New and Frustraited.(pics)

[HaiirPEACE]

Hi! I'm new here. and i think i needed to join so i can have some support when needed. or those days when i'm feeling really down and need an extra boost. like today haha

I went to Cosmetology school and of course everyone cuts their hair off when they go :/

i always get those "ugh my hair is really short today" days

anyway the last hair cut i got was in May 06 and now i get baby dustings every other month (1/8 of an inch gets cut off) and ever since i started those trims i have noticed a difference and it does grow faster i think. i do not blow dry, i don't use a flat iron

heres my starting point from last june. (i also stopped coloring my hair too)




http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/StephanieMarie/IMG_3325-2.jpg

and here is a picture taken earlier this month i think..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/StephanieMarie/n1151220155_30054651_8025.jpg

so yep. i think i officially have the slowest growing hair in the world.

my goal is to have it sit right under my boobs. and i know i'm capable of growing long hair i had it when i was a little kid.

i just feel helpless... =[

[aisling]

If you really have slow growing hair, then trimming every second month might not be the best idea. I think it's really hard for hairdressers to only trim 1/8 of an inch, it's such a tiny amount that it's easy to cut a little more than that. That would really slow up your gain considerably. How about doing a little test, trim only every 4 months and see if you can see any change.

[HaiirPEACE]

i NEVER used to trim. and when i didn't trim in never grew. ever since i started doing it i've noticed it did grow WAYYYY faster. plus i have a trusted friend cut it for me. i watch him like a hawk. but now i've been thinking of doing search and destroy on my own.

i rarely ever get splits and if i think i see even one little one starting i freak.

[Curlsgirl]

I agree with Aisling. It was only when I decided to stop trimming at all that I FINALLY saw some difference. Even when I trimmed myself I tended to cut off more than I realized. I know they probably taught you at school to never do this but well they probably said it was okay to blow dry, iron and dye too right? Just my 2 cents. And oh uh WELCOME!!!! :)

[HaiirPEACE]

yeah. haha actually i probably had the healthiest hair in the entire school. i never let anyone touch it

[Aisha25]

Hey,well first of all welcome:)!
Don't worry I know it seems like it'll take forever but trust me it's all worth it in the end.Just need a little patience and tlc to your hair and before you know it you'll have what you want and possibly some new goal length.And yeah it takes a time It took me years so don't worry too much hun;).Oh and btw nice pictures you have really pretty hair:).

[lora410]

I suggest forgo the trims for awhile. You don't want to trim off all of your growth if your getting less then 1/4 per month. Don't let the short hairs get you down at your school. If you stick around here long enough you will pick up tons of great info on hair health to take with you in your profession. I have them *gah my hair is sooo short days* at I am almost BSL length. it's a normal feeling for all of us growing out. I started with only 2-3 inches of hair :D

[FoxFire]

I know it can be frustrating! Try not to focus on what you don't have, but what you do have. Try a new updo, or buy a hairtoy that will enable you to try something new. My new toy is a Flexi 8-check out their website and see if it apeals to you.

You might try to give up the dustings one month and see if your ends are really that bad. If you are growing out color they might be, but give it a try.

There are lots of things you can try out to get faster growth: biotin (taken as a pill) and Monistat (aplied to the scalp) to name a couple. Are you on a multivitamin and drinking plenty of water? Your body needs to be in good health to have healthy hair :)

Hope that helps

[HaiirPEACE]

i think my hair grows pretty average (1/2 in a month) i'm just so jealous of people that don't take care of their hair and its super long and still looks good and for some reason theirs always grows fast

[Xandergrammy]

Welcome, HaiirPeace! You've come to the right place for support. I agree that you should try not trimming for awhile.

[Patrycja]

I totally agree with your last post haiirPEACE.I treat mine like its golden or something and I still have the worst time with growing.It takes me forever!There are a bunch of threads going on right now in the Mane Forum that promotes different growth experiements.The Monistat thread(yes.THAT monistat)and there are several different vitamin combos that are supposed to speed up growth.Me?I'm just trusting Mother Nature.

Whatever you are doing,its doing a damn good job for your shine.I have to battle and oil like crazy to get some kind of shine.Then-I end up looking all greasy LOL

eta-sorry foxfire! I didn't realise you already commented on the vitamins and Monistat.Great minds think alike I guess.That,or I need to read through the thread in its entirety(sp)before I post :flowers:

[Katze]

I agree about the trimming. While I've had to trim to get rid of bleach, curling iron, and brush damage, the less often I trim the more I see results.

Your hair DOES seem to have grown in the second pic, so you probably just have to be patient. I want waist length hair, joined LHC with shoulder length and am STILL not at BSL/mid back - because of the trimming and all the damage. Stylists always told me my hair would not grow - and also helped talk me into highlights. Now I know that bleach is bad and my hair WILL get long - someday.

Treat it right, don't cut it, and some day you will be surprised...!

welcome here,

Katze

[Silver & Gold]

It appears we are at a similar length, yours is perhaps a a bit longer. I don't know what my goal length is. I'm just going to let it grow and see what it looks like. I'm happy to share your growing adventure.

And welcome to the community!

[Emme76]

Hi Haiirpeace and welcome to the board!
I am also a bit new here - it is a great place to get advice, tips and support. The thing I realize after reading many posts is how different our hair can be from eachother. It is like personalities...:)! One isn´t really the other alike , even if they can be similar.
I think you should try to lissen to your hair, like I am trying to learn how to do...:rolleyes:!!!! If your hair is happy with a trim once in a while - go for it. But maybe try not to do it as often...space them out a bit more and see what happens. Do you take any special vitamines for your hair? It feels like that is helping me ALOT! I been taking them now for a while and I can feel a difference...And also in maintaining the ends so they don´t split.

It is just my thoughts..but I am very new here and I am sure others have a lot more experience in the growing hair biz - since I am still with a short mane...just starting my growing a few week´s ago.

WELCOME!!!!!:cheese:
/Emme

[HaiirPEACE]

thanks! i think i will stop the trims for a while and see what happens. i do have to wash my hair everyday though. it gets super greasy.

[Emme76]

Oh, yea - I guess I should also read all posts better...heheheh...people before me asked about the vitamines....see...I have learned something here...heheheh..
/Emme:)

[aisling]

i NEVER used to trim. and when i didn't trim in never grew. ever since i started doing it i've noticed it did grow WAYYYY faster. plus i have a trusted friend cut it for me. i watch him like a hawk. but now i've been thinking of doing search and destroy on my own.

i rarely ever get splits and if i think i see even one little one starting i freak.

What did you do when you didn't trim and thought your hair didn't grow? Did you colour, bleach, highlight, blowdry, brush and rip through tangles when wet? Any of those might be the reason your hair didn't look like it was growing, your ends might have been in such bad shape they broke off. If you have such damage left to your ends, perhaps the trimming is necessary, but otherwise I still stand by "trim a little less often, see more growth".

Splits won't kill your hair, trust me. As long as they stay pretty small, they're not very noticeable at all for other people.

[HaiirPEACE]

what are good vitamins? like any good brands anyone uses that actually seems to work?

[spidermom]

It looks like you've trimmed off all the previous color in that time. Good job! Taking that into account, I think you've had phenomenal growth.

Regarding the "no trimming" advice, I won't try to stretch my trim times out any more. My hair started splitting so bad that every time I looked at the ends, I was looking at 5-20 splits. I recently cut 3-4 inches off my length because of that. A small trim every three months worked best.

[HaiirPEACE]

actually right now i still have color on my hair. the red is near the bottom you can kinda see it in the sunlight. i have about 2 inches of natural color at the top but it blends really well with my old color so you cant even tell that i even colored my hair before.

[justgreen]

Hi and welcome to the boards!

I used to get regular dustings too....now I only get a dusting once a YEAR, in October. About a year and half ago, I let someone new trim my hair and she cut off my "U"! It's been a long hard road since then to get it longer than it was before the cut. My hair grows SLOW, so if I can do it, you can too.

[morningstar]

Welcome here and I must say: pretty hair and pretty face. Stop trimming (it doesn't make it grow faster... it makes the growth seem unnoticeable) I think if you can turn off the Beautician in you for a while and let it be you will wake up some day and see the growth.

Also growing from shoulder seems to take a while to notice. Last year I was just past my shoulders and had layers with two skimpy braids. This year still layers but longer ones that stay in braids. Most of us get 1/2" per month and it is like watching grass grow at times.
You can do it....:) just put the scissors down.