Could layers/fringe slow my growth?

[zen_oven]

Okay, so I have an appointment the Tuesday after Thanksgiving to go to my stylist to get some long fringe cut around my face. I've been thinking about doing this for some time now and finally decided to make the appointment a couple of days ago.

So last night I met another long hair and got into a long hair geekery discussion. She mentioned that having bangs/fringe can slow hair growth because your hair naturally wants to be all the same length. The long and short of it (ha ha) is that your body will concentrate more of the nutrients on the follicles for the bangs/fringe, so the rest of your hair will grow slower. She mentioned that when she was growing out her bangs before, the rest of her length grew a lot slower than the bangs and once her hair evened out, it grew faster.

I did some internet research on this today to see what I could find and seemed to find just as many views to the contrary. Some said that bangs or fringe growing faster was an illusion as it's right by your face, etc. Others mentioned the concept of nutrients being concentrated more on those follicies and less on the rest of your hair.

So, has anyone else here experienced this? I currently have layers that I'm trying to grow out, but feel like I'll look and feel a bit better with some fringe by my face, which I intended to keep even after I even up my layers. The idea of the fringe possibly slowing my growth bothers me, though, so I'm kinda about to chicken out. Any experiences you can share or recommendations? Thanks!

[Oskimosa]

Well, for me, my layers are making my hair FEEL shorter because, even though the actual length is the same, all those face-framing layers pile short in the front. So, when I look in the mirror or when my hair falls in my face, it's pretty short. If I get out a second mirror and look at the hair in the back, it's longer than I feel it is.

In summary, it makes all the visable hairs short and all the ones you can't see long. I can't really enjoy long hair because all I see is short stuff. It was the same when my hair was BSL, all I saw was shoulder/APL because of the layers.

[Tangles]

As far as I know, this is false. Hair doesn't "think"; it just grows from each strand regardless of what other strands are doing.

[spidermom]

I don't know everything there is to know about hair, but this sounds ridiculous to me. Everybody's hair is every length because of the shed and regrow cycle. I've always got a halo of baby hairs sticking up. My longest lengths are still growing; those hairs haven't stopped to wait for the baby hairs to catch up. So why would they stop if I get fringe cut?

[zen_oven]

I don't know everything there is to know about hair, but this sounds ridiculous to me. Everybody's hair is every length because of the shed and regrow cycle. I've always got a halo of baby hairs sticking up. My longest lengths are still growing; those hairs haven't stopped to wait for the baby hairs to catch up. So why would they stop if I get fringe cut?

I don't think I explained this all that well, but then, I don't consider myself much of a writer. The way you put it, it doesn't seem all that plausible, but the way the person I spoke with described it, it seemed reasonable. Perhaps I will hunt around again and see if I can find the article I read that mentioned it--it explained it a lot better than I can.

[zen_oven]

Found it. This explains the phenomenon I'm talking about much better than I can: http://*************/HCP/bangs.htm

Still not sure I believe that this is true or not, but it's got me thinking. . .

[zen_oven]

In summary, it makes all the visable hairs short and all the ones you can't see long. I can't really enjoy long hair because all I see is short stuff. It was the same when my hair was BSL, all I saw was shoulder/APL because of the layers.

I've experience this too. My shorter layers are around shoulder length, but I'm right at APL in the back. Drives me nuts, because if I look at myself head on in the mirror, all I see is shoulder length hair.

[Angellen]

Judging from my last haircut, my shorter layers grew slower. They started near shoulders and had reached about midback, whereas my longer layers went from BSL to TB in the same amount of time. On me at least, the longer layers got maybe three more inches of growth than the shorter hairs. I think part of it is that my hair just grows fast in the back, but part of it is also because the hair in front is manipulated more than that in the back.

That's just me, though...YMMV on this one. :)

[wintersun99]

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[spidermom]

I can't give that article much credence. It talks about all-one-length hair. There is no such thing. As I said before, everybody has every-length hair, even if they have never cut bangs or layers. Why? Because hairs shed out and new hairs grow in their place. Every hair has its own shedding cycle. If the body was so intent on keeping everything balanced, we'd all shed all of our old hairs at once and go bald at least once a decade. Then, and only then, would we have all-one-length hair. But no, we shed out hairs and grow in new hairs every single day. We have short new hairs and long old hairs. This is perfectly natural.

[Kirin]

The answer simply is no.

Your hair has no blood supply and doesn't "gather nutrients" from the body. The only section that does is in the follicle that creates it out of protein (keratin). The follicle has no idea how long the hair is, or if it has been cut. Hair strands have no nervous system to tell the follicle it has been cut, nor anything else.

The reason, in my opinion, that this old wives tale sticks around is that on some people different area's of their scalp grow hair at different rates. For many the front grows faster than the back (but for some one side does, or the back and not the sides, you get the idea).

[zen_oven]

I can't give that article much credence. It talks about all-one-length hair. There is no such thing.

There really isn't. I felt the article was suspect to begin with--they don't quote any sources.

It sounds like the latter argument I mentioned earlier is a better explanation--bangs appear to grow faster as they are immediately next to the face and we just plain notice their growth more readily. Maybe I shouldn't chicken out after all, though I'm still nervous about how it'll end up looking. . .

[zen_oven]

The reason, in my opinion, that this old wives tale sticks around is that on some people different area's of their scalp grow hair at different rates. For many the front grows faster than the back (but for some one side does, or the back and not the sides, you get the idea).

That sounds more reasonable. I'm beginning to think my hair grows a bit faster in front.