Are there limits on hair length?

[iShampoo]

I'm asking this question for my mom. Her hair goes down to the middle of her back, but it doesn't seem to be getting any longer. We're not sure if this is genetic or it has something to do with past or present treatment of her hair. Here are some tidbits about my mom and her situation:

My mom is almost 51 years old, but she's not showing any signs of balding. Balding doesn't really run in her family.
My own hair is at the small of my back and growing, but ALL of our other female family members have short hair, so we wouldn't know if they have this issue.
My mom has a history of beating the crap out of her hair with bleaches and hot hair tools. There was a point where she could grab clumps of hair off her head. She still colors her hair maybe 4 or 5 times per year and uses a straightener once or twice per week.
My mom will sometimes have her ends trimmed to even them out, and they'll grow back out, but then they stop at that mid-back spot. Her hair does grow pretty slowly though.So, could there be a limit to how long her hair will grow? Is there some way she could stimulate growth? If you want an idea of the condition of her hair then here is a pixel-y picture taken about a month or so ago. http://bit.ly/a2hCfv

[Coffeebug]

Maybe she just has a slightly shorter growth cycle anyway? But straightening it and stuff could make a lot of the hair shafts snap before they hit the maximum possible length too I guess. My hair won't even tolerate a hairdryer without snapping.

[Tiina]

There definitely is a length at which a person's hair stops growing but usually it is lower than the length your mother has now. Bleaching and heatdamaging hair causes it to break long before the terminal length and that is most likely the case with your mother.

[Angelica]

Not everyone can grow very long hair, if your genetic make up doesn't allow you to have very long hair, then there is nothing you can do about it. However she could have damaged it and if she is trimming it, it could mean that the length is just being maintained. I think your mother has lovely hair anyway. :)

[Amraann]

I think it is breakage as well.

From the hair color and straightener.
Could she stop straitening it? Baby the ends for a while and see if that helps?

[spidermom]

This is the generally accepted theory: Each hair grows for a genetically determined period of time, then sheds out and is replaced by a new hair. The length that hair reaches is a combination of rate of growth per month times number of months that the hair grows before shedding out. So if a hair grows for 5 years at the average rate of 1/2 inch per month, it will be 30 inches long when it sheds out. 30 inches, of course, will reach a different area of the body depending on whether it is growing from the top of the head or near the nape.

Also, there is some evidence to suggest that each hair on your head has its own growth cycle. One might grow for only 2 years while the hair nearest to it might grow for 9 years.

The average length of time that a hair grows is about 7 years, I have read.

From what you say, your mother is doing a number of things that could be causing her hair to break off before it reaches its length potential, such as dyeing and heat styling. Also, if she wears it down a lot, the ends could be getting a lot of friction from clothing, chair backs, and so forth, which will make it break off.

[iShampoo]

Ah, this is QUITE interesting. My mom does wear her hair down pretty much all the time, and I've told her several times to shelve the straightener but she won't stop it. She's getting better but she has a lot of damage to reverse. Her birthday is coming up, any suggestions for stuff I could get for her?

[spidermom]

Perhaps a nice fork or set of sticks or a Ficarre to use in putting her hair up. You could perhaps learn a nice updo and teach it to her.

[heidihug]

My mom does wear her hair down pretty much all the time, and I've told her several times to shelve the straightener but she won't stop it. She's getting better but she has a lot of damage to reverse. Her birthday is coming up, any suggestions for stuff I could get for her?

You cannot reverse damage, unfortunately. Hair is dead cells. Unless your mother stops heat styling and wearing it down most of the time, she will likely continue to have a problem with breakage, limiting its length. I chemically (non-henna) color my hair, and have for a long time, and have little problem with damage from that (but I don't bleach, that's a hair-destroyer, for sure). I was, however, unable to grow my hair longer than waist-length until I put down the heat tools about ten years ago.

I second spidermom's suggestion about getting her some updo tools like forks or Ficcares and helping her learn to put it up. Then she won't "have" to straighten it, either.

[Iron0Maiden]

Maybe thats its terminal length? I think she should stop coloring it and streightening it for a long time and see if thst helps. This actually happened to me.

[iShampoo]

I appreciate the advice. I actually went back several pages in this forum and spotted a similar thread, oops. :rolleyes: I hope this will convince my mom to quit using the straightener.

Oh yeah, I figured you can't really "fix" damaged hair, the best you can do is cut it, I suppose. We might have to do that, at least little by little.

[GoddesJourney]

Well, good luck! Don't forget that a lot of people have a hard time growing past midback because it gets rubbed between you and your chair. Reguar microtrims should help but it will probably take a long time to grow out the damage.

[Sunsailing]

The average growing phase for a human scalp hair is 3-4 years. So how much the hair grows in that period of time will determine the terminal length. DNA plays a major role in determining how long an idividual's growth phase lasts. Some people of blessed with a much longer than average growing phase.