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View Full Version : Hereditary Hair...Does your family have long hair?



IndigoInk
March 7th, 2009, 07:44 PM
I was talking to my mom today about my mission to improve my hair condition and grow it even longer. She had long hair when I was little and my sister and I were known for our hair throughout high school. My mom told me today that my great-grandmother had hair so long about of foot of it was on the ground when she stood up. I had never heard that and I thought it was very interesting. Until recently my aunts had long hair too, they are in their 60s and in the last couple years all cut their hair off :(

Cereus
March 7th, 2009, 07:47 PM
That must be nice to know that you likely have the genes to grow your hair super long!

bjjowett1993
March 7th, 2009, 07:54 PM
That is quite awesome!

spidermom
March 7th, 2009, 07:58 PM
My grandma (mother's mom) had hip-length braids all her adult life. I used to comb her hair when I was little; I loved it. Everybody else had short hair. I don't remember even a cousin having hair longer than about APL.

dulce-de-leche
March 7th, 2009, 07:59 PM
Both my grandmothers had long hair but one of them had super long hair to her ankles.She had long hair until she was in her 60's.My mother and sister have had waist length hair forever.I've also always had waist length hair until recently when I did a super chop to my shoulders to get rid of layers.

BranwenWolf
March 7th, 2009, 08:15 PM
My mom had tailbone or longer hair into her 20's. Her hair is still amazingly thick.
My grandma kept short hair for most of her life, but somewhere there's a picture of my great-great grandmother with a HUGE bun on her head. I think grandma said she had knee-length hair most of her life.

GlennaGirl
March 7th, 2009, 08:25 PM
My great-grandmother had a very long but very thin braid, but she always wore it up. I don't know about a single other person in my family, really. My grandmothers both wore short, pin-curled hair. And pictures from before that time period all show the women with their hair up, so who knows? :)

Copasetic
March 7th, 2009, 08:33 PM
No one in my family has long hair! I think the longest hair I have ever seen on a family member was shoulder length.

teela1978
March 7th, 2009, 08:36 PM
My grandmothers and great grandma all had those horrible grandma haircuts. Short and permed. Yick.

No clue how they wore it when they were younger.

LittleOrca
March 7th, 2009, 08:38 PM
My mother has hair occasionally my length. She grows it from shoulder to hip in only 18 months then chops it and donates it. She takes a ton of vitamins and it helps her hair grow like a weed.

Aisha25
March 7th, 2009, 08:39 PM
All my family has long hair,from waist shortest to ankle. I wish I can be able to go to floor:D

ElenTikvah
March 7th, 2009, 09:05 PM
Well, there are pictures of my great-grandmother and grandmother with classic and waist length hair when they were young adults...but I didn't get those genes...my brothers did! :(

No, I got my mother's and grandma's hair...thin, fine and typically SHORT...until I decided that I wanted long hair, no matter if it was thin, fine, blow-away, baby-soft, stringy, lanky, scraggly...pick whatever descriptor you like...I am growing long!

~Tik

Elphie
March 7th, 2009, 09:08 PM
It's funny you should mention being "known" for having long hair. I ran into a grammar school friend who I haven't spoken to in nearly thirty years and the first thing he mentioned was that I always had the cutest pigtails!

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/cutter_106/scan0016-1.jpg?t=1236485231

Anyway, more on topic, yes, I have a few members of my family who have had long hair, my mother's was tailbone when I was this age and my aunt had hip length hair for many years.

noelgirl
March 7th, 2009, 09:58 PM
Most of my family is short-haired; my mom grew her hair somewhat long in her teens, but she ironed it with a clothes iron (eeeek!), so it broke off before it reached any kind of extreme length, and now she keeps it short. My sister once grew hers to about APL, but then cut it again, and I have an aunt who usually wears hers around shoulder or APL. I'm usually the longest-haired by far. As for being known for it, sometimes it's how people tell me and my sister apart - we look a lot alike, even though she's younger, and some casual acquaintances think we're twins. So which one am I? You can't tell on sight that I'm the older one, so I'm the long-haired one.

Naava
March 7th, 2009, 09:59 PM
I don't have anyone in my family with long hair :( For some reason I rarely see any middle aged or older women with hair longer than shoulder lenght. Well I guess I get to be the first one :)

Starr
March 7th, 2009, 10:08 PM
My grandmother had waist length hair when she was a teen, but then cut it to chin length after she had children. My Aunt has had beautiful hip length hair for years, but other than that. . . no one in my family has hair longer than APL.

darkwaves
March 7th, 2009, 10:17 PM
That's so awesome to know your family long-hair history!

The only relative I knew with long hair was my paternal grandmother, who in her 90s still had long (classic?) hair she always wore in a braided bun. The braid was hip-length, with a fairly significant taper by the time I knew her, and it was stunning. (She was about 70 years older than me, so I have no memory of her hair before she was 80 or so...)

I would love to know my genetic potential.

DragonLady
March 7th, 2009, 11:03 PM
No one in my family has long hair, so I have no idea how long my hair can grow. I've heard stories that my Grandma and Great-Grandma had long hair, but it sounds like it may have only been about BSL.

lizzyjo
March 8th, 2009, 12:53 AM
No one in my family has had long hair that I know of. I guess I am the first!

I'll have to ask my parents what my grandparents' hair was like. As far as I know, everyone had short hair.

Samitra
March 8th, 2009, 01:14 AM
My mother had long (TB) hair when she was young, as had her sister. My paternal grandmother had waist lenght hair when she was in her teens... But when they got married and the first child arrived, they all chopped it and kept it short.
My mother is a dentist, and some of her old patients are still talking about her long, dark, almost black, shiny hair.

I guess I'm the first in my family wanting my hair to grow long, with the intention of always having it long :)

drquartz1970
March 8th, 2009, 01:18 AM
Hmm. My maternal grandmother had waist length hair until she was in her 60's then cut it to a yucky short grandma haircut perm. My paternal grandmother had a very large bun on her head until she died in her 80's and I never saw her hair hang loose so I guess it was a least waist - length too. A great grandmother had very long hair past the waist to classic length or so when she died at 88 years. My current female relatives living have hair from bob length to just past shoulder length only so no very long hair. My goal is to grow hair to mid-back but who knows one day might just go for terminal length just to see the maximum it can reach !

hairymonster
March 8th, 2009, 01:52 AM
My grandmothers MIGHT have had long when they were much younger but I never got to see it. By the time I was born they were already sporting the grandmother perm. Other than them, no one in my family had hair beyond BSL.

FallenAngel
March 8th, 2009, 01:55 AM
I have noone in my family with long hair.

steff8ryan
March 8th, 2009, 03:20 AM
My great granny used to tell me she had plaits to her bum and my big sis had hip lenght when we were younger. I was so jelous lol probably part of the reason i really want long hair.

Stephanie xxx

LittleOrca
March 8th, 2009, 04:36 AM
It's funny you should mention being "known" for having long hair. I ran into a grammar school friend who I haven't spoken to in nearly thirty years and the first thing he mentioned was that I always had the cutest pigtails!

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b300/cutter_106/scan0016-1.jpg?t=1236485231

Anyway, more on topic, yes, I have a few members of my family who have had long hair, my mother's was tailbone when I was this age and my aunt had hip length hair for many years.

I love that pic, Elphie!

Finoriel
March 8th, 2009, 04:48 AM
No one in my family has long hair. They consider shoulder length or apl already as abnormal and freakish long... :p yay I´m the long haired family freak. The cousin of my mother had mid back and hennaed hair in his hippie-phase back in the 70s and the mother of my grandmother had long hair in a bun until she died, but that´s it. Currently I´m the only one with long hair.

Lady Verity
March 8th, 2009, 04:48 AM
I think my nans both had short hair - one was in the Land Army, so long hair would have been problematic. My mum was a hippie, though, and had waist length blonde hair. :)

janeytilllie
March 8th, 2009, 06:08 AM
My Great Grandma had hair down to the floor she never cut it and always wore buns :) My Grandma had hair down to her hips but chopped it off to a short perm :( and my mum had tailbone length hair when she was young.

dearladydisdain
March 8th, 2009, 08:43 AM
My mom's hair grows very fast and has had tailbone length hair at points in her life. When my hair was classic length so was my little sister's. I have also heard stories about my great-grandmother whose hair was so long and thick she got really bad headaches. She wore it coiled on her head and the headaches were so bad she had to cut it when she was older. I think I saw a picture of it down and it was at least classic length.

sandigirl
March 8th, 2009, 08:49 AM
My great-grandmother had a bun I only saw loose once. It was thin, gray, and bsl, but she was 85! My mom and her sister had longish hair (shoulder to bsl) until their 30's. Then they both went short. Thick hair runs in my family (mother and grandmothers have/had VERY thick hair) so if I completely blow dry I could easily get a 10" circumference ponytail.

Speckla
March 8th, 2009, 09:18 AM
Only the people in my family with straight hair wore it long (my mom and my oldest sister) in the past. My other sister used to have tailbone length hair but it is so thin at that length that she cut it to BSL. It looks much better and healthier due to hers curling best BSL.
________
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rhubarbarin
March 8th, 2009, 10:31 AM
Most of my family has always had short hair (including my grandparents and great-grandparents in all the pictures I've seen) and they don't really like mine long. Two of my aunts had hair from waist to classic in the 70s, though.

MadPirateBippy
March 8th, 2009, 11:02 AM
My maternal grandma had knee length hair for a long time, then cut it to a pixie one day. Mom's always had a pixie and finally grew it out to a bob. I'm the only long hair right now, but my brother has amazing hair when he lets it grow out (when he joined the army it was just past BSL and lovely). I'm currently converting hubs to a long hair- he shaved his head just before we met so I am all, OH IT IS SO ROMANTIC, YOUR HAIR IS THE LENGTH OF OUR LOVE AND IF YOU CUT IT I WILL CRY CRY CRY.

That's the only thing that's kept him from chopping, but he's almost to the point where it will all go into a ponytail, and after that I think we'll be safe.

IndigoInk
March 8th, 2009, 11:06 AM
I'm currently converting hubs to a long hair- he shaved his head just before we met so I am all, OH IT IS SO ROMANTIC, YOUR HAIR IS THE LENGTH OF OUR LOVE AND IF YOU CUT IT I WILL CRY CRY CRY.

That's the only thing that's kept him from chopping, but he's almost to the point where it will all go into a ponytail, and after that I think we'll be safe.

LOL Awwww! That's awesome, "the length of our love" :)

DH cannot grow out his hair, I got him to try once. He is Italian and his hair is coarse and curly and basically just grows into an Afro LOL.

Anje
March 8th, 2009, 11:10 AM
To my knowledge, no one in my family has had long hair. Grandparent pictures I've seen show it short, and my mom hasn't ever grown hers much below her shoulders, claiming it doesn't grow any further.

However, some time after I started growing mine, my brothers have followed suit. So they both have beautiful curly hair down a little past their shoulders.

xeternalsilence
March 8th, 2009, 11:46 AM
No one in my family has long hair or has had long hair that I know of.

I got a comment recently on how long my hair is and it's only about BSL. :confused:

Rohele
March 8th, 2009, 11:51 AM
I remember my grandmother having very long hair that she braided then pinned around her head.

No one else in the family has long hair. My mom has super curly hair, which she wears short because she says "it grows outward, not down". My sister and I have worn ours at varying lengths, but never what would be considered an extreme length (usually BSL or shorter).

jel
March 8th, 2009, 11:57 AM
My mother, aunts and grandmothers all had short hair throughout their lives. My grandmothers actually had flapper-type haircuts when young!

I found a picture of my maternal great-grandmother from the beginning of the 20th century, she was in her early forties but already a mother of a 20 year-old (having got married at the age of 16!). She's wearing a thick crown braid (of the single braid wrapped around the head variety), which must mean she had at least tailbone/classic length hair...

enfys
March 8th, 2009, 03:22 PM
My great-grandmother had hair my mum only ever saw down once when she came home from school early one day and my nana was washing it. It was well past waist, but she always wore it up. She was born in the 1800s, but I don't know when. The later part I hope, maybe 1880s? Or I'd be more cocerned over my lifespan.

My mum wanted to be Cher, so she had waist length THICK hair in the 60s/70s, then grew it again during a midlife crisis after my nana died.

My sister and I have both been past waist before now, my hair being much nicer. Sorry, but it's true and everyone knows it haha.

If we have daughters I will continue the family trend.

Fairlight63
March 8th, 2009, 04:29 PM
My Grandmother on my Dads side had long hair. She always wore it up in a French twist, but I remember seeing it down when she was combing it & it was mid back length.

My Grandma on my Mothers side had long hair but she died when I was real young. I just have pictures of her & it was in an up hairstyle.

I remember going to see a second cousin when I was young. She was part Indian & she had long black braids. She was about 60 yrs. old.

My sisters both had long hair when they was teenagers that was mid back length, but they cut it off after getting out of high school.

I used to have long hair when I was 11-13 yrs. old. When my sister got her hair cut she was jealous of my hair that was mid back length & talked me into getting mine cut real short also. My mother said that she cried when I got it cut off so short, because it was so pretty before.

My mothers hair was about shoulder length when I was young but she got it cut off short later on & did the short dyed hair thing.
My youngest daughter when she was growing up had waist length THICK hair. I would cut it for her a couple times a yr. to MBL then before you knew it it would be waist length again. She cut it off short after high school.

My oldest daughter has hair mid back length now. She has had it long for 20 yrs. now.

freznow
March 8th, 2009, 04:46 PM
My paternal grandma has waist length hair, my mom shoulder length, and my sisters each have about BSL.

vamq
March 8th, 2009, 05:04 PM
Let's see..

As far as I know, my great grandparents and my grandparents never had long hair..
For my parents..my mum never had long hair, because it was quite fragile (1A/i I think) and she liked it better shorter. I've seen pictures of my father with his hair beyond shoulder length. He was a bit alternative when he was younger, so..
My older sister never had really long hair. My younger sister has had BSL, but cut it back to APL.

*thinks*...some relative from my mothers side of the family has a daughter who had brown 2C/iii/M/C tailbone length hair. She cut back to waist, in layers, and dyed it red. It's still nice, but when it was still brown and tailbone length, it surely was petty much the most beautiful hair I've ever seen..

Jessikinz
March 8th, 2009, 05:14 PM
My mom used to have tail bone length hair when she was younger. Than she cut it, and it has stayed above or past her shoulders. I have never seen her without a perm, just in pictures when she was a young girl. My 2 older sisters wear their hair long. They are about waist length or shorter, and layered. I envy my sister that has nice red hair. The rest of us have brown hair. I don't think anyone else in my family has had long hair. I haven't really looked into it.

Ravenmoon
March 8th, 2009, 05:48 PM
I know my mother used to have her hair at mid-back, and her mother used to have gorgeous waist length hair when she younger. One of my cousins on that side also used to have long hair (hip length) I think. But everyone has short hair right now.

viking_quest
March 8th, 2009, 06:48 PM
Nobody in my family has long hair or has ever had long hair except for a little cousin of mine.

LadyEliza
March 8th, 2009, 08:37 PM
I'm going to have to start my family long hair trend. Everyone has short hair. I don't have any daughters, but I have a grand-daughter. Unfortunately my daughter in law has very short hair, so I'm not sure she is going to let her daughter have long hair.

arabidbutterfly
March 8th, 2009, 08:48 PM
A maternal great-aunt had waist length hair, but cut it just as soon as it got to waist. The longest anyone else's has been is BSL.

jivete
March 9th, 2009, 07:11 AM
No one in my family has long hair. Between APL & BSL is the longest and that's me. It isn't very encouraging.

rags
March 9th, 2009, 07:51 AM
Both my grandmothers and my mother all had the same type hair as I do; 1A/f/i. Therefore they all cut it short and permed it. My mom doesn't perm hers anymore, but it's still around 2" long. I have had waist length hair most of my adult life and she still thinks it looks bad.

The only one in my family who has had longer than shoulder length hair was my brother, who grew his out to about APL once.

My in laws now, have had hair down to their knees!

twilight
March 9th, 2009, 08:02 AM
my mom and her sister grew up in the 70s, so yeah, they always had hip-length hair. my mom still maintains past-BSL hair and my aunt's is waist or maybe hip. grandma has waist/hip length hair with surprisingly few greys for a 68-year old.

all my cousins are younger and they have shoulder-APL hair. none of my dad's family has long hair.

i definitely associate more, both literally and figuratively, with my mother's family... i wonder if it's nature or nuture leading me to want long hair? ;)

willowcandra
March 9th, 2009, 12:06 PM
I don't know any family members with long hair. But i did once see a picture of my great gran when she was young with an updo so who knows.

My family are all chopped dyed and permed.

Tangles
March 9th, 2009, 12:14 PM
My mom's mom had long thick hair all her life, worn in the same updo most of the time. My dad's sister has always had long hair around hip length, and still does, though she cut it to waist at one point.

Interestingly, I take a lot after those two relatives in other ways, too.

My mom never wore her hair longer than upper BSL (to the best of my knowledge), and my sister likes to keep hers around APL.

JamieLeigh
March 9th, 2009, 05:27 PM
My mom had such gorgeous long hair when she was in college, in the early 70's. But she's never had it any longer than shoulder-length since then. And my grandmother had floor-length hair, as did her mom before her. So I guess it's more prominent on my mom's side.

My dad's side of the family keep it high and tight. LOL.

MemSahib
March 9th, 2009, 05:53 PM
Mother grew to terminal, which on her was mid-calf, got it horribly tangled and had to have it cut to about shoulder length. She grew again to terminal but it never got as long as the first growth, and as she aged it got into worse and worse condition, drying out horribly. She got it tangled again, probably even more so than the first time and had to cut it very short. She started growing once more but between her poor health and lack of ability to care for it it didn't grow fast or look at all good, so she used wigs until she died.

My aunt has lovely, long white hair but I haven't seen it down since she grew out and don't know exactly how long it is now. She always wears the same style — a bun set at about her crown, nearly but not really on the top of her head. One of my daughters says she always looks so elegant that way.

I think often when an older lady cuts after many years of long hair it may be that she can no longer care for the length and decides shorter is all she can manage.

ilovelonghair
March 9th, 2009, 06:45 PM
On my mothers site no one can grow their hair long except me and my mom. My mother could only grow it long after the age of 35, before it would get really thin when it reached her shoulders. Her sister has very thick asian-type hair but it can not grow longer then shoulder lenght. Her daughter, my cousin, has very thin breakable hair that can not grow past her shoulders either. Her brother is growing his hair long it's now past his ears, I'm curious is he will be able to grow it, he's got much thicker hair, but his hairline is receding.
Only my great grandmother was able to grow it hip lenght.
On my fathers site I have no idea: they all got short hair (my father had kind of shoulder length hair when I was little). I think two of my asian ancestors from my fathers site had long hair, but it's put in a bun in all the pictures, so I don't know.

aaperez
December 23rd, 2009, 01:20 PM
I just asked my parents about this the other day and my dad says no one in his family had long hair :( on my mom's side she said most of her sisters and her had kinda long hair but only one of her sisters ever to mid-thigh lenth :) maybe someday i can do the same :cheese: though i'll most likely mantane it a hip lentgh after i reach terminal length :D

marobader
December 23rd, 2009, 01:33 PM
my hair had bitter hair than mine

time_on_fire
December 23rd, 2009, 02:28 PM
I never really thought too much about this topic.

My maternal grandmother had long hair, always kept in a bun. She was quite an elitist, elegant but seemed snobby, and I always kept my distance as a child. I do remember the one time I saw it down - I was pretending to be asleep, because I thought I wasn't allowed to see her hair down. It was silver and at least hip length.

My mom had hair past BSL, and THICK THICK THICK, and dyed brown or brownish red. It took hours to dry. Then she cut it off a year or so ago. :rolleyes: I miss it, but I don't think she does.

ap1524
December 23rd, 2009, 03:15 PM
I never really thought about it until this post - and after hitting my mom up for info, she informed me that she had near waist-length hair all throught the 70's. I asked her why she never told me, and her reply was "well, you never asked!" Hah.

ysabet
December 23rd, 2009, 05:19 PM
There are photos of mum on her wedding day, and her hair is down to about waist-length. Apparently she grew it as far as hip length, but then chopped it off because it was giving her headaches (too heavy). These days it's above shoulder-length. We have very different hair though - hers is about a 1b/F/iii/iv - so it remains to be seen where mine will end up.

Fractalsofhair
December 23rd, 2009, 06:03 PM
My brother used to have very long hair(knees), but he started balding and his wife(for good reason, it looked bad and damaged) got him to cut it off. Now it's a longish "guy" cut. He never wore it up, and it looked quite ratty. People in my hair either have very coarse dark hair, or very fine dark hair. I have the very fine easily damaged hair, but it's still quite thick.(How it ended up blonde is beyond me, and I'm seeing it change color and texture currently.). Terminal length seems to be substantially past knees, given that my brother had very little taper at his knees and he was even balding and never wore it up(or even braided!). My grandfather tried to get my grandmum to grow her hair long(maternal side), but her hair is extremely thick(It's currently in a pixie, but I'd guess at least 8-10 inch circumference, and I'm not even kidding at that.) and it was just too much work, so she keeps it short. I've gotten my hair to my thighs with no taper, so I'm not too worried about that. The damage is what concerns me the most. Most people though, in my family(except for the guys.) have short hair. Bobs or shorter overall currently. My mum dyes her hair so she can't get it terribly long. Same deal with my aunts.

Horrorpops
December 23rd, 2009, 06:21 PM
My greek yaya had hip or waist length hair all the way into her 90's, but other than her no-one else in my family has really long hair outside of their childhood..

Thinthondiel
December 23rd, 2009, 06:57 PM
While looking through my parents' photo album today, I realised that my mother has had mid-back length hair (or longer - it was hard to tell because the photos didn't show her back) at least twice in her life. She has short hair now, though, and my sister has never really had long hair. APL at the longest, I think.

bumblebums
December 23rd, 2009, 06:59 PM
My family's hair is all over the place. My sister has never had hair past her shoulders, and my mom had it at BSL for a few years before I was born. My aunt's (knee-length) and cousin's (classic) hair would make LHC drool. My grandma and great-grandma had wispy old lady hair that they always wore up so I don't know how long it was.

I am pretty sure that super-long hair is not part of my blueprint, but I think I can improve on the dyeing and perming that my closest relatives seem to like so much!

twilight_faerie
December 24th, 2009, 02:27 AM
I never really thought about it until now, but no one in my extended family has long hair except for me. My aunts all have short, super thick hair that they claim is unruly. My mom's hair is about shoulder length, I don't think it's been longer since she was in her 30's. I *think* I might have a cousin with longish hair (APL or so), but that's about it.

hmmm
December 24th, 2009, 02:46 AM
My mom had classic length hair when I was a kid, then she chopped it off because we were being irritating and she didn't have any time to herself :D

prittykitty
December 24th, 2009, 04:56 AM
It just all depends on which side of the family in my situation. When I was growing up, I always had long hair. My mother always wore hers short and could not stay away from perms and hair dye and tons of hairspray and heat styling. I remember after my mother was done doing her hair, the bathroom sink would always be sticky with hairspray and there would always be a lot of little tiny hairs all over the sink (breakage). My grandmother on my mothers side was the same way (wore her hair short), except she always went to the hair salon once a week to have her hair styled and set until her next appointment. They both always had thin looking hair.

On my fathers side of the family, they are all Mexican. My grandmother used to have very long thick wavy/curly hair that had a frizzy kind of look to it when she was young. When she got old, she cut it shorter but always still had a full head of thick curly hair. My aunts on this side of the family also had long hair that was thick and curly. I have inherited this type of hair. Now I am waiting for my length to come back.