Progress, slowly

[Katze]

Today I found that my hair - at least the longest ends - is finally at waist! :cheese:

Although I am really unhappy with how tapered it is and how thin the ends are (3+ months of very massive post partum shedding - handfuls of hair falling out every day) I have to celebrate that I have reached this milestone!

This is what my hair looked like after my last big trim - December 2007, at about APL:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=218&pictureid=11424

I still had layers and bangs at that time.

A bit more than a year later and pregnancy was making it look really good! I might mention that I tend to trim every 3-5 months or so. I was also growing out my bangs by then.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=218&pictureid=31482

A year, a baby, and several trims (trimmed the longest ends, August09, bigger trims Oct09, and Dec.09) later, here is my hair today:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=218&pictureid=63466

This is freshly washed, SMT'd (ok, just honey and conditioner) for 3 hours, and air dried hair. Not sure what is up with the color! It looks really reddish here.

You can very clearly see that at about APL, my hair is getting very thin, very fast. My hands are at waist, and the blue thing is a braided-in extension. :)

I am most likely going to cut, after measuring this length (waist should be 30 inches on me, but I have been too discouraged to measure in a long, long time). Thinking of cutting back to APL, which is where my hair starts to look decent. My ends are actually in pretty good shape, but they LOOK unhealthy since they are so thin, and I am ashamed of them.

So even slow growing, badly damaged, tapered hair CAN get longer! The pics prove it!

[Melisande]

You know I've always liked your hair so it will come as no surprise that I think... don't cut to APL! If you are ashamed of your ends, which is a pity, then trim off another bit, but don't cut away your hard-earned length. The structure which gives you so much trouble makes your hair look interesting, I like the color and the shine, and your shed will soon become a thing of the past. Your new baby hairs should by now be really a nice length! And with the length you have now, all kinds of nice updos are no problem. Or is your hair still defying updos? It doesn't look troublesome at all, it looks really pretty.

Your hair looks really shiny on the last picture and falls nicely. If I was you - I wouldn't cut. But hey, I'm a non-cutter anyway ;-)

I'm so glad things are looking better for you hair-wise! It's wonderful to see that your hair recovers.

[MsBubbles]

Wow, Katze, your hair grows really fast! And as ever, I don't see what you're seeing with your ends. Your hair still has so much more body than mine and so that's all I see. It's enough body to make your ends look fuller than you describe them, anyway.

Congrats on coming through the epic shed and reaching waist!

[spidermom]

Now Katze, you know I'm extremely fussy about having good ends, so believe me when I tell you that you don't need to cut back more than 2 inches. That is it; only 2. Only if you can see a lot of splitting and breakage above that point would I agree with more. In fact, try 1 inch first, see how it lies.

Your hair is looking good, I think. I like the length. I think it balances your body type nicely (at least from what I can see of it).

[Islandgrrl]

Katze, I don't think your hair looks anywhere as bad as you think it does.

For one, the color is gorgeous. I love it.

Two, the ends may be thinner than the rest, but they don't look ratty to me and you have no reason to be ashamed of them!

Please reconsider a drastic cut. Maybe treating your length as though it were damaged, and doing a monthly small trim will help your ends thicken up without sacrificing the length you've worked so hard for!

[FrannyG]

Katze, I am very fussy about hemlines, as you may know, and many is the time that I've suggested people cut off a few inches. However, I think your hair looks great. I mean it. If I were you, I'd just trim to maintain at waist. Your ends will thicken up to your liking before you know it. Especially with watching a baby grow, time flies.

I know how much one can want to change one's hair after having a baby, but I suggest that you just put it up, keep up the trims and otherwise forget about it.

As I said earlier, I think it's only you who sees thin ends. Your hair looks lovely to me. :blossom:

[jera]

Congrats on achieving your waist length milestone. :D I think your hair looks awesome and I wouldn't cut it but that's just me. :rolleyes:

[aahavaa]

I agree with all those you say dont cut and that it looks worse to you than to us.Your hair looks good and no way would I cut those ends.Like Franny said ,you could mantain at waist and then gradually it will thicken up.But even so they dont look too thin at all to me.Very nice hair Katze!!

[rhysiana]

I have to agree with all the commenters above; I don't think your ends look bad at all! Truly, they do NOT look ratty or unkempt. It seems like a lot of your worry about your ends is that other people will think you don't take care of your hair, but we're here as "other people" to tell you not to worry! Certainly I think you should trim (or not trim) to whatever length makes YOU the most comfortable, but don't do it based on what you think "they" want. It's your hair, and it is beautiful.

[jivete]

I'm going to agree with everyone else here. Your ends do not look ratty.

We have very similar growing hair and while I long for those thick bushy ends I see on others, I'm pretty sure I have to maintain a length for a long time to get them. Even at SL, after a fresh cut, the minute I start to grow, I lose the thicker ends. I think that's because my hair grows unevenly. Only by growing past a goal and then cutting back or hopefully, maintaining at one, do I get the nice, thick ends. You're at a really nice length to maintain. Why not try some monthly trims and see if things don't improve to your liking before cutting back and losing so much length?

I have image issues with my hair similar to people's body issues. I've always hated my hair and always thought it looked thin and damaged, no matter what length. Even when it looks good I find some fault in it. I doubt I'll ever have hair I think looks really good, even if people complimented me on it regularly. I wonder if you are similar.:flower:

[Carolyn]

I think we are often our own worst critic. I think your ends look pretty darned good. I wouldn't cut off more than 2" at the very most. Why not try maintaining a while? Grow an inch and trim an inch. See what happens.

[Lamb]

Wowzer. I'm never gonna believe another word you write about your hair being "ratty". Never. :nono:
Your hair looks great, I don't think you should trim more than 1-2 inches. Going by what you wrote about it earlier, I had a very different mental image of your hair, nothing like it really is! Congrats on the length!

[pinchbeck]

I normally don't look through people's albums, but the link above directed me to it. Anyhow, I went through it and noticed your hair is on the thin side which may be the reason for thinner looking ends. I agree with most who have stated to maintain where it is now by taking off a bit of the ends until it your ends match the rest of your hairs thickness. Then you can decide from there where you want to go with it!

[Arctic]

Congratulations on reaching waist!!! :cheese:
I also like how your hair is looking, it's not so thin in the pictures as you discribe! And looks healthy to me! I would at most trim to BSL (well I don't know where your BSL is but to the line between APL and waist) but probably maintaining at waist would be good idea, I am a bit scissorhappy person :o But trimming to APL, I think, would be a mistake. It's not ratty looking at all, and the length suits you well :) You have lot of shorter hairs growing and continuing regular trims lets them catch up, and regular trimming seems suit your hair very well! Maybe as the others have suggested, trimming an inch or two, growing an inch or two, trimming an inch or two, etc, would be the best approach.
If I were you I would proudly walk at the uni with flowing tresses :) Your hair has become prettier all the time, and it most certainly doesn't look like it's nearing terminal length!

[Katze]

Thanks everyone! A deep treatment always makes my hair look its best, so yesterday was a very good hair day (but I am willing to do more SMTs and use 'cones to keep it looking like that, as well as wash more often).

I may just cut the 1-2 inches everyone suggests. Dunno. The taper looks so BAD - I feel like it looks like my hair is damaged, which it isn't, because the weightless ends look dry. But I am waiting and sleeping on it. :)


I normally don't look through people's albums, but the link above directed me to it. Anyhow, I went through it and noticed your hair is on the thin side which may be the reason for thinner looking ends. I agree with most who have stated to maintain where it is now by taking off a bit of the ends until it your ends match the rest of your hairs thickness. Then you can decide from there where you want to go with it!

Actually I do not have thin hair, but am a solid ii, despite hairdressers telling me the contrary for years. My crown hair is very thick - the problem is more the difference between very thick roots - perhaps even iii, since taking biotin - and very thin - less than i - ends.

Many people say that fine hair or tapered hair is thin hair. It isn't. Like many people here I just seem to have a natural growth pattern that does not fit current perceptions of beauty, i.e. massive amounts of thick hair. Where I live, many people have fine hair, (including my DH, if you look at pics of him) and it is often NOT thin.

[chicken]

i too would suggest maintaining at waistfor a couple of month for thickening up the ends. Your first post sounds to me as if you have grown out your bangs - perhaps you should stay at waist until your bangs have grown down? (Or have they?) Tat could give more thickness, too. But please don't cut so much. I think your hair doesn't look bad.

[JamieLeigh]

Your hair is gorgeous! I don't see anything wrong in your last photo, but we all know that photos can be misleading and hair can look quite different in real life. :) If you're unhappy with your ends, try just a small trim, maybe an inch or less, and see how you like it. Sometimes just the tiniest bit off the bottom can feel like a new head of hair. I just trimmed a tiny bit off of the ten hairs that I have at fingertip (lol), and it made my hair feel great. :)

In the end, it's up you and what makes you the happiest. I just don't see the point in cutting perfecly nice-looking hair all the way back up to APL after working so hard to get to waist length (congrats on that, by the way!! :cheese:). :flower:

[morguebabe]

Maybe just a small trim... I'm really fussy about ends too... dont cut that much. Its like if you cut up to APL, by the time you get back to waist again you're ends will be messy again. Just do microtrims it will be better for the ends.

[spidermom]

Its like if you cut up to APL, by the time you get back to waist again you're ends will be messy again. Just do microtrims it will be better for the ends.

Good point, MB.

[Nightshade]

I agree on the mircrotrims! I don't think your ends look straggly or tattered at all, your taper looks natural and healthy.

Oh, and for the record, I love your natural color so much more than the blonde you had when you came here :inlove:

[pinchbeck]

Actually I do not have thin hair, but am a solid ii, despite hairdressers telling me the contrary for years.My apologies! Photos can be deceiving as somebody mentioned. A couple members commented on how thick my hair is and it is not thick:( and I always let them know. The waves in my hair poof it up giving that illusion, but my braid and hair's circumference tell a different story.

Maybe your ends are fairytailing? Lots of people love that look and many members have them. There is also that two-week rule LHC members talk about. Perhaps consider waiting it out before doing a trim. Your head space may be different then. Whatever you do will work out in the end.:)

[chickpea]

Congrats on reaching waist length! It's quite a milestone. I don't see anything wrong with the ends of your hair, but you're the one who has to live with it. Do what feels right for you.

[Tangles]

What Spidermom said. Katze, it's looking better and better. I feel like length actually makes your hair look thicker, not thinner.

[1nuitblanche]

Katze, you have made so much progress! Your hair looks wonderful--it is definitely thicker at the ends, and so much longer!

[sarahramen]

gosh darnit why cant i view photo albums!!!!! grrrr

[camirra555]

Congrats on reaching waist!

[little_acorn]

Congratulations on waist - I second the maintain at waist with microtrims :D

[jojo]

CONGRATULATIONS ON REACHING WAIST KATZEYour hair is looking the best ive ever seen it, your hemline is beautiful no cut needed and to say I am happy for you is an understatement, yes your hair grows slowly but if anybody on this board is a true inspiration to how patience and perrciverence pays off that title goes to you. I am so proud that you stuck with it despite all the anxieties you have had over the years, well done Katze once again :thudpile::thudpile: You deserve 2 thud piles!

[Katze]

My apologies! Photos can be deceiving as somebody mentioned. A couple members commented on how thick my hair is and it is not thick:( and I always let them know. The waves in my hair poof it up giving that illusion, but my braid and hair's circumference tell a different story.

Maybe your ends are fairytailing? Lots of people love that look and many members have them. There is also that two-week rule LHC members talk about. Perhaps consider waiting it out before doing a trim. Your head space may be different then. Whatever you do will work out in the end.:)

Thanks! Yes, they are naturally 'fairytaling' but I HATE the look on me. When I wash with 'cones and/or use product, I can get away with my ends looking OK right after a wash (as in the above pic) but I really do not like the severe taper. It looks like my hair is damaged, which it isn't.


CONGRATULATIONS ON REACHING WAIST KATZEYour hair is looking the best ive ever seen it, your hemline is beautiful no cut needed and to say I am happy for you is an understatement, yes your hair grows slowly but if anybody on this board is a true inspiration to how patience and perrciverence pays off that title goes to you. I am so proud that you stuck with it despite all the anxieties you have had over the years, well done Katze once again :thudpile::thudpile: You deserve 2 thud piles!

Thanks jojo. Your hair is looking WONDERFUL too - so thick and such a gorgeous color!

I actually measured, I was only at 29", not really waist, so I felt OK about cutting off an inch. Might cut more.

[Dani]

I Love your hair, and I think it suits you perfectly- every bit of it. And it is your hair, and you can feel how you want about it, but to me it is wonderful and perfect exactly the way it is on you. :D