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FlowFlow
June 23rd, 2010, 05:46 PM
So I recently discovered terminal length and am fascinated. I had no idea that even existed! I do however have a curiosity question. I personally do not like fairy tail ends, so would it technically be terminal length if you reach said length and keep the ends trimmed? Thanks everyone!

lemonmelon
June 23rd, 2010, 06:10 PM
I had always thought terminal length literally meant when your hair stops growing. So, if you needed to trim to maintain it...it would not actually be terminal because it's still growing.

jasper
June 23rd, 2010, 07:43 PM
I think if you are trimming, you would always be shorter than terminal length. If terminal length is the limit of how long a hair can grow, your head of hair would only be at terminal length when you had enough hair that had never been trimmed and allowed to reach that full length. :shrug:

I imagine we've most of us got hairs all over our heads that are reaching terminal length and getting shed day to day, but as they've been trimmed, cut, broken or otherwise shortened over the years, we don't know what the terminal length is.

opbutterfly
June 23rd, 2010, 09:36 PM
Here's another question- what is terminal length? How long is it usually?

HairColoredHair
June 23rd, 2010, 09:55 PM
Actual terminal is probably somewhere about classic for most people, as far as I can figure. Of course, there are, therefore, people on either end of the bell curve. :)

Trimmed hair wouldn't be terminal, but if it would make you happy, then do that!

slythwolf
June 23rd, 2010, 10:05 PM
When I was in middle school, I had the then-current Guiness Book of Records, and the woman with the world's longest hair had grown it to over twelve feet. On the other end of the spectrum, I have a friend who has never managed to get past APL, but she bleaches and fries her hair to within an inch of its poor pitiful life.

spidermom
June 23rd, 2010, 11:20 PM
Terminal length means that you let your hair grow as long as it will grow. So if you're trimming, you won't reach true terminal length. I have a similar idea, though; that I'll grow and trim and see how long my hair will get with that.

Heavenly Locks
June 24th, 2010, 12:45 AM
One thing that might help you to imagine how terminal works is think of it as terminal 'time' :) Each hair grows for a predetermined amount of time. Depending on what happens to it during its life (damage from sun, chemicals, heat, cutting) it can end up shorter than it could have been. Each hair grows out of your scalp at a different time so, at any given time, we will have shorter and longer hairs on our scalp.

Some people's hair can grow for years and years without reaching its terminal time. It's individual.

vanity_acefake
June 24th, 2010, 12:48 AM
Ok silly question. How does your hair know it has a terminal length? I have just always wondered.

Loreley
June 24th, 2010, 01:01 AM
If you trim you are always a bit above terminal length.

jera
June 24th, 2010, 01:40 AM
Ok silly question. How does your hair know it has a terminal length? I have just always wondered.

Genetics?? :) I think that would weigh largely in determining the terminal length of the hairs on an individual's head.

But, I do believe the way we treat our hair, our diets, and the vitamin supplements we take can extend the terminal length of our hair beyond that of our female ancestors especially if they had a poor diet, chemically processed their hair, used heat styling etc.

HairColoredHair
June 24th, 2010, 06:54 AM
Ok silly question. How does your hair know it has a terminal length? I have just always wondered.

It's not the hair itself. It's the hair follicle. And the hair follicle doesn't know how long your hair is either. :) Like Heavenly Locks said, it's all about time. Each follicle is pre-programmed by your body to grow for a certain amount of time. This is the anagen (growing) phase. At the end of the anagen phase, the body prepares the hair to be shed and stops growing (catagen). Then, when that time is done, the follicle enters telogen phase (ending) and sheds the hair. Then the follicle is dormant a while to rest until the cycle begins again.

That's why even short haired people shed! The hair follicle reached the end of its 'life'.

FlowFlow
June 24th, 2010, 05:03 PM
:) Each hair grows for a predetermined amount of time. Depending on what happens to it during its life (damage from sun, chemicals, heat, cutting) it can end up shorter than it could have been. Each hair grows out of your scalp at a different time so, at any given time, we will have shorter and longer hairs on our scalp.


!!!Ooh!!! So does this mean that potentially different individual hairs have their own terminal lengths?!?!

mira-chan
June 24th, 2010, 05:10 PM
!!!Ooh!!! So does this mean that potentially different individual hairs have their own terminal lengths?!?!
Yes. Hairs closer to your hair line have a shorter terminal length due to the hormone effects that are functioning for regular body hair crossing into the scalp territory a little. This is also why some people's hair grows more even than others. The hair production speed by the follicles vary and the growth time varies.

jasper
June 24th, 2010, 06:03 PM
!!!Ooh!!! So does this mean that potentially different individual hairs have their own terminal lengths?!?!
Yes, and hopefully means your eyebrows have a different terminal length than than the hair of your scalp or chin. I think some hair follicles get carried away some times.

Stormphoenix
June 24th, 2010, 09:49 PM
Yep. I would like it if my eyebrows hairs would grow more and some others would take a rest.

jera
June 25th, 2010, 01:12 AM
Yes, and hopefully means your eyebrows have a different terminal length than than the hair of your scalp or chin. I think some hair follicles get carried away some times.

No one complains about eyelashes getting carried away and growing too long though, do they? :p


Yep. I would like it if my eyebrows hairs would grow more and some others would take a rest.

Hehehe. Me too. :o

jasper
June 25th, 2010, 07:03 AM
My complaint is when the one among the many gets carried away. Somrtimes I have a hair above my left eyebrow that gets to growing like a scalp hair.

opbutterfly
June 25th, 2010, 07:25 AM
No one complains about eyelashes getting carried away and growing too long though, do they? :p






Ohh, I dunno! My mum has a mutant eyelash (singular) that grows at a ridiculous rate. It'll be twice as long as any other, so she'll cut it back, and within a month or so it's back to twice as long as the others again. She's tried plucking it, cutting it, anything-else-you-can-think-of-ing it, and the darned thing won't stop sprouting...

tofuowl
June 25th, 2010, 07:33 AM
Yes. Hairs closer to your hair line have a shorter terminal length due to the hormone effects that are functioning for regular body hair crossing into the scalp territory a little. This is also why some people's hair grows more even than others. The hair production speed by the follicles vary and the growth time varies.

So, does this mean that "fairytale ends" are bound to always occur at terminal length? In other words, when the back/"longest" portion of hair has reached terminal length, is it likely that the "sides" will have reached a shorter terminal length at the same time?

tofuowl
June 25th, 2010, 07:35 AM
Ohh, I dunno! My mum has a mutant eyelash (singular) that grows at a ridiculous rate. It'll be twice as long as any other, so she'll cut it back, and within a month or so it's back to twice as long as the others again. She's tried plucking it, cutting it, anything-else-you-can-think-of-ing it, and the darned thing won't stop sprouting...

Haha! Every woman on my mom's side of the family (to my knowledge) gets *one* mutant hair right on the bottom of her chin. We've never tested to see just how long it will get, but since they're mostly blonde, sometimes they only catch it when it's a good couple inches long already!

Anje
June 25th, 2010, 07:36 AM
My complaint is when the one among the many gets carried away. Somrtimes I have a hair above my left eyebrow that gets to growing like a scalp hair.
DH once had an arm hair like that. It could wrap all the way around! It has since shed out and hasn't repeated the performance, though.

Anje
June 25th, 2010, 07:39 AM
So, does this mean that "fairytale ends" are bound to always occur at terminal length? In other words, when the back/"longest" portion of hair has reached terminal length, is it likely that the "sides" will have reached a shorter terminal length at the same time?
This too, seems to be individual. For me, the hair at the sides seems to grow slower and tapers faster, and I suspect it has a shorter terminal length. There are others here who get a ^ shaped hemline if they let it go -- I suspect if they let their hair grow to terminal without trimming, the sides will hang longer than the center. It's not unusual for one side to grow faster than the other, either, and again, I suspect that this influences terminal length.

Someone who has hair that grows in an interesting pattern and has reached terminal will correct me if I'm wrong, I hope.

freezerpop
June 25th, 2010, 10:16 AM
DH once had an arm hair like that. It could wrap all the way around! It has since shed out and hasn't repeated the performance, though.

I have a mutant arm-hair as well, just above my elbow. It's light blonde and grows as fast as a head hair. I've tried plucking the darn thing out for years now and it just keeps coming back.

tofuowl
June 25th, 2010, 01:07 PM
This too, seems to be individual. For me, the hair at the sides seems to grow slower and tapers faster, and I suspect it has a shorter terminal length. There are others here who get a ^ shaped hemline if they let it go -- I suspect if they let their hair grow to terminal without trimming, the sides will hang longer than the center. It's not unusual for one side to grow faster than the other, either, and again, I suspect that this influences terminal length.

Someone who has hair that grows in an interesting pattern and has reached terminal will correct me if I'm wrong, I hope.

That's very comforting! I mean, hopefully I don't end up lopsided either; I was just curious if the pattern was set in stone or not.

I wonder if the way we carry our hair influences it at all. I've always heard that it's good to change your part every so often to avoid creating a permanent hairline at the part, and I've heard that weight or pressure on hair speeds up growth . . . I wonder how influential hairstyles are on terminal growth. If we can speed up growth by putting our hair up, and terminal growth is determined by a timed growth cycle at the follicle level, then theoretically terminal growth length could be extended by continuing techniques such as scalp massage and putting one's hair up?

Igor
June 25th, 2010, 01:25 PM
That's very comforting! I mean, hopefully I don't end up lopsided either; I was just curious if the pattern was set in stone or not.

I wonder if the way we carry our hair influences it at all. I've always heard that it's good to change your part every so often to avoid creating a permanent hairline at the part, and I've heard that weight or pressure on hair speeds up growth . . . I wonder how influential hairstyles are on terminal growth. If we can speed up growth by putting our hair up, and terminal growth is determined by a timed growth cycle at the follicle level, then theoretically terminal growth length could be extended by continuing techniques such as scalp massage and putting one's hair up?

Hm. How do I explain this?
You can only maximise your potential genetic growth using updos, products, supplements and massages etc.
By the end of the day, your terminal length is determined by genetics, hormones and body chemistry.
Terminal length is the terminal growing time. It’s just like you can’t make skin cells live longer than 2 to 4 weeks no matter what you do to them
All your precautions “only” makes sure that your hair has a chance of reaching its genetic maximum length. Without the protection we give it, it will be worn out, damaged and break before reaching it