Length over health?

[Gothic Lolita]

What is more imporant to you? Getting long hair as fast as possible, but without caring too much about how it looks? No trimming as all?
Or do you trim, because the long time effect of healthy hair makes it worth to reach your goal a bit slower?

I think that long healthy hair is so much prettier than hair that looks like it has been grown out, but never been well-cared for!

[Phalaenopsis]

I used to think health over length. But nowadays, now I'm finally getting the feeling that my hair is growing, I don't want to trim anymore :( But the ends are all split, so I'll have to, but I'm procrastinating :o

[amaiaisabella]

Well, this depends. I really want long hair (obviously! :)) but I don't want it damaged. The problem is, my hair is pretty damaged from coloring so often, so ANY growth is going to look pretty straggly. My goal is to get it to a certain point, trim, and then grow again till I get to my optimal length.

However, on other people, I would definitely say health over length. Course, it's not my hair :)

[Eireann]

Hmm. I guess I'm somewhere in between. I want to minimize trims, but I also want to maximize health, so I'm trying to avoid damage in the first place so I can go as long as possible without a trim. That said, if/when it does get noticibly damaged, I will definitely trim.

[spidermom]

It doesn't seem to me that you have to choose one over the other. I have been watching a couple of people who started out with hair about the same length as mine, but I trim and they don't. Guess what. Our hair is very nearly the same length still, except that I've got a thick-ish hem at my longest length, and they only have a few fairy tale ends that reach the same length, with maybe one or two thin strands that are a bit longer but many that are still shorter.

[talula_fairie]

A pet peeve of mine is long, unhealthy hair.

I go for health over length. Which is why, when I wanted to bleach my dyed-black hair back to my natural brown, I cut it to pixie length. Now I'm growing out my virgin hair. And I'm trimming the back to avoid The Mullet of Doom.

[Kirin]

Since I started growing, I'm opting for the best of both worlds. I'd be back to just under my ears if I cut out all the damaged bits from bad bleaching. (bleaching is not bad, but you'd have to see the way I did it, it was bad, trust me).

I am doing small trims to neaten up the ends, until I reach my goal of waist and maintain, cutting the damage out as it grows.

[ladystar]

I prefer health defiantly, but I am trying my best not to cut for at least 6 months. I use to cut every 3 months. I would like to add some length faster also =)

[Buddaphlyy]

Length over health. I just can't willing do short hair on me anymore. I had major breakage on one side of my head, but I see no reason to cut (and I would have to cut at least 2 inches) the perfectly healthy hair on the other side just so it can look even. IMO, it's easier to disguise long damaged hair than maintain short healthy hair.

[Euphony]

Quality over quantity, definitely!

I trim 1/4 inch every 6 months, I take very good care of my hair and it shows. My stylist even teases me that I come in too often! But I gotta trim, gotta get those straggly bits evened up and take care of any splits and Velcro.

hehehe my goal is terminal trimmed (yes it's an oxymoron, but it's MY oxymoron :grin: )

[Islandgrrl]

I'm more in favor of health first, then length.

I don't have a lot of bad damage, though and I'm growing out layers (the inevitable result of growing out from a pixie and trying to avoid the so aptly named Mullet of Doom), so right now I'm not trimming - I'm just leaving it all alone and pampering the heck out of it. My hemline is still pretty thick, but if it starts to fairytale, a trim is definitely in order!

Oh, and Euphony is right. She takes incredible care of her hair and it does show!!! I want to know what you do!!!!

[Bellatrix]

Depends on how damaged it is, really. Mildly damaged, I'd rather have the length...

[Curlsgirl]

I too can live with a bit of damage but not a lot. I definitely prefer health over length. BUT, I am currently only trimming ever so little to try to grow it out since it grows SO slowly! So I do have some split ends but I don't mind so long as it looks pretty healthy if you don't get TOO close.

[Guenever]

Now: Health!
I thought that I could get to classic before trimming and still be happy about it, but after a big shed (I hope that was my one and only "around 20"-shed.. because I don't want more of that!!) and reaching TB it looked like I had 2 hemlines (and it still does)
One at TB and another u-shaped at BSL/waist.. And as my pony has thickened around 1 cm I've gotten more short taper at shoulder/APL length..

So, in April I decided to maintain for a while.. I trim off any additional growth every month.. I hope for a growth spurt during summer, but if things haven't lightened up as much as I hope I'm considering chopping off about 4" and get back to hip in September or something..

It's just that I've always had a problem with chopping.. because what if my hair starts doing the same over again as I get back to TB again - what have I gained? Nothing besides a whole lot of waiting around for something that didn't happen! *sigh*
I'd wish that there were some kind of test that would show whether or not your taper was a sign of your hair thickening up from past hair abuse, bad diet and hair not being able to reach its full length potential because of the BSL to pixie cut 6 years ago --- or: a sign of approaching terminal length.. *shiver!!*
Just a test to show whether or not you would be able to get to at least classic with an even hemline.. because if I knew that I could, I wouldn't hesitate: I would gladly chop and get back to BSL.. or maybe even chin to get rid of my dye and grow healthy virgin hair!

Oh, the worries of a troubled longhair.. :sad

[Saranne772]

Depends how it is. I prefer no trimming but if its really damaged I would trim

[Periwinkle]

If it's mild damage, then length. Severe damage, then quality.

I'm currrently letting my hair grow, even though the ends are damaged, with the intention of lopping them off in September, which will get rid of any damage and also my last layer, and hopefully my hair will be approximately the same length it is now.

[FrannyG]

I'm pretty fussy about my own hair, and while I know that with length comes some damage, I find it hard to live with a lot of it. I like to trim a little bit off bi-monthly to keep my hemline even. My hair is too fine and straight for fairytale ends, in my opinion. Yet, I see them on others and like them. :shrug:

I'm definitely a quality over quantity person for me.

[shrare]

I think I'd have to vote for health.

[Euphony]

Oh, and Euphony is right. She takes incredible care of her hair and it does show!!! I want to know what you do!!!!
:kiss: You are the sweetest, thank you! I gotta say I think just going the more natural route does it for me, no synthetic detergents, goop or chemical dye (and the henna helps a great deal too!).

[Anne~]

Health here, I like my hair to be straight across in the back.

[mugglemomof3]

It always depends.

My hair this year is going to be kinda horrible on the ends when I reach my goal, but last year I just kept trimming and still ended up with ends that were far from perfect. So this year, I'm voting length - from a distance only I can tell that the ends are crap. And finally reaching my goal of waist would be so nice.

Ask me again next year! :cool:

[Sana]

For now I am going for length! For the past few yrs I have been always cutting off my hair just before it reaches waist. I just want to get over this stage before I trim. Ofcourse right now the ends look really good & I've never had problems with split hair even at longer lengths. Also I started growing after cutting off all my flat iron damage ...so that helps:)

[EvaSimone]

It depends right now I am picking length over health, I haven't gotten my hair professionally trimmed in over a year although I have snip snipped at the splits and had my mom take somewhere between 1/8-1/4" off of my hair about 4 months ago. I haven't really felt up until the last few weeks that my hair looked like it needed to be trimmed, I have been using lots of deep treatments and haven't blow fried in forever or dyed it so with gentle treatment it has looked rather healthy.

But I just noticed that in the last few weeks I have tons of splits which I just started getting so I am going to go in and get my hair trimmed professionally in the next few days. I am bummed out because I am very close to my goal hair length but I don't want to have a head full of split ends.

[ginalaurie]

Health for me, I get unhappy if I feel that my hair looks damaged. S&D helps to get length AND health, IMO, but I still microtrim every 3 months or so to keep my hemline straight.

[Red_Wednesday]

I really want long healthy hair, which is why I cut a lot of length off just recently. Even though it will be a major delay in reaching my goal, I think it'll be worth it in the end.

[Forever_Sophie]

Definitely health over length. I don't trim as often as a lot of ppl I know, but at least twice a yr for me.

[Tap Dancer]

Health over length. My hair grows quickly and I don't trim very often. I do S&D sometimes and that's enough. If I really needed to trim, I would. I want long, healthy hair - not long, scraggly hair.

[psvzum]

My preference is for healthy hair-I love the look of a thick hemline-although I have seen some people with fairytale ends that look lovely.

[Lixie]

Right now it's health for me, but I can appreciate how others would want to choose length instead. I'm easily able to say health as I'm nearing my goal length, but others are far from it. :)

[Sceleste]

Length over health for me.

My ends have been abused in the past with chemicals, not keeping hair up and hair toys that weren't hair friendly. I have splits and thinned ends. But pampering and taking care of my hair has helped - the damage I have is not too bad or too visible. If my hair was trashed I would choose health.

[morgwn]

At this point as I'm wearing it up all the time and babying/oiling my ends, I'm keeping my hair in decent enough shape to just let it grow and not go for any trims. (I've just done S&D a few times on a couple split ends.) However, when I get to waist/hip length, I think I'll start trimming a bit to thicken up and just keep it there for a little while and even out my length and then start going again toward the tailbone. But we'll see how I'm doing when I get it down to 30"... I might have changed my mind by then and just want to get it down to tailbone before I start trimming.

[tiny_teesha]

You see my ends have been damaged but henna made it really strong- it is just thin now. Only the canopy section is realy damaged and i think i'll cut a layer in again so that it gets rid of that= but that will make my hemnline even THINNER- dillema!
So anyways, i also used to think healthy hemn is better then length, but i changed my mind for 2 reasons.
1 is- when you cut a hair, if it is at the end of it's life cycle you will never get it back. Also when i trim my hair grows back thinner, i just HAVE to wait until all the hairs catch up, it has always been that way. So while it looks bad now in future in will thicken up.
2- Time. I wanted it to my knees. And i didn't want to be 30 when that happened. I wanted it NOW, but that won't happen..... I changed my goal because it was too far away and i want thicker hair- i don't think i can pull it off now.

But i have chosen instead to pick a goal (waist) and then maintain. This will gradually improve the hemn. And as my new goal is TB it won't effect the end of life hairs too much and i need to trim out some of the 2 tone hair.

eta- also some people like fairytale ends, so they might have thin ends but like that look ( i personally like the look on unbrushed 2c and curlier hair) but to each their own, just so you know what you may percieve as damaged hair and thin- is quality, even though it may not look it :). Not them shooting for quantity. Terminal length plays a part in it and unfortunately is not changeable on our part.

[Newniepg]

Healthy hair is more important to me, I have had long uncared for hair (in school my peers used to say I looked like a witch). I am happy that it is healthier now, but I do want it to grow again.

[rhubarbarin]

I was going for length and quality be damned.. but.. I changed my mind. My hair is just a wreck and I would rather grow to BSL and maintain there for however many years it takes to get it healthy, rather than continuing to grow and get more and more straggly. Looking at my ends just drives me nuts right now.

People probably look at me all the time and think I don't take care of my hair. I have big clumpy curls and waves, and while I don't have any tangles, people ask me all the time if I am dreading it. My hair doesn't look anything like dreads to me, but apparently to a lot of people it does..

[socks]

I think by "health" a lot of people here mean a thick hemline, and if that's what I was aiming for, I'd have to trim my hair back to classic. "Healthy" for me means an occasional S&D without losing any length. My ends may be a bit thin right now, but if I trimmed them, I'd probably never get my hair down to floor length.

[julya]

I think health is more important than length. If my ends are very damaged, it leads to tangles and even more damage. It's a vicious cycle. I think a nice s&d mission came take care of it without sacrificing length.

[mira-chan]

I think by "health" a lot of people here mean a thick hemline, and if that's what I was aiming for, I'd have to trim my hair back to classic. "Healthy" for me means an occasional S&D without losing any length. My ends may be a bit thin right now, but if I trimmed them, I'd probably never get my hair down to floor length.

Same, except I'd be trimming from thigh to waist. My hair doesn't grow with thick ends. Fairytale thin ends but the condition of the hair itself is healthy.

[spidermom]

Is everybody looking at the other half? Like trimmers, are you looking at nontrimmers who have been growing their hair about as long as you have? And nontrimmers, are you looking at trimmers? So far, to my eye there's not a lot of difference in total length. The difference is in the thickness at the bottom.

[squiggyflop]

well actually my hair gains length faster when i trim because it isnt all breaking off or splitting.. when the ends are damaged my hair may still be growing but it wont gain length

[getoffmyskittle]

I don't think healthy hair and uncut ends are mutually exclusive. :)

I prefer health over length. My hair is finally healthy enough (i.e. not split and crunchy, even though the ends are now thinner than they were when it WAS split and crunchy) for me to continue past hiplength. :silly:

[Cichelle]

It has to be one or the other? :confused:

I go for health and length. I haven't trimmed my hair in 3 years. S&D if necessary. I keep my ends protected nearly all of the time and treat my hair as gently as possible. I have small issues with my hair, but I know trimming would not solve them.

[flapjack]

Health, absolutely.

[Lova]

I used to be lenght over health but I finally did it and trimmed my damaged ends off.. it feels alot shorter but the ends do feel better. It was worth it!

[1nuitblanche]

Both are kind of important. However, if my hair looked horribly unhealthy long, then I'd cut it for sure. That said, little fairy tail ends or tapering is alright.

[stardrift]

Eventually health if this means evenly thick ends. However I cannot hope to have any length at all in years if I went for an even length as the hair lengths are totally uneven over a span of 12 inches.Right now I keep micro trimming my ends every two months and would rather let it all grow in the U-shape it is in.
I love the feeling of having some hair at waist length now even if all the rest of it hasnt got there yet!! So yes its length for me.besides,I have no split enz. so its all good.

[Elenna]

I have a year to go to reach my modest hair goal of BSL. But I do have major hair health problems from years of dying my silvers. My hair gets split ends, white dots and is brittle on the ends. So when I reach BSL, I'll be trimming the damage off. Maybe, I'll grow it longer then. If my hair could be glossy like Morticia or Madhatter, I'd be so happy.

[jojo]

For me i would rather have healthy, shinny, split free hair at waist length, than scraggly, horrible looking hair at classic length. So for me its about my hair looking healthy, Ive done the scraggly, horrible hair so now it would be nice to see my hair in perfect health, all the better if I did get to classic.

[DecafJane]

Right now I am going for length rather than anything else. However, my hair was all cut very short in October last year, so although it is a bit of a mullet (less and less as it grows out and becomes layers) the ends are all healthy, and I won't be trimming and evening it up until it reaches BSL. Luckily it is very wavy and I wear it up the whole time so it isn't an issue right now.
However, if it were dreadfully unhealthy I WOULD cut it, without a doubt. :)

[dukkelisa]

I don't think it has to be a choice. One doesn't have to trim or cut hair to make it healthy or healthier in my opinion. Neat and tidy also doesn't have to mean blunt ends. Healthy hair is well cared for and clean. I will never cut my hair again. I love natural hair, however it grows.

[burns_erin]

If my hair is not healthy then it is too hard to manage and that is when I get frustrated and chop it off, so definitely health.

[c23]

The patience thing is the biggest factor.

Ideally, health is important. But that patience factor really comes into play, especially for me.

Lots of people JUST want long hair. I can understand that, but sometimes it does not look as pretty. In the end, simply growing hair out kind of loses its point because it does not look as good.

Or perhaps people think that it will still be really pretty or underestimate how damaged the tips will be, etc. They don't think of the drawbacks and negatives in other words of simply growing the hair out.

Stick with it, get a few real short trims from time to time and the hair will be long and beautiful. Be patient!!

my two cents

[ilovelonghair]

Health for me. I just keep it at one lenght (cutting every 2 weeks) so it can reach thickness again.

[Paniscus]

I've been contemplating this question myself for almost a year! I don't have too much damage, no splits (that I can find), but my ends are starting to look a little off somehow. I think it's uneven growth or something (not the nice fairytale ends I've seen... it seems different, maybe a texture thing).

Anyway, I've been thinking about cutting back an inch or so and getting that even hemline, but then I don't want to give up length just yet! I think if I had a lot of damage though, I'd go ahead and trim on a regular basis til it was gone.

I'm all over the place on this one, eh? :knuckle::crazyq:

ETA: also wanted to add my two cents here, I don't see fairytale ends as damage!!!! Sure, fairytale ends can be damaged, but fairytale ends in and of themselves do not suggest damage to me. Guess I'm one of those people that thinks if you take care of your hair and never trim, your ends can still look OK.

[akka naeda]

I don't know, but it seems a lot of people in this thread seem to be confusing "thin" with "unhealthy".

My views on fairytale ends for example are that generally they look lovely on other people but not on myself. I can think of a couple of people I've seen on here who have very fairytale ends, and IMO that doesn't look nice, but it's their hair and if they're happy with it that's good.

I'd prefer my hair to have a nice thick, even hemline, but right now I have about 3" length of "thin" ends - thin in comparison to the rest, I discovered yesterday that they're nothing like as thin in reality as I have been thinking. It looks "bad" because if it is down you can see through it because it is against my legs not my back, it is about half the thickness of the nape hair, but it is shiny, soft, well moisturised and has minimal splits. Even so I'm going to let it grow a couple of inches more and then start microtrimming it to see if it thickens up.

[Tabitha]

I've been trying to reach waist unstraightened, but I've cracked and booked a trim for this weekend, because my hair has recently become really tangly. Tangling during washing, BF's fingers getting stuck in it and generally getting on my nerves.

I'd rather get there a little more slowly than have hair that annoys me. For me, that seems to mean a trim at least every 6 months - luckily I have a great hairdresser.

[Siava]

I'd gone so many years with unhealthy, horrific looking big bar hair that I can't imagine going back to that. Starting with a clean slate really changed my view. Right now it's the best it has ever looked, and looks great short or with length so definitely health for me.

[Anje]

I want health first, but I also want length. My ends are healthy, but thinner than I want them long-term. I'm hoping to grow now, then thicken later, because they're not unhealthy, just slightly see-through after waist.

[Elle]

I've always chosen health over length. :)

[jel]

It really isn't an either-or choice for me. I don't trim, and I have healthy hair. I also don't suffer from damaged ends in the same way as some other members - if my ends feel dry or crunchy I will oil them or have a short S&D session, and Bob's your uncle. Probably all thanks to henna! :inlove:

In addition, although I do appreciate blunt cut hair (on others), I really prefer fairy-tale ends on me. Once I reach my goal (tailbone) and start trimming for maintenance, I will have to find a way to do 'unblunt' trims!

[Unnamed]

Neither -- to me, it's just growing, but to others here I'd just 'length' with bad/scraggly/ugly/'unhealthy'/thin/whatever ends.

Really, though, for me it's both. I don't see that I'm somehow ignoring health while forgoing trimming. I don't have many splits at all, the ends aren't breaking off, they're nice and soft, etc., aka, 'healthy' (although not in context of this thread, it seems).

I started with thin ends, then lost half my hair less than a year later which thinned 'em out even more...yeah, that helped. :rolleyes: So I'm mostly trying to live with 'em, as I do actually prefer blunt hemlines on me and would probably have one if my hair was thick. Actually, my hair would probably already be at terminal length, as I kept my hair at BSL for 10 years for one reason: Try to thicken ends because of all the 'scraggly' comments, which led to the not liking thin ends. :rolleyes: I've mostly looked at it as my 'end goal' is whatever terminal length is, so 'thin ends' are 'healthy'/normal for that, and so I need to learn to live with 'em.

[Loreyanne_H]

I used to think health over length. But nowadays, now I'm finally getting the feeling that my hair is growing, I don't want to trim anymore

Couldn't say better. Maybe a less than 1 cm trim by Christmas, but I'd like to have them LONG.

[prosperina]

I like a certain amount of natural tapering on my ends since my hair is wurly and I think it looks nice. However, the key phrase in that sentence was "natural." I'm getting some artifical tapering due to damage and past bleachings. I hate this and have recently done some trimming. For me trimming means I pick up a piece of hair, examine it then cut the last little bit of thinned out ends off. The thinned out ends usually consist of less than five to ten hairs. (Okay, in some cases more than that, I'm actually rather cavalier about just picking up locks of hair and chopping their ends off.) This has helped with scraggly ends and the velcro feeling.

So, all in all, I prefer health. Life is too short for ends that anger me. :D My hair is growing, does grow and will continue to grow. I'll get it as long as I want it someday. It will get there when it gets there.

[Miuku]

I never trim when I am growing it out. Doesn't look too bad, IMO.

[Nynaeve]

I care more for health over length, and I wish I had just started over and made sure to take better care of my hair before I started really growing, but I cared more for length over health when I started. :(

[CaityBear]

I don't care too much about split ends. The only time I notice them is when I have a whole bunch lol. Though I can go a long time now without split ends. I used to constantly have split ends (and I took decent care of my hair then; this was before i found LHC).

However, I do treat my hair nicely. I don't blowdry, dye, use rough brushes/combs, etc.

[chrissy-b]

Currently, I'm going for length, and not trimming at all (no S&D either). However, my ends are not split and my hair is still just SL. I'm not digging the fairy-tale ends and prefer a blunt hemline but I'm dealing since I want to get as much length this year as possible. Once it's longer and if I notice any damage along the way I will cut as much as I need to to keep it healthy.

[zanne]

Health for me. if my ends start getting scraggley (i'm certain that's a word..) it drives me bonkers. Well, maybe not bonkers:), but it irritates me enough so that i trim it back.

[Darkhorse1]

I choose health over length. I find it my ends get too split, my hair grows uneven and looked frayed at the ends. I also find it gets weighed down by the split ends. I trim it--the most--2 inches every year, and get 1/4 inch trims every three months.

I no longer have virgin hair as I colored the gray popping out ;) Long hair looks better if it's healthy :)

[vindo]

I cant just answer health or length since for #health# i do not have to sacrifice length.
For a thicker hemline I have to trim on the regular though. My hair is thin and see through past waist, sometimes I think I might even have to trim more than I already do but there is this strong desire to finally reach classic.:o

[Hypatia]

Health first. I trimmed it regularly until I abolished the splits, and damage caused by temp. dye. Once it was in good condition, I just let it grow and did my best to keep it in good health so I wouldn't have to snip. So far, so good. It hasn't been kissed by the merciless steel of the scissors for over two years.

[eadwine]

Health, no question about it.

[nissamholtz]

Definately Health. There's nothing worse than long thin hair. Looks like rats tails.

[Eboshi]

Definately Health. There's nothing worse than long thin hair. Looks like rats tails.

nissamholtz, may I remind you that "thin hair" does not automatically equal "unhealthy hair." Your response that it looks like "rats tails" is unhelpful and unnecessary.

Would you mind sharing with TLHC your reasons for growing your hair out and what your hair growing goals are?

[Ndnlady]

I have had long unhealthy hair before so I would definitely take health over length!

[groque]

healthy hair definitely. when I was younger I was obsessed with getting length as fast as I thought possible. so I would go years without growth not realizing my ends were breaking off and hindering growth. since heat made my hair look horrible I had dry breaking ends for a long time before joining this site and now I am obsessed with keeping healthy ends. I am even considering chopping off 3" just to really get rid of the dry ends.

[groque]

nissamholtz, may I remind you that "thin hair" does not automatically equal "unhealthy hair." Your response that it looks like "rats tails" is unhelpful and unnecessary.

Would you mind sharing with TLHC your reasons for growing your hair out and what your hair growing goals are?
I wonder if she was just meaning when the hair gets real dry and damaged and hasn't been cut in forever and the hair clumps together because of all the dead ends. intersting description for it though.

[BunnyBee]

I think I will choose length for now. I've been debating over whether to cut to just below shoulder length to get rid of some colour damage (which isn't all that bad anyway) but I wouldn't be able to do half the styles I can now, and even at the moment my hair is too short for some of the fancier ones! I just like playing with my hair too much, it would feel like a step backward to cut it. :p

[honeybunch]

I try not to focus too much on my hair. I don't trim often as it is (maybe once a year trimming off very little bit), and it looks fine. However, I can see that down the road I will have to trim to even it out a bit. At that point, I'll have to lose a bit of length for my hair to look healthier.

[Alun]

Length.

I have split ends, but I still get hair compliments, so it can't be that bad.

The question seems to have a built-in bias, as it seems to imply that those who don't trim have 'unhealthy' hair, but if your hair is natural and uncut, how is that "unhealthy"?

[moon-flower]

Well, I would want health over length anyday, but I would never cut my hair. Can you choose never trim and health?

[lilalong]

Health. Theoretically.
I still focus too much on the length. I hope that changes when I'm past BSL.

[Angharad]

I have been focussing on the healthy state of my hair for quite a while and giving it regular trims to cut out the henna coloured part, but I'm more into chosing "lenght"at the moment. I really, really want to reach tailbone (almost) and hiplenght ,so no more cutting for me for at least 2012. That doesn't say I'm going to neglect my hair, on the contrary, I will put a lot of energy in keeping my hair healthy.

So, I guess it is both; I'm focussing on lenght as well as health!!!

[thankyousir74]

health to an obsessive point. I think I should relocate my focus to length instead of stressing over split ends.

[ChrissieM]

I'm growing out layers, so my hemline is a bit uneven, but it's still healthy hair. I'm no-trim for the time being, but when I start getting straggly and really damaged, then I'll trim. I'd just like to get a bit of length (another 3-4 inches or so) first.

[Syaoransbear]

I care more about length. I feel that my goal isn't as big as other's goals so I can get away with a bit of unhealthiness. I do S&D every week because split ends can impede the length, though. I think hair length and health sort of go hand in hand. You can't grow long hair if it's breaking off as fast as its growing.

[Bianca]

I'm growing out hair dye, and have very damaged hair. If I were to cut of all damage and not have any straw like hair left, I would have to cut it too chin lenght. But... I cant get myself to do that. Even though I hate my ends. Im probably going to cut all the colored hair off, when my virgin hair gets to about shoulder lenght though, but for the time being, i'm choosing lenght...

[Raven2448]

Interesting to see this thread as I was making this decision just this week. Quality vs. quantity.

In my opinion health should superceed so that it doesn't hurt your long term success.

I'm also trying to find the right balance to attempt to achieve both. I think I am settling on well spaced trims as opposed to 3 successive months of trims then race for the bra strap!

I also like to keep it open to responding to my hairs needs as it arises or changes.
For instance, if it asks to be washed but its not wash night, I'll wash.

[sexyjacksparrow]

Health over length all the way for me. I'd like long hair but if I had to keep it at shoulder length to keep it health, I'd rather that than dry, straggly hair that's longer. Hopefully I can eventually have both though!

[amnicare]

I think healthy hair is more important. After all the reason we want long hair is because it looks beautiful, but hair thinning from the tips because of lack of growth just isn't beautiful. However, it is possible to get to the length you want and then slowly start cutting off the unhealthy part as it goes past that goal length. That way you can have the length first and work on the healthiness second.

[marzipanthecat]

Um, health I suppose - I sit around and trim off my split ends - but I've never really had a BIG problem with split ends.

I'm trying to get it to ankle length, so I'm really reluctant to do any cutting of any sort now!

[rogue_psyche]

Length.

I've got a bit of damage to grow out. I bleached my hair once, used punky colors and occasionally (2 times a month max) used a curling iron. The anniversary of the bleached job will be first time I trim it. I S&D semi-regularly, and pay a lot of attention to the protein/moisture balance in the bleached portions. My hair is needy when damaged, but lots of treatments allow my ends to look and *almost* feel healthy. My ends may look shabby to much of LHC, but I compare them to the general public and come out on top.

Health is a long term goal. I also just kind of want to see how my hair looks with fairytales. I guess I'm not an ideal candidate for them, but I can always trim them blunt when I change my mind.

[Aries_jb]

My LHC anniversary is next month, and when I began coming here, I would have said length. However, stress caused a major shed that thinned my hair out at the ends pretty badly. Not only that, but the ends were crunchy, dry, and split and no matter what I did I couldn't get them back to health. I kept telling myself that once I reach my goal of BSL I can microtrim until it's healthy. Finally I just decide to give up an inch of hair so that I can feel good about my hair again. Now I feel like I have a healthy head of hair, and even though the last three inches are still thin, they are healthy.

From this experience I learned that in order for me to have healthy hair, I need regular trims. However, my hair can go at least 6 months in between trims, and that's a lot of potential growth.

[willowcandra]

I used to choose length over health but not anymore.

I was at classic and cut to tailbone. The ends were really thin and damaged and I could never wear it loose.

I would love to reach classic again or even knee but I will trim anything that needs to be trimmed if it means keeping healthy hair. So I am not sure how long classic will take me or if I will ever reach knee at all.

But I will always have healthy hair with good ends that I won't feel ashamed of wearing loose. I am so much happier with healthy tailbone than I was with ratty classic.

If I was shorter than waist length though I would probably be length obsessed lol.

[Marika]

I'm a non-trimmer at the moment but I choose health over length. My hair used to be really damaged and if I hadn't cut several inches back then, it wouldn't be this long today. Actually I couldn't grow it past shoulders because the ends just broke off...:(

My hair grows unevenly but it's still moderately healthy. I mean, I have some split ends but it doesn't look damaged and the ends feel soft and silky. If my hair starts to look bad and thin, it's time for :scissors:

[hydrangea]

Health is my priority. I think long hair that is not healthy looks lifeless and dull. Of course this means it will be a longer process, but I tend to live my life by the notion that the more you put into something, the more you will get out of it! :blossom:

[Kat]

I definitely prefer health in a perfect world (I remember in middle/high school I had a friend who had long hair but it looked awful, and I kept thinking "it's in horrid shape, just cut it off!" and now *I'm* that person!)...but...in reality, I don't think anything will keep my hair from being dry and damaged, so I live with it and keep the length. If I were to cut off all the damaged parts, I'd likely end up BSL or shorter, and probably would have to maintain that length. I used to think the damaged parts were from when i first started growing and didn't take very good care of it, but now the damaged parts seem to be on more hair than I was growing out from, so I think it's just what happens to my hair when it gets that old.

[violetka]

I have neither length nor health, but I believe you can have reasonable length AND health if you trim tiny amounts very regularly. When I was very young my classmate used to get the two week method - washes her hair every two weeks, and trims her hair every two weeks in tiny amounts. It grew really long and healthy over the years.

For me length is my current priority. After I get to BSL for the first time in my entire life (im 25), I will focus on health.Otherwise I will never get there.

[Carolyn]

I've been growing my hair since 1999 and have had different priorities over time. I choose length at first. After I got past the mid back abbyss I worked on health, not gaining any length at all one year. Now it's a balance of both. Health (no split ends) and an even hemline aren't as important to me if I am wearing it up all the time.

[RoseRedDead]

Both.

Right now I'm focusing on length (see signature) as I would FINALLY like to reach waist-length. After that I will do my usual quarter inch trim every 2-3 months.

Overall, health is more important to me than length, as I do not like to see long, damaged hair. Long, damaged hair on me would be incredibly frustrating... I know I have some residual damage from rough treatment, and I'd like to have it cut off. One of these years I will have 100% post-LHC hair.

[ipickee]

Both.

Me too. With all the conditioning, wearing up, and general caution I'm exerting with my hair, it's in pretty good condition. I'm focusing on length until I get to hips, then I plan on doing frequent trims until it's evened up on the bottom. We'll see where I go after that!

[Amara]

I'm with Spidermom, BOTH! I try to balance them. I trim occassionally - although I've put a halt on that until I reach tailbone (in a month!).

[Elenna]

I'm still growing out the brown dye, while the natural silvers take over. So it makes sense for moi to trim off the damaged dyed ends. Eventually, I want all silvered natural hair color. It's a long, long wait. So I choose health over length.

[silverspun]

Health comes first. learned that the hard way when i finally got length but it was so damaged, and worthless.

now i just deal with the shortness and keep it as healthy as possible... many bad hair days to come until my hair grows.

[Chanterelle]

For me it's look over length.

[redwoman]

I trim, but only a little bit, every few months I'll take off a half inch because I don't want dried, frizzy hair. Which is what would happen if I didn't trim.

[Teakafrog]

Health, definitely. I've been here, what, 5 yrs? And still not to waist? That's because I've been trimming off my dried out dyed ends the whole time. Only a few more inches to go until it's all virgin healthy hair. Why have it long if it feels like straw? Besides, once I hit BSL, everyone ELSE thought it was 'long' anyway....

[teela1978]

I've always tended towards health... but the shortest my hair has ever been is about chin length. If my hair was in a pixie, I might go for length just to get to a certain point (chin, maybe shoulder) before really starting to trim and worry about health.

[ScrimHazard]

Health! After I stopped dyeing my hair I became obsessed with how healthy it is. I love having virgin locks...it seems like I'm the only person I know who doesn't even highlight their hair anymore. I just keep thinking...this is how my grandma would prefer it. :) The good Lord made you just as you should be.

[Gingevere]

Agreed, Chanterelle! I care about the health and overall look of my hair over the length, too. What's the point of having long hair if it's unhealthy and looks terrible?

[Little_Bird]

This is a very complicated question for me, because I've been on both sides. When I started growing my hair long (from a pixie) I didn't even think about health. I just wanted lenght! It was only around the 3rd year I started to simpathyze with trimming.
Now I am quite close to my goal (around a year and a half) and I tell you, altough my ends are thin and I have some splits (not a lot tough), I just want my hair to grow to my goal, so I know if I can get there or not.

Still, I think my hair is healthy, despite the thin ends, for it's soft overally and shiny as well... I am very carefull anyways :p

So now I definitly lean more towards lenght. When I get to my goal I will be all about health ;)

[LaFlor]

I prefer health over length. I just want my hair to look pretty and that's all there is to it. Why would I want to suffer through all the years I have ahead of me in the growth process with ugly hair? No thanks!

I guess I really want to reach my goal length and have it be everything I ever dreamed... healthy, virgin, beautiful.

[Nera]

Length over health, for the same reason as amaiaisabella!

[marikamt]

Hmm. I guess I'm somewhere in between. I want to minimize trims, but I also want to maximize health, so I'm trying to avoid damage in the first place so I can go as long as possible without a trim. That said, if/when it does get noticibly damaged, I will definitely trim.

I second that.....

[Nera]

(besides, healthy hair isn't equal to pretty hair! My hair has splits everywhere, but I daily get compliments on my hair!)

[windinherhair]

Of course I think health should come first. I think before I was trimming too much though since I was never gaining any length. I make sure to S&D, and I am keeping close attention to the ends of my hair. I will do a bigger trim when needed.

[jivete]

Right now, I'm choosing length over health, partially because I'm growing out damage, partially because I need to get over the mental hump that my hair can actually grow to waist. I'm still micro-trimming and my ends aren't horrible, but I'm trying to go as long as I can stand without a substantial trim. Luckily, my hair is wavy and I don't think it looks too bad. I'm not ashamed to wear it down at least. Eventually I want health, of course, but I'm willing to put up with a little damage along the way.

[feralnature]

Length. I am a non-trimmer, basically.

I need for my hair to stay long enough to put back into a good and functional ponytail or braid with all the side hairs firmly secured. I work outside in the elements and this is imperative. So I NEED the length to avoid hair in my face and glasses hinges.

After my hair is longer, I will have maybe 3 damaged inches cut off, but only after it is easily BSL or beyond. I don't work away from home so I don't have to look neat and polished every day as my hair grows. I can look a little ragged and no one minds. My husband never knows what I am doing and doesn't care as long as he gets supper and lovin' :)

[SurprisingWoman]

I cut six inches off my length last October because they were looking a little thin. Maybe a bit more than I needed to but I didn't mind. It was no biggie. I saw a split end the other day so I may need to trim again in a month or so but it will only be two or three inches. I don't spend a lot of time on fussing with my hair and monthly microtrims or whatever just sound like too much work. I am basically a long hair because it's easy and I am lazy. I am just blessed that my hair looks good long.

[cakebaker]

Even though my ends need trimming I can get them to look nice by oiling, so I am waiting for the 6 month mark until I trim again. And maybe not even then. I had been getting light trims every 3 months, but I really didn't seem to be gaining any length. I grow slowly and I just don't think I can get anywhere if I am trimming 4 times a year. So I guess I'm at the stage now where I might sacrifice having all my hair look healthy for some length.

[Jinx2234]

Right now my focus is on improving the health of my hair, once I have done that I will decide if I want to keep growing or not.

[emeraldfaery]

Right now I'm striving for my length back and keeping my hair healthy as well. I do think that health is more important than length.

[Irishred]

Health over length but length from scissor neglect? If my length started getting super dry, splitty, frizzy, never ending tangles, I would probably cut it back to a point I hope was healthy. I have some splits now because I really need to sit and S&D for a week or so (15-30 min sessions LOL) but have not had/taken the time.

[Dars]

Health over length. I haven't had my hair cut or trimmed in 10 months but that doesn't mean it's not healthy. I S&D and I have curly hair so being uneven isn't even noticeable in my hair.

[Medievalmaniac]

I'm currently very frustrated because my hair is really healthy (surprisingly so) and growing well, but very nevenly - I have these sort of clumps of trailers that are longer than everything else. I don't want to cut them, because they're not damaged at all - but , I now have an uneven hemline and that drives me nuts. But if I cut so it were all even, then it would be about an inch and a half shorter, and I'm not willing to sacrifice that right now...so I just fluff it and blend the shorter ends into the longer. It works for the most part - but I do wish my hair would grow more evenly! Grrrrrrr. Anyone else have this problem (uneven growth rate)? What do you do with it? I'm currently planning on not cutting for another few months and then trimming a bit to see if I can even it out some without sacrificing my hard-earned length.

[Medievalmaniac]

I'm growing out layers, so my hemline is a bit uneven, but it's still healthy hair. I'm no-trim for the time being, but when I start getting straggly and really damaged, then I'll trim. I'd just like to get a bit of length (another 3-4 inches or so) first.

Me, too - the layers are killing me, though. I hate them! I wish I'd never ever gotten them in the first place! :rolleyes:

[metalgypsy85]

Length first, health later. But, I'm growing it out as healthy as I can, so it's kind of a mixture of the two.

[JamieLeigh]

I could swear that I already posted in this thread? :shrug: Ah well. Darn internet. :mad:

I like a little of both. I'd love to be as long as genetically possible, but I still love the look of blunt ends on myself. Fairy-tale ends don't really look as nice on me as they do on other people with a thicker, curlier hair type. Mine is so thin and wispy when I don't trim, and it's just not for me. :(

I do want to find terminal length just once in my life - so eventually I'm going to have to bite the bullet and stop trimming off my new growth! :p

[bigmama8]

I choose health over length. I have been trying to grow mine past classic, and started doing S&D only since I found LHC. If my hemline ever gets unhealthy, I would trim it though.

[clairenewcastle]

I've proved to myself exactly where I stand over this one....in March I chose health over length by cutting to just below my ears.
Do I regret it?
No, not at all.

[Shiva]

What is more imporant to you? Getting long hair as fast as possible, but without caring too much about how it looks? No trimming as all?
Or do you trim, because the long time effect of healthy hair makes it worth to reach your goal a bit slower?

I think that long healthy hair is so much prettier than hair that looks like it has been grown out, but never been well-cared for!
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l226/NorthernXposure/emoticons/zipped.gif

Topics like this get me in trouble, so I will just say that Everybody has beautiful hair whether it is healthy or the ends are somewhat damaged or whatever! I love it ALL! It's all so darned pretty and beautiful! I just LOVE it. http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l226/NorthernXposure/emoticons/throb.gif

[/coddle]

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l226/NorthernXposure/emoticons/ph34r.gif

[Tinose]

Health. I know other people can go with fairytale ends and have healthy and healthy-looking hair, but that's not me. I went from waist-length to shoulder once because I was frustrated with the damage and straggly ends, and I have no doubt that I would again. Though considering how little I have my hair down, I'm not sure why.

[Vrushali]

Definitely health! I haven't had had a trim since February but that doesn't mean i won't if I had to. I have layered wavy-curly hair and I S&D regularly so haven't felt the need to go get a trim yet but I'd rather take my time and grow healthy hair long instead of having to grow through big chops later ....that would hurt waay too much!:(

[colibri]

i think that healthy is prior to long hair

[LoversLullaby]

Health. Lately I've been trying so hard to take good care of my hair so I don't have to trim it. But if a trim is needed, I will do it.
Hair grows better when it's healthy anyway. =)

[Dreamernz]

Hmmm well, I have been trimming, irregularly, but loosing quite a sizable amount of inches, but that's fine cos I want to get rid of my layers and damage. I guess I will follow my methodology for now, then maintain at waist, hopefully maintain at tailbone? Regardless, it is really hard to live with loss in length but also hard to live with damage :(

[ademtce]

health is definitely more important - without health my length wouldn't mean a thing to me.

[Stubborn]

To me health is more important. I've only trimmed one inch off the back in 17 months of growth so that it'd be more even. I would only trim to even up since I'm going for the all one length or if there was damage.

Though, if you take care of your hair you won't have to trim often, in my opinion.

[jasper]

If I was wearing my hair down, I could easily answer that I'd rather have it healthy looking and would cut off any that looked scraggly or damaged.

But I'm wearing it up all the time, and I've taken an interest in reaching a milestone, so even if it could do with a cut, I'm going for length at the moment.

[JCFantasy23]

Depends on how bad it is, maybe. If the ends are too severe to where they're distracting, I'd say health over length. Right now my ends are in bad shape but I'm so close to my goal length that I want to start cutting away once I reach it, and keep up with trims for about 6 months or however long it takes, with conditioning, future oiling, and babying the hair in the meantime. Hopefully that thickens up the hemline and those last few inches.

With all that, if it doesn't, there must be some kind of evil magic at play.http://i620.photobucket.com/albums/tt288/CFAngel180/biggrin.gif

[Komodia]

If i didn't have curly hair i'd chop my hair to shoulder lenght right now :( it's kinda damaged because of a bad haircut some months ago, as well as several hair dyes (though before the cut it wasn't damaged honestly)

so.. health over lenght, but in my case, if i cut my hair shorter i would look like a funny looking poodle so.. lenght for me hehe

[Snowblood]

I prefer healthy hair (which is long). I think my hair is healthy and long, but my ends are so whispy at that length now.
That´s probably due to genetics, I really take good care of my locks. *sigh* Not willing to cut though. ^^

[Arniky]

healthy hair looks better i guess

[GoddesJourney]

I never cut my hair shorter than APL, so if the whole thing is damaged, too bad. I was maintaining BSL for a few months because it was already there and I felt like BSL was "long enough" for waiting. However, I got frustrated and cut back to APL again. As much as I miss my length, seeing damage on my hair is so much more irritating to me since it gets tangled and needs to be oiled.

[Dementia1013]

I chose health before length and recently trimmed my ends. So, now I'm almost to tailbone with nice soft ends. :D I'm bummed that I had to give up my length to do it, but my hair feels so much better, so I think I made the right choice.

[3azza]

I have favored health for the past seven years and it only grew from bsl to waist length. Now i'm gonna have to say length, and when i reach my goal, which is tbl, i'll maintain for as long as i need to get healthy hair again. Having said that, my hair now isn't horribly damaged, but it used to be damage free and thick all the time as i trimmed every season, right now the ends are thinner and crunchy, but i'll live with that for a while...

[Alexannee10]

I used to think health over length. Before, I thank the opposite and you know what? My hair grow faster when I trim them.

[Aries_jb]

I just cut about an inch off my hair, which on curly head seems like a lot more. I love the texture and the resulting thickness, but I do miss the length. Obviously though when it comes down to it I choose health.

[Feng-Shui]

I cut each year a part growth for health.

I keep a part for more length.

A good way for me to more length and also more health.:)

[klcqtee]

I'm currently going with length. My hair is pretty healthy, but it's currently damaged from dye - minimal splits so far, but no trimming for me until hopefully BSL, and even then, only if my ends are truly scraggly. At waist, I'm going to maintain until getting it's all virgin at waist. After that, I'll be okay trimming when necessary. Waist is my first goal, and I think after that length, I'll feel a little less neurotic about growth.

[Lize]

When I first found LHC I would have said length over health, but now I have realised that I don't want fried hair at all. Right now it's all about health before length. I DO want long hair badly, but before that I want healthy virgin hair.

[Aditi]

I would prefer health, if i have long hair which are full of split ends and dullness then there is no point in keeping it long.

[Bene]

I'm going for length. My hair is already healthy, I haven't done anything to it, other than the occasional flat iron, and since it's pretty resilient, I can go for quite a while without trimming. I suppose I lucked out. I examine every strand, and I'll find maybe 1 or 2 split ends every few weeks. To be on the safe side, I may trim half an inch every 3 or 4 months, but just out of boredom, my hair really doesn't need it.


Also, when I get to my goal length, I don't want to have to do any chopping to deal with damaged ends. That would kill me. I don't like the look of fairy tale ends, and I don't want to be one of those people who have long hair that looks like crap. I see too many of those people on my daily commute. Just today, I saw a girl with what looked like classic length, and from bra strap down, it looked just awful.

[Jezerellica]

I would go with health over length. Wispy broken ends are not attractive to me, but I am opening my mind on the subject.

After learning more(thanks everyone!), I'm understanding the thickness will take longer to get to the ends and I need to be patient with this.

[winter_star]

It used to be length over health, but my hair was breaking and really dry so now I choose health over length any day.

[Naamah]

It depends on how bad the damage is. Right now I'm going for length, I'm sure I'll do at least one trim before the year is up, depending on if my ends start to look horrible or not.

[missjessiecakes]

eep....haahhahahahahahahaha

[vanillakiss]

Today.. Definately health before length.

I´ve always had long hair, waist to classical, but lately it has been coarse, dry and a lot of split ends.
So, after 6 months of CO and a professional haircut, it´s now BSL.

I´ve always been known as "the girl with long hair" which is ofcourse nice, but last week, 2 days after the visit at the hairdresser, an older woman poked me in the back and said; "Excuse me, but what lovely hair you have! It´s like a river of spun gold, I´ve never seen anything like it! It shines and glows like pure gold!"

I was naturally very flattered, and realised that my aim earlier, to have it long at any cost, was wrong for me.

My boyfriend can´t keep his hands from my hair nowadays, he says it´soft as silk! :)

I believe today that it´s better to have it healthy and beautiful.

I´ll naturally try to get it classical again, but I´ll do trims to keep it also healthy this time, whatever time it´ll take.
Thanks to CO I know I´ll succeed, having both health AND length.

[Aeris]

I'm working on health more than length - there is a correlation for me anyways. Healthier habits make for faster growth. And I think it'll be more rewarding to have it strong and shiny when I reach my goal length..I don't want to have to nurse fried and splitting locks :(

Even if taking care of it somehow made it grow more slowly, I would still prioritize the health. I'd rather hear "Oh, your hair is so pretty!" instead of "Oh, your hair grows so fast!"

[missjessiecakes]

With My hair so short I am aiming for length when I get to the point where I can put it up I will start trimming off whatever damage.

[23_seconds]

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[Cherry_Sprinkle]

Health without a doubt. I have had very long hair that felt like straw that I bleached all the time and had to have a ton of silicone products in just to make it look and feel good.. I hated my hair all the time back then.

[Silver]

For me it's definitely health over length; I'm about the same length for ~9 months now and I'll keep on trimming, because my ends are really damaged (did a lot of dyeing in the past).

[Kirzja]

Definately health.
I wouldn't want long hair when it looks dull and fragile.
The healthy way may require some more patience, but in the end it's definately worth it.

[Sara Smile]

In the past I always said I would grow my hair as long as it looked good/was healthy. Now, it's about the longest it's ever been, and I'm trying to decide whether to accept the thin ends, or cut it a few inches. It's very healthy, but thin.

The last time I had my hair longer than it is now, was in college. I saw a picture of my hair down that a friend took, and went and cut 12" off the next day. I'm hoping not to do that this time.

[Nae]

I'm going with health.

But at the moment, length is my main focus because it is just brushing the tops of my shoulders and because of the layers I can't even pony it yet. This is driving me bananas! Must......have.......updos....:brains:

My damaged/colored ends (which aren't terrible yet) will have to stay untill I get to at least APL and can get rid of these layers. I also want to eventually grow out the dye, I have about an inch and a half of virgin hair at the moment but most important now is that I can pull it up! Grow hair, GROW!!

[ArienEllariel]

A mixture of the two. My plan is to grow to APL or BSL and maintain for a while so that I can cut out some of my damaged ends (which happen to be in the middle of my hair right now and to trim most of them off would mean having chin length hair). Since I don't favor a bob at the moment, I'll deal with the damage for a while. Compared to others, I don't think it's as bad as I make it out to be (while I have a lot of broken off ends, they really are only in the top layer of my hair). I'd rather have healthy hair than long, broken brittle hair.

I'm fortunate that my hair has never tolerated blowfrying or straightening very much- so I didn't use heat styling frequently; at most a couple times a year. The only thing I did do to it in the last year was dye it with a semi permanent color.

[Anywhere]

Overall, I choose health. But as of right now I'm just focusing on length until right before prom. I want it to grow at least another 2" before May, it'll never get there if I keep trimming damaged and re-damaged ends.

[coscass]

I'm not 100% sure... I really like my length, and it isn't as healthy as it could be, but I wouldn't wanna start over. I think I'll rock the long hair for a few years, then cut it.

[Wicked Princess]

Definitely health. For a long time, I was obsessed with getting length. Then, after being grumpy at my weird layers, I finally trimmed an inch off the longest layer. My hemline looked so much better! Now, I'm just enjoying the journey to even longer lengths.

[Lady Jo]

I prefer healthy hair. Not a getting a trim makes it look unhealthy :)

[Laurenji]

It's a tough one for me. I really hate the look of hair that's long, but looks scraggly or unkempt; however, I'm so close to my current goal that I really don't want to trim in the hopes that I'll get there faster. In the long run, though, I'd say probably more health.

[Deemeeuh]

I'd love to be able to choose health over length.
But at this point, I'm growing out a very short layer plus a curved hemline & I'd have to chop off a TON & have short hair. Not happening.
My thin ends will just have to muddle through until everything grows a lot longer.
So length over health for now!
Also my boyfriend likes long hair and gripes every time I get a "trim" (i.e. I say a trim and the stylist takes off an inch or 2) so one more vote for length over health! For now.

[hanne jensen]

I'd say length for now. If I cut all my damage out, I'd have to get a buzz cut. I do have DH dust my hair every 2 month or so. Eventually my damage will be dusted out.

[emi77]

ATM, length over health definately. I might have a small trim next year to take out layers but its grow grow grow from thereonafter.

BUT, when I reach waist, (goal number 1) I am going to maintain and trim lots until all hair is 100% healthy. Then I will enjoy hair at a long length and have it healthy.

After that, I plan to reach for tailbone in the same method- no trimming (except perhaps for one of two hemline reshapings)

I'm not sure if this is a good plan, mainly because I can't see splits very well and don't have a clue how many I have! But tbh I don't count little splits as damage. Mainly because I'm too lazy to get a trim! And broke too! :p

[Monsterkitti]

Health is very important for me and Im getting into all the hair health habits I can.

However at the moment Im holding out on trimming hair I know needs cutting untill I reach waist so I guess the answer is length over health. Once Im there health will be the most important as Im maintaining till its all healthy :)

[MissThorne]

I honestly do not know. I want long healthy hair, but the wait is getting to me. Im trying to find a common ground for the two and fall somewhere in between. (if thats even possible)

[bumblebums]

Health, definitely. My length goals are very modest by LHC standards--my hair might not even grow past my shoulder blades even with the best care. But I know that the hair care methods I used before were very unhealthy for my hair, so it barely grew past my shoulders. I'd rather have healthy, good-looking APL hair than ratty, dry, frizzy hair down to my butt.

[Angela_Rose]

Right now, I'm going for length over health. I have good hair habits & I do take good care of my hair now. I've got decent ends and I do take half-an-inch off of them twice a year, but I'm pulling for knee-length, ends be damned. When I get to knee, I'll lop off six or so inches to clear the bad stuff, grow back to knee, and maintain there.

[Angela_Rose]

Right now, I'm going for length over health. I've got decent ends and I do take half-an-inch off of them twice a year, but I'm pulling for knee-length, ends be damned. When I get to knee, I'll lop off six or so inches to clear the bad stuff, grow back to knee, and maintain there.

[lesbia]

I want long hair, so i mustn't cut. But, if my hair are demaged i must cut because if I don't do this they don't grow anymore...the only thing that grow are split ends :(

so, since it is possible i prefer lenght :D

[rupertswife]

I'm currently ignoring my dry ends so that I can get more length, but as soon as I'm satisfied with trimming an inch or so off and still having below shoulder length hair I will hopefully be damage free and focus more on health.

[marobader]

long I realy want long hair health is my second task

[Mannaz]

I am trying to balance between both. My hair is collarbone length, the bottom 10cm or so have a lot of breakage and damage due to bleaching and opening my dreads, rest of it is virgin and I really can't wait to get rid of the nasty hair! So, I'm trimming off 0.5-1cm every other month so I can keep some growth. A mini-goal for me might be all-virgin APL length!

[prittykitty]

I like healthy hair but I don't want to wear it super short just to have it that way so for now I am choosing length until I have enough significant hair growth to trim off all the bad ends that are damaged from past chemical and heat styling. I usually just do dusting as I see the split ends, hoping it will grow a little more healthy.

[curlylocks85]

Health is more important than length IMO. I would rather have well cared for hair than long neglected hair. I know that as long as I treat my hair well, I will get both even if it takes a bit longer. To me, it is worth the wait.

[Sweetness]

Health 100 %

I find long hair beautiful on mostly every woman ... but not when the ends are unhealthy / dry / thinned / damaged, etc.

(make's me fancy cutting the unhealthy section off when I see hair like that :oops: I'd never do it of course, nor say it out loud (and everyone does what they want with their hair !) ... but I can't help thinking about it when I see very long hair with unhappy ends ... I'd really like to chop the damaged part off :oops: ok, I'm weird :lol:)

[Speckla]

My hair has to be atleast shoulder length. I value health but the growing out process is too painful and annoying with curly hair so it has to be long enough to put up. I would keep my hair SL and trim off the damaged ends until they're all gone.

[Imoness]

Although I love length, I'll have to say health, because unhealthy hair looks horrible, regardless of length.

[Captain Nikki]

Health 100 %

I find long hair beautiful on mostly every woman ... but not when the ends are unhealthy / dry / thinned / damaged, etc.

(make's me fancy cutting the unhealthy section off when I see hair like that :oops: I'd never do it of course, nor say it out loud (and everyone does what they want with their hair !) ... but I can't help thinking about it when I see very long hair with unhappy ends ... I'd really like to chop the damaged part off :oops: ok, I'm weird :lol:)

I must be weird too, lol, i think the same.

Sometimes my ends feel dry & crunchy & i think maybe i should get a trim, but then i do a deep conditioning treatment & they feel ok. I have no splits so i'm not trimming!:)

[Unofficial_Rose]

Normally I'd say health, but right now for me at least, length.

I bleached out henndigo so the bottom inch is significantly damaged. It's also so short I'm holding off getting it trimmed - it's at a very-frumpy-on-me between chin & shoulder length, so cutting it would prolong that stage. So I condition it like mad and avoid blow-drying.

I may cave soon and get it trimmed though.

[30isthenewblack]

I would like a balance between health and length. What I have decided to do is grow my hair to goal length of waist or hip curly and then maintain my hair. I find my curly hair is either manageable above the shoulder or at a longer length. If I had straight hair, this would be a different proposition. My hair is now hip straight so hopefully I will reach my goal length early next year. I do regularly microtrims of 0.5" every three months and I find that doing micotrims is very beneficial for the growing process. I quite like my layers although I want longer layers and I like the difference in colour between the natural hair and the chemically dyed hair so this doesn't pose a huge problem for me.

[lucys]

I'm going purely for length at the moment, but then my hair is in pretty much as healthy condition as it could be, since it is so short and I am not much for blow drying anyway.

I'm aiming to grow out the short cut at least to APL before trimming. If I can get further, I'll be very happy. But that goal is constrained by my dislike of splits (nothing against fairytailing, or uneven ends, just hate splits).

So I'm going for some length but will defer to health in my pursuit of it. That said, I'm not aiming to be all that long by LHC standards, so maybe that affects my approach?

[Raven2448]

Health, definitely!

[Bonkers57]

Ditto. I couldn't have put it better, Eireann. :thumbsup:


Hmm. I guess I'm somewhere in between. I want to minimize trims, but I also want to maximize health, so I'm trying to avoid damage in the first place so I can go as long as possible without a trim. That said, if/when it does get noticibly damaged, I will definitely trim.

[sweet*things]

I prefer health, although usually my hair suffers from benign neglect. I've been hoping for some additional growth before trimming, but I just measured and the longest bit is 33", which I think is exactly the same as it was when I registered here. My hair is in much better condition now, but I'm going to let me daughter trim the ends this afternoon because fairy-tailing is not my thing (at least not the scraggly way my hair does it, lol).

I have been doing bi-monthly S&D's to get rid of split ends and excessive crunchiness, so I think I've been cutting off all the new growth. I need to take new pictures to see if my hemline is filling out back there at all, which is my ultimate goal.

[AgnesONutter]

My hair grows fast, and is already around my preferred length (waist) so it is not something I really consider too much. Though, I think I would actually sacrifice length for health because long hair is nice, but not as nice as when it is shining with health. Most people, after all can grow long hair if they just don't cut it but it is an art to grow long healthy hair that stops other people in their tracks in admiration. :D

[Henrietta]

Oooh no. Health is the most important thing for me. I wouldn't appreciate even knee length hair, if it was damaged.

[chelseamichelle]

Well I have a VERY hard time getting anything trimmed off. because of this I trim about once a year, so I would say that i go for length before health, however I really don't have any noticeable damage, no split ends, breakage etc. So my hair doesn't look unhealthy.

I will reach my goal within the next year and so I figure that once I get there i'll get an inch trimmed off every two months. It would be different if I was farther away from my goal.

[LouLaLa]

Health. So much easier to style! Length is good but sometimes it looks "longer" after a trim if there is a neat end.

I have seen people with fairytale ends and it looks very pretty too.

Each to their own.

[Centaur]

This is why I decided my current goal of growing to BSL length. Unless my hair thickens up a bit, I am reluctant to push it to waist length.

[Annalouise]

Health! for sure. I have sacrificed length for years because when my hair got to waist it was dry and split. I keep cutting it back to bsl and then going for waist again. If it is unhealthy I'll just keep cutting it back.
I cannot stand split dry ends! Yuck.:)

I do not know if I can grow healthy hair to my waist? I think I can but I have to find a way to not wreck my hair and I have not figured that out yet.

But using shampoo and conditioner with cones definately does not allow me to grow waist length healthy hair.

Right now I'm doing a do-over with no cones or sulphates, and no conditioner but only oil if the ends are dry. (I rarely oil).

I believe that conditioner is bad for my hair. I think over time (years) it dries it out. Its just a theory I have. I might be wrong.

I also have fine delicate hair which doesn't like things being piled on it.

[lsnyder09]

I would have to say that I'm 100% for health over length. I trim every 4-6 months just to keep any splits away! I will get my length, but I will never sacrifice the health!

[bte]

If I went for health instead of length, I would have nothing left! So I go for length and try to look after what I have as well as possible.

[Alun]

If I went for health instead of length, I would have nothing left! So I go for length and try to look after what I have as well as possible.

Indeed. You only have to look at my hair to make it split. To those whose hair doesn't split all by itself without mistreatment, think yourselves lucky.

[little_cherry]

For me, health ties in with length...healthy hair = achievable goal without breakage = happy hair and happy me.

[poloandpearls]

I've always thought what spidermom said.
The healthier you keep it, the quicker it will grow because the oils/nutrients can reach the tips better & they won't snap off so often.

Though I'm still hesitant to get trims too often because I've found a lot of hd's can be a bit too scissor-happy.. I get trims about every 3 months :)

[Lianna]

Well, my hair is so short I just want it to grow for now, to make a sock bun. Isn't damaged, but I wouldn't care for now. If I had BSL hair damaged up to shoulder, I'd cut it with no problems.

[Keildra]

I'm more focused on length right now, because as soon as I get where I want to be I will start maintaining it better which in turn will give me healthy hair

[christine1989]

I agree! Long healthy hair is way more rewarding (and draws much more attention) than long damaged hair. I am lucky to have thick strands that don't damage eaisly but if I ever find any damage (knock on wood) I'm heading strait for the scissors!

[frost pattern]

Predominantly length over health for me. Due to dyeing and routine bleaching for highlights my hair has lots of damaged strands. Last summer was the last time I asked for highlights, and by accident too much hair was bleached. I looked like a skunk! After skipping cones, the former skunk bleached ends are sticky when washed. Fortunately oiling helps.

My hair grows very slow, about 5-6 mm a month. I have it professionally checked and trimmed now every three months, and every mm the hairdresser cuts is a pain. Nevertheless I decided to do so in order to avoid future damage.

[MandyBeth]

Well I'm at SL so that's a giveaway. I'm rather have healthy short hair than long damaged hair.

[tinti]

I think long healthy hair is better than long damaged hair. So I trim when I need it, which is not too often, once or twice a year or so.

[Venefica]

I trim once a year. For me I am at the point where health is far more important than length. I would like to get my hair past my butt, but at waist length I am happy, though I am very glad the hair is still growing. However if it needs a trim it gets a trim. I would rather sacrifice a bit of length to have hair that look healthy.

[joyellen]

I just posted to my blog about this. :lol: For a long time I just wanted length. I knew the bottom six inches were pretty damaged, but I wanted long hair more than I wanted healthy ends. Now that I'm hovering somewhere around hip length (which was actually my original goal), I can't deal with the straw-like ends and shaggy layers anymore. I'm going to cut the last 3-4 inches off and get it overwith. It sucks that I have to lop it off just after reaching my original goal length, but I know it's the best thing and my hair will grow back. :)

[CarpeDM]

Health over length for sure.

[terrylillyd]

In 2006 I had a bad experience getting my hair done, my hair was fried with highlights, and it broke off and looked terrible, I lost my BSL length hair. After that I grew out my hair without ever getting trims. I knew my hair looked terrible, it was so broken and uneven and everyone asked me why I just didn't get a hair cut. Or do my roots. I knew what I was doing. I waited 3 years and when I finally got a hair cut, it gave me the nice hair I have today, with clean fresh cut even ends. I guess it depends on what your goal is. I had patience, and I knew if I waited I would benefit holding out from cutting and trimming my hair. Now I barely have to trim my hair because the ends are healthy. It's been months since I have had even a tiny trim.

[Sunsailing]

I've always been about health over length.

I personally think this issue is why long hair on men is viewed so negatively by many. It seems like too many men who grow their hair long, do it without any thought of caring for it. Length is the only goal, regardless of how it looks.

I believe this is why long hair on men is not widely accepted. When many people hear "man with long hair", their first thought is a man with not very nice, "un-cared for" hair. Some of those men make it harder for the rest of us :mad:

I'm trying to do my part to change "some" of the views out there....


.

[feralnature]

In 2006 I had a bad experience getting my hair done, my hair was fried with highlights, and it broke off and looked terrible, I lost my BSL length hair. After that I grew out my hair without ever getting trims. I knew my hair looked terrible, it was so broken and uneven and everyone asked me why I just didn't get a hair cut. Or do my roots. I knew what I was doing. I waited 3 years and when I finally got a hair cut, it gave me the nice hair I have today, with clean fresh cut even ends. I guess it depends on what your goal is. I had patience, and I knew if I waited I would benefit holding out from cutting and trimming my hair. Now I barely have to trim my hair because the ends are healthy. It's been months since I have had even a tiny trim.

I did the whole 3 years without a trim thing too. I wanted length so I sacrificed health over length. Then I did a self-trim last week or whenever and I have nice long hair now.

[<3OnHerSleeve]

I'm growing out the hairdye so I'm actually trying to get some length before I cut so I can maintain and then grow again. So I'm aiming for waist, maintaining till the dye is out, then hopefully pursuing classic length after that :)

[Nicolesid1]

Hmm. I guess I'm somewhere in between. I want to minimize trims, but I also want to maximize health, so I'm trying to avoid damage in the first place so I can go as long as possible without a trim. That said, if/when it does get noticibly damaged, I will definitely trim.

I second that. I trimmed about 1/2 an inch in the pass few weeks to get rid of the splits but I cut 1/4 and realize there was more damage so I trimmed a bit more.

[Kome]

A little bit of both. I can maintain once I get to my goal, but if I over-trim? I'm kinda screwed. It's a lot easier to under-trim because you can always trim more, but you can't take back what you've already trimmed. So you get the point.

I only trim when my hair starts tangling a lot. Usually, for me, it's a problem with my ends when my hair begins to constantly tangle. I have been trimming a lot less lately because of my desire to have longer hair. I can definately tell the difference, but my hair is so damaged that even if I trim 3 inches off it will still have crazy split ends and damage. So for me it's just patience in waiting for my dyed, damaged hair to grow out. I'm not willing to cut it all off and look stupid for a year or two. Lol.

[AnnaJamila]

Trim trim trim!!!! And I've never seen a split end in my hair! Fairytale ends can be pretty... but they have a second cousin... EVIL STEPMOTHER STRAGGLES!!!! *end canned thunder and lightening, lights return to normal levels*

What? I thought it was funny...

[chelles2kids]

Defiantely healthy hair for me over longer hair.
One could have hair down to their knees but if it's 3 different colors, dried out and broken off...please, oh please, trim that hair!:p

[Aria]

If it all looks like a haystack, it should probably be cut, although I personally keep my hair long despite a good bit of damage. It doesn't seem to grow out; I can only guess that it would take a massive rehaul of my lifestyle before it was significantly healthier. If I wanted to go for health, I'd have to submit to something around a boycut, or an office-lady bob at best.

[Luna Lavender]

A little bit of both.
I really really want it to grow right now. I try to stretch between trims as long as possible, but when my hair needs it, it gets a trim. However, my ends split when you look at them, so it's pretty impossible to keep all of the splits out. I just make sure my hair looks good and healthy. When the ends start to look bad and/or tangle like crazy, I trim.

[Speckla]

Healthy hair. My hair is curly and dry/fried curly hair isn't nearly as lovely as healthy curls.

[nowxisxforever]

A little bit of both.
I really really want it to grow right now. I try to stretch between trims as long as possible, but when my hair needs it, it gets a trim. However, my ends split when you look at them, so it's pretty impossible to keep all of the splits out. I just make sure my hair looks good and healthy. When the ends start to look bad and/or tangle like crazy, I trim.

Same. I go mostly for length, since even when mine is shoulderlength it has splits, I just try to keep the splits to a minimum is all!

[tinywife]

Health, health, health!! Some people can get away with a little damage, but unfortunately I've never been one of them.

Once upon a time in high school I had waist-length hair. The boys loved it because it was long, but it was very, very sick. I would find as many as 7 splits on one hair, and a ton of little white "pills" that would snap when I brushed. My brush had more broken pieces than shed hairs. Inevitably, the growth slowed to a crawl.

I finally cut it and donated it to LoL (this was before I knew about their evil regime... ;) When the lady held up my ponytail, I was a shocked that that raggedy-looking thing had been on my head!

So I know from experience that if I choose length over health, I'll get neither, and the result will not be pretty. Currently, my bob is still very short, but shiny and soft!

[Meagan]

I had lengeth, but it was damaged and it drove me nuts...
so I choose health over damage, it looks much better too

[jackie75]

When I first joined here, I had no idea how much I would learn about hair care & my own hair. In the end, I decided that my virgin, healthy hair was more important than the damaged length. I got a drastic amount cut off, but I'm glad to get rid of what caused me so much tears & stress.

So, that's just what worked for me. I'm glad I did it. Now I can grow in peace! I have a radically different hair care system now, thanks to LHC. :cheese:

I think healthy short hair looks better than long damaged hair.

[Elenna]

When I joined this forum, I had badly damaged, shoulder-lenght, dyed hair. In three years, most of that has been trimmed off.

My hair is still far from perfect, but hope to reach waist-length (in about another year).

[vloucak]

I think both are important. I am trying to let it grow, but can not take it when it does not look healthy :)

[xladolcevitax]

Definately length.. because i cant stand short hair on me at all. By short i mean anything above bsl. even bsl feels too way too short to me.

if i cut off all my damage i would have very short hair. so i just treat my hair as best as i can and cut splits when i see them.

I am going for a year without a trim, possibly 2.. i will re-evaluate after the first year which will be april 2011.

I have trimmed a lot in the past but felt like i was getting nowhere with length and since not trimming for 8 months now i am finally seeing real progress! :)

Once i reach my goal of hip i will trim regularly to get a thick, even hemline and to get rid of my layers. In the meantime i dont really mind having thin ends as they dont look bad at all and i like knowing i am gaining as much length as possible :o

[sophiamarie]

I prefer health over length. Having grown out my hair before, I know what I like. I just get very small trims done every so often as I'm growing, and it makes all the difference. I just love the look of well-maintained hair with nice even ends.

[Vermelha]

Health over length. Length wouldn't make me look prettier anyway. But healthy hair always looks good, regardless of the length. I want people to see me and say, "Hey, that's the girl with the great head of hair," not "Oh, that's the girl with those stringy locks, why doesn't she cut that off?"

In fact, I had a run-in with a girl in High School. She called me out about my scraggly APL length hair IN CLASS. The next week, I got it cut into the style (close to the one you see in my avi). Only then did I know what healthy hair was. From then, I started growing it out.

[Cowgirl16]

Hmm. I guess I'm somewhere in between. I want to minimize trims, but I also want to maximize health, so I'm trying to avoid damage in the first place so I can go as long as possible without a trim. That said, if/when it does get noticibly damaged, I will definitely trim.

My sentiments exactly.

[JuneBride]

I believe in HEALTH over length.

[curls2grow]

Definitely health first for me. My hair is slow-growing and needs regular trims to keep the curls at the ends looking and feeling healthy, so length gain is much slower for me.

[ibleedlipstick]

To me, health is the number one priority. Why would I want tb length hair if I knew the the lower 7 inches of it is crunchy and breaking off?

I had about that much damage from an old perm, and I have been gradually cutting it off — I grow two inches, cut one. It has taken me a while, but now I have reached a point where enough of the damaged areas have been trimmed off, and I can now start growing it out with worrying about it looking fried and gross.

I'm hoping to not trim at all during 2011, but if I hit June and realize that my hair looks bad at the bottom, or I'm experiencing breakage from the old perm damage, I will cut to where that breakage begins. I really don't like the look of hair that says "I don't look in the mirror."

That is not the same as fairy-tale ends or super fine or thin ends. A few split ends are okay as well. Hair that says "I don't look in the mirror" is crunchy, matted, tangled, and generally uncared for.

[leoninnu]

If you had asked me this just couple of years ago I would have answered lenght, definitely. And back then I was forced to negate all my annual progress by my hair begoming impossible to comb through and so I would have to trim all that nice growth off and start again.

I haven't turned to a completely opposite opinion yet though, but I have a more balanced approach now. I do trim but I try to keep my hair in such a good condition that I don't have trim often and not more than 1/2 inch at a time. I do want noticable growth. If this doesn't work I might have to start trimming more but I've never been too hesitant to show scissors to my hair when it's necessary anyway :o

[miss_purple]

Nope, to me it's health over length... that's why I did a major trim 2 months ago.

[AnaGeorgette]

I find if I dont trim it's eventually the same length as if I do because even though it's growing at the scalp it's breaking off at the ends- therefore health before length, because trimming wont slow the length process down much in the long run since you have much less breakage, and it looks much better...

[30isthenewblack]

I find myself getting drawn to shorter lengths of hair which have volume and is very healthy instead of hip length hair these days which is thinner and has no shape or body.

[marsali]

health is more important for me. Ill rather have a shorther ones but healthy instead of longer ones with demaged ends..

[lapushka]

I'd have damage cut off, definitely, but as long as the ends look good, or S&D will solve the issue, then I see absolutely no reason to trim.

[xoxophelia]

I think healthy hair comes more from not heat styling, avoiding chemical dyes, brushing gently or avoiding mechanical damage, various washing methods, and/or reducing your damage from those things how you see fitting. Trimming helps to keep a blunt hemline and to remove previous damage (or splits for those who get them naturally).

In this past year I trimmed off about 4" because I am slowly getting rid of old hair color and I was getting rid of damage but to me I think length is more important up to a point. I guess the evidence of this is that I don't cut my hair to my shoulders. If I did, all of my hair would be in amazing LHC health but instead I live with my OK or even so-so health hair and slowly trim with patience :)

[Nymph]

I always tell myself that I won't cut until I reach a certain point, then I'll start trimming for health... However that "point" always shifts, so I've been stalling a hair cut for a year or so.
My hair looks okay, although it's probably not as healthy as many LHC, but I'm just too reluctant to trim or cut it.

[sugarpixie10988]

I value my hairs health over length. I trim at least every six months, sometimes more depending on my hairs condition. It will take longer to get to my goal length, but I can be patient.

[Ladycelt]

My hair grows so slowly due to thyroid issues, I've been favoring length...haven't had a trim since last May, and I'm finally seeing and feeling some change in my length. Eventually I'm sure I will trim for health, but right now I just want it to keep growing!

[Fufu]

definitely hair's health over length.

I wouldn't enjoy my hair if it's LONG but it's UNHEALTHY. It is heartbreakin for me..