Ever gotten past a stall?

[CanadaSquirrel]

Have you ever had a stall in growth, or a loss in length even, and then found a way to get your hair longer without resorting to a haircut?

My guess right now is that my hair has been shrinking due to hard water buildup and possibly breakage. When I measure from my hairline at the top of my forehead, over the top of my head, and down my back, it is 33-1/4 inches. I have been measuring once a month around the 20th since last March. This last month, I lost a quarter inch. Same happened last month.

Now, thanks to suggestions and brainstorming with members of this community, I've implemented the following changes in an effort to avoid trimming:

1. For the next month, until December 20, I plan on wearing my hair up every day, only taking it down for sleep.

2. For the next two washes, I will use a clarifying shampoo (Neutrogena is the one I have, so I'm using that).

3. I will bring 2 buckets of reverse osmosis water to the bathtub for final rinses after my wash/condition routine. The first one will contain some apple cider vinegar. The second one will be just clear water, as cold as it comes out of the dispenser.

If by December 20 my hair has not increased in length, my next plan of action will be to do a self trim. I bought some barber scissors from Shoppers Drug Mart for $20.

Has anyone in here rescued their hair from what might otherwise become a few inches of trimming by doing any of the things in my new regime, or anything else?

[lapushka]

I think giving it a month is much too little time. You really need patience to get over a stall or breakage and a trim is not going to help unless your ends are badly damaged. I would give it 3-6 months. Meanwhile look at your ends carefully for splits or white dots and try and S&D those out if you can.

[ExpectoPatronum]

Not necessarily getting over a stall, but wearing my hair up daily (and sleeping in a protective style) helped my hair grow from APL to MBL in about three months. This never happened that quickly when I tried growing out my hair without wearing my hair up.

I agree with Lapushka that a month is too little time and that you'd need at least 3 months to see any real positive changes.

[Dark40]

I agree with the above posts. Giving your hair a month is too short period of time. I've gotten over my stall that I had for 4 months this year. I had a stall from June to September, and when I changed my routine a little it started growing faster again.

[MusicalSpoons]

Before LHC I never got past TBL even though I was mostly wearing it up, because I used hair elastics that were destroying my ends. It wasn't a stall as such, but my ends were so raggedy that my annual 'trim' cut off any length gains each year, and I genuinely believed my hair didn't grow any longer. Well, so far it's grown another almost two feet, so that was definitely not true :lol:

Definitely give it more than a month but yes, your plan sounds good and hopefully it will help :)

[leayellena]

Has anyone in here rescued their hair from what might otherwise become a few inches of trimming by doing any of the things in my new regime, or anything else?
oh definitely! it happened last year, when I visited my family in Romania for 3 weeks. they have such hard water you practically feel your pores clogged with salt. my hair looked like in an 80's music video. when I came home it was all damaged from apl to waist length. I spend 2 hours in the balcony under the summer's sun to snip each and every split end. they were practically everywhere! my hair has tapared like crazy but at least I saved half of the length. we are not alone in this. gossamer p wanted to cut off her floor length back to classic or knee length because it was so thin. she waited, thanks to lhc encouragement and after few years her hair reached floor length. her hair would even thicken more but she decided to cut back to lower calf and call her experiment over. wearing hair up really helps. my go to bun in winter, at home is a nautilus, outside - a braided cinnamon bun.

[trolleypup]

I stalled at ~51" for years, then randomly grew at my usual 1/2" per month to ~62" and am currently stalled there. Terminal-ish?

[Arciela]

I feel like I am at a stall but it's only because I keep trimming off old bleach. Eventually I'll get past it.

[cjk]

Some of it also has to do with the fact that the tips are the oldest hair and consequently the most damaged.

I had a stall for at least two years with my beard, it's much more exposed to the elements than the hair on my head. The tips were dry and breaking off.

When I changed my care routine, my beard started growing. Almost magically. Gained almost 2 inches so far.

Assume nothing.

[Gwyned]

I've gotten past stalls in the past. I think you should give your hair more than a month. I would just be patient and continue to take good care of your hair. It has sometimes taken my hair five months to get over a stall. That's nothing compared to how long it could stall. The potential is amazing--and maybe even frustrating depending on how you look at it.

The only things I've done to get over stalls is be patient and make sure I'm doing my best to care for my hair in the interim.

[shelomit]

I have slow growth to start with (maybe 2.5-3" per year?), and then it varies seasonally on top of that. Winter is an extra-slow-growth time for many people. Taking as good of care as you can of the ends should help. Sometimes my hair is shorter when I henna in the spring than at the previous summer/fall, because I get very little growth when the weather's cold but still do a winter trim to get rid of the scraggly ends and straighten everything out.

[spidermom]

I had this weird time when my ends finally crossed the belt at my waist and I was ecstatic; waist length at long last! And then one day I was checking the back with my hand-held mirror, and my ends were above the same belt. I thought o.k., no biggie; it's my wave pattern. My hair isn't really shorter. But it was! I blow-dried it straight and checked the length a few days later. Not only did my ends not cross my belt, they didn't even touch it. My hair truly was shorter. I hadn't had a lot of breakage, so the only thing I could conclude was that I had shed out all my longest hairs at once.

What did I do about it? Nothing really. I did my best to style and wash it gently, as I had been doing before. I eventually grew my hair out to just beyond classic length.

[Gwyned]

I've gotten past stalls in the past. I think you should give your hair more than a month. I would just be patient and continue to take good care of your hair. It has sometimes taken my hair five months to get over a stall. That's nothing compared to how long it could stall. The potential is amazing--and maybe even frustrating depending on how you look at it.

The only things I've done to get over stalls is be patient and make sure I'm doing my best to care for my hair in the interim.

[lunalocks]

I was stuck at just above knee for over a year. I really thought I had reached terminal. Then I had a crazy year (sold a house, moved, my mother died) and I didn't have time to measure or do much other than keep it up all the time. I also stretched washes from every 5 or so days to every 7 or 8. This week I noticed that now I am just BELOW knee, so at least an inch longer, maybe 2. (in the move I lost my long measuring tape so haven't measured. Will have to make another one!) So it's possible. For me it took months and months to see a change.

[Dark40]

I feel like I'm stalling again at 2" below WL. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm at my terminal length? But I'm thinking that I do have a lot of more growth to gain before I reach my terminal length. I have stretched my washes to every 3 or 4 days. I'm seriously thinking about going back to my old routine washing it 2 or 3 times a week. I always felt that my hair grew a lot better that way.

[Ylva]

I feel like I'm stalling again at 2" below WL. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm at my terminal length? But I'm thinking that I do have a lot of more growth to gain before I reach my terminal length. I have stretched my washes to every 3 or 4 days. I'm seriously thinking about going back to my old routine washing it 2 or 3 times a week. I always felt that my hair grew a lot better that way.

It could be a false terminal from the relaxers and/or the dye. Maybe re-evaluate how hair-friendly your routine is. :)

[Suortuva]

I feel like I'm stalling again at 2" below WL. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm at my terminal length? But I'm thinking that I do have a lot of more growth to gain before I reach my terminal length. I have stretched my washes to every 3 or 4 days. I'm seriously thinking about going back to my old routine washing it 2 or 3 times a week. I always felt that my hair grew a lot better that way.
Is there really a difference?

[Dark40]

It could be a false terminal from the relaxers and/or the dye. Maybe re-evaluate how hair-friendly your routine is. :)

Or, maybe it could be just going through a resting phase. Because, I know that hair goes through resting phases when it's growing too.. :)

[Dark40]

Is there really a difference?

Yes, I notice a BIG difference in my hair growth when I wash it more frequently! Or, when my scalp is clean.

[MusicalSpoons]

Or, maybe it could be just going through a resting phase. Because, I know that hair goes through resting phases when it's growing too.. :)

The resting phase of a hair's growth cycle is the part before it falls out ...

[Dark40]

The resting phase of a hair's growth cycle is the part before it falls out ...

Yes, I know that and that's what my hair is going through....

[Ylva]

Yes, I know that and that's what my hair is going through....

Let's hope not because then it would all fall out at the same time. :confused:

[Dark40]

Let's hope not because then it would all fall out at the same time. :confused:

Yes, that's true. I hope not too. :confused:

I've just read on google that if your hair goes through a resting phase it can last up to 3 months but I never read anything about hair falling out.

[MusicalSpoons]

Yes, that's true. I hope not too. :confused:

I've just read on google that if your hair goes through a resting phase it can last up to 3 months but I never read anything about hair falling out.

Well, the anagen phase is the growing, then the catagen phase is the 'resting', and telogen is it falling out. They always happen in that order.
Your non-relaxed roots will tell you if you're in a stall (not growing) or if it is still growing but with the ends being worn away by damaging practices.

[Dark40]

Well, the anagen phase is the growing, then the catagen phase is the 'resting', and telogen is it falling out. They always happen in that order.
Your non-relaxed roots will tell you if you're in a stall (not growing) or if it is still growing but with the ends being worn away by damaging practices.

Oh, ok I see how it works now. Well, I'm seeing some new growth(which is the non-relaxed roots) and it is growing. So, that's good that my hair isn't going through a stall, and no the ends are not being worn away by damaging practices.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

My hair appears to be in a stall at the moment, hasn't grown for several months. I hope it's just a stall, and that it isn't at terminal length. It normally grows well in warmer weather, so if it doesn't grow next summer maybe that will be proof it won't grow any longer. Maybe the longest strands are shedding and so it seems as though it isn't getting longer - but that would happen at terminal length, wouldn't it? I suppose time will tell... I just really want another five inches!!! :pray:

[deeisme]

I've had my hair growth stall for three months and then start up again. In 2018 I had 5.5" growth but for 2019 only 3.5". I'm hoping some massaging and better diet will help. I had a very stressful year last year so I'm hoping taking better care of my hair and my emotional health will help me see better hair growth and a better year all the way around. Fingers crossed.

One thing I have been doing more regularly is coconut oil and jojoba oil focused on my ends and a little from chin down. My hair is super dry, particularly in the winter.

[xoxogossipgreen]

Yeah i thought my hair didn't grow, like my mothers, and that after a certain length it just stopped. When i tried the curly girl method it changed a lot and started growing again, but i think that was mainly because i learnt things like 'dont rip your brush through your hair' and 'dont wash it literally everyday'. Other things like taking better care of the ends with trims and oils and protective hair styles and satin pillow cases also really helped, and got my hair back on track

[ArabellaRose]

I'm either in a stall or at terminal length, I don't know. I know my hair has never ever been longer than it is now, at the beginning of 2019 I was consistently getting half an inch of growth per month. After about 5 months the growth slowed to a quarter of an inch and then no growth at all for the past few months. Admittedly I started off the year with a rigid hair routine and wearing my hair in protective styles. As the summer months approached I got lazy with the routine and started wearing my hair down a lot as I enjoyed the feeling, so I'm wondering if it's less a stall and more damage stopping the growth from being apparent. Either way I've gone back to the rigid routine from last year, washing every 2-3 days, WCC, ROO, LCO, being more strict with wearing my hair up, and doing a weekly clarifying wash and hair mask. Fingers crossed I see improvement soon.

[lapushka]

Yeah i thought my hair didn't grow, like my mothers, and that after a certain length it just stopped. When i tried the curly girl method it changed a lot and started growing again, but i think that was mainly because i learnt things like 'dont rip your brush through your hair' and 'dont wash it literally everyday'. Other things like taking better care of the ends with trims and oils and protective hair styles and satin pillow cases also really helped, and got my hair back on track

That is awesome! :D


I'm either in a stall or at terminal length, I don't know. I know my hair has never ever been longer than it is now, at the beginning of 2019 I was consistently getting half an inch of growth per month. After about 5 months the growth slowed to a quarter of an inch and then no growth at all for the past few months. Admittedly I started off the year with a rigid hair routine and wearing my hair in protective styles. As the summer months approached I got lazy with the routine and started wearing my hair down a lot as I enjoyed the feeling, so I'm wondering if it's less a stall and more damage stopping the growth from being apparent. Either way I've gone back to the rigid routine from last year, washing every 2-3 days, WCC, ROO, LCO, being more strict with wearing my hair up, and doing a weekly clarifying wash and hair mask. Fingers crossed I see improvement soon.

Let's hope for the best! :thumbsup: