If "terminal" length is the longest your hair will grow....

[Vara La Fey]

If terminal length is the longest your hair will grow - likely you're at the limit of your follicles' anagen period - then how can you tell when you've hit it, rather than just not progressing due to some factor of maintenance, environment, product ingredient change, or something else?

[Bat]

It's one thing stopping me trying terminal like how long untill you wait when you don't make any length gain

[elaina]

i dont think this is a problem that most people need to or should worry about
https://bglh-marketplace.com/2013/01/understanding-terminal-length-how-long-can-your-hair-grow/

[foreveryours]

If terminal length is the longest your hair will grow - likely you're at the limit of your follicles' anagen period - then how can you tell when you've hit it, rather than just not progressing due to some factor of maintenance, environment, product ingredient change, or something else?

If you know how much hair your scalp produces, say every month, you can collect and weigh the amount you lose, and when you've reached that level, it's TERMINAL under your current conditions. A month is really too short though, you can't really tell anything about your hair in a month. Half a year to a year, given "seasonal" and "other" issues, would be more reliable.

Hair's about patience. WIthout patience, you'll never have long hair, at least your own hair.

[lapis_lazuli]

I guess there's no way to know for absolute certain, especially if you consider environmental factors, but terminal typically has a very tapered look if all strands have reached their maximum length. There will only be a few hairs on your head with your longest anagen phase, so there will only be a few of the very longest hairs. I've found my own hair to follow a pretty linear decrease in circumference with length, which I've extrapolated to estimate my terminal.

In addition to this, I think you need to give it a lot of time (years) with max haircare and protective styling before officially calling terminal. This is to rule out the possibility of stalls/breakage preventing length gains. There are people who've thought they were at terminal, and their hair randomly started growing again. These signs aren't foolproof, but it's the best we can do.

[lapushka]

If you know how much hair your scalp produces, say every month, you can collect and weigh the amount you lose, and when you've reached that level, it's TERMINAL under your current conditions. A month is really too short though, you can't really tell anything about your hair in a month. Half a year to a year, given "seasonal" and "other" issues, would be more reliable.

Hair's about patience. WIthout patience, you'll never have long hair, at least your own hair.

Wise words, my friend! :)

Terminal is a long ways away, for most people, given good health care practices. If you heat style the absolute bejeezus out of your hair then no. In my day it cut itself off at around bra strap, and never grew beyond. Never had to go see a hair dresser. Perfect. LOL At that season in my life, though. Not an ideal situation if you want long, healthy, hair. ;)

[spidermom]

I think this is one of those things you can't accurately predict. We go through hormonal changes, health changes, periods of stress, and so forth. Each of these things can change what's happening on your scalp.

There was an LHC member that I haven't seen around in a long time. His hair was stuck around classic length for years, then for no easily discernible reason, it began to gain length again and reached at least knee length (to the best of my memory).

[Chromis]

That was EdG. I had this happen as well. I thought I was at terminal at knee length for several years and then all the sudden it was at mid-calf. It has stayed there for a few years now, but who knows!

[EdG]

I think that may have been trolleypup.

The longest shed strand that I have ever measured was 5 feet. That was 15 years ago. ;) Now, I am lucky if a shed strand exceeds one foot. :(

I would say that one has reached terminal when the length does not change, and the shed strands are unbroken.
Ed

[Vara La Fey]

It's one thing stopping me trying terminal like how long untill you wait when you don't make any length gain

I think that's the tricky part. I'd guess the thing to do when you hit a plateau is change up your routine: see what helps your hair and what hurts it. Neither may always be what you think. I'm in that process right now. Changing everything up and actually paying attention. It was damned sure about time I did.

If you're still at the same plateau after maybe 3 mo, then either you didn't change the right thing, or you're at terminal. Anagen periods - the time your follicle keeps growing a hair - are said to generalliy be between 2-6 years for most people. I'm skeptical that they're that short, and I'm skeptical that the period can even be measured. But anagen itself is real.

[Vara La Fey]

If you know how much hair your scalp produces, say every month, you can collect and weigh the amount you lose, and when you've reached that level, it's TERMINAL under your current conditions. A month is really too short though, you can't really tell anything about your hair in a month. Half a year to a year, given "seasonal" and "other" issues, would be more reliable.
Hair's about patience. WIthout patience, you'll never have long hair, at least your own hair.

Sorry, I completely don't understand that first part. How do you learn how much hair your scalp produces in a given time? How can weighing hairs, which could be any length and thus any weight, tell you about anagen?

I def hear you about patience tho.

[MusicalSpoons]

Technically one can only know once you're absolutely certain all hairs have reached their terminal length, uncut (so without ever having been trimmed) and preferably unbroken. So if someone *really* wanted to make sure, they would have to calculate the age of their hair at the point when they suspect it might be at terminal length, then wait that length of time again and see if they get any more growth after that.

If the initial calling of terminal length is on hair that has been trimmed, then waiting longer than that length of time for those longest hairs to shed and regrow all the way is the only real way to know whether they stopped at that length naturally or if they'd been affected by trims.

For me though, I think if I stalled for a year or two I would probably call it, because for whatever reason that would effectively be the longest length I could reach at that time. I only wanted to see if it was longer than floor length though, I'm not curious enough to find out exactly where terminal length might actually be.

[Vara La Fey]

I guess there's no way to know for absolute certain, especially if you consider environmental factors, but terminal typically has a very tapered look if all strands have reached their maximum length. There will only be a few hairs on your head with your longest anagen phase, so there will only be a few of the very longest hairs. I've found my own hair to follow a pretty linear decrease in circumference with length, which I've extrapolated to estimate my terminal.
In addition to this, I think you need to give it a lot of time (years) with max haircare and protective styling before officially calling terminal. This is to rule out the possibility of stalls/breakage preventing length gains. There are people who've thought they were at terminal, and their hair randomly started growing again. These signs aren't foolproof, but it's the best we can do.

Yes. Thank you. That all makes perfect sense.

I once lost at least 8" of hair over a few years just from breakage. I'd brush and see little broken pieces everywhere. And I spent years calling terminal and blaming my anagen period for decreasing to 2 years. Now I mask regularly with coconut and other oils and I see almost zero breakage, even tho my hair is close to the length it had been years ago.

[Vara La Fey]

I think this is one of those things you can't accurately predict. We go through hormonal changes, health changes, periods of stress, and so forth. Each of these things can change what's happening on your scalp.
There was an LHC member that I haven't seen around in a long time. His hair was stuck around classic length for years, then for no easily discernible reason, it began to gain length again and reached at least knee length (to the best of my memory).

Agreed that it's prolly not predictable. Given good consistent care, the only limit to hair is anagen, whose duration I'm starting to think can only be measured on people who are already at terminal - and terminal itself is very hard to determine for the reasons you mentioned and more.

[Vara La Fey]

That was EdG. I had this happen as well. I thought I was at terminal at knee length for several years and then all the sudden it was at mid-calf. It has stayed there for a few years now, but who knows!

Do you think it was breakage/splits at the ends? Falling out at the scalp? Or literally not growing and not falling out?

[Vara La Fey]

I think that may have been trolleypup.
The longest shed strand that I have ever measured was 5 feet. That was 15 years ago. ;) Now, I am lucky if a shed strand exceeds one foot. :(
I would say that one has reached terminal when the length does not change, and the shed strands are unbroken.
Ed

That's a reasonable definition. Thanks.

Do you think you're getting breakage now?

[Vara La Fey]

Thanks. I'm starting to think that terminal cannot be predicted and that anagen duration cannot be measured until after they have been experienced.

[EdG]

That's a reasonable definition. Thanks.

Do you think you're getting breakage now?Yes, but not as much as in the past. I had a bad case of lint.
Ed

[tuanyiji]

I feel like the word terminal kind of defines itself, and I’d prefer not to face it myself any time soon. If my hair grows to a length where the very thin end is just a few sad damaged strands, I’d trim it for a much healthy look.

[foreveryours]

Sorry, I completely don't understand that first part. How do you learn how much hair your scalp produces in a given time? How can weighing hairs, which could be any length and thus any weight, tell you about anagen?

I def hear you about patience tho.

I think your original question asked how you can tell when you've hit terminal length. If you know how much hair your scalp produces, say in a year, AND if you know how much hair you are loosing, say in a year, then when those two values are equal, you will achieve no NET increase amount of hair on your head, meaning more or less your length will no longer increase, you be at terminal

When I started growing my hair in earnest 9 years ago I wish I had spent a month or two preparing for today. A quick shave and weigh would tell me how much hair my scalp produces. Of course, I could estimate this quantity by estimating my growth rate and estimating the number of hair on my head, but a measured value beats any estimate any day of the week. Estimates a like opinions and you know about opinions, right? :p

Hope that's clear. Hindsight is 20/20. Next Life

[Chromis]

Do you think it was breakage/splits at the ends? Falling out at the scalp? Or literally not growing and not falling out?

I think it just stalled. No more splits or hairfall than normal.

[Vara La Fey]

I think your original question asked how you can tell when you've hit terminal length. If you know how much hair your scalp produces, say in a year, AND if you know how much hair you are loosing, say in a year, then when those two values are equal, you will achieve no NET increase amount of hair on your head, meaning more or less your length will no longer increase, you be at terminal

When I started growing my hair in earnest 9 years ago I wish I had spent a month or two preparing for today. A quick shave and weigh would tell me how much hair my scalp produces. Of course, I could estimate this quantity by estimating my growth rate and estimating the number of hair on my head, but a measured value beats any estimate any day of the week. Estimates a like opinions and you know about opinions, right? :p

Hope that's clear. Hindsight is 20/20. Next Life

If by "produces" you mean how many new hairs your scalp produces vs how many old hairs fall out, that would determine baldness, not terminal length.

If you mean how much length your scalp produces vs how many old hairs fall out, then I don't see a correlation between them.

How much your hair weighs depends heavily on its length.

But that's ok. Based on what you guys have said in total, I'd guess terminal is when your length stalls, your sheds are equal to your length, your ends are tapered to scragglies, and all the while you're still diligent about your proven hair care routine which got you this far. If you don't have such a routine, you're prolly not at terminal.

[Vara La Fey]

I think it just stalled. No more splits or hairfall than normal.

I didn't even know growth could stall, but a lot of people mention it. Any idea why, and why it (hopefully!) started again?

[Kalamazoo]

A stall may be produced by:

A change in the weather,
An episode of bad health,
Dietary changes for the worse,
Too little sleep,
Too little exercise,
Not pampering your hair enough in the way that's best for you (Did you do your hair masque on-schedule? Did you massage your scalp enough? Etc.),
Stress,
Any of 10 million other things.


Really, it's a miracle that it grows at all! Be grateful for what you've got. Enjoy it today. Figure out a new hairstyle that really flatters your face. Maybe what it needs is a new pair of earrings? Don't put off being happy 'til some unpredictable goal is reached.

My hair stalled at the end of "Does eating peppermint grow hair faster?" because, one by one, I stopped doing the things that, in combination, were making it work for me. So it seemed not to grow at all for a couple years. But I'm less stressed now, starting to do hair masques again, starting up those inverted massages again; and I do think hot, humid weather & working up a sweat are important, too. Everything has to be in balance.

There's probably something to be said for envisioning it to be long & looking the way you want. I think positive thinking helps a lot with absolutely everything.

[spidermom]

I think that may have been trolleypup.
Ed

I believe you are right. I thought of that name but wasn't sure enough to type it.

[Vara La Fey]

A stall may be produced by:
[...]Any of 10 million other things.
[...]
My hair stalled at the end of "Does eating peppermint grow hair faster?" because, one by one, I stopped doing the things that, in combination, were making it work for me.

Yeah, ya gotta know what to do, and then ya gotta do it. I'm glad you're getting back to your best practices. :-)

I'm still learning what mine even are. But in the last 18-24 months my hair has made so much progress without me even being ingredient-conscious or diligent, that I want to seize the moment and send it to my beltline while it still seems to want to go there. My roomie took this pic tonight - consider it the Before.

Wonder if I've been here long enough that I'm allowed to add a profile pic....

EDIT: Guess I'm not allowed (yet?) to add images, or use a Facebook URL, or GoogleDrive.... Photobucket costs $ now. That's not gonna happen. OH!! Not allowed to add a profile pic either; the button is there, but clicking it just refreshes the same screen.

[lapis_lazuli]

Wonder if I've been here long enough that I'm allowed to add a profile pic....

EDIT: Guess I'm not allowed (yet?) to add images, or use a Facebook URL, or GoogleDrive.... Photobucket costs $ now. That's not gonna happen. OH!! Not allowed to add a profile pic either; the button is there, but clicking it just refreshes the same screen.

You should be able to add an avatar now (the picture under your name).

In the top right corner of the page go to Settings, and on the left sidebar go to Edit Avatar. You can also add a Profile Picture in the settings, which is the picture displayed on your profile page.

If you go to My Profile (also top right corner), you can upload pictures in an album there and then embed the BB Code in posts. I don't think you can embed photos from Facebook/Drive unfortunately. I sometimes use Imgur to host my photos.

If you still can't do any of the above yet, the mods may still be in the process of approving your account to Level 2.

[squirrrel]

Yeah, ya gotta know what to do, and then ya gotta do it. I'm glad you're getting back to your best practices. :-)

I'm still learning what mine even are. But in the last 18-24 months my hair has made so much progress without me even being ingredient-conscious or diligent, that I want to seize the moment and send it to my beltline while it still seems to want to go there. My roomie took this pic tonight - consider it the Before.

Wonder if I've been here long enough that I'm allowed to add a profile pic....

EDIT: Guess I'm not allowed (yet?) to add images, or use a Facebook URL, or GoogleDrive.... Photobucket costs $ now. That's not gonna happen. OH!! Not allowed to add a profile pic either; the button is there, but clicking it just refreshes the same screen.


Your profile became available after you had 25 posts (I’m pretty sure it’s that) so you should have profile abilities. Posting from Facebook, no. I don’t think anyone can do this. Many of us use imgur or similar for photos, rather than photobucket. We agree on having to pay for it. You just need to be able to get a bb code to link to where your photo is hosted so even if you fail to load the profile page you should be able to post them from a free site.

[Sigrid]

You can add photos from FB or Google Drive. Just right click the photo, either click "copy image url" or "open image in new tab" and copy THAT url and then use the "insert image" button here and it'll format it to BBC. You just need a direct link to a photo, not a webpage link.

Sorry for the OT post, just noticed this discussion and hoped I could help, haha.

[Vara La Fey]

Thanks, y'all. The mods just hadn't set the permissions yet, but it seems they have now. Thanks mods!

Lessee if attaching from FB actually works....

https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/289784194_1896079223920208_189481089213888694_n.jp g?stp=dst-jpg_p720x720&_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=E-hPFcY_haMAX8VyRj1&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-2.xx&oh=00_AT_97evD3f4KFaOn_wwXT5OmWAN3_fsS43zhRkTSDSr7 fQ&oe=62C27BD8

https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/290351581_1896079953920135_591892212850174091_n.jp g?stp=dst-jpg_s960x960&_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=0debeb&_nc_ohc=Xy9rrgLDs4IAX9wkL3D&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-2.xx&oh=00_AT_E4ZnC--8fffTO8iCd7pS2H5nxkJ3-RGD9Pp3n0TyAhg&oe=62C28447

[lapis_lazuli]

Oh cool! Your hair looks very pretty and soft :)

[Vara La Fey]

Oh cool! Your hair looks very pretty and soft :)

Well thanks. :-) TBH I was very pleasantly surprised at these pix cause it looks better and longer than I expected. (With the 'V' taper cut, ya don't get a feel for the back length, and my bathroom is too cramped for real double-mirror stuff.) It's very coarse and can be straw-like, but the pix were 24 hours after I'd blonded out the grey with cheap Revlon Colorsilk from Walmart. Which has baddies in it, but my hair freaking loves it. Just 9" more and it'll be into my beltline, which is what I'm gonna give it every chance to do.

[Kalamazoo]

Beautiful hair!

[Vara La Fey]

Beautiful hair!

Thx. The pix actually came out a lot better than I expected. Gives me hope. :-)