terminal / growing out color: theory

[EliseMarie]

So, In theory, if you just stopped cutting and dyeing your hair, eventually you would have 100% virgin hair, right? And wouldn't that help get a rough estimate of your growing phase? As soon as you had no color/bleach left, after the last of it shed out, you would have a rough idea of how long your hair could get since some of the hairs that got dyed or bleached would have been *newer* hairs or hairs that had just begun the growth phase. What do you think? Does this make sense? At the very least eventually all of the dyed/ bleached hair would be shed out and you would have 100% virgin hair by doing nothing.

[MidnightMoon]

Makes sense, at least to me. My only concern is if there was some period where your hair didn't grow for some reason, and that happened to be at the same time you dyed for the last time, it might give you a bit of a shorter estimate. It might also be harder to keep track if most of your hairs reach terminal at a shorter length, and only a few remain there, with bleach, but are harder to spot.

[Joules]

Makes sense to me too! But it requires a very long and difficult experiment, plus, like MidnightMoon said, during last stages of growing out color remaining bleached strands would be very hard to see, so getting an accurate result is nearly impossible.

[lunasea]

Ummmm, I'm currently in the process of trying this theory out. I haven't dyed my hair since 6/19/14. At one point I did trim about four inches because the ends were so dry and tangly but I still have enough of the dyed stuff left on the ends to watch the growing process. It's been very interesting to me.

I have very fine, thin hair that I didn't think would actually grow past APL. Right now, the longest strands are well past WL. Because my hair is so thin I never wear it down so it's kind of easy for me to throw it up and ignore it as it grows. It will be interesting to see if the bleached ends disappear on their own or if they get so horribly dry and tangled that I will eventually give up and cut.

Anyhow, it's been over 4 years and my hair clearly hasn't reached terminal at its longest point but some of the shorter hairs around my face and neck have. I've learned a lot from doing this.

[LittleHealthy]

Ummmm, I'm currently in the process of trying this theory out. I haven't dyed my hair since 6/19/14. At one point I did trim about four inches because the ends were so dry and tangly but I still have enough of the dyed stuff left on the ends to watch the growing process. It's been very interesting to me.

I have very fine, thin hair that I didn't think would actually grow past APL. Right now, the longest strands are well past WL. Because my hair is so thin I never wear it down so it's kind of easy for me to throw it up and ignore it as it grows. It will be interesting to see if the bleached ends disappear on their own or if they get so horribly dry and tangled that I will eventually give up and cut.

Anyhow, it's been over 4 years and my hair clearly hasn't reached terminal at its longest point but some of the shorter hairs around my face and neck have. I've learned a lot from doing this.


The theory totally makes sense, but I agree about spotting remaining hairs. Ditto me and my lightened ends. I’m not cutting them off... last dye was Feb 2017 and I have about 8 inches of growth above the dyed section and don’t plan on cutting any length off unless, like Lunasea has already mentioned, the ends get ‘too dry’ and hard to manage.
You’re giving me all kinds of hope with your hair type, Lunasea!! I’ve finally found someone with the same f/I hair as me!!

[lunasea]

We seem to be pretty rare birds on this site LittleHealthy! Your hair looks a lot healthier where it's growing out so you may have even better luck than me. My hair was thin to start with and it's thinning out even more with age. I wish I had known to step away from the dye and scissors when I was younger :run: :couch:

[LittleHealthy]

Well I’m pregnant due October, so 3 months after that I’ll basically have zero hairs (ok maybe that’s a tad dramatic)... but yeah I’ll be shedding a serious amount, as I have in the past after having my first child haha! That’s why I cut my hair off short the first time around. Will push through. It may even speed up OP’s theory with the hair dye haha.

[lunasea]

Good luck!!!!