How do you visualize yourself?

[AJoifulNoise]

I just got finished a 32-day updo challenge. Well.. Technically it isn't over for another 40 minutes... But, oh well. I took a picture of my hair and realized that I am already visualizing myself with hair to my tailbone, which is another 4-5 inches away.

Which made me curious. How long is your hair in your mind? What is your mental image of yourself? Not your dream. That's not what I mean. But, when you picture yourself from day-to-day, what do you see?

Is your hair longer or shorter than reality? Or is it correct?

[Vela]

Yeah, I look at a new pic or in a mirrior and am always a bit dissapointed that it isn't at classic length yet. As childish as it sounds, I some how manage to picture myself as a fairy in a forest when my hair is down. *shrugs* Ohwell, it's my fantasy world but your more than welcome to visit! XP

(Well Joi, your 4-5 in from TB and I'm 4-5 from class, and I'll tell you this, it will be there before you know it! It just seems to take forever! XP .)

[Koskaan]

I visualize myself with hair that is just past waist. I'm now at tailbone, but it seemed to me that I was forever stuck to that no-longer-waist-not-quite-hip length. I'm always positively surprised when I take my hair down. Infact, yesterday was one of the rare days when I had my hair down for the whole day. I couldn't stop admiring my hair at every chance I got. I slowed down every time I walked past a reflecting shop window. :p

[Siowiel]

Shorter. My hair is at waist and I picture myxelf constantly with hair that is somewhere just above BSL.

I suppose the reason is that I always thought waist would be a length that is actually tailbone, because waist sounds soooooooooooooo long.

[Curlsgirl]

I imagine mine at BSL maybe because it changes so much because of the curls on any given day! So shorter I guess. I am sometimes surprised either way when I look in the mirror though, I think wow that's longer than I thought or wow that's shorter than I thought! I have multiple hair personalities :p

[Miss Murphy]

Longer, definitely! Mid-back to waist, most of the time.

[HeartfulofHope]

Mmm, classic length, definitely!!! I had it that long a few years back, and really really miss it!!!

[Mary <><]

My hair was hip length a good part of my youth, so I always feel like that is the "real" me. Maybe when I pass that length I will see it a little differently. Can't wait to get back to hip length again!

[Kittee]

I definitely see myself with hair down way past my bum. Thigh length.

Too bad I have about 5 more years to go.

[vindo]

Shorter, I cant seem to get APL out of my head.

If I wear my hair down it only feels like hiplength and Im always surprised to see pictures.

[Blueglass]

I tend to know how long my hair is. I still relate more to being a blonde than a brunnette even if my hair is rather dark on top.

[egg99]

I used to see myself as shorter, until I joined LHC and then I became a lot more aware of my hair. I think I feel about the same as my actual length now!

[KajiKodomo]

Shorter, definitely. I usually only see my front layers when my hair is down, so I tend to think my hair is barely past my shoulders! When I actually see it in the mirror as I walk past, I'm surprised!

[Lixie]

Pretty much at mid-butt, which is where I am now. I tend to visualise my hair as darker than it is though. The top of my hair is a dark brown, but it gets lighter towards the ends.

[Meli]

Longer. I usually visualize myself with well past tailbone length (sometimes I even tilt my head backwards to see how it would look and feel :oops: )

[AJoifulNoise]

Longer. I usually visualize myself with well past tailbone length (sometimes I even tilt my head backwards to see how it would look and feel :oops: )

I do the head tilt thing, too.

[Nadezhda]

I still think of my hair the length it used to be, just past waist. That was a nice length :3 Right now it's in layers, the most of it at about mid-back, but the longest bits still barely reach my waist. I can't wait for the whole of the length to get all nice and long :D

[ladystar]

Longer, I usually visualize it at tail bone like when I was younger. I
tilt my head backwards also. =)

[morningstar]

I dream of and visualize my hair to be classic since that is my goal. Oh and I am always 30 pounds lighter and wearing medieval garb. :)

[spidermom]

This morning I was sitting in my bedroom combing out my hair and suddenly I had this jolt of "OMG! It's really L O N G!" I felt that it was back down to the bottom of the seam in the back of my jeans that makes a shallow V (I hope you know where's I'm talking about). That's where it was when I had it cut recently. It's not back there yet, but it felt S O L O N G. It was a fabulous feeling! It looks like it has grown at least 1 inch in the last 3 weeks since my hair cut, maybe more.

[Amoretti]

I'm always surprised to see it's now at classic. LOL. I feel as if it's still at hips.

[peachy.pudding]

What a good question. I always see my hair at bsl but then realise its only apl:(. I see it split free and extreamly healthy, a gold colour also. Its very different to what i see in the mirror. :p

[Euphony]

I always think mine is bsl, that's the length it's been since my mid teens. I always wanted long hair, but my hair would not grow longer than bsl, then it would start looking pretty trashed. Now my hair is brushing my hips, sometimes tickles my back if my shirt rides up while relaxing on the couch. OMG when that first started happening I was forever looking for that freaking spider!

[HappyHaley]

I always think of myself having mid-thigh length hair, even though it's now just past knees. It's probably because I've usually got it in a braid.

~Haley

[freznow]

I used to imagine it at waist when it was tb, now I imagine it at tb now that it's almost classic. Typically, it seems only as long as how my braid is.

But then when I take it down and leave it down for a while, I'm like... wow, my hair IS long! But then I get impatient for classic and think it's there when it really isn't. So I guess I regularly switch between optimism and pessimism.

[blackfrostqueen]

My hair is a waist length now or just past...but I always think of it as hip (which is what I want), but with layers in the front (sometimes with long side swept bangs). I always seem to dream my hair has more life to it than really does.

[eresh]

I always feel my hair is shorter than it actually is.
Sometimes it catches me by surprise looking at the reflecting in a shopwindow when I pass it by.

[jojo]

i see my hair as just past shoulders but then when i take a picture and see its actually just 2" from the top of my bra strap its a nice surprise, will be an even bigger surprise when it reaches waist!

[tiny_teesha]

I feel my hair is at hip and i 'm dissapointed when ever i see my reflection, i catch myself tilting my head back, hehe

[Riot Crrl]

I don't have much length dysmorphia, I usually picture it as the BSL that it is. I do have color dysmorphia though. In the last six weeks I went from the blonde I had for many years to dark red, I love it but am still not really used to it.

[willowcandra]

I always imagine my hair at tailbone then get a surprise when I take it down. (Maybe my mind is trying to tell me that tailbone is better?)

[Gecko]

umm.... I'm not sure! I sort of don't think about the length my hair is unless I'm in front of a mirror, but then I turn away because it's not as long as I want it and I forget what it looks like. So maybe my hair needs to be longer so I can remember it....

[Xanthippe]

I usually think of my hair as just around BSL. Some days it feels longer to me, but usually I imagine that it is just past the curve in my back which is shorter than it actually is.

[zift]

Although my ultimate goal was ankle length I always visualise my hair at knees. But lately creepy episodes of shoulder length visualization is trying to get into my mind. I visualize my hair same length as my nape hair and I don't like that.

[Islandgrrl]

I visualize myself with TBL hair at the moment. It's just creeping up on BSL, but I've always though of myeslf as a serious long-hair. When it was to my knees, that's pretty much where I visualized it.

[zelah]

I visualize myself with bsl type hair, yet I know that some of it reaches my waist. I always feel like I have shorter hair. :shrug:

[Michiru]

I picture my hair as being more brown and less wavy. It also looks fuller in the pictures then what I think.

[zelah]

Sigh.. so I just trimmed some of my hair, and thought of this thread. I was visualizing that I would still be at waist, but as physics would have it, my hair actually got shorter! I was surprised to see I managed to trim off enough that it was now at bsl... where I thought it was before. A bit backwards from me earlier post. :o

[AprilElf]

To me, my hair feels like it is hip length, when it is actually just past tailbone. So the way it looks in full length pictures always surprises me a bit. It's also a lot wavier than I 'see' it ... :shrug: Weird.

[Snowblood]

My hair feels to me always shorter than it actually is. It already pasts tailbone but I see myself with hip length hair.. :rolleyes:
I seem to need too much time to get use to the new length. I have to measure my hair again some day, it&#180;s now longer than 37&#180;&#180;.

[Eden Iris]

I still think of it as shoulder length with layers to my chin, probably since the wisps at nape and the super annoying post-partum-shed regrowth hairs fall right about that length, and that is how I wore my hair for more than a decade. I also think of it as considerably lighter than it is now (used to spend a lot more time in the sun).

Maybe part of image dysmorphia is really time/age confusion.

[Valorie]

I tend to "see" myself with the hair I grew up with, around mid to lower back.
No matter what length it's been as an adult (and as an adult it's mostly been short) I always think of myself that way. My mother would not let me cut it at all as a kid. She did, however, allow me to have a "perm" (does this totally date me? the word perm may) when I was 12 years old and that was the absolute worst my hair has ever looked. Times are hard enough as a pre-teen, then you get a perm! Oh- it was ugly but so hilarious when I think back.
I think I rebelled as soon as I got out of her house by cutting it off, :whip:!

[florenonite]

I visualise my hair as properly BSL, rather than 'can I call this BSL?'

[AlleyKitten]

My mental image hasn't really caught up with my actual hair -- I tend to picture it back around elbow length, but it's at least four inches longer than that. Maybe once I hit a really significant marker like being able to sit on it, my brain will catch up. For right now, I kind of think "eh, until it gets past TB it's all sort of 'back-length' hair".

[CountessDeJager]

My mental picture of myself is usually in a hat or updo, the way I see myself in the mirror. If I was doing a crayon picture of myself I would have a braid or two though. Hmmm. My hair length isn't something I am aware of, when I first came on hair boards I honestly did not know my hair length. I assumed the short side was about waist length and I was surprised to discover it was to my fingertips. It isn't just on me either, I have length amnesia about everybody. Length just doesn't register easily with me.

[socks]

I usually visualize my hair a couple inches shorter than it really is. I usually only have it down when I wash it or when I go to bed, and even then I'm not paying much attention to how long it is. This morning I paused to really look at my hair and realized that it's already almost to the middle of my calf. I was still imagining it to be just a bit past my knees.

[Patrycja]

I'm constantly thinking about what I may look like at waist.I do want to get longer eventually-but my next goal is waist.

hehe..I bend my head as far back as it may go and reach back to see if my hair is anyway near waist...its not :( but I still try!

[jesamyn]

I visualize myself with BSL hair, as that's what it's been more often than any other length.

[MadHatter]

When I visualize how I must look, my hair actually looks shorter (that is, in my mind's eye) than it really is. If I see a picture where my length is visible, it's a pleasant surprise when I see that it's longer than what I really thought.

[prosperina]

I usually visualize my hair about a two to three inches longer than it actually is--so fully covering the bra strap instead of just skimming the top. Although my hair actually does look longer sometimes because of the wave and because of the layers. I always imagine it layer free since now I can only have long hair in the front or the back depending upon the way my hair is draped.

[Naluin]

I don't usually. Probably because I have yet to find a way of wearing my hair that feels that comfortable to me. The closest I can get to visualizing my hair involves waist-length box braids, but those were extensions. While they were mine, since I paid for them and put them in, they weren't really part of me.

I have no hair identity, yet. Still looking. :rolleyes:

[Flying Betty]

I definitely visualize my hair as shorter than it is. My mental image stops firmly at tailbone, while my hair is actually just brushing classic length. So it's a bit of a surprise when I realize that it covers my butt.

[Saranne772]

I visalise myself with thigh length hair because that is my next goal after classic (which I am nearly at)

[Millielie]

My hair had been long all my life until last summer when I cut it into a bob. So I still feel like I had long hair at at least APL. Especially when it is up.

[Phalaenopsis]

Most of the times, it already feels like it's at hip length. I swing it around and then I have to notice it's not that long yet...

[Wanderlust]

My hair takes -for-ever- to grow, and I keep thinking it's above shoulder length when really it's about 2" below now. :)

[Eirinn]

Methinks I have still V shaped hemline while it was cut straigth in April, so I keep thinking "OH my ratty hair!":p

[akka naeda]

Right now I know I have knee length hair, but not so long ago when it was still mid-thigh-but-nearer-knee-than-classic (!) I was thinking of it as classic. Someone posted some pics on here of people with long hair, I looked at them and found one that I hoped that one day my hair might get to that length.... and then I realised my hair was longer than that:rolleyes:

[rhubarbarin]

After my haircut (went from mid-back to arm-pit) I think of my hair as shoulder-length. It isn't, it's APL in front and only 1-2" from my bra band in back.. but it just seems so much closer to my shoulders.

Oh, and I always think of myself with it down, I feel more attractive, and at the same time safer, so it's very hard for me to keep it up and protected. And it's hard to do anything with after the haircut, I was just starting to be able to do all kinds of styles (it was at waist stretched) and now I can't do much at all.

I have to train myself to think of having it down as special. I'm proud to report it's up in a cinnabun right now!

[Martina]

BSL...I've never had hair longer than that so the vision of longer hair is just not there for me. I dream about it though.....

[TheMechaGinger]

I always imagine my hair as being near tailbone or classic, even though it's just now bsl. I've never even had hair that length actually but I've always just pictured myself as a princess with long majestic hair, hopefully I can make that a reality soon :D

[sunshine-locks]

I imagine myself with just APL hair, it's what my hair was before I cut it last year and now it's about 3 inches maybe in the front till I'm there :)

[minxe]

I'm between BSL and WL right now, but I visualize myself with APL hair. Maybe it's because I have shorter layers in the front.

[HadessThera]

I have it stuck in my head that my hair is still just above shoulder length, probably why I keep getting surprised when a "spider" is actually just my hair ends brushing against my neck and shoulders because it's actually just below my shoulders now

[vamq]

I visualize my hair as being longer.
More fluffy, also.

It;'s probably because my hair has been both longer and thicker before.
Ah, one day... :)

[Audhumla]

I definitely get this. My hair is just BSL ~24.5-25" and in my mind I see myself with waist length ~30"

[kidari]

I have shorter layers and a v shaped hemline so I visualize my hair as much shorter than the longest layers are underneath. I am about an inch away from waist but I see myself as BSL or even APL. One day I want thick healthy hair that is hip length or tailbone length.

[CaranDulin]

I think of mine as being at TB length, but sometimes my waves make it look shorter. :(
That's alright, though, I love my waves. :D

[BunnyKitten]

I think my hair is barely APL, but it's actually brushing BSL now. Knowing my personality, once it's a strong BSL, I'll acknowledge its BSLness.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I always visualise my hair as BSL, and it is very close - when stretched- but looks several inches shorter in real life - waves take up the length (sigh). But sometimes it will actually feel long and then I am pleased.

[MonaMayfair]

I see myself with mid back hair, but it's actually waist length now, or probably a bit longer, I don't measure it. I prefer it shorter, but I hate going to the hair dresser...

[hyettf16]

I picture it waist length. Its longest layer reaches tailbone.

[rach]

Often see it shorter then it really is. Had been APL/BSL for so long that new lengths just throw me off still.

[wishywashy]

I see myself at a solid BSL, but when I take pics it is just above it.

[Coolcombination]

I picture myself with waist length slightly darker than I have now with more layers than I have now, plus it's about iii in thickness. I usually riding a horse lady Godiva style with my hair floating along behind me. No clothes just hair to cover my assets! Lol :D

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I visualise myself at waist - even though I am just a smidgen away from BSL!

[Achlys]

I think I visualise myself with somewhat shorter hair. I'm at midback and it feels quite short, so it surprises me a bit when I'm told it's long or when I see that there are many girls with shorter hair. I think it might have something to do with my hair being very light, so that I don't feel it much on my back and shoulders.

[Soltimus]

Funny how the mind works, isn't it? I actually think my mind uses the correct length of my hair which is MBL.It seems insanely long and incorrect, but that's probably because the thinking part of me still thinks I have super short hair!

[Tapioca]

I cut my hair to shoulder a while back, but my mental image is still of hip-length hair. (And yes, I'm growing it back out.)

[clanless]

"What is your mental image of yourself?"

I view myself as hot and sexy as hell. I heard that the more you believe in something, the more it becomes true. so yep.

[auburntressed]

10 thingy.........

[flip-flop]

In my mind my hair is always the right length, but a darker brown than it really is, closer to black. I'm surprised when I look in a mirror and it is lighter than I imagine. The biggest difference between my mind's eye and reality though, is in my mind I am taller than I really am, or rather I see everyone else as shorter than they really are. I stay the same height.

[thisisnttakenye]

I guess I visulize myself shorter at shoulder legnth it's always a pleasant suprise to look in the mirror with my hair down

[Neneka]

I still think I have an outgrown pixie cut. I have always visualized myself with short hair for some reason. I am almost surprised every time I touch my hair and realize how much it has grown.

[Marcellaa]

Shorter, I keep seeing myself with BSL hair.

[missfaroe]

I guess i visualize my hair as it is: at bsl. But I also have been at this length for years... :rolleyes:

[froglet]

I keep seeing it longer, at about BSL, even though I'm closer to shoulder.

[Andrea H]

Sometimes I feel like my hair is long, but then other times I feel like it's just an average length. (Though compared to a lot of you guys my hair might as well be chin length. Ha!)

[Eireann]

I think I see myself as having waist-length hair, though the longest point is probably tailbone. Mostly, I visualize my ends as thicker than they are. I suppose if I cut back to waist, they would be--I'm just too chicken to trust the stylist with my hair, and too chicken to do it myself.

[MissAlida]

I look at other girls with similar hairtype to mine in class, and always think: "That's probably how my hair looks from behind. Is my hair shorter than hers?" Then I come home, check in the mirror, and realize, that my hair past BSL whereas her's was almost APL. I seem to be stuck in mind at APL. I had APL lenght hair for so long, that I can't even imagine myself with longer strands.

[Jing]

Shorter now, but it used to be longer. My hair has grown very fast the past few months (well, comparatively speaking), so my mental imagery can't keep up with it. I really need a trim to let my layers catch up a bit, though.

[TruePenny]

USED to think I had long hair. Until I joined LHC/TBB and saw what long hair REALLY was. Now i' say I've average or medium length hair at just past BSL :(

[Shoga]

I keep thinking it's back down at tailbone. I finally reached my tb goal last year, wore it down a lot, and got a huge kick out of telling people "YEAH! My hair just touches my rear!"

Then I had a 3" cut but I always wear it up now since it's winter so I keep forgetting about it.

[Majala]

Most of my life I've been around apl so that's what I usually visualize myself. I'm at shoulder length since the end of November and I plan to stay at this length for a while, so the picture in my head will probably change.

[Sadie]

I didn't know I was at waist length till I joined this forum, when by looking at waist length pics I suddenly realized that my ends where also reaching the smallest point of my waist.
It is weird because even pre-HLC I have been obsessed about my hair and have been checking the length on the mirror almost on a daily basis.
It still feels BSL, or at least it looks like it to me, but at least I now know that I have reached what most of LHCers consider their goal.

[lolar]

App and it's actually below bsl