End of growing journey??? Opinions?

[ilovelonghair]

I am afraid I have reached terminal at hip length :(


This is years ago, the thickest bit stops at BSL:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=7584&pictureid=99934

Now the thicker part has moved up:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=7584&pictureid=105403

It's not the greatest picture, but it shows the thicker part is way above BSL :(


http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=7584&pictureid=107333

This is the thickest it ever looked:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=7584&pictureid=99932

needless to say: I want this back!


I need to take more pictures, my hair is brown now. But is there any hope it will restore to normal?
In all these pictures my hair is shorter, I just reached hip again, normally I cut it off when it reaches that length because the ends look so yucky thin.
I am contemplating using clip in extentions again :(

My BF suggested cutting it back to BSL, but it would take too long to grow back and it would make me unhappy. Are there any people who have similar hair to mine and happy with theirs as it is?
Maybe tips to get my wavy hair back?

[ange1ito]

It still looks great though. I thought you only loose thickness if you have a major shed??? If you take it up a few inches, wouldn't the thickness just grow down. Excuse me if I sound stupid.

[spidermom]

Have you tried trimming a little? I'm talking maybe trimming it back 1/2 inch every 2-3 months. This holds the fastest growing hairs back a bit so that slower growing hairs can catch up. Hopefully the thickness will move down. It happened for Emichiee.

[lillylonghair]

I say to maintain your length but trim as Spidermom suggested. I do not think your hair looks bad or thin. On the contrary when I looked at your pics the first thing I though was ''Ooh was lovely color and texture!''.

I say give yourself maybe 6 months to a year of trimming half your growth every 3 months (if you grew2 inches,cut 1 etc.) and see what happens. Also do you take supplements,exercise,etc? Maybe look at your lifestyle?

[Anje]

I'd suggest maintaining your length a bit shorter, maybe around waist. Depending on your trimming schedule, it's possible that your ends are getting worn and damaged, and then are inflicting damage an nearby hairs. (Mine seem to have similar conspiracies.) Maintaining a few inches shorter for a while might keep the eviler ends at bay and allow the thickness to move down.

Your hair is very pretty, for what it's worth. Yeah, the ends fairytale a bit, but that happens to a lot of us.

[CherrySilver]

Also do you take supplements,exercise, etc? Maybe look at your lifestyle?

I'm going to second looking at your diet and lifestyle -- making some changes can have a major impact on your health and ultimately your hair. If you're not taking care of yourself, it will definitely show -- your hair is going to get nutrients last after everything else. Smoking, drinking, late nights, poor diet (sugar, white flour, and other poisons) will wreak havoc on your hair (and skin). Using a multi-pronged approach (daily scalp massages, diet/supplements, sauna and exercise, etc.) has worked wonders for my body/health, nevermind my hair.

[Shelly]

I agree, trim half the gained length every 8 to 12 weeks and you'll get the thickness back all the way to the ends.

I'll be doing the same thing. My hair starts thinning out right around APL maybe BSL. There's no way I'm going to cut my hair from longer than TBL to BSL just to get thicker ends back so I've decided to trim half the gained length every 8 weeks until my ends are as thick as my hair is at APL. That way I don't lose a whole lot of length, I still gain length and I'm making my ends thicker all at the same time. IMO, that's the best way to do it.

[Kome]

My hair looks just like yours. It was super thick and nice at BSL last December, but now I'm just hitting hip and even though I've trimmed several times in the last 9 months, it's still super thing on the ends. This may be due to the extreme damage that is on the lower half of my hair though; but either way it looks very similar to yours and it's very frustrating. Some days I love it and others I hate it. I liked when I could wear a white t-shirt with my hair down and it didn't look thin, know what I mean? I miss that!

[Cassie 123]

Did you have some major stress around three years ago? Had a baby, weaned a baby, major illness, etc? Maybe you've just partially recovered from a shed that you didn't realize you had.

[ilovelonghair]

Major illness actually (recently). I haven't noticed extra hair in my combs and brushes, that's the weird thing. I did have some hairloss in Januari or earlier, I'm not sure when it started (and I never noticed extra shedding either), I had a bit of a see through spot, but it didn't seem to affect the thickness of the lenght back then. At that stage there was no reason for hair loss. But recently with the illness, that could be the reason.

Here is how I dealt with the see though bit:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=78696

So I got a different hair color now, that might make it look thinner, who knows? Does darker hair easily look thinner than light colored hair?

[Anje]

So I got a different hair color now, that might make it look thinner, who knows? Does darker hair easily look thinner than light colored hair?
I think it depends. Often, dyed-darker blond hair looks thinner at the scalp when it's a bit grown out, because the roots blend in more with the pale scalp. For the length, I think wearing a contrasting shirt makes hair look thinner. So if you wear a lot of light fabrics, darker hair might look thinner.

You'll note in my sig pic, my hair looks quite thick until it crosses to my pants, where the contrast makes it more obvious that my ends were a bit on the thin side.

[Cassie 123]

Major illness actually (recently). I haven't noticed extra hair in my combs and brushes, that's the weird thing. I did have some hairloss in Januari or earlier, I'm not sure when it started (and I never noticed extra shedding either), I had a bit of a see through spot, but it didn't seem to affect the thickness of the lenght back then. At that stage there was no reason for hair loss. But recently with the illness, that could be the reason.

I think that's probably it. A lot of the superlonghairs of LHC have had to pause for a bit along the journey to work on thickness. You're not done yet. You can do it! :cheer:

[jojo]

oh my your hair is just like mine and I have the same problem. Ive just had 4" trimmed off for the same thing. I am now going to trim half my monthly growth and hopefully the thickness will catch up. I really like blunt ends but I am thinking I am a natural fairy tailer and if I want very long hair, then I will have to let my hair do its own thing or I will have to settle with shorter hair. Its annoying though!

[MsBubbles]

If you're not taking care of yourself, it will definitely show -- your hair is going to get nutrients last after everything else. Smoking, drinking, late nights, poor diet (sugar, white flour, and other poisons) will wreak havoc on your hair (and skin). .

CherrySilver...interesting what you say here about sugar & white flour. What sort of back up info do you have on this - whether personal experience, or stuff others have written online? I need a reason to give up both these things and extra body fat obviously has not been a big enough one. :) I'd probably do it - for my hair - if I had some compelling testimony from someone.

[Avital88]

to me, it just looks like chemical damage, i have the same..i dont think you reached terminal, something in your routine has to change,might be chemicals,straightening or brushing too hard i odnt know.. but im sure you can get back your volume, i like your hair now too, its gorgeous either way

[skyblue]

my hair is doing that, though yours looks very nice! And much thicker then mine, do you S&D a lot? I noticed a lot of thinning at my ends after a few S&D sessions so I stopped doing it, now I'm really thinking of trimming back to around the small of my back so that everything can catch up again or going to a u shaped hem line and maintaining it for the winter and see what happens...I'm still debating I hate to loss the length but my very thing ends are sad lol!

[ilovelonghair]

I think it depends. Often, dyed-darker blond hair looks thinner at the scalp when it's a bit grown out, because the roots blend in more with the pale scalp. For the length, I think wearing a contrasting shirt makes hair look thinner. So if you wear a lot of light fabrics, darker hair might look thinner.

You'll note in my sig pic, my hair looks quite thick until it crosses to my pants, where the contrast makes it more obvious that my ends were a bit on the thin side.

That was what was going on, made it look way worse than it was! I have dyed my hair brown now with Lush henna and it looks fuller at the scalp. Not yet completely perfect as it should be, but a lot better :)


oh my your hair is just like mine and I have the same problem. Ive just had 4" trimmed off for the same thing. I am now going to trim half my monthly growth and hopefully the thickness will catch up. I really like blunt ends but I am thinking I am a natural fairy tailer and if I want very long hair, then I will have to let my hair do its own thing or I will have to settle with shorter hair. Its annoying though!

I think I should do the same, had been doing that for 4 years and then decided in December to stop cutting so I could reach tailbone... ah well :(


to me, it just looks like chemical damage, i have the same..i dont think you reached terminal, something in your routine has to change,might be chemicals,straightening or brushing too hard i odnt know.. but im sure you can get back your volume, i like your hair now too, its gorgeous either way

I dyed my hair with chemical hair dye for the last time 4 years ago, so I assume the damage from that must have fully grown out by now.
But I also had damage straight at the roots from extentions, I took those out for the last time 3 years and 9 months ago. You'd think that would have grown out by now as well? Or maybe not?

After I took those out, I have never fried my hair, chemically treated my hair etc. The only damage could be from sleeping and wearing it down every now and then (it's mostly up)


my hair is doing that, though yours looks very nice! And much thicker then mine, do you S&D a lot? I noticed a lot of thinning at my ends after a few S&D sessions so I stopped doing it, now I'm really thinking of trimming back to around the small of my back so that everything can catch up again or going to a u shaped hem line and maintaining it for the winter and see what happens...I'm still debating I hate to loss the length but my very thing ends are sad lol!


I S&D a lot! You might be right about that sabbotaging my ends. I tend to cut off a centimeter for each split end.

I can't believe you have i thickness: your hair looks so much thicker than mine and thicker at the bottom too. But you got waves and that helps to make it look thicker too :)