Curl vs. Length - which do you choose to sacrifice?

[anthonyswife]

Hello everyone!

I've been feeling rather down about my hair lately. I love love love the length, but it's a lot thinner and significantly less curly than it used to be. I'm having a very difficult time trying to reconcile my love for curly hair with my love for long hair, especially since I recently found some old pictures of me with shorter, bouncier, curlier hair and have also been spending time over at the Naturally Curly forum trying to find a way to get rid of my frizz. I'm seriously considering cutting back to waist and cutting in layers to get my curls back, but, I love my length so much, I'm really afraid of the cut (especially since I spent the last three years trying to get rid of my layers for smoother updos...which even so are not smooth due to my frizz and lack of styling ability).

For example, my hair at waist with layers: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/image.php?u=27029&dateline=1275777285&type=profile
Now look at my avatar. My hair is in better condition, but the curls are gone. :(

Since I'm having such a hard time with the decision, I'm wondering if anyone else here has gone through this, and what was your outcome? Did you cut for curls or did you choose length? Or did you continue to grow but keep layers? Or did you find another solution?

Cheers :flower:

[CurlAhead]

Couldn't you cut it just a bit shorter?Or just have tiny layers that wouldn't take too long growing out? Maybe the curls will come back? Or maybe you are using too nourishing conditioners which weight your hair down a bit? However, I think that your hair looks lovely in both pictures.

[leentora]

Could the lost of curls be due to the weight of your hair a it gets longer and not necessarily anything to do with thinning. Nothing in that pic looks like thinning to me, if anything it looks heavy and full.

[Lianna]

I find it easier to take care of my hair when less curly, so I'd choose length. Wavy, straight, curly can all be beautiful. :)

[turtlelover]

I honestly like it at waist a bit better, but that is just me. It is very long and pretty either way so you can't really go wrong.

[Bene]

I've never had any sort of attachment to my curls, so I don't see it as a sacrifice, more as "This is my hair now that it's longer".

[chahuahuas]

I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. I went through this year after year. I would bob my hair to my chin, and my curls LOVED it. It was easy to get super bouncy ringlets. When I grew my hair out to APL or BSL over the course of a year, my curls would get more and more stretched & flatter. Recently I had an appointment with a devacurl sylist I realize I don't have to sacrifice my length for my curls! It takes more work product-wise and drying-wise than short hair (clips are VERY important to give your hair more curl all over), but it's sooo worth it for the versatility (wearing hair up and down both) and the beauty.

So, coming from a girl who is quite experienced with the battle of curl vs length: Trim, but don't go drastic with the trim. just a couple inches max, since the devacurl dry-cutting method requires cutting at the end of the curl. Most importantly, get LOTS of nice layers! Layers make your hair curl allll over. Definitely go get your hair dry-cut by a devacurl trained stylist, where they cut your hair curl by curl. I have great results from them!

[anthonyswife]

Thank you very much for the feedback, everyone! I'm sure my curl loss is indeed due to the weight of my length, and I am very attached to my curls, so I think Chahuahuas is right, if I want my curl back I'll need layers again. Still a tough choice though.

[chahuahuas]

Anthonyswife, I firmly believe that well-made layers will ADD volume, so it will not seem like you are losing any hair. If you're lucky, you might lose some length due to bounce! (I would not at all mind losing some length to pure curly bounce :o )

[chahuahuas]

And YAY! With that post I'm not a newb anymore, and I get more privileges!

[jeanniet]

I think you could probably get away with just trimming a couple of inches and maybe putting in some long layers. You might be surprised how much more curl you get with just a little change. I'd do that rather than a drastic cut and see if it helps.

[lacrymosa777]

Get Layers!

[celebriangel]

I'm a 2c, and I know that when my hair is longer it will be more wavy than curly. That's okay to me - I like long, loose waves. So I suppose I'm sacrificing curl for length. My very ends always seem more curly than the top, so I hope I continue to get spirals at the end, but if not, *shrug*. I can always put layers back in to change it up if I feel like it, but I want to experience very long hair (knee length if possible) at least once in my life.

[Cupofmilk]

I love your hair longer and shorter. It looks great both ways. I guess the longer it gets the more the curl will pull out? Can anyone else confirm?
I have wavy wavy hair and the longer it gets my waves pull out. I guess I dont' mind as my pattern is so uneven if that makes sense.
I like the advice to just get a small trim - I think 2-3 inches would really help.

[TheGnome]

I can't decide. I've been trying to grow my hair out to waist-length for a few years, and it is really slow going. If the curls end up being much more stretched out than now, I'm picking curls over length.

[neesalena]

I once thought if I sacrificed length, I'd get curls instead of wurls, but that didn't work. YEARS later, I am learning that the curls appear when my hair is past shoulder length. (What? yeah.) So I have straight hair from roots to chin, then curly wurly from there on. I can only wonder what will happen as it gets longer, I think I'm approaching the longest I've had it in my adult life right about now.

I think curls are harder to come by than length, so I would have a hard time sacrificing the one for the other.

Also, I just made my req. posts this week too. Yay for having friends and such!

[chahuahuas]

Cupofmilk: Yes, curls do stretch out some eventually, especially at extreme lengths. the very tips of your hair might have ringlets, but the crown and the beginning is pulled so much be the weight of your hair, the curls up top really don't have a chance. That's why I'm a layers fan, I want to have curls around the top of my head and around the bottom of my hair, I don't like having a flat limp style on top and with a very ringlet-y style on bottom.

neesalena: have you ever tried pinning your hair at the roots? I find it lifts the hair up from being matted to the top of the head, giving the hair from the roots to the chin more chance to curl. I do it sortof like this: http://cdn.ownednetworks.com/individual/contentfiles/photo/734d715058b2582241035c12eefc15a5.jpg only my stylist showed me a little differently. she showed me to put the pins in vertically. if anyone doesn't understand, I could take a picture of it. I look VERY ridiculous when I do. I have so many clips coming out of my head, I look reminiscent of pinhead from hellraiser.....

And anothony's wife: if you get layers put in and they aren't trained with the curly girl method, be sure they at least have curly hair themselves! I've had TERRIBLE layers done by people who can't work with curly hair. The stylists should have curly hair themselves, and profess to wear it natural at least some of the time so she knows what she's doing.

[Sunshineliz]

It'd be a hard choice to lose curls with length! Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I discovered my curls left when I cut my hair. Thought I'd get bouncier curls, nope they're GONE just like you, nessalena. Apparently that's the way of the wavies!

Of course I don't think I'll ever have the lovely corkscrews you show in the waist-length picture--mine are much looser.
I think to have your length and curls too you're going to have to do as the others have said, and get layers back. Definitely get someone who knows what they're doing. DH has 3a curls and went to a girl who only knows how to cut African-American texture. It was NOT a good result. It doesn't work well either when he goes to people who only know how to cut straight. I'm having to do the cutting now.:)

[kitschy]

Your hair is gorgeous! I think your waist length picture actually looks at least hip or tailbone. It is quite a distance past the smallest part of your waist IMHO.

Layers might help you, and a shorter cut will release the bounce. I too struggle with the decision, but my hair is at 'almost-waist' and it does have layers. I'm trying to grow out my layers.

[shell78]

I've been struggling with the same dilemma for the past 6 months. My original goal was always waist, but I kept growing to see what I thought of hip / tailbone. I grew out layers that were cut in when I was between APL and BSL and while I loved the length, I was disappointed that my ringlets stretched into barely waves.

I pulled out some old pics and sat my dh down and we talked about what length looks best on me. I decided on a 4.5" trim that took me from 34.5" to 30" and I asked my stylist to put some subtle layers back in. With layers, my ends tend to look pretty thin so he was careful to balance that trade-off.

You can see my BSL to waist pics in my album (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=2390) - including a couple of photos from 2 weeks ago just before my cut and a pic from yesterday a few days after my trim and freshly styled.

I'm really happy with this length and plan to maintain here. Hope this helps! I think finding the perfect balance between curls and length can be challenging but it's definitely worth it.

[kamikaze hair]

I totally feel for you. My hair is also curly/wavy when it wants to be, and the longer it gets the harder it is to maintain that same gorgeous bounce. I have my goal set at classic length. I agree with what others have said, get some subtle layers, not to kill the length but to just give your hair more bounce and curl. See how that goes for you, and just have a good understanding what helps your hair curl. I'm a hairsbreath from hip length and i've been wearing my hair 'straight' for a while just to protect it and help it grow and today i wore it 'curly' and lost some length through that process, so it hitting me too, thinking what do i want more, curl or length.:confused:

[missmagoo]

Check out her hair blog http://coloradocurly.wordpress.com she just did a big chop, but before that was at TB and ultimately cut back to BSL because she wanted to maintain her curls.

I also fall into the camp of my hair is curlier as it gets longer- to a point. Now that I am past BSL and approaching waist, my curls loosen up a bit which I like. I also still have deep layers in my hair (shortest at about APL)
It's hard for me to imagine going back to all one length, but I might. I know that many member have had problems maintaining layers at longer lengths because it starts getting thin.
You could always cut back so minor layers and see what happens. They really are key for maintaining movement in the hair, which to me is important if you like to wear your hair down.

[santie]

I'm in the same situation right now. I've finally reached my goal of waist length hair, but my hair is so much frizzier and there's barely any curl. I feel like I can't leave it down without heavy styling before hand. I really miss my big bouncy curls! I'm contemplating cutting it back to APL, or putting in lots of layers... I'm going to wait until the end of summer before I make any big decisions though.

[gthlvrmx]

That's a tough choice to make there as a curly head. Just think of which one you would really miss the most?

You're going to have to maintain a certain length to keep the curls.

But maybe you prefer curls than length :p
Your hair looks beautiful either way :)

[chahuahuas]

That's a tough choice to make there as a curly head. Just think of which one you would really miss the most?

You're going to have to maintain a certain length to keep the curls.


I used to think that, too. I would bob my hair every year in order to get the best curls. In fact, I just posted my pictures of my annual chops in my album.

That changed when I had a proper curly cut done by a CG stylist; I learned with a decent cut and a good styling technique, you really don't have to choose between curl and length!

Layers are a solution that can add volume (as long as they are cut correctly.) So you can maintain most of your length, and add in volume. You don't need to miss either. And clipping for volume + lots of good product helps too.

[curlymarcia]

I have tights curls, so I am OK with getting less curly hair. In fact, I will grow my hair as long as it takes to relax a little the curls.

[chahuahuas]

By the way, I was asked about how I clip my hair in another thread, so I posted pictures of my hair all clipped up with more info on my clipping and routine :)

here it is: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=8222&pictureid=107353

[Vanilla Mint]

Your longer curls are definitely curly (lol) and look bouncy to me. Your hair right now reminds me of mermaid hair, and it's gorgeous. I can see what you mean about your waist-length layers, though. I suppose if I had to choose between the two, I'd say I favor the latter, just because of how delicately the curls cascade down your back, with the layers adding more depth. Really, your hair is lovely either way, and I could go on musing about it for another few paragraphs if I wanted to! ***envy***