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Cinnamon Hair
May 1st, 2008, 11:48 PM
I think I may be at the end of my length journey. Thinking of making knee my final length goal.

I would love to hear thoughts from anyone else at his/her goal length!

Tell me about your experience. How long have your been growing for thickness and trimming off length? Is it satisfying? Boring? How has it affected your long hair hobby? Now that you are at your goal, do you focus on your hair more or less than you did while growing out?

Dianyla
May 2nd, 2008, 04:36 AM
I would love to hear thoughts from anyone else at his/her goal length!

Tell me about your experience. How long have your been growing for thickness and trimming off length? Is it satisfying? Boring? How has it affected your long hair hobby? Now that you are at your goal, do you focus on your hair more or less than you did while growing out?
I reached my goal of ankle-length about 6 months ago, and have trimmed a few times since then. In some ways I feel a sense of relief, like I don't have to worry or wonder or feel impatient about getting somewhere. I can just be where I am. :)

When I joined LHC and decided to stop keeping my hair cut back to knee-length, I felt sure that I did not want to grow beyond floorlength. And yet I feel a little bit wistful when I trim to maintain where I'm at. I find myself peeking over that edge thinking "Well, maaaaaybe I should just let it get a little bit longer and see if I can stand it!" :lol:

I don't find myself focusing on it any differently because of it's current length. The biggest change has been that my life got much busier a few years ago when I went back to school (while still continuing to work full-time) and since then I've really just about forgotten that I even have hair. I'm just lucky that it's clean every now and then. :silly:

Shanarana
May 2nd, 2008, 04:57 AM
Good thread.....I think for me my goal lenght will be hip. After that I plan on doing small trims until all my layers have caught up.

Juliet's Silk
May 2nd, 2008, 05:26 AM
When I joined (my, long time ago) my long term goal was TBL. When I reached it, my ends were in a state I really didn't like - I had a massive shed and had my hair grown out with little to no trims at all. So I stopped growing and started maintaining, I think in late 2006.
I didn't like it. I mean, on the one hand you stop worrying so much about your hair because you're going to trim off the ends eventually anyway, so you don't have to baby them too much (at least that was my thinking :rolleyes:). For a year, all I did to my hair was washing and bunning, nothing else. Like Dianyla, I almost forgot I had hair. But stopping to grow after you did that for such a long time was quite a change. And now, looking back at pictures I took almost two years ago and seeing no change at all, is a little bit frustrating to say the least. My ends aren't THAT much thicker, so there isn't a real change in thickness as well.
Of course, my hair is much shorter than yours, so maybe your thoughts will be different - I myself have resolved that I at least want to try to reach classic/fingertip length and to cut back if I don't like it. I'm not happy with TBL length anymore although I think it's a very flattering length... but somehow I need a change and TBL doesn't seem long enough to me anymore. I always thought TBL was a length I could be happy with for prolonged periods of time... but having been there for quite a while now, I realize that I want something different.
I know that I needed the time of maintaining because I couldn't have made it to classic with the state my ends were in, the bulk of hair had to catch up a bit, due to that massive shed. But yeah, I'm still wondering how my hair would look like if I hadn't trimmed that much off. I'm not sure about the entire amount, it's something between 10-15". ETA: I checked, I cut about 13" all in all, I made a good guess :lol:

willowcandra
May 2nd, 2008, 06:32 AM
I have been at my goal for five months now and so far I am loving my regular trims. My hair looks thicker every time I trim and I hardly see splits anymore.

Anje
May 2nd, 2008, 06:59 AM
I'm not to my goal yet, but I can't help thinking that the idea of regular trims is strange, particularly if you're at or near floor length and don't want it touching or trailing much. (High heels only go so high, after all. I haven't seen much more than 8-10 inches.) Then again, I've always been the sort who would let my hair grow for 6 to 18 months, then chop it back, so growing hair long isn't a change to me. Maintaining a length would be.

Gothic Lolita
May 2nd, 2008, 08:33 AM
Reaching my goal and then maintaining there is exactly what I plan to do now. My hair is layered, so when I've reached true hip length I let my leayers catch up a bit and then go for TB.

I think if you stop growing but just go for thickness, this impatience falls off you. You don't wait for going somewhere, all you do it trim. And if you don't, it doesn't matter. Also I do think that regular trims add to the condition of your hair (although I trim about once a year)

mira-chan
May 2nd, 2008, 09:13 AM
I'm growing for thickness a bit now. My taper is absurd as in it drops to 1/4 thickness about 2/3 down the length. I want to try to lessen that if I can. I've passed my goal and may or may not grow longer later but there is a lot less of a feeling of pressure in needing to reach a goal. I forget my hair a lot more and have a relatively stable routine now so otherwise it is benign neglect with sometimes variety in updo's.

I've only been doing this for half a year or so but so far it hasn't had too much of an effect except I worry less.

harpgal
May 2nd, 2008, 02:12 PM
I am very near to the end of my lengthening journey. I plan to stay at mid thigh for a year or two and then reevaluate. I have a feeling of relief and contentment about it.

zift
May 2nd, 2008, 04:30 PM
Nice thread :thumbsup:
Actually the times when I didn't know anything about the long hair boards/world in internet and I wasn't growing my hair purposely to super length I had an incident happen. One of my friends came and told me that she had seen a lady with very long hair and she's sitting in a banch and her hair is sitting next to her. She told me that because I love long hair and had long hair back than.I was so surprised and wanted her to show me where she is. There I saw I haven't really seen before a lady with hair so long! So long that is past classic length. That was wow for me cause I haven't seen or thought if hair can grow so much until that minute. (But this happened years ago.) I never forgot how beautiful her hair was and that may be a big part of the inspiration for me searching for long hair on internet years later. I just wanted to tell you this hehe now probably my hair is as long as hers and I honestly can't believe I've achieved to grow as long as this,wow I rock :rockerdud:lol: OK what was the thread about tehehee:wacko:. I've put ankle length as my ultimate goal for the start but it's on writings really,in my mind I kind of see knee length as the real goal or turning point. The reason is it's more achievable for me and I'm starting to feel my hair is becoming too long for me to handle.Well really, I really believe that, I have my reasons. And while I want to reach knee length very much I'm loving mid-thigh length a lot too. It's so proportionate to my body and looks nice on me and while I still have some volume at my ends(I mean if you can call that little amount volume, I mean I never had that much potential beyond classic) I'll keep it at mid-thigh for a while. I'm thinking more and more to rest at this point for a time. I'm one of the people who gained a bit more thickness by trimming. I mean I've reached 49" more than two years ago but than there's one strand on the last inch and now there's hundreds down there,and they all grew by trimming frequently. I guess trimming at one length does help for people with thickening ends and it'll be nice to let the burden of trying to reach some length go.
Cinnamon Hair I've been an admirer of both your hair and your consistent,patient and amazing growing journey even before I joined LHC. You reaching at a goal means a lot! It gives me such great inspiration and also bumps up my motivation for growing. Thanks for sharing your success with us all.
And congratulations and good luck with maintaining!:flowers:

n3m3sis42
May 2nd, 2008, 04:47 PM
My intention at this point is to get my hair to tailbone length and then stop growing for length, at least for a while.

Some of my hair has been subjected to boxed dye, and most of it has been combed too roughly or just not cared for as well as it could have been. I have noticeable taper for the last 4 or 5 inches, and I'd like to see if I can remedy that at least somewhat.

I'm not sure that tailbone will be my final goal, but I figure I can wait to decide that after I get my ends in better shape. Not that I'm really anywhere near tailbone yet--I'm still just at Can-I-Call-This-Waist. :\

Tresses
May 2nd, 2008, 06:31 PM
Having just trimmed about 5" off to just about classic, I'm not sure if I will get much longer or not. My ends had made it to fingertip length a couple of years ago, I think, which had been one goal for me. I trimmed it myself regularly for 2 years, waiting for thickness, which came slowly; but recently decided I wanted enough cut off the bottom to make a noticeable difference. I went to a pro for that job. I am very happy with the results. :thumbsup:

I will probably let it get longer, as long as the ends don't get as thin as they were before. I'm resigned to the possibility that classic is as long as I will get and be able to maintain ends that I am pleased with.

I think I will continue to have it professionally trimmed, though, maybe once or twice a year.

Maintenance is an odd frame of mind to get into. :wacko:

socks
May 2nd, 2008, 06:35 PM
Knee-length used to be my goal. I had planned to start maintaining my hair at knee-length once I reached it so that my ends would have a chance to thicken up, but I couldn't stand to start cutting it, especially because ankle and floor-length seemed so much more possible now and I still felt that my hair was too short for my tastes. My hair is now a fair bit past my knees, and even though a voice in my head is telling me to trim it, another voice is telling me to let it keep growing until it drags on the floor behind me. Right now, I'm agreeing more with the latter.

Shell
May 2nd, 2008, 06:58 PM
My old goal was classic, and I did trim to thicken up the ends, about 3", and then grew it back to classic. I did this for about 12-18 months. My ends look pretty much the same. I'm not sure maintaining will get those thicker ends (for me). So, I decided to grow longer. I may do as Tresses has and get to fingertip (my current goal), and if I don't like it, or just for fun, I may do a larger trim back to classic, and see if that works better than small trims.

Good luck Cinnamon Hair, I hope the trimming works out for you.

EdG
May 2nd, 2008, 07:02 PM
Great thread!

I too am reaching the end of my hair journey.

I didn't set a specific goal, other than to find out how long I could grow my hair. I now know that very few hairs grow beyond upper-calf length.

I should be happier, but reaching terminal length is somewhat of a let-down. Sort of like a presumed hair god finding out that he's merely mortal after all. :shrug:

On the positive side, I'm hoping I can get my ends thicker over time. :)
Ed

Ursula
May 2nd, 2008, 07:47 PM
Well, I haven't had a particular goal length, but I have always liked my ends to be blunt and thick. So growing for thickness is something I'm quite familiar with.

The easiest thing, I think, is to let go of the idea of length. Trim when the mood strikes - when you feel as if your ends need it, based on their condition or thickness/taper, or when the length bugs you. Self-trimming is great for this. Your length will vary, depending on when you last trimmed, and how much you trimmed.

But growing for thickness does give you more opportunities to be happy, overall, with your hair. The changes are subtle. And there is far less worry about trade off the way there is when growing for length, and trying to choose carefully for each trim between more length versus more trim for interim thickness/end-look happiness.

People around here sometimes go through a lot of stress over each half-inch trim, when growing for length. Calculating months of growth, time lost with each millimeter cut, etc. People sometimes put up with length/ends they dislike for years, in order to reach a length goal. This is your chance to be happy with your hair, all the time.

Saoirse
May 2nd, 2008, 08:43 PM
I'm experiencing a lot of hair ambivalence right now. This might be kind of off-topic, but it needs to be expressed!

My hair is about halfway between classic and knee length and it is very strange to have reached this extremity. (Prepare for overusage of that word!) I joined LHC when my hair was hip-length and intended to grow to classic, with knee-length feeling like some kind of surreal pipe dream, 'wonder if that could ever be' kind of thing.

Well, now I find myself less than eight months away from knee-length, which is the longest length I would like to experience, and I am way more ambivalent about the super lengths than I originally expected to be. I guess I thought that classic+ would be all the things I loved about long/classic- : flattering, low maintenance, sensual. And in a way it is, in that I put it up every morning and usually don't take it down until bed, it is quite unusual and fills the senses, makes an impression etc. But I also find myself struggling with its general extremity. Sometimes (often?) I don't want such an overgrown/intense/ridiculous/extreme thing attached to my body and identity. Sometimes I want to wear my hair down and not have that be an extreme sport. I want to have my long hair cake and eat it, too!

Right now I plan to grow until knee length, because I think I would regret not going to that length -- as it's pretty close, now. But who knows. I give myself permission to change my opinion. I know that I love long hair and feel in tune with it but I don't know if the extreme lengths are right for me right now, and I have a pretty strong intuition that I would enjoy it more at a shorter length -- so after reaching knee, I expect to do a series of trims until I find the place at which I am most satisfied.

I don't know to what extent this answers your questions, cinnamon hair, but I a) wanted to express some bottled-up thoughts and b) felt like putting forth the idea that not everyone is totally at peace with extreme lengths; I certainly expected to be, and the ambivalence and constant doubting which I have personally experienced 'along the way' have been quite a surprise. And I almost feel like this is an aspect of extremely long hair which isn't often discussed, because it took a while for me to feel like this self doubt and lack of surety were legitimate. So -- shrugging here -- if anyone else is having an inconclusive experience with the extreme lengths -- you're not alone! :heartbeat x

TheBlondeApple
May 2nd, 2008, 09:45 PM
I would love to hear thoughts from anyone else at his/her goal length!


I maintained at BSL (27 inches) for 6 months. I didn't have high hopes, thinking I'd need about 10 inches cut off to have less taper. However, after only 3 months, my ends had gone from velcro to silk and I could feel a thickness difference in my braid tassle. Maintaining really is the thing for my hair.

Right now, I just reached waist length (31 inches) and have just started maintaining, again. I'm expecting less dramatic changes this time around, since I have been microtrimming monthly while growing from 27 to 31 inches.

It's relaxing.

Anja

Flying Betty
May 2nd, 2008, 09:55 PM
When I found LHC, my hair was around tailbone length and had been going between waist and tailbone for probably 8-10 years at that point. I'd always had hair that was really long by just about anyone's standards and stuck around here mainly for the heck of it than for any dedicated hair growing goal.

By taking better care of my hair, I realized that I didn't really need my normal yearly cut back to waist length, and I've just been trimming an inch or so off every couple of months. I'm at just barely not classic right now (holy crap, my hair grows *fast*) and though it would be fun to see what it's like having a more extreme length, I like wearing my hair down too much and I don't think that would be at all practical beyond this point.

What I do strive for is growing out damage. The very front inch or so of my hair is the darkest part on my head, and I like being blond so I'd been highlighting that little bit, and noticed that while the rest of my hair was hitting my butt that part was broken off around boob length. Not cool. So I haven't really cared about getting any more length, and just want that part to get longer. (And I still want it blonder! I think I may go back to Sun-In, actually. It seemed to affect less of my hair than the highlighting kit did, and break off less)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that LHC hasn't given me any great growing journey, but it has made me more aware of my hair and enjoy having long hair more than I had before. I may bot be tracking every quarter of an inch with my trusty measuring tape, or even care, but I take the time to look at the back of my head and go "ooh, pretty" or "wow, I didn't realize my hair was so long!" and then just go on with my life not obsessing too much about hair besides that.

PS- Cinnamon Hair, I think your website was what really led me to stick around. I love the pictures.

Cinnamon Hair
May 2nd, 2008, 10:07 PM
Posting this bit before I confuse myself with too many quotes. Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Nemesis, enjoy the journey!


I will probably let it get longer, as long as the ends don't get as thin as they were before. I'm resigned to the possibility that classic is as long as I will get and be able to maintain ends that I am pleased with.

I think I will continue to have it professionally trimmed, though, maybe once or twice a year.

Maintenance is an odd frame of mind to get into.

Tresses, for someone I remember as always having unbelievably lush thick hair, I see your dilemma. It takes a lot of commitment to have both thickness and length when you aren't born with the genes.


a voice in my head is telling me to trim it, another voice is telling me to let it keep growing until it drags on the floor behind me. Right now, I'm agreeing more with the latter.

Socks, I hear that voice at times too. On one hand it would be neat to have floorlength & beyond, but on the other, eek at the maintanance and would I ever wear it down? For now at least, my "stop while you're ahead" voice is louder.


Shell, thank you.


I should be happier, but reaching terminal length is somewhat of a let-down. Sort of like a presumed hair god finding out that he's merely mortal after all.
EdG, love it!



People around here sometimes go through a lot of stress over each half-inch trim, when growing for length. Calculating months of growth, time lost with each millimeter cut, etc. People sometimes put up with length/ends they dislike for years, in order to reach a length goal. This is your chance to be happy with your hair, all the time.
Ursula, truer words have never been spoken. There was certainly a time on LHC when I preferred length over quality. Perhaps not to the extremes though, since I did trim over 7" right after joining.

Saoirse, I'm glad you felt that you could express that ambivilence over length here. Certainly a lot of members who are far from reaching their length goals would not understand. I have had a similar experience; every inch or half inch of growth used to excite me, until about classic. Then it became ho-hum. I liked reading larger numbers on the tape measure, but it wasn't as great as before.

If you're into economics, it was a marginal cost = marginal price sorta thing..the law of diminishing returns and all that :) That's the easiest way for me to explain it. The new length was nice, but the more length you already have, the less you value an extra inch.

BlondeApple, wow congrats on the patience to maintain so often. Not the fastest road to long hair, but certainly the wisest.


PS- Cinnamon Hair, I think your website was what really led me to stick around. I love the pictures.
Thank you Flying Betty!


Ok off to reply to the first page now.

Cinnamon Hair
May 2nd, 2008, 10:28 PM
I reached my goal of ankle-length about 6 months ago, and have trimmed a few times since then. In some ways I feel a sense of relief, like I don't have to worry or wonder or feel impatient about getting somewhere. I can just be where I am.

When I joined LHC and decided to stop keeping my hair cut back to knee-length, I felt sure that I did not want to grow beyond floorlength. And yet I feel a little bit wistful when I trim to maintain where I'm at. I find myself peeking over that edge thinking "Well, maaaaaybe I should just let it get a little bit longer and see if I can stand it!"
Dianyla, LHC has a way of putting doubt into us all. Always thinking "what if I grew just a little longer." That's how I reached knee when I was aiming for classic. (Even my website is titled Classic Length...duh!) I'm glad I did it though and hopefully it will be refreshing to let my hair just be.

Shanarana, hope you reach your goal soon! Hips are not too far away.


But yeah, I'm still wondering how my hair would look like if I hadn't trimmed that much off. I'm not sure about the entire amount, it's something between 10-15". ETA: I checked, I cut about 13" all in all, I made a good guess
Juliet, yes that what-if factor can be quite a pest.

Willowcandra, that is great to hear! I like seeing progress.


Then again, I've always been the sort who would let my hair grow for 6 to 18 months, then chop it back, so growing hair long isn't a change to me. Maintaining a length would be.
Anje, I don't have much experience at maintaining length either. I'm more of a sensationalist, in that when my hair was too thin for my taste I chose to cut 7" at once rather than multiple smaller trims. I like my thickness now though (although more is better) so it isn't quite the same as last time.

Thanks for the encouragement Gothic Lolita.

Mira-chan, nice to know I am in good company :) I quite admire your fairytale braid signature pic and am sure it can only get better.


I am very near to the end of my lengthening journey. I plan to stay at mid thigh for a year or two and then reevaluate. I have a feeling of relief and contentment about it.
Harpgal, congratulations on nearing your goal! Yes, that is a good point..deciding to maintain a length does not have to be a permanent decision. One can always choose to begin growing again.

Zift, what a great story. Thank you for sharing it. I can see how that would be very inspiring. Also, thanks on the congrats (blushing).

n3m3sis42
May 2nd, 2008, 10:30 PM
Thank you, Cinnamon Hair! It's been a lot of fun reading what works for all of you on LHC. :)

Riot Crrl
May 2nd, 2008, 11:10 PM
I don't really have a length goal, but my intention is to grow out peroxide. I have around a couple of feet to go.

I used to be happy with my peroxide (and daily SLS, and cones, and harsh brushing, etc.) and then I would just ignore it and get it cut two or three inches once a year or so. It used to be easier to ignore. Since cutting some of it off and realizing it was curly and also doing a major color change (peroxide to henna, so my color is still permanent now but it's not damaging) I've been probably paying way more attention to it than I should, lol.

It has taken a lot of experimentation to figure out what works now, but I think I'm just about there. If I can get in a routine of throwing conditioner on it every day or two, and color every month or so again, it'll be easy to just ignore it some more for the most part.

I have no honest idea what a knee length brushing/combing routine would consist of, but I know this. When my hair was waist/TB and I thought it was just wavy, I used to brush it out dry daily. Now I lose like 1% of the shedding and breakage that I used to then, lol.

Schnee
May 3rd, 2008, 03:38 AM
For a while now I've been a bit torn between my curiosity to see how long it can grow and cutting back and maintain at upper thigh, a length I really liked. At this point I'm sure that anything beyond knee might be more work than what it's worth, I want to enjoy my hair... buuut.... Well, the debate goes on and meanwhile my hair keeps growing.. ;)

Juliet's Silk
May 3rd, 2008, 04:31 AM
But growing for thickness does give you more opportunities to be happy, overall, with your hair. The changes are subtle. And there is far less worry about trade off the way there is when growing for length, and trying to choose carefully for each trim between more length versus more trim for interim thickness/end-look happiness. .

I'd like to disagree with you on this. For some people, this might be true - for other, it's not. I myself found always more pleasure and happiness in growing my hair as the achievements came month after month and while you can't see a 1" gain if you just look at the length of hair, your measure tape will assure you, yes, it has grown, you achieved something. My hair never stalled and grows a bit faster than average, so I never experienced such worries, but as I said, for other people the experience will differ of course.
Thickness on the other hand... as I said, I maintained for quite some time now, and I think 13" is quite a large amount. Still, I'm unhappy. You trim and trim away, but unless you cut a large amount off at once, you don't see a difference because the change is so small, subtle as you said. Even a measuring tape cannot help you. Taking pictures might but still, the difference a year made in thickness was almost not noticeable. Also - depending on your hair type, getting a nice even thickness all over might take you considerably longer than reaching your length goal in the first place. I figured that I might spend the next 5 years maintaining to reach a thickness I could be happy with - and it took me "only" 2-3 years to reach this length.
So for me, this maintaining thing has led to more frustration than happiness and I'm really happy that I'm back on the growing wagon again. I think I'll be one of those persons who grow grow grow for months, then do one drastic chop and start growing again, because I never felt the happiness of "nice ends" after a small trim - only when I did my last chop (5" I think) I could see a difference.

Hypnotica
May 3rd, 2008, 05:41 AM
I don't know if I have a goal length. I do know that my hair feels very shor and that I'm close to wais now. I don't have any taper to speak of, few splits, my ends are fine....

Heck, I don't even know why I decided to grow my hair again. But I like it and I'm content with that.

zift
May 3rd, 2008, 06:22 AM
It's interesting how different people's experience will be with the maintaining and gaining thickness issue. I think there has to be certain conditions to stay at a length and gain thickness.
-If you started your journey with damaged hair or with an inproper hair-care routine, as you learn to take care of your hair better your ends will eventually thicken because the splits and breakage is no more there.
-If you went through a very long trimless and cutless journey and suddenly stopped, your ends will thicken again with the slower growing hairs reaching the ends eventually.
-If you have the genetic potential at that length,meaning if you stopped before your terminal length you can have a thicker hemline too.

So if someone's not having health issues and have grown their hair with the ultimate care and stopped at a length and trimmed for years and still not gaining any thickness at their ends, it means that probably they have reached their terminal thickness for that length. Forexample I did gain a lot more thickness at my ends with my trimming efforts but the thickness at waist or hip level almost never changed because I've already reached my maximum potential there. So if I cut back to waist today I know that(if I didn't have shaved the underlayer of my hair) I wouldn't gain thickness at that length ever.

eresh
May 3rd, 2008, 06:40 AM
First my goal was classic length, but when I reached it, I thought, why not see how long it will grow, I'm enjoying my hair so why stop now.
I'm really curious at what length my hair will be terminal.
So I made the plan not to trim, only do S&D.

Now I'm a bit past the knees and beginning this week the frustration was so high, I cut 4 cm off.
Not a lot, but still made a bit of a difference.
My natural hemline bugged me (it's an upside down V shape, while it looks kindof unique having this snakes tongue shape hair....
it started to irritate me) and also the ends were thin.
I thought, what a poorly braidtassle.
I do like a fairytale hemline, blunt cut is just not my style.
With this small trim it's still fairytale BUT without the weird shape ;-)

Now my plan is to see if I can grow to ankle, and if the ends are too thin to my liking (if I can ever reach ankle)
than I'll cut back to knee to gain some thickness.
So, first see if I can reach the length and after that cutting back for thickness and perhaps growing back to ankle again
(as then I will know I can reach it again :))

Hm, I look back at my post and it seems chaotic to me.
Hope you understand what I mean :)

Mangachan
May 3rd, 2008, 07:32 AM
When I had a chemical relaxer and I noticed I was loosing thickness and I didn't want to grow my hair to my goal (hip length I guess?) and have it be thinning and damaged looking. I chopped off the thin relaxed ends so thickness is no longer an issue. It also helps not to do anything that would damage the ends (I'm referring to heat here).

Lady Godiva
May 3rd, 2008, 11:19 AM
I think I'm going to ramble...:roll:

This is such a great thread. We can express our ambivalence with our hair length choices, can't we? We don't always have to present positive vibes, do we? As I've written before on other subjects, it's OK not to know, to have doubts, and even to be inconsistent on matters (not just hair). It all shows that we're thinking, weighing options and growing as persons. Those are good things. :grin:

Something I also believe is that how long a person's hair is has no moral bottom line. It's a personal preference; that's all. No one should feel compelled to grow longer unless s/he wants to. Hair has the inherent ability to be cut just as much as it has the ability to grow long, and really, this lifts the burden of feeling pressured to do either.

I've been at floor length since late autumn 2006. The ends were very thin then, but a small bunch did hit the floor actual-factual. I've been maintaining that length more or less, sometimes trimming up to my ankles and other times letting it "drag" (presently it's an inch on the floor, so Hubs tells me). I don't know, and I don't really care. Floor length didn't become a goal until a friend suggested that having six feet of hair would be very cool-sounding, so I thought, what the heck, why not, and went for it. Maybe all I'm doing is a simple mathematical game, after all. :lol:

My hair still isn't completely where my, erm, goal is, because my ex-bangs are somewhere longer than my knees. I don't really know or care how long they are, except they showed up in a photo from the West Virginia Penitentiary meet last September, when the wind kicked up. Now I'm aware that they're not all the way grown out yet, and it simply would be cool for them to join their compadres down there, just for grins. I'd like to see how much volume I could get at floor length, again, just for grins.

I deliberately don't permit myself to get wrapped up in measuring or worrying about trim amounts because I don't want to be bound by that. I want to be able to cut much shorter and not regret it. I am so much more than my hair length. I want my hair to be nothing more than just a fun aspect about myself, and it's fun to share that with others.

What have become very important to me are the social implications that surround the long hair choice, and I'm quite focused on those aspects because I really dislike the social injustices implied in them, the inequality that people face simply due to their personal preference to have a hair style out of the norm. The stupidity of western culture forcing a short-hair norm onto people and applying false values and pressure for us to conform to that norm riles me. There's that, plus the age-related pressure, and then there's the gender bias that men face, and again, I am disgusted by the unfairness and inequality of all that. These are the things that drive me to love my hair styling choice because these issues point to much greater problems in our world, and they're not small personal grooming matters. They are larger social issues that highlight prejudice, judgmentalism, societal norms, and even politics and religion. There's nothing small about those subjects.

Cinnamon Hair, I have waxed far beyond your initial query. Please forgive, but all of it relates to why I keep my hair at this length. For each inch I keep, I defy prejudice and have my own little platform of experience to back me up. Still... I always keep mindful that I *can* cut if I *want* to, because my preferences don't have to take a back seat to enjoying life. I just happen to enjoy *both* my hair length and the fact that it can point to much more, for me. I don't want to forget to mention that I happen to think that long hair is beautiful, too, and I just feel right having it long! :inlove:

So I'm waiting until my ex-bangs reach the floor. I'm there, but kind of am not there. :cool:

birthmarkie
May 3rd, 2008, 02:52 PM
I sort of fell into maintaining this month. I've been unhappy with my layered ends for a few months now. My original goal was just to reach shoulder length, but after being here for a while, I quickly extended my goal. My final goal is TB in theory, right now, but I don't mind taking my time getting there. I plan to maintain here at a little past APL in order to let my layers even out. In this way, I kind of have the best of both worlds, because I get to even up my hemline while still seeing the growth of my shorter layers. Once I feel happier or at least at peace about my layered ends, I will grow on to BSL and waist, etc. But that could be next month or several months. I just consider this a pit-stop and those can be nice. :)

vindo
May 3rd, 2008, 11:18 PM
I am not at my goal yet and I am honestly not sure what my goal even is. I guess my hair will show me though.
If I notice its looking much too thin for my taste I will consider wearing it at a length that is still long but where I can have a thickness that is not see through.
So far I like my thickness until hip but I want to see if it grows down some more and if classic length is wearable for me.
I had a trim period in early 2007 (half year) and the results were stunning! :) I was so happy how quickly my hair evened up. I just had another shorter trim period and it worked wonders again..I will keep up that strategie of pausing fro trims all the way to classic ( Im 5-8cm away from it)

Nightshade
May 3rd, 2008, 11:57 PM
I hit my goal length of 36 inches (tailbone one me) a few months ago, and I've been trimming to maintain there.

With 8-10 inches of old dye left, the length goal really seemed more of a mini-goal. More of a, "Oh, good, now I can get down to business with the damage" feeling. Since I've maintained there (mostly, I think I'm past 37in now, though that fluxes a little) I can tell my ends are improving more quickly.

Once I get all that trimmed off, then I have all my old 100% henna to grow out and have only my lighter henna/cassia blend hair. So, I'm obviously a big fan of long-term goals.

As to what I may do when I finally have cassia/henna only hair with no damage, I'll probably be going gray by then and can work on growing my hair out all silver :lol:

Honestly, though, I find researching stuff (oils/henna/etc) almost more exciting that actually dealing with my hair. :o

Saoirse
May 4th, 2008, 08:16 AM
Attempting to respond, inconclusively and semi-coherently, to Lady Godiva:


This is such a great thread. We can express our ambivalence with our hair length choices, can't we? We don't always have to present positive vibes, do we? As I've written before on other subjects, it's OK not to know, to have doubts, and even to be inconsistent on matters (not just hair). It all shows that we're thinking, weighing options and growing as persons. Those are good things. :grin:

I'm glad you think so. I do sense some subtle pressure to put forth the best of ultra long hair. You know, because I want something that unusual to be respected and appreciated. I guess the downside is getting oneself into a corner where, with the absence of total pleasure and satisfaction, one wonders if she has done something wrong. It's relieving to be able to examine all of my feelings about it.


Something I also believe is that how long a person's hair is has no moral bottom line. It's a personal preference; that's all. No one should feel compelled to grow longer unless s/he wants to. Hair has the inherent ability to be cut just as much as it has the ability to grow long, and really, this lifts the burden of feeling pressured to do either.

This is a liberating idea. Of course, on one hand I understand that it is just hair. On the other -- hair can tangle one's identity and other issues up within itself, making cutting it a much more complicated endeavour that it need be!

My feelings on this remind me somewhat of Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being and his discussion of lightness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightness). Have any of you read this book? I think the lightest character in that book -- what would she do? Surely to her, hair is just hair. Do what you will. It will grow back, and so on. But how human, to make something light heavy, to make one's hair deserving of struggle over one's identity, one's conforming to society, and all these other things!

OK, philosophical aside finished ...

It's very relieving, Lady G, to read your thoughts on this -- because you also have super long hair, you experience similar things, you understand what I'm saying, and yet your attitude is totally not locked into 'long hair only!' and thus legitimizes my (inconclusive, wandering) thoughts. Thank you for your post. "As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others".

UrbanEast
May 4th, 2008, 10:24 AM
Count me into the growing for thickness club. This is as long as I want my hair to be, especially since I wear it down a lot. (I do admire those who are shooting for classic or knee length though!)

Is anyone else who is growing for thickness using hair growth aids like Monistat?

teadragon
May 4th, 2008, 01:38 PM
I'm not really doing either, specifically. I'm not just growing, nor am I stopped at a certain spot in order to increase thickness.

Once my hair reached waist length, I decided that it was "long" and I didn't have to think about growing so much anymore. Now, I trim a bit more than half of each year's growth. As a result, it's inching downward without sacrificing the healthy appearance. I'd like it to grow faster, but still I'm pretty content. I suppose my goal is classic length, but that's more for the novelty of sitting on it; I'd probably cut it back to tailbone once I'd had classic for a while.

joyful373
May 4th, 2008, 01:55 PM
I am grateful for this thread and the honesty that is expressed on it. I am one of those "in between" as well, and as I approach hip length (or at least continue on toward it if I am not there) I wonder about the thickness vs. length debate that takes place in my mind. I know I will never be super thick- (I'm lucky to be a ii) but an even thickness is tempting and most likely where I will end up. Unless I don't. I do know however, that my hair was very grateful after having close to an inch cut from the ends, and my length is so much more healthy feeling and looking. So I suppose it "is what it is."

see why I love this place?

...joyful

spidermom
May 4th, 2008, 02:27 PM
Congratulations on reaching your hair-length goals, CinnamonHair. I love looking at your web site pictures and have been there several times this year alone.

I've been approaching hair length bass ackward judging by most of the posts. My goals are
1) maintain thick, blunt ends and
2) grow to classic length.

Not that I haven't had a few ripples in my intention, but for the most part this has been my approach from the beginning. Number 1 isn't going as well as I had planned; I have taper in thickness despite regular trimming. It hasn't become so thin at the bottom that I feel I have to abandon goal #2, however. My hair might make it that far. If it does, my next thought is to grow it for one full year with no trimming out of curiosity. If I like it, I might extend the no trimming growth for awhile.

Cinnamon Hair
May 4th, 2008, 09:03 PM
What have become very important to me are the social implications that surround the long hair choice, and I'm quite focused on those aspects because I really dislike the social injustices implied in them, the inequality that people face simply due to their personal preference to have a hair style out of the norm. The stupidity of western culture forcing a short-hair norm onto people and applying false values and pressure for us to conform to that norm riles me. There's that, plus the age-related pressure, and then there's the gender bias that men face, and again, I am disgusted by the unfairness and inequality of all that. These are the things that drive me to love my hair styling choice because these issues point to much greater problems in our world, and they're not small personal grooming matters. They are larger social issues that highlight prejudice, judgmentalism, societal norms, and even politics and religion. There's nothing small about those subjects.

LadyGodiva, I'm so glad you went beyond my initial questions. Your insight on what (super, freakishly, uber?) long hair means to you is very interesting. I also love that even at floor length, you aren't completely sure what you want at any given time. I'm so there.

Ursula
May 8th, 2008, 11:34 AM
I recently did a larger trim to thicken up my ends, which needed it in spite of fairly regular small trims. This led me to do some thinking on how my trims/cuts overall have worked since I learned to self-trim and started trimming more often.

My take on keeping (very) thick ends seems to be that I do small trims frequently, to slow my growth to about half it's natural rate (so, for every inch of growth, cut 1/2 inch.) This works well for quite a while, but after a bit, it will still get thin. At that point, trim half the growth since your last major trim. (E.g., if you've grown 12" since your last big trim, then trim 6")

At this point, my ends seem as thick as they were when I was doing my pre-LHC trim cycle, which was to cut back to just above waist, then grow without any trims at all for several years, then cut back to waist again.

By contrast, when I'd just let it go without trimming, if I got to near-classic, I'd have to trim back to waist to get the same thickness, instead of hip - because the very ends grew faster, but got thinner faster, as well. It was harder to gain length with what I'd consider "quality thickness", because the effect of the racer hairs was more pronounced.

Based on this, I'm wondering if, in terms of having reached goal, and wanting to thicken up the ends, perhaps doing a somewhat larger trim, and then small trims to let it grow at a slower rate for a while, might be more effective than just holding the length. So that you're maintaining around an "average" length you like, but with a bit more up and down variation over time.

(E.g., trim back 3", then do 1/2" trims for every 1" growth, until you've gained 6" from the trim, or 3" below where you are now, then go back 6", and repeat the cycle until things have thickened up?)

This might give you more noticable increase in thickness, both for the small trims to even things constantly, and the occassional larger trim with a more dramatic increase in thickness at the ends after that.

Gwaihiril
May 18th, 2008, 12:33 PM
I don't have a specific goal, mostly because I didn't have one at the beginning and never set one. I moved to my current town/school in first grade and knew I wanted longer hair (I had a bowl cut when I was 5, shoulder length in kindergarten), but without a specific length in mind, I just kept letting it grow, until it became my "thing" at school. I like it a lot and have no plans to cut it, but I'm approaching knee length (I actually hit it last year, but needed a trim to even things up, so was at midthigh at the beginning of the school year) and am not sure if I want it past that. I think was really got me was doing my hair for prom two days ago - I put in two small accent ropes, and I almost couldn't finish them because my arms didn't reach far enough! I want to be able to manage my hair myself for all but the fanciest hairstyles, so I think I'm about done. I'll keep going for length, since the last six-8 inches of my hair taper a lot, but I'll keep it about knee length through college, I think.

A side note - as a bored senior, I decided to bleach the tips of my hair and then dye them purple. While there was definitely damage from the bleach, I know that after a couple trims, maybe three if they're small trims, the damaged section will be gone and I'll still have long hair. I guess having hair this long gives me the freedom to play and do crazy stuff, which I would be more hesitant about if I was trying to grow for length.

Kuchen
May 18th, 2008, 12:54 PM
I'm at my first goal, BSL, which is far longer than my hair's ever been. I've always trimmed as I have damage and layers that I want to remove, and I always said I'd maintain at BSL to get rid of them before heading on to waist. It suits me very well – I don't have the patience to baby ends without trimming, and it's also going to take me a while to get used to "long" hair.

Tigerdawn
May 18th, 2008, 02:05 PM
I've struggled with the length/thickness debate as well. I have always been told that your hair gets too thin as it gets longer and (I know it shouldn't, but) it bothers me when someone sees my hair and thinks it's too thin or damaged to be at this length. So I trim every six months or so and I figure it'll get longer eventually. My view is that I don't want to sacrifice healthy thick ends for length, but at the same time, I do sacrifice it because to be honest, my hair is healthiest to about waist and then the quality declines.

I have pretty much just split the difference. I get a good 75% of the damage off with each trim and it evens and thickens my hemline. I still have longer hair than before, just not as long as it could be. I think I would rather have slow progress with healthy hair than to get to my goal and immediately have to cut a bunch off because it's so damged.

I want others to see my hair and think that it's pretty and healthy and not, "Oh dear, she should cut all that damage off!"

I know that many others feel the opposite of me but that's been my experience, at least.

morgwn
May 19th, 2008, 03:00 AM
At this point, because I'm wearing my hair up all of the time, I don't really notice the taper (although I do know that it's there!) and so I haven't felt the urge to have a trim. The problem for me is that when I get a trim when it's wet, it may appear that I've only cut off an inch when really it'll shrink up another 3-4 inches when dry. I want to try and get at least past waist length before I have any sort of a trim. I am getting close to waist (when my hair is wet, that is), but I think at this point that I'll probably begin trimming when I get to tailbone length and let it grow more gradually to classic. Classic is presently my final goal, but if I get my hair to that length with some thickness, then I may decide to go longer again.