Term?

[wahmof9]

Where is term for most people? Can some people not grow they hair long?

[RancheroTheBee]

I'm bumping this since I was about to ask the same question.

[SimplyLonghair]

There really isn't a set terminal for all people. Even on my own head I have different terminal lengths. My fringe is terminal at about 20 inches. The rest has yet to hit terminal. :shrug: I am hoping for quite long as my gran had very long perhaps classic braids, that were lovely silver. I hope for at least that long.:D

[Gothic Lolita]

Terminal length is different for everyone, and yes, for some that means that they can't grow *long* because terminal might be BSL on them. Sure, we have members with knee and longer, but this seems to be non-achievable for most. Hair shafts have a life span of ca. 7 years (varying on different places of your scalp) so you can see that the hair falls out for most before it could have reached extreme length. However, I believe you can lengthen the lifespan somewhat by taking good care of your hair and eating a healthy diet. There're plenty of examples on LHC which prove this.

There's a therory about the number of individual hair shafts you have: take that number and divide it through your annual shedding (daily shedding x 356) and mulitply this number with your annual growth. This should be your estimated terminal length.

But, it's just a theory and probably not very accurate since you don't know how many hairs you actually have, measuring your growth can be inaccurate and you don't count your shed hair daily.
Also some believe they've reached terminal when they just have stall. Figuring out where your terminal length is is a journey of patience and growing.

[Finoriel]

It´s hard to say where terminal is for most people :wink: just because most people don´t grow their hair to terminal. I somewhere read that the average terminal length is around classic, but can´t find the link at the moment. Maybe someone else remembers it. But average still means that some people will have a shorter (or longer) terminal length.
Like Gothic Lolita described, the natural terminal length is a very complex thing with many variables mostly based on genetics and nutrition. Additionally it´s also important to not forget the artificial terminal length, which can occur due to physical and chemical damage we do to our hair with damaging things like brushing wet hair, heatstyling, perms, bleach and similar.
If someone bleaches and heatstyles a lot, it´s likely that the hair will never reach it´s real terminal length because it breaks off at the ends before reaching it. Creating an artificial terminal length, where the breakage is equal to new growth. Not to be confused with the genetic terminal length, where the shedding rate is equal to new growth.

[Heidi_234]

Finoriel, maybe this one:

The other hair lengths [that are longer than classic] are much more unusual and require special family genes that will allow hair to grow to this length without falling out. This is called terminal length. Even if you want to grow longer than classic length, if its not in your genes, it won't be possible.
http://www.ida.net/users/northstr/hairlength.html

[Sarahmoon]

I think most people will be able to grow their hair at least to about lower back (when stretched, so it might seem shorter on very curly hair), IF they have a good hair care routine. Maybe certain medical conditions can also make hair vulnerable causing it to not be able to grow very long, but I don't know about that.

[Renbirde]

Are certain ethnicities more likely to have a long TL than others? (I'm specifically interested in German and Norwegian, but any info is interesting. :))

[Finoriel]

Finoriel, maybe this one:

http://www.ida.net/users/northstr/hairlength.html

:gabigrin: You will hate me, but no I don´t meant that site. I´m not a believer in any ´information´ from GM and avoid closely related texts. Just mentioning the name makes me cringe :wink: it´s been a scientific site with dissertations, not sure which language though, so the link might not help anyways :shrug:.

[Sarahmoon]

Are certain ethnicities more likely to have a long TL than others? (I'm specifically interested in German and Norwegian, but any info is interesting. :))

When looking for pics of people with super long hair, it seems it's most common among people from Asia. Though I've seen some European/north American brunettes and blondes with super long hair as well, so it's certainly not impossible. Though I believe "Asian" hair is a lot less fine than "North-European" hair so it will break off less easily.

[Heidi_234]

:gabigrin: You will hate me, but no I don´t meant that site. I´m not a believer in any ´information´ from GM and avoid closely related texts. Just mentioning the name makes me cringe :wink: it´s been a scientific site with dissertations, not sure which language though, so the link might not help anyways :shrug:.
I don't hate you. I too tend to take what he claim with a grain of a salt. :shrug: But I do think I've seen it somewhere, that's why I thought classic length called classic, as once upon a time, when cutting hair was a punishment rather than a fashion statement, most women had their hair as long as what we call classic length, and it was considered the default length, therefore classic. But apparently my theory was wrong. :shrug:

[wahmof9]

Thank you....but still makes me wonder if I can grow my hair very long...I'd be happy at waist or dare I say even thigh bone! I guess only time will tell. Sigh!

[feralnature]

I have a question:

If I want to grow to terminal length, then do I trim off my ends to remove damage and old color? Or do I let the hairs naturally shed and even out as time passes. I keep them oiled and they don't really bother me much. Just wondering if my hair will grow to terminal if I trim (I have not trimmed in 1.5 years). Thanks :)

[spidermom]

I think that trimming can shorten terminal length, but I don't know for sure. I'd say a person would have to grow as long as possible with trimming and then cut back and grow as long as possible without trimming, see if it turns out to be different lengths. But that wouldn't tell you for sure because I've also heard of people growing to a certain length - let's say tailbone for an example - and it stayed that length for years, then for some reason started growing longer again.

[feralnature]

Thanks spidermom. I may do microtrims and see how my hair does with that. I do have damage that needs to go but i don't want to loose any length. I am growing out my greys also so i will be wanting to remove the old red hair dye. I think that I will just stay away from scissors for as long as possible :)

[spidermom]

Terminal length varies from hair to hair, as somebody said on the first page. I regularly shed out hairs as short as 2-4 inches long (root bulb on one end, tapered on the other). I've seen some people who had maybe 10 hairs at an extreme length, with the bulk of the rest of the hair considerably shorter. So to find out true terminal length, I think at some point you'd have to quit cutting and see what happens. The hem will most likely become quite uneven.

[Renbirde]

When looking for pics of people with super long hair, it seems it's most common among people from Asia. Though I've seen some European/north American brunettes and blondes with super long hair as well, so it's certainly not impossible. Though I believe "Asian" hair is a lot less fine than "North-European" hair so it will break off less easily.
:/ Darn. Oh, well. I guess I'll just have to baby it! I got it to hip while I was still abusing it, and it's not in too bad of shape, so I will remain hopeful. :D

[Carrie Ingalls]

I always just say, everyone has a different length and that’s the longest their hair will get (I might add a side note on hair care, but it depends who I'm talking to).

I read somewhere a couple years ago I read that most people can’t grow their hair past 3 feet…but I always wondered if that was really true and how they were measuring.

Evidently my sister and I got our hair genes from our father, because our Mom could never get her hair past the bottom of her shoulder blades (and she does not abuse her hair).

[enfys]

Since it's time related apparently, you can (sort of) alter it. A hair won't grow 70", it'll grow 7 years. If in that seven years you keep it at shoulder length, or you take a fistfull of MSM a day, the length will be different. I think that's why people get sudden growth.

Say you find a great combination of supplements. It'll be almost a decade before every hair has grown completely on the benefit of that.

Still with me? Basically, even if you feel disappointed with what seems to be terminal don't give up, because a little change can make a really big difference.

Some may feel differently but I believe that to reach terminal the longest hair should have an uncut tip, since a quarter inch trim every three months will add up to a 7" or so loss of length on an average hair. It could be the difference between your terminal being knee or just thigh.