Almost 6 Months w/ pictures...honestly dissapointed

[joyfulheart18]

I discovered the book Curly Girl and then LHC soon after in March of 2011. I get less split ends, my hair is happier, and it looks better...but I want to grow it to waist, and it's just not happening. I've had two trims since March. One was in April just before the "collage (three photos in a row)" where I think she took off about a inch. My hair was very damaged and I wanted to start fresh as I had just discovered how to truly care for my hair. I also just got a trim of about half an inch at the beginning of September. I'm really disappointed that I have not gotten very much growth. That means that getting to waist will take me a lot longer (sigh).

Does anyone know why this could be? (I apologize for the large pictures, I didn't realize until it was too late)
/////

[free_hug]

You got very pretty hair - I really envy both the volume and the shine.

It's not quite easy to guess measurements based on pics, but basing on the ends-vs-elbow levels, to me it looks like perfectly normal growth. Half a year with trims - a 2-3 inch growth would sound normal for that time, and that is not necessaril even visible, esp. on wavy/wurly hair. I see you started out somewhere below APL - so you probably only need to give it more time :) maybe a year or so? Don't give up, you have lovely, healthy hair, it will be so worth the wait

[heartgoesboom]

sorry, hair grows slow :( that's pretty nice normal growth, especially since you got almost 2" off for trims

[joyfulheart18]

I actually didn't think about the fact that I probably lost almost 2 inches in trims. It certainly makes me feel better! Thanks

[julierockhead]

There's all sorts of advice about growing hair here, and lots of things to buy to experiment (thankfully most are cheap) but patience is really the only thing that works! Your hair will grow. Just wait.

[Dr. Girlfriend]

I think your hair looks lovely. I have wurly hair too, and it's difficult to gauge growth compared to straighter hair. Anyway, I still see a big difference in the two picture where you are wearing the grey shirt with lettering. That's pretty good for having two trims and having wurly hair, trust me. :)

[AcornMystic]

Since hair grows approx. 6 inches a year and you're recording 6 months your hair would have only grown 3 inches. On top of that you got 2 trims. An inch and half an inch you said which is an inch and a half. minus an inch and a half off of 3 inches. You got got an inch and a half of growth the entire 6 months.

I know it seems like it should be longer, and without trims it would be, and it's hard to be patient, we want to see results, but hair grows slowly and patience is the only thing we can utilize other than what we put in and do to our hair to care for it.

It will! grow, and I am so envious of the length you have right now. I'm 2 inches away from reaching shoulder.

EDIT: To get to your goal, understand that it could take several years. You'll be all the more patient the longer you get into your journey because you will see how far you have come and begin to understand more and more the importance of patience and in so doing hone your ability to be patient. Note that my ultimate goal, after reaching terminal, knee, is going to take approx. 7 years, and that's with NO trims. (of which I don't know if I can do without for that long)

[Audrey Horne]

Your hair looks nice and you've got a normal growth rate, so don't worry. Everything will come! We are all a little impatient :)

[Mesmerise]

To me your hair growth seems normal too! It also looks less layered now than it did earlier, so if you're growing your layers out that's certainly working.

As others have said, if your hair grows an average of 6" a year, or 3" in half a year, if you've had 2" cut off you're not going to see a huge increase in length!

My advice would be to stick to the occasional microtrim every three months (no more than 1/2", preferably 1/4") and you'll see a lot bigger difference next time!

[KittyLove]

Don't give up! It's a slower process for most; Stressing about it will make it grow SLOWER, so just forget about it for a while. P.S. Your hair looks shiny and healthy, just have patience.*-*

[Yame]

My hair growth also feels excruciatingly slow, but I think it's actually quite average! It's just that I know some people whose hair grows extremely fast, and subconsciously compare my growth to theirs... which can be frustrating.

Until recently it wasn't bad since I was keeping my hair somewhere between waist and hip length, but around the time I joined LHC a couple of months back I decided to grow it at least to tailbone.

One thing you need to keep in mind is that if your hair grows slowly, any length lost from trimming will make a big difference. In my case, I was able to maintain my hair at the length that it was at by trimming around half an inch every 2 or so months, and doing a larger trim (an inch or so) once a year. If that amount of trimming was keeping me at the same length, then in order to grow my hair I must trim my hair much less than that.

So I have decided to try to go a while without trims. I don't think I will try a year or anything like that, because I like a blunt hemline. But I am going to see what happens if I go 4-6 months before trimming, and then only doing a small dusting. I will do that for a while, and then once I reach my goal I will do larger trims to thicken up my hem. I S&D regularly, which should help with splits.

Maybe you should try something similar...

[Quixii]

Well, hair only grows about a half inch (average) a month. So for six months, that would be three inches. However, you got about two inches in trims, which means you should only see about an inch of growth. Which, honestly, is what it looks like to me. Plus, it's lovely anyway, so what's the rush? :)

[Rocket22]

I agree with everyone here You have beautiful hair!!! and again with if you trimmed off a few inches you trimmed off all your growth, and honestly when you think it's only an inch trim at a time it usually ends up being slightly more. So I bet you might even grow faster than average! :)

[IanB]

I don't think you should be dissapointed, your hair looks gorgeous. Natural waves and curls also make the hair appear to grow at a slower rate.

[newbeginning]

I think your hair looks great. It is very shiny and looks healthy. I agree with others you just need patience (though we all know how hard it is to be patient when we just want long hair now).

[curlymarcia]

I love your hair, it's so pretty! I think your are trimming almost all the growth, but I can see from the photos that actually your hair has grown.

[jojo]

I too think your hair is lovely. It took me from 2008 until last year to reach waist, sometimes we are our own worst enemies as we set timescales to reach goals and then are disappointed when it doesn't quite work out. Your hair growing along well and looks very healthy so I see no reason why you shouldn't reach your goal within the next few years. Its a game of patience but we have no other choice really!

Id highly recommend micro trims say every couple of months and I am talking the very ends to help maintain your lovely thick hemline and get rid of any splits which may pop up. Also keep your hair up and forget about it.

[joyfulheart18]

Hi everyone!

Thanks so much. I guess I just got impatient because it doesn't feel like a lot of growth, but I guess it really was normal. I'm definetely going to keep it to a trim of half an inch and under, the first trim was an inch and a bit just because my hair was so damaged at this time.

Yes, I am growing out my layers, so thanks for noticing! I can also see how much healthier my hair looks, and that, of course, is the most important.

Thanks for keeping me patient! :)