Hair Length Dissatisfaction

[Hairy-Fairy]

The thing I hate most about LHC-itis is how it always strikes right before I meet my next goal so I don't even get to enjoy it. >_<
I think it's because when I lean my head back suddenly it's longer and cooler and then when I put my head back up it feels short.
Oh well, I'm sure in a couple of months when my ends are thicker and it's like, "I really AM at classic" then I'll be excited ask over again. In the meantime, I was curious.
People who are chronically dissatisfied with current length in relation to goal length: Have you found a way to offset LHC-itis? Photo shoots with your current length? Making lists of things you appreciate about your hair length now? Doing a fun style you couldn't do before?
Or do you just accept this as part of the hair growing out process and not let it bother you?

[Ylva]

I feel it's integral to the nature of growing hair. What you strive for is not a specific length. It's longer. You will probably never reach that length, and that's the whole point of that mindset, and probably why you got to where you are now. :)

My hair still didn't feel long at nearly knee-length. But then I stopped wanting it at that length, or any longer, with the amount of bleach damage I had, and decided to let go of the length, after which I've felt a lot more at ease when it comes to matters of length. I'm not thinking about length or markers, and have been maintaining at hip for almost a year now (has it really been that long?! Yep!).

[paulownia]

That's the danger of hanging around here;).
When I look at my pictures with shoulder length I think : wow, did I really have hair that short? But when I look at it now I still feel that it's short , now almost at midback.
Watch me getting to waist and still thinking it's not that long:rolleyes:

[foreveryours]

My hair's long by any measure. Over time its length has monotonically increased but progressively thinning ends will end this trend. But I'm in no hurry to reach that endpoint. It is what it is, I just let it be :p

[embee]

I am for sure at terminal. Sure I have some breakage, sure I have some hair loss but hair grows back. My longest racer hairs have often been mid thigh (all 3 of those hairs) and everything else is inches shorter. My only solution for dissatisfaction or disappointment is to not measure (ever), just brush, see in the mirror that my hair is longer than my elbows, smile when I think how short it was in 2005 when I joined here, and then I bun it.

[Rainbouu]

It's easy for me to think of myself as having short hair because I'm still above apl after a year and a half. I'm not stalled, it's just my anatomy and I've been slacking on scalp massages, though if I look back on the past year, I remember that I've grown from a pixie to beyond collar bone length. Remember where you were and tell yourself "hey, not bad!" every time you look in the mirror. Dissatisfaction with your hair, or any aspect of how you look, is maybe only half about how you actually look, and is more about judging yourself. Even people who are really pretty confident tend to have this harsher, or less exceptional view of themselves. Like Ylva said above, to me her hair is so long, but to her she doesn't even see it as that long. I'm sure I'll be the same when I reach my goal length, I'll still somehow see my hair as "short", because my own hair just isn't and will never be exceptional to me, because it's attached to me and for most of the day I forget it. It's also easy to compare yourself to others.

I started to be satisfied with my hair when I accepted and started to love it as much as possible; I tell myself every day how beautiful my hair is, and how soft it is, how fast it's growing. I don't think too much about my goal length, I try to enjoy the changes I see in it every day, in this present moment. At night is when I let myself visualize my goals. I also give myself extra time to be proud of myself for making good decisions about my hair. At this point, bunning is easier for me than leaving my hair down, but I still take immense pride in treating my hair well, even though "it's just what you're supposed to do". It sounds silly, but affirmations do eventually start to become your real feelings about yourself. If you have ever been hurting for validation from others, the kindness of giving it to yourself will do wonders! Sorry if that comes across as preachy haha! I struggle with low self esteem, personally...I feel like everyone deserves more grace from themselves, for sure.

[maborosi]

I found I was most frustrated (and absent from the LHC lol) when my hair wasn't quite long enough to do any kind of styling. Now that I can do buns and braided buns again, I feel way less upset at my hair, lol!

One of the most fun things I used to do- and should really do again- would be to do progress pics with different styles. I did that with crochet braids a few years back, and it is so fun to see how my styles would change as I grew!

[LongLocke]

It’s weird for me. Every day is literally a “my hair has never been longer” after a lifetime of short crew cuts and the occasional mop top. So when I get into a funk of thinking my hair’s not long/long enough, I focus on the new things I’ve never been able to do before like buns and braids, the feeling of hair tickling my arms, etc

It doesn’t help alleviate the feelings of wishing it was longer RIGHT NOW, but it helps recenter a bit

[ArtOfNoot]

Buns every day. And splurging on hair toys (retail therapy cures all)