I'm such a loser...but I'm probably going to grow again...

[Sammybunny711]

Hello all!

This is Sammybunny and I have had quite an interesting hair journey. In my sophomore year (college), I tried to grow it out and got to below my shoulders from a pixie in 9 months. Then I chickened out under pressure and cut it. Then later in my junior year I decided that I wanted to grow it again. Again...got below my shoulders but I cut it in May because I truly missed my pixie cut and felt that it looked much better on my face. Now...*sigh*...I think that I want to grow it again because even though I love my short hair (I really love it)...I also really want to grow it long to see what I would look like and because I think my hair itself is pretty when it is long. Still...My wedding is almost exactly nine months away...so I know I won't get far. This time...I want to grow and trim it until it is more or less one length or only slightly layerd at the bottom isntead of growing it without trims and allowing it to get all mullet-like and "however it wants." My hair is very fine but also very thick, so I have a pretty wave but I need layers in order to make it work with my face. My past two growing attempts...I don't think that I have had a longer cut that works for my face.

Couple of questions for my third go-round--

1) How do you all stay motivated when the going gets tough?
2) If you wash everyday, does the hair grow faster due to increased scalp stimulation?
3) Will daily applications of citric acid rinses damage the hair (can't use vinegar rinses because fiance can't abide the smell that lingers in my scalp)
4) how often should one do SMT's?
5) Do you all think I'm a looney? LOL.

Hope you are all well and happy! Any comments, encouragement, etc. is welcome. Currently, I'm measuring in at 14" and at a pixie cut still.

Blessings!

~Sammybunny:p

[redneckprincess]

Hello all!



Couple of questions for my third go-round--

1) How do you all stay motivated when the going gets tough?
2) If you wash everyday, does the hair grow faster due to increased scalp stimulation?
3) Will daily applications of citric acid rinses damage the hair (can't use vinegar rinses because fiance can't abide the smell that lingers in my scalp)
4) how often should one do SMT's?
5) Do you all think I'm a looney? LOL.

Hope you are all well and happy! Any comments, encouragement, etc. is welcome. Currently, I'm measuring in at 14" and at a pixie cut still.

Blessings!

~Sammybunny:p

First off your hair is absoutly beautiful, and I to am on my 1000th time tring to grow my hair long but only my second attempt of REALLY trying that being said....

#1 I log into LHC and look at the longer haired ladies pics (at this point I may only mean APL or BSL as LONG) but I also check out the really long ones too.

#2 I only HAVE to wash everyday if I use cones, but no I dont truely think it helps growth, but it is nice to think that helps, I tell myself it does, Maybe it does...

#3 I dont know, I dont use citric or vinigar rinces

#4 about once a week or maybe 2x a month really, I dont use SMT though I just put a bit of mixture of AVG and my oils in my hair daily.

#5 If you are so am I:cheese:We can be loony together :cheese:

[jlpearce]

Your hair grows from pixie to below your shoulders in 9 months?! Jealous! I'm right at a year and it's not even touching my shoulders yet.

Unfortunately I don't have any advice, as this is the first time I've actually paid attention to my hair as I grow it out, but just wanted to tell you I'm impressed at your growth rate!

[jojo]

Well I read the post as they really motivate me, I didnt suit short hair in fact looking in the mirror was like looking at an alien.

I also try and work out just how much longer my hair will be in 6 months, 1 year etc, though it never quite goes to plan, also taking photos really helps because it enables you to see just how much you really have grown.

Hang in there, you will get there!

[lora410]

1) How do you all stay motivated when the going gets tough? Buy a new toy ;)

2) If you wash everyday, does the hair grow faster due to increased scalp stimulation? Why not just scalp massage without wahsing?

3) Will daily applications of citric acid rinses damage the hair?Don't know but when my fiancee complained I switched to white vinager and added a scented EO and never had that issue again.

4) how often should one do SMT's? I don't; I just deep oil

5) Do you all think I'm a looney? No, we all go through these crazy moments

[jahof45]

My own experience has been that I have to ignore my hair to get it past my shoulders. Once I can ponytail it, I ignore it. I don't even look at it until the next year. So in my case, it's not motivation, it's neglect.

[Demetrue]

Don't be too hard on yourself - yesterday, I finally bit the bullet and went to a professional salon for the first time in 3 years - I have about 2 inches of healthy growth but 5 inches of damaged hair to the ends and I just couldn't take the frizzy breaking off look (or feel) any more. I told the guy that I was growing out my hair but had to clean up the damaged areas and get rid of the splits, but don't take more than 2 inches off the back. So here I am, still at a chin length layered bob after trying to grow it out for the last 3 years. What I am happy about is that it looks pretty cute and there is much less damage left, what I am not so happy about is that it is still short. BUT - it is in much better condition and thicker than before I joined LHC, which means that it will gain length faster due to less breaking off at the ends. I am just trying to enjoy and go with each stage of the growing out process instead of obsessing that it's nowhere near my goal length. I am a slow learner when it comes to my hair!

[SchnauzerMom]

I'm constantly growing my hair out from pixie cuts. You're not a loser at all, just normal. Some way, some how, we'll both reach our goals.

[Elphie]

Welcome back :-)

I can't really say any part of growing my hair has been "tough" for me. There are days when I don't want to be bothered with it or I'm not thrilled with what it looks like though. I just put it up and forget about it on those days.

If you're looking to increase scalp stimulation, I'd just massage my scalp, unless you feel you need to wash everyday. Extra scalp stimulation isn't likely to hurt.

I'm not sure why you would want to do citric acid rinses on a daily basis. I don't know for certain, but it sounds like that would be too frequent and might be drying.

Does your hair need a lot of moisture? I don't think you can do too much moisture unless you're finding that your hair is too limp from it.

As for being looney...LOL. Aren't we all? :-)

[going gray]

Hi, I grew my hair all the way to 23" after suffering the growing out phrase for a year & a half. Put myself through all the nasty growing out etc. & on June 17th, cut it all off again, for the simple reason I thought I looked better with it a short style. Been doing this routine back & forth for many years.

I think I'm just a "nutter" & very upset at myself for being such a fool! Short hair simply doesn't suit me now & never will no matter how old I get!

Thank you ALL for the wonderful support I get from this site.

[Sammybunny711]

Thanks for all of the encouragement, ladies! It's so good to be back. LOL.

[Babyfine]

You are not a loser at all. My hair has never been past BSL because whenever I get to that point I chop it back to shoulders(or even shorter) due to frustration with the way it looks. My goal is waist- will I ever get there?

[Dotlover]

When I look in the mirror and I see new growth I'm inspired to keep on growing my hair, even when my style is funky.

[Cinnamon Hair]

Hello all!

This is Sammybunny and I have had quite an interesting hair journey. In my sophomore year (college), I tried to grow it out and got to below my shoulders from a pixie in 9 months. Then I chickened out under pressure and cut it. Then later in my junior year I decided that I wanted to grow it again. Again...got below my shoulders but I cut it in May because I truly missed my pixie cut and felt that it looked much better on my face. Now...*sigh*...I think that I want to grow it again because even though I love my short hair (I really love it)...I also really want to grow it long to see what I would look like and because I think my hair itself is pretty when it is long. Still...My wedding is almost exactly nine months away...so I know I won't get far.

Does this mean you plan to cut short again in 9 months? If so, honestly, I don't see the point. :shrug: No offense meant, I just don't understand your thinking. I mean, how far can you really get in 9 months, and if you're just going to cut it short again, what's the point of taking better care of your hair while it grows. Seems silly to me.

[Lilli]

You are not a loser. Step 1 is to not put yourself down. Most women invest a lot of their image in their hair and it is a very emotional area. Feeling ambivalent about it is normal. So you are not loony - you are just like the rest of us.

9 months is a fair amount of growth, and it will be the perfect length for a nice, wavy down style on your wedding day. You have a lovely color and texture. It will look great.

Finally, since you are getting married, let me tell you NOT to cut your hair if and when you decide to have a baby - everyone thinks it will be easier to do with a baby, but in reality, long hair that you can keep in a ponytail is much easier when you are so busy.

[Islandgrrl]

I have a few thoughts.....

First, you're not a loser.

Second, not everyone is cut out (no pun intended there, honest) to be a longhair. If you truly love your hair short, keep it short! If you want to see what you'll look like with really long hair, get yourself to a wig shop and play around. Take some pictures. Honestly evaluate what you like and don't like about both short and long hair on yourself and then make a decision. There are women who look absolutely better with short hair. You're not a failure somehow if you wear your hair short!

This being said, if you really do want to grow your hair....here are my answers to your questions.

1) How do you all stay motivated when the going gets tough? I put my hair up and out of the way so I don't fixate on it. I started at about 2" hair all over my head and initially it was lots of product and funky headbands as it grew out. Just do stuff so you don't get bored and be prepared for the inevitable bad hair days.
2) If you wash everyday, does the hair grow faster due to increased scalp stimulation? I never noticed that to be true for myself, but as with anything, YMMV, I guess.
3) Will daily applications of citric acid rinses damage the hair (can't use vinegar rinses because fiance can't abide the smell that lingers in my scalp) I don't know. I don't do that. Vinegar smell makes me nauseous and honestly didn't do that much for my hair.
4) how often should one do SMT's? Depends on the condition of your hair. I don't do them regularly on my whole head, but once or twice a month I do my length only, where I still have heaps of damage. The undamaged part of my hair honestly doesn't need much in the way of special treatment.
5) Do you all think I'm a looney? LOL. Not any loonier than the rest of us! Well, maybe just a little! (just kidding)

[Anje]

Hi, and welcome back.

I'm going to say something that's counter to most of what you might get...
If you're going to get married in 9 months, you're probably not going to want "in-between" hair. Right? If you love the short hair, rock it from now to the wedding. After that, you can grow out without the pressure to have it perfect for a big day. If you think you can get it to a length that you'll want for the wedding, go for it, but I suspect you're more interested in looking good for the big day.

Concerning your questions:
1) Motivation hasn't been too difficult for me. My hair hasn't gone much above the shoulders, and I always end up pulling it back. I can wear it up at shoulder length or tailbone, and it's equally easy and doesn't look particularly bad either way, though it's more flattering long.
2) I'm not much of a measurer, but I think that you could massage your scalp and get the increased stimulation without the wear on the hair that comes from washing it. Wash your hair when it needs washed, not more or less.
3) I doubt citric acid rinses are likely to be worse than vinegar rinses, but make sure they're dilute enough. Both have some potential to be drying, depending on your hair.
4) I do SMTs, like washes, as needed. More often if my ends are feeling nasty and dry, rarely when everything is happy.
5) We're all looney. Some of us are just more willing to admit it.

[Bellalalala]

My hair was just a bit shorter than yours (in your signature pic) when I started growing it out and a very similar cut.

I look really really good with short hair as well, but I love long hair.
I look absolutely ridiculous when my hair is in between short and long. I have only just reached a point where my hair doesn't look silly down.

For that transition stage, I really embraced having my hair back. I don't think I ever wore it down. I invested in some nice silk scarves to wear on my head or around my neck so that I would feel less plain with my hair back all of the time. I became very fond of earings, big sunglasses, any sort of detail around my face.

I also bought a really nice set of clip-in extensions for special occasions, and that really helped me stay motivated to keep growing, because it reminded me how beautiful I felt with long hair.

You really need to get yourself into a growing mindset, and it is a much more long-term way of thinking than you are probably used to. You cannot use your hair as a source of change or excitement.
I feel more like my hair is part of my identity now as opposed to being a fashion accessory.
My hair changes subtly with me as time goes on and as my life changes. We have a partnership, I take care of it and it grows it's best. It no longer serves as a form of entertainment for me.

My secret weapon is wigs. Whenever I feel like having hair as entertainment, I put on a fun wig. I safely store away my hair underneath and pop on something acrylic in a crazy colour. Then when I'm done being silly, I let my real hair loose and let out a *sigh* of relief that I wasn't silly enough to do anything drastic to it.

[going gray]

Oh please don't ever call yourself a loser, that's awful. I've gone back & forth with this long/short stuff, it's given me serious headaches. You'll figure out what's right for you. The ladies above have some great suggestions.

[Gladtobemom]

1) How do you all stay motivated when the going gets tough?
On the hair front. If my hair gets weird, grabby, tangly, or crunchy . . . I clarify and deep moisturize, usually with an SMT and then a light oiling with coconut oil or hair butter.

2) If you wash everyday, does the hair grow faster due to increased scalp stimulation?
I don't wash every day. Usually about once a week. If I use an ACV rinse to repair the acid mantle on the scalp, my hair doesn't get greasy looking at all. When I did wash daily, I had lots of breakage, splits, and those little white dot (bumps).

3) Will daily applications of citric acid rinses damage the hair (can't use vinegar rinses because fiance can't abide the smell that lingers in my scalp)
I use my vinegar rinse (3 Tbl. Vinegar to 3 C. water ) poured so it floods my scalp, just BEFORE my final conditioner . . . I can't smell it at all.) I don't know if it will hurt daily, but my hair is healthier than it's ever been. Maybe if the acid were too strong it could.

4) how often should one do SMT's?
I do one about every third wash.

5) Do you all think I'm a looney? LOL.
Not at all.

[earthdancer]

Sammybunny, if I had hair as beautiful as yours, I would grow it at least to waist and flaunt it like crazy! How luxurious, how magnificent! I saw a young woman once with hair like yours, she had grown it almost to her elbows, and she looked like royalty--absolutely stunning. That was 30 years ago and I've never fogotten it.

I do have waist-length hair, but it isn't half as gorgeous as yours.

[Phoenix81377]

My hair has been pixie to waist and everything in between. I am growing out an inverted (curly) bob at the moment. I like the idea of growing it out between now and your wedding. Worst case, if you don't like it you can cut it to pixie again before the big day and at least you have the choice! I like choices since I am so darned indecisive myself (long, short, long, super short, lather rinse, repeat.

I do vinegar rinses but only a couple times a month, anything else would fry my hair. I would think daily would be overkill.

I like the idea that daily shampoos stimulate growth, but for me, shampooing to often equals dry poofy hair. I stick with scalp massages instead - same benefit and less trauma to my hair.

Are you nutty? Probably - I know I am. But at least we are in good company (there seems to be a lot of us here who shave, grow, shave, really grow, and shave again...).

[MemSahib]

Your. Hair. Is. Stunning.

Do what you want to with it but I, for one, would love to see your gorgeous hair at waist, like you say you want. I don't think I've ever actually used the emoticon for a Thud, but I suspect it would be the time to pull it out.

[Lamb]

I think that I want to grow it again because even though I love my short hair (I really love it)...I also really want to grow it long to see what I would look like and because I think my hair itself is pretty when it is long.
I know the feeling. I`ve had short hair all my life. It`s difficult to let go of the image in the mirror where your head and your hair are one continuous line, where your hair is more of a frame to your face than an asset on its own right. It`s an entirely different image than a head with long hair growing out from it. (I know this sounds awkward, but that`s the way I feel.)

The difference is not that between the ways you look with short and long hair. The difference is that between the way you look with short hair, and the way your hair looks when it`s long.

Did I get this right?


Still...My wedding is almost exactly nine months away...so I know I won't get far. This time...I want to grow and trim it until it is more or less one length or only slightly layerd at the bottom isntead of growing it without trims and allowing it to get all mullet-like and "however it wants." My hair is very fine but also very thick, so I have a pretty wave but I need layers in order to make it work with my face. My past two growing attempts...I don't think that I have had a longer cut that works for my face.
This will sound counter-intuitive, but I would forget about measuring and growing goals until after your wedding. Look for a nice short/medium hairstyle on the web which would go with your wedding dress. Preferably one which is not too heavily layered! You could also fuss around with some clips and ornaments, pulling it back a bit, etc.
In other words: concentrate on being a gorgeous bride with the hair length you have now, or a bit longer. Keep your hair in good condition, but skip the fancy stuff and experiments in order to avoid surprise results which might be difficult to put right.

1) How do you all stay motivated when the going gets tough?
I look at aweful pics of me with short hair. I look at nice, neat updo pics. I wash my hair. I put it in a snood and forget the heck about it.
2) If you wash everyday, does the hair grow faster due to increased scalp stimulation?
I don`t think so. I wash it every day, but haven`t noticed any increased growth. A brief wash would not give you enough massage, anyway.
3) Will daily applications of citric acid rinses damage the hair (can't use vinegar rinses because fiance can't abide the smell that lingers in my scalp)
I have found this to be so. I used vinegar (diluted) daily for a couple of weeks a year ago. The result was craptacular.
What would you need daily acidic rinses for?
4) how often should one do SMT's?
As often as your hair seems to benefit from it, I think - I have never done one, because of the honey. I prefer leave-ins for long-lasting moisturizing effects.
5) Do you all think I'm a looney? LOL.
Aren`t we all? ;)

[Sammybunny711]

Thank you, again, everyone for the encouragement and advice. I went to get a trim this past Friday partly because I was still undecided and also because if I do grow it long again, a trim would probably be best to get rid of any possible damage from the previous months. I am still undecided. I think by my wedding (with a few trims) it would only me mid-neck in a bob-like thing. I know my fiance likes that and I do too, so I think I'll let it keep growing until it is closer to the wedding. As one of you pointed out...I know exactly what I look like with shorter hair and if I hate the in-between-ness going on, I can always get it shorter again for the wedding and worry about growing it afterward. It is also much cheaper not to worry about cuts...

I'm still so fickle and undecided. I think part of the reason is that I am a little disappointed that I cut it the first time I was growing it out. It would no doubt have been close to waist by my wedding. *Sigh*...I should not have done it then, but there is nothing I can do about it now...

Oh well.

LOL. I'm sure that I'll probably keep growing until closer to the wedding and try to get it one length at mid-neck.

P.S.--my signature pic is my hair before I cut it this last time, so if you go to my albums, you can see what my pixie looks like in my original growing attempts. It is about 13" right now.

Blessings to you all!

[Lilli]

I am so confused... what does your hair look like now? The pixie, or the bob with the wavy ends?

[Fractalsofhair]

I'd suggest growing it out AFTER the wedding if you love your short hairstyle,or you could try growing it out, but decide then. That way, you don't need to have a mullet phase for wedding pictures and such. Give it 2 years, and if your hair grows at the rate you stated, you should have long hair by society's standards, and in 3 years, you should have hair that's around waist or longer(just as a guess.).

Using a citric acid rinse, provided it's diluted, shouldn't harm your hair all that much.

I've dealt with some serious damage to my hair, and what I did was I cut it. I tried babying my hair first, oiling it often, keeping it up, etc. Then I just decided it was time to cut it before I was left with 1 inch long hair!

[Sammybunny711]

Okay everyone, after much debate, soul-searching...I am 100% decided that I am growing my hair out until the wedding and beyond. I had very nice waist hair when I was in middle school and I LOVED it. Everyone else hated it because I truly did not know how to take care of it, then. However, since then...I have always desired long hair in my heart and after looking at pictures of myself at various stages of hair growth...although I do look nice and cute with my pixie, I really like my look with longer hair.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the support, comments, and suggestions. I will probably be trimming a little before the Big Day if I need some shape or to get rid of splits and such. I want to look awesome on the big day and I think that I will even with mid-neck, shoulder length hair. :o)

Blessings to you all and thanks again, so much!

P.S.-- for some of you who were wondering, my current hair is the hair in my siggy. :)