Two years of growth... discouraged..

[ladylovecraft]

I haven't been a member of LHC for two years, though I've been lurking much longer than my membership states, teehee. But I have been growing my hair intentionally for a long time and had a BIG chop in summer of '09. I can't pinpoint the month exactly, but I think it might have been around May-Juneish. This is what my hair looked like then:

http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g405/villainspiration/0d401cd4.jpg

Sorry about the low quality silliness, but I wasn't actually taking pictures of my hair around then because I wore a wig if I left the house due to how much I hated my hair. It was a sort of pixie-ish cut, I suppose...?

Today, after a microtrim (the first I've had since I've started growing):

http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g405/villainspiration/97746a06.jpg
Dyed with henna and special effects, for the curious. (SFX is a veggie/plant based dye, so it's not damaging!)

... I'm feeling discouraged, to say the least. I've given up almost everything harmful to my hair (SLS shampoos, on and off with -cones, never heat styled/blow dried in the first place, only wash every few days, etc etc)... I've even started wearing it up daily, which I HATE, but realize that it's good for my hair so I tolerate it. Hey, my boyfriend lives four hours away so who cares what I look like? :D

I just feel like my hair isn't in good enough condition for the care I take of it, nor is does it seem to be growing at an 'average' rate. I'm 5'2", so there isn't exactly a lot of torso on me. But if I'm supposed to grow 12" in two years, that doesn't look like a foot of hair to me.... At this rate I'll NEVER be at my goal of tailbone, and I can absolutely forget being anywhere near waist by graduation (the end of this year). :(

Any recommendations, ladies and gents?

[TakeAPotatoChip]

That looks to be about a foot! I think you have been getting a solid 1/2 inch a month :) Maybe you could try measuring from Point A(going by the pic)-Point B with a measuring tape to find out? If graduation is at the end of this year you've got a good 6-7 inches ahead & then you'd definitely be near, if not at waist by then :] It took me a full year to go from APL to my waist and I'm 5'2 also.... growing [unfortunately] takes quite some time for everybody, Rome wasn't built in a day and all that jazz.

I love your hair btw, and your makeup, AND I need your white+pink/red tee right now! =3

[beez1717]

You look like you have a good amount of hair there. I think that your hair looks fine to me. Split ends are all you have to worry about though.

[ladylovecraft]

That looks to be about a foot! I think you have been getting a solid 1/2 inch a month :) Maybe you could try measuring from Point A(going by the pic)-Point B with a measuring tape to find out? If graduation is at the end of this year you've got a good 6-7 inches ahead & then you'd definitely be near, if not at waist by then :] It took me a full year to go from APL to my waist and I'm 5'2 also.... growing [unfortunately] takes quite some time for everybody, Rome wasn't built in a day and all that jazz.

I love your hair btw, and your makeup, AND I need your white+pink/red tee right now! =3

Aww, thank you for the compliments! I don't trust measuring tapes much because of the variance in what they'll measure based on position alone, but I think I may give it a shot. Hopefully that won't discourage me more, hahah.

Yeah, I was just hoping for waist by december considering my hair was about this length at the beginning of this year. Or at least it feels like it! Ugh, maybe I'm just imagining things.

Oh, and my shirt is home made. All I did was take a white camisole and splash some red craft paint on it, hahah.

[NotInPortland]

I don't have any tips for caring for your hair as I'm pretty new to all this, but you have a lot of growth there in my opinion, don't feel discouraged :)I mean in your first pic your hair isn't even at your chin and now it's nearly at BSL, that's decent growth for sure! You won't get to waist by December unless your hair grows freakishly fast but still you will definitely have made it to BSL by then and maybe a bit longer! All you really need to worry about now are splits on the ends as your hair gets longer.

[spidermom]

I think it's a fair amount of growth, too. I don't know if it's a foot, but it looks like a good 10 inches at least. By May/June, you should have another inch there.

It looks like it could use a small trim, though. My hair always grew much better with regular trims, otherwise the damage and breakage set my growth WAY back. The first year I joined and tried to hang onto length that I knew was damaged, I gained 3/4 inches in my first 4 months (this was during the summer when growth is supposed to be good). Then I got 5 inches cut off and grew 1-1/4 inch in 3 weeks.

[jojo]

I think you have grown loads; you may get to bsl for your graduation, waist is another year or so!

Try oiling those ends before bunning and maybe jump on the monistat thread; its doubled my monthly growth and I am the slowest grower ever! Its taken me from slightly shorter than your first photo to waist 5.5 years!

[ladylovecraft]

I think it's a fair amount of growth, too. I don't know if it's a foot, but it looks like a good 10 inches at least. By May/June, you should have another inch there.

It looks like it could use a small trim, though. My hair always grew much better with regular trims, otherwise the damage and breakage set my growth WAY back. The first year I joined and tried to hang onto length that I knew was damaged, I gained 3/4 inches in my first 4 months (this was during the summer when growth is supposed to be good). Then I got 5 inches cut off and grew 1-1/4 inch in 3 weeks.

I agree, it probably could use another trim... but as I just made a small one today I don't think I can will myself to do it again until at least BSL. It's just so frustrating having started growing from so short :x

[ladylovecraft]

I think you have grown loads; you may get to bsl for your graduation, waist is another year or so!

Try oiling those ends before bunning and maybe jump on the monistat thread; its doubled my monthly growth and I am the slowest grower ever! Its taken me from slightly shorter than your first photo to waist 5.5 years!

I abuse coconut oil already, hehe, but I will definitely continue to do so! I'm probably going to reduce my washes again and keep my hair constantly oiled/up for as long as possible to try and give it some love.

I have tried monistat but I couldn't tell if it was working... and since I was buying the 4% that was just too much to throw away if it wasn't. I may try the 2% generic brand again though, thanks for the input :)

[CurlAhead]

I just love the color of your hair in the second picture! I think your growth rate is average, my hair grows even slower!! :D Have you tried scalp massages and CO washing? I loooove CO washing! :D

[Qadupae]

I can't really offer any other suggestions from what other people have, but I just wanted to pop in and say that your hair, despite how you feel about it, looks downright awesome to me ^_^ I loooooove the color

[racrane]

First of all, like others have said, your hair really has grown a lot. I think it's easy to get discouraged and not really realize just how much hair one has grown. I suppose my advice would try to be patient - but that's hard for me to follow, too. By the way, I love your hair color!

[Miss Catrina]

I'll agree with others in saying that it looks like it HAS grown about 12 inches.

Also, your length milestone tank top is kind of brilliant.

[growingpains]

Ummm.... you had genuinely short hair less than two years ago and now you have 'long' hair by any standards except perhaps LHC. Seems to me like excellent progress, and, average growth.

In summer 09 I cut my then BSL+ hair to between shoulder and APL. In the same time frame I have managed to get it to midback. Granted I have had a few small trims and one of about four inches or so, but on the whole considering I started slightly longer than you and am now still slightly longer, seems pretty comparable, no?

[free_hug]

You probably have worries other than your hair... since your progress in two years is impressive, both length and condition-wise, yet you don't seem happy with it. There may be an underlying cause, but your hair is lovely! This pinkish colour, and esp with natural dye, is awesome :)

[pennyroyal]

Just wanna say that i agree-you have gotten a lot of length! I also wanna say that your hair is beautiful & that color is amazing! if you don't mind me asking-what is your natural color under the henna?

[skyblue]

your growth looks right to me! Plus it looks like your head is down lol
so it would look shorter then it is
Don't be discouraged your doing great!

[ashke50]

Loving the hair colour!
It has grown a lot, and seems pretty thick. Keep on with what you are doing - it is clearly working :-)

[Phexlyn]

I think that's a good amount of growth, actually, have you been microtrimming during the process? If not, I'd suggest you do some tiny trims a couple of times a year to make sure your ends stay in good shape, especially since your hair is fine.

It also looks like your looking downwards in the second picture, maybe that's why your hair looks shorter.

[TakeAPotatoChip]

your growth looks right to me! Plus it looks like your head is down lol
so it would look shorter then it is
Don't be discouraged your doing great!

I didn't even notice! Her head is down :) Hair's even longer than you're leading us to believe :D I bet the ends are in the zone of BSL.

[Lildove]

I agree with TakeAPotatoChip, I think your ends would definitely hit BSL if you your head wasn't tilted. Other than that I don't have any other suggestions but I am another fan of your hair color. :D Absolutely stunning!