dangly ones were helpful, not sure why. Sometimes you just have to live through a bad spell. :)

[Margarita]

Im an impatient person who waits one morning to see my hair to classic length.
From where do i find patience? From God.

[FaerieKitty]

I think that's partly why I like the benign neglect school of thought for hair care. I do very little to it right now so it's easy to forget it most of the time. And then weeks pass and I'm excited by the growth.

[browneyedsusan]

Hi, welcome here :) It can certainly be frustrating waiting for hair to grow. The best thing is to treat it gently, and get busy with Other Things In Life, and it will grow while you aren't watching it.

Of course, there are still going to be times when you are really impatient and that's just one of those things.... Buy yourself a bottle of Patience, and use it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ciMuVhDXA


Patience is very important in many areas of life. Growing hair, watching paint dry, and waiting for the coffee to brew come to mind. :)

Benign neglect is helpful here. I also found that big earrings, fancy dangly ones were helpful, not sure why. Sometimes you just have to live through a bad spell. :)

Both of these ladies took my answers! :)
There isn't any help for it. If you want long hair bad enough, you do what is required: wait.
Been there. Did that. See siggy pic. :)

[lapushka]

Maybe join the shorties forum. Yes there are those that never get out of pixie stage and continually cut back, but there are those like browneyedsusan that somehow beat the odds and grew long! :D

[spidermom]

I was impatient the first time I grew out my hair. I wanted classic length hair so bad; I had this feeling like I just couldn't wait, plus I worried that I didn't have the genetics to grow it that long. What helped the most was putting my hair up first thing in the morning so I couldn't see the length and getting busy with other things. I learned that my hair would, indeed, grow to classic length and probably beyond, but extra-long hair wasn't "all that". Sometimes it was a gigantic pain to have to deal with, and I ended up cutting it back to around collarbone.

Now I'm growing it out again, and this time I feel much differently. I'm enjoying every stage and the styles that are possible at each length.

[Larki]

I mean, you have to wait a long time for anything in life. It's no big deal for me.

[Alissalocks]

I think LHC helps when I'm feeling antsy about my hair. I can "get it out" where others understand the obsession while I'm forced to wait.

Also, I was super itchy about wanting my hair long NOW during the first year I was on LHC but now that I'm finishing year 2, and my length is getting closer to my goal/s, it gets easier to fall into benign neglect.

Joining fun challenges on LHC can make the time go by, whether that be no Trim, or braided, or what have you.

I use this emoji a lot to remind myself to chill :meditate: and just wait it out. Stay busy doing life, try not to think about it.

ETA: as I remember someone on the boards once said, time's gonna pass anyhow so why not have long hair?

[littlestarface]

I am thee most impatient person ever I want what I want now now now but with hair you cant have that no matter what. I learned to just get busy with other stuff than too just focus on my poor hair lol. If one focuses too much on hair one ends up getting so frustrated or and cutting it off especially with us ladies who tend to always take it out on our hair.

Its fun to talk about hair here but in real life my hair is just always up in a braid bun of some kind and oiled out of mind out of sight. That's how I handle it.

[school of fish]

I personally prefer the feeling of savouring the satisfaction of small victories along the way rather than battling feelings of dissatisfaction wishing I had something that isn't yet mine. That's how I find my patience :)

As with all things in life, you never know when something you have in hand might be taken away in a flash - if I were ever to lose all my hair overnight I'd rather know that I spent the time I had it appreciating it, rather than having spent that time wishing I had more. That smooths the path for me :)

[EdG]

Don't worry. Hair grows when you are not thinking about it. You will end up with long hair before you know it. :)
Ed

[ravenskey]

I just have fun learning new hair styles while I wait - also assigning one day a month to obsess means that I don't think about it the rest of the time.

[afreckledgirl]

Yeah, the agony! I love my short hair honestly, but I see soooo many lovely pictures on pinterest and on here of people with beautiful hair and I want to cry. It's funny you mention make up, I have spent the majority of my birthday money on it, to try and focus on my make up collection rather than the aggravating hair growing process! :D

[afreckledgirl]

Yeah, the agony! I love my short hair honestly, but I see soooo many lovely pictures on pinterest and on here of people with beautiful hair and I want to cry. It's funny you mention make up, I have spent the majority of my birthday money on it, to try and focus on my make up collection rather than the aggravating hair growing process! :D

Sorry, I was trying to reply back to Hasse (the first commeent.) You can tell I'm a noob at this. :D

Thank you all so much for the feedback, Im focussing on makeup at the moment so hopefully, that helps me forget the hair situation.

[cjk]

My issue is less one of patience and more one of imperfection. I like my hair to look nice and growing it out will result in a number of awkward stages.

Mechanical restraints ranging from Bobby pins to barrettes have been my saving grace.

So long as it can be made presentable, I can live with the time investment.

[ursaV]

I struggle with patience so much myself, I'm still pretty new to this long hair thing too! It helps to celebrate every little milestone for me because it shows that I'm making progress at least. I can get it all in a bun, I can make a braid, and I've hit APL recently so I've had a lot to be grateful for in just a few short months.

[Jo Ann]

Good things come to those who wait :p

I find other things to do--something more constructive or informative than waiting for my hair to grow. After I push it out of my mind, one day I'll be washing it and realize that tickle (somewhere) on my back is my HAIR! Celebrate the mini-milestones along the way: being able to make a ponytail, for example, or being able to tuck your hair behind your ears, or having to pull your hair out of your collar while dressing...the little things mean a lot :flower:

[Stray_mind]

I just put it in a peacock twist and forget about it. Hair tends to grow better when you're Not watching it :D
Benign neglect is the way to go.

[Jas]

If you can just put it up and forget about it that is absolutely the way to go! For me, I've stopped measuring it and do it every three months now which gives me something to look forward to. I found I needed more than that as I was still obsessing so I've been putting that extra energy into learning hair styles and putting it on Instagram- it means I am being productive and learning something and on Instagram i find it really motivating that other people like the styles I do :) it also feeds my obsession in a healthier way than just willing it to grow constantly

[lapushka]

I just put it in a peacock twist and forget about it. Hair tends to grow better when you're Not watching it :D
Benign neglect is the way to go.

I did that for so long, from APL onto hip, and I got used to the updo. You'll get there!

OP, hang in there, one half inch at a time, and the change will be so quickly visible in shorter hair!

[njrb]

forget about it. Hair tends to grow better when you're Not watching it :D
Benign neglect is the way to go.

I agree with this. Find other things to focus on and some way to forget about your hair. It will get there and so you might as well try distract yourself while it's at a frustrating length.

[Arciela]

I struggle a LOT with patience..but in the end there is nothing else we can do but wait! Hehe I just took photos of my progress and tried my best to enjoy each stage, bought tons of products to try and discovered I actually have wavy/curly hair..so as I was learning to take care of my hair..before I knew it, it was super long :flower:

[cailinbee]

I seem to get obsessed and impatient with hair for few weeks and then forget it for a while. You can guess from me visiting this site that I have an impatient phase on right now.

Hahah, same! If I'm posting a lot here it means I'm thinking too much about it day to day, and of course...being here reinforces it :P The times that I have really needed the most patience (the months after a big damage chop, the temptation to trim) I usually have to focus harder on creative projects and other aspects of life and just benignly neglect things hair wise.

If I have entirely too much impatient energy and just need to do something, I focus on deep treatments and trying different shampoos and conditioners. I obsess over maintaining the health of the hair I currently have in lieu of fussing about the hair that hasn't grown yet. :)

[Milkchocolate]

I know what you mean about finding patience :( 10 years ago, I buzzed off most of my hair and a few months later, had an intense desire to grow it out like crazy. I was 17 and an unpredictable wild child who always lived in the moment. While growing it out, I would tell myself that I could still relish in the shorter hair I had, because I would not be able to style it that certain way when it would be longer. I tried to look at the positives like, being able to do cute little pigtails, wearing berets with bobs, “faux hawks”, and matching my short hair with edgier looks. During the growing phase as well, I dedicated my time/hobbies to learning and experimenting on hair growth recipes and products etc... it was fun. It gave me something to look forward to and helped to distract me :) it kept me on my feet. So part of having patience for me was just “enjoying the ride” if that makes any sense 🙂