When it feels like your hair isn't growing...

[abritta3]

Ok! I am not usually the type to be obsessive over my hair growth...(because somewhere, something inside me knows that it is IN FACT growing, haha) but since my hair is 3a curly it is so aggravatinggg
I was just looking at some pictures from this past January and thinking about how my hair still looks the same (and it's been 6months!)
Maybe I am crazy? I usually wait until the 6month mark to measure for growth but I feel like between January to June that I haven't improved at all...:( (except for the condition of my hair which is great since I joined LHC)

So my question to all of you (especially curly girls) how meticulous are you when measuring your hair?
Thanks!!

[HairColoredHair]

I used to measure each month. Eventually, though it got very frustrating.

I still go through phases of doing so, but mostly I put it up and ignore... Better to be pleasantly surprised at growth than frustrated about not seeing growth. :)

[bakertwins2004]

I have wavy hair, but am VERY impatient for growth. Seems like the more I measure the less it grows. I know this isn't so. But it feels like it!

[LilyMunster]

Not a tight curly, but when I scrunch I get ringlets which shrink my length.
So I measure only occasionally and when it is soaking wet, right after I have streamed water down the length. I have a waterproof tape measure. It helps to get an accurate measurement. And yes my hair has stalled at times over the years, but that is when it is working on getting thicker, it tends to develope a halo, showing the new growth. So in a stall the hair is still actively growing, just in thicknes rather than length. Which I value as much as the length.

[redneckprincess]

my DD has very curly hair we measure and photograph (for purpose of leingth shots) while wet.

[young&reckless]

I did not think my hair was growing at all but then 2 days ago I tucked it into my pants. Maybe I should measure more then once a year.

[Curlsgirl]

I hardly ever measure anymore. It's just too hard to get an accurate measurement and too frustrating because it grows SO slow. I just go by body parts now. I am heading to hip length now!!!

[enfys]

My hair is shrinking so I'm really off measuring now. Seems my tape measure shrunk in the wash.

I'm with the "bodyparts" people now.

[Ryanne]

I cannot, so do not measure. I'm utterly awful at it, and have given up. I go by body parts too.
I try to forget my hair, which isn't so hard since it's mostly up.

[RancheroTheBee]

Not meticulous at all. I used to measure, no word of a lie, every week. Then, I realized it was ridiculous. It'll grow when it wants to. Now I get a little giddy thrill when it gets stuck under my collar, but I'm not keeping track.

[jezebel17]

I know how you feel. Im in the same boat.Gosh I hate shrinkage, because it makes curly hair look like it never grows. Honestly, I have not seen one 3a- 3b person on lhc that even has hip length (while curly) hair. Im starting to believe that such person doesn't exist.To keep myself sane I do not measure at all. I just use body parts to keep track of my growth.Sometimes I even straighten my hair to get a better look at my growth.

[hazelnut]

My hair is around a 3b-3c, so it does get VERY annoying when I look at my hair in the mirror only to find that it looks the same as it did 4 months ago. But my hair is damaged, and trying to grow it out and wear it naturally has become quite a challenge. But to keep myself at least a little bit sane I go on www.tightlycurly.com (http://www.tightlycurly.com) and look at Terri's hair and how long it is (waist length when curly, tailbone when wet) and say to myself, if she can do it, so can I. :)

[Aries_jb]

My curl pattern varies too much to measure in any conventional way. It looks just as long as it did when I joined in Sep 08. I just take care of my hair as best as I can and put it up and forget about it. I figure the day will come when I notice that it is BSL when dry and that I can't do too much about it to speed it up.

[jojo]

I used to obsessionally measure, now I really have better things to do and plus I get pi**ed off when I get nothing, photos are much better, plus you can look back and see just how far you have come!

[Gumball]

I'm not too curly (not a curly girl either really :p) but I've never been very particular about measuring. Putting too much stock in it, from just my point of view, could get frustrating especially when you don't meet what you thought you'd be at.

I'll admit when a threshold is reached it can be great (I'm assuming a specific measurement) since then you can say you hit a milestone, but for me I really judge growth by noticing it at some point over time. I also tend to just go by body parts.

Most of the time I can roughly see where my hair is at when it's wet in the shower and I pull a lock of it straight. That's the first time I realized instead of being at waist I was at hip. Go figure. I barely pay attention to the length of it then though. It just grows and I go along for the pleasant ride. That way if it stalls, gets out of the stall, whatever, I'm just idling by. :)

[kmoc123]

I would measure about every month and I was stuck at 32"... got frustrated and just forgot about it...I finally have 33".

[Spike]

I gave up on the tape--it was just so aggravating.

Now it's photos. One a month, on the first. I can always put the newest nect to the oldest when I need a growth reinforcement boost.

[Honey39]

Never measure - I go by photos (I take a LOT of photos!). Also, about two weeks ago I must have passed some milestone, because *everyone* suddenly commented that my hair was really long, although I'd been growing it for a year. I think maybe it suddenly reached a point where it hangs differently or something - so that millimetre of growth made a HUGE difference in people's perception of the length of my hair!

[ladylibra]

My hair never feels like it's growing. I just wake up one day and realize my hair hangs more when wet... I'll start to notice I go through more product than before... my boyfriend will be playing in my hair and pull a coil and remark about how long it stretches. Or my favorite... I'll notice the nice shape I had a few months ago, is now becoming a funky coily mullet. :rolleyes:

I usually don't measure my hair. Right now I'm checking every 3 months because of a challenge I joined on another board. But in between that, I just don't think about it.

[zen_oven]

I feel your pain. It feels that way for me now even though I know it's not true. I gave up measuring early on--just doesn't do anything for me. I take photos and go by body milestones now. I'm pretty sure I've hit BSL by now but haven't had a length shot taken in a while. We just replaced our digital camera so I guess it's time to get hubs to take another one.

[Aries_jb]

Never measure - I go by photos (I take a LOT of photos!). Also, about two weeks ago I must have passed some milestone, because *everyone* suddenly commented that my hair was really long, although I'd been growing it for a year. I think maybe it suddenly reached a point where it hangs differently or something - so that millimetre of growth made a HUGE difference in people's perception of the length of my hair!

That's so odd how people do that, including myself! My hair has been between APL and BSL for what seems like ages, but now when I look at my hair it "looks" long now. Before I would always look at it and think it looked short. This changed seemed to happen from one day to the next. Even my family has suddenly started commenting on how long my hair is getting, and it's still no where near BSL!

[Unofficial_Rose]

Although mine feels as though it has hardly grown for months, I seem to have to use more and more henna and indigo to cover it. :silly:

Looking back at then and now photo's, I think I was in some sort of denial about how short it actually was, i.e. think I kidded myself it was almost to my shoulders when it was chin-length. :rolleyes:

[lambhair]

I was thinking this very thing today! While I was getting ready to do a henna-ing, I got curious and measured my hair. Back in February, I measured it at 35" and I was curious to see if taking better care of it since then had made a difference. Today it was 36"...not a huge increase, and definately slower than my hair normally grows for sure but thats ok. It is probably going through a phase and I am not worried. If it ever gets to my original *goal* length, thats ok-if it doesn't thats ok too because I am happy with it as it is, I never plan on cutting it back anyway.

[Blue Willow]

It's easy to get caught up in the numbers game when its really all about enjoying the whole new awareness & experience of creating something beautiful and unique. Every inch is a treasure, but there are so many other things that come along with those inches that make it ever so much more meaningful.