Long Growth Stall Worry

[pinkprincess]

My hair doesn't seem to have grown since about May. I dont think it's at terminal since the front layers haven't grown and the hemline is quite blunt. I did try trimming a bit off in case it was damaged but it still hasn't grown.

Is there anything else I can try? :(

[Wouter]

Patience :)
I'm sure you eat healthy, so just keep on doing so. You could always try a scalp massage once in a while to promote blood circulation

[ImmortaLamia]

yes patience it's the best in those cases, i suggest wearing it up and not looking at it too much it's a good thing too..when i was past bra strap lenght it didn't grow for some loong months till i reached waist..and now it;s growing so fast.

[Curlsgirl]

Could you have trimmed off more than you thought? I think that's what I did. I am trying the no trimming in 2009 thing cuz I'm right where you are with the stall thing. I feel like my hair hasn't grown in forever and then I was thinking about the trims I did in the last year. :ponder:

[ChloeDharma]

yes patience it's the best in those cases, i suggest wearing it up and not looking at it too much it's a good thing too..when i was past bra strap lenght it didn't grow for some loong months till i reached waist..and now it;s growing so fast.

I agree....there's that old saying "the watched pot never boils" i think this is espcially true with hair growth....also wearing it down alot can saboutage (sp?) growth sometimes.
Very gentle care, oiling, scalp massages and a good diet plus a multivitamin and mineral are the main things that seem to help growth.

[Periwinkle]

How many trims have you done and how much have you taken off? It's possible that you trimmed and now it's grown back to where it was pre-trim, so it feels like it hasn't grown at all but actually it has.

Do you/did you straighten/chemically dye/blowdry/do something that damages your hair? That could create a false terminal length; BSL is quite a normal length for that, I believe, or even shorter. I have chemical-addict friends who insist that their terminal length is shoulder, despite having had much longer hair before.

Also, as ChloeDharma said, the watched pot never boils! Maybe you could join the updo challenge and try your best not to look at your hair's length at all for a while; then you'll notice all the growth. I made a pact with myself to ignore my hair for the summer (not even looking at the length in the mirror) and when I finally took a look, it seemed like I'd gained tonnes and tonnes of length, even though it had really only been about two months.

[spidermom]

Agreed. Whenever I have been anxious about slow/no growth, I've made a habit of putting my hair up first thing in the morning without even looking at it. Otherwise I was checking the length 9 times a day. No wonder I never saw any growth. When you only look at the length once a month or less, you will see progress.

[heidi w.]

Trims and the like do NOT help hair grow! Hair is dead, and the alive part of hair, under the scalp skin within the hair follicle -- it does NOT respond to things done to ends of hair to help it grow longer. This is a myth.

The correlation folks notice is a seeming correlation, but I have tried this method and measured my way along the way, and nope, nada, no action.

Most people keep their hair cut/trimmed well under their ability for whatever length, so it keeps growing, and seemingly rapidly at that.

Don't worry. Stalls are part of the process. You're likely in a rest phase, especially if around the 40 inch zone or somewhere in BSL to waist length. Soon you'll see a lot of hairyelles pop up, like a halo effect, and this is hair replacing itself. Eventually they'll grow out and become length. When this occurs, all energy from hair follicles is more greatly oriented towards replacement and growth of new hair, not continuing to grow longer length.

It'll start up again.

If you're not losing a lot of hair then the shed phase has ended. If your hair isn't breaking off and length is becoming less in measurment, then there's no need to trim per se.

These stalls occur approximately once every 4 or so years, some more like 7 years. It's pretty normal.

heidi w.

[girlcat36]

I vote for scalp massage! I also use a BBB on my scalp only to encourage growth.

[Fantak]

While browsing LHC I've seen a number of posts/blog entries where someone will complain their hair hasn't been growing, then they'll find a picture from 3/4/6 months ago and compare it with a picture of their current length and realise it has grown :)

Sometimes our perception is skewed. You can take a picture of your hair now and compare it with a picture taken 3 months later (or with an older length picture if you have any). It can't do any harm to try :)

[feralnature]

My hair has grown considerable, but I don't trim. Also, I don't dwell on it all the time. I treat it very gently and try to skip washing as much as possible. Also, I coconut oil it twice a week. I finger comb and try not to break a single hair. Obsessing over the length is counter productive and will only cause stress and anxiety. Care for it as well as you can, then forget it :)

[jojo]

I really sympathize with you, I have just come out of a 3/4 month stall, Ive not measured yet but intend to on the 1st December but my hair suddenly seems to have started growing. I did trim or rather dust during this period thinking it would help; it didnt! But I now wear my hair up 99% of the time and don't know if its psychological but it does seem to help.

I checked my hair for splits tonight and found 5! so I know my hair isn't damaged so I have just put it down to a normal part of the process like Heidi said, hopefully you too will come out of this pretty soon, also another point just because hair on average grows quicker in summer this isn't always true in all cases, my hair definitely grows quicker in winter months so maybe this is the case for you too.

I am also going to try my hardest not to cut in 2009 whether it will last or not is another matter, but I am interested to see if I do grow the average of 6" a year even if my monthly growth is not equal each month.

Good luck, you have been given some good advice and I am sure every long hair has gone through this, just be patient and forget about it. xx