thickness of hair at the top vs the bottom

[WinterButterfly]

I was wondering if the frusteration I have with my braids and buns was due to the ends not having a lot of taper. At the top of my pony it is about 4 inches around, and at the bottom where I can no longer braid it is almost 3 inches around. I am curious if this is the norm. My hair hits hip at the moment. And I find different braids and buns challanging because my ends seem almsot blunt. Even though their not really. I have only done 1 half inch trim in the last year and a half or so. I suppose the my hair is thicck complaint isn't the worst one there is. How thick around is the tassle at the end of your braid in comparison to a pony at the top?

[xoxophelia]

Mine tapers fairly significantly. This is partly from old heat and dye damage, layers, but also genetics I am sure.

If it is a problem that bothers you, maybe a stylist could thin your hair or give you layers?

[MissManda]

Big hugs! :flower:

I had similar problems when my hair was almost your length; even when it was nearly 30" long, the knot and nautilus buns still eluded me while I'd just gained the ability to do a decent pencil bun. I just stuck to sock buns, and classic braids (two French/Dutch braids coiled into one bun), or other braided styles because my hair was easier to deal with. My ponytail is between 4.1-4.3" and my ends were 2.6" with some layers.

Now that my hair is BSL, I can't do much with it due to lack of taper (my ends are something ridiculous like 3.5"), so I just stick to tucked French braids held with a Ficcare, an English/fishtail/rope/4-strand/whatever-I-can-do-neatly braid, classic braids, or cinnaba/beebutt buns held spin pins.

It's quite annoying because the ends stick out everywhere, but I really enjoy having the thickness most of the time, so I think it's worth it for me and only encourages my hair to grow even longer. :D If you want to change it, I agree that maybe you could try some long layers or just practice styles that involve more sections.

[WinterButterfly]

Layers always = foofy fluff on me. It becomes an unmanagable poof. I am actually quite curious about other peoples hair thoug. it is weird that oe with super straight hair as I have would get a lot of poof though. I always get poof where the layers are cut, b t I never get volume added to the top. Layers mean I have a head of hair that resembles a pyramid. I wonder how long it will be before I get enough natural taper at the end of my braid though.

[Cassie 123]

You know what this means, right?

Estimating Terminal Length (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=75)

You can grow that hair until it drags on the ground if you want to! :cheese:

[WinterButterfly]

I think that those of us who have thicker hair have a different set of issues than the regular. I want to be able to do a better crown braid. But the ends end thick enough to be hard to manage. It has been years since I had hair this long, and it seems very different than it was before. When I was younger I was told I had thin hairm but the truth is that I have fine and thick hair. Is there a fine and thick hair thread wandering about? People never seem to equate fine straight hair with thick hair. And so it is hard to find the right products as well as updos. I'm just getting bored with the english braid and the rope braid and the braided bun.

[WinterButterfly]

Ooo I hope I can grow my hair to the floor! When I was 12 it only hit to classic though and I never had a haircut before. But the terminal length wiki said. That terminal for those older than 12 is usually longer than those 12 and younger. If I could get hair to the floor, it would be awesome! I would wear it down in public just to show off!

[MissManda]

I think that those of us who have thicker hair have a different set of issues than the regular. I want to be able to do a better crown braid. But the ends end thick enough to be hard to manage. It has been years since I had hair this long, and it seems very different than it was before. When I was younger I was told I had thin hairm but the truth is that I have fine and thick hair. Is there a fine and thick hair thread wandering about? People never seem to equate fine straight hair with thick hair. And so it is hard to find the right products as well as updos. I'm just getting bored with the english braid and the rope braid and the braided bun.

Ask and ye shall receive. (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=24724) :D

[WinterButterfly]

The terminal length thread and the fine and thick thread made me do a happy dance! Thank you! I am lost in the intricate layers of the Lhc forum. :)

[Madora]

If you are trying to do a braided bun, what you could do is braid down about 3/4ths of the way, then gently twist the end tassle instead of banding it. Then coil the braid, pinning as you go, and tuck the tassle under the coil.

If you're doing Heidi braids, you might try braiding the ends loosely so they have more flexibility, then pinning them in place.

Lastly, if you want to grow your hair long and want to be able to create neat hairstyles, you'll have a much easier time if your hair is all one length. Layers are not your friend because you're constantly battling those whisps that stick out of braids, etc.

[Chetanlaiho]

Due to natural taper, some mishappen haircuts and a bad diet my hair tapers into next to nothing from APL downwards, I would kill to have your problem xD

[jojo]

My hair has no layers but tapers at the bottom to next to nothing, so id love your problem.

Just did the online terminal length calculator and apparently I have potential to grow to 0.6" :D

[Kelikea]

My hair is a similar thickness to yours, 4in at the base and 2.75in at the tassle, but it is layered. Too much thickness at the ends is harder to twist into updo's, but I love thick ended braids. My layers are BSL to almost hip and I don't have problems with pieces sticking out of braids or buns.

[Noreth]

My hair tapers to nothing due to damage, but I refuse to believe my hair's terminal is shoulder, I won't, I won't, I won't! At least I know all of the terminal length calculators are right when they say "19 inches". :)

[Kelikea]

I think that those of us who have thicker hair have a different set of issues than the regular. I want to be able to do a better crown braid. But the ends end thick enough to be hard to manage. It has been years since I had hair this long, and it seems very different than it was before. When I was younger I was told I had thin hairm but the truth is that I have fine and thick hair. Is there a fine and thick hair thread wandering about? People never seem to equate fine straight hair with thick hair. And so it is hard to find the right products as well as updos. I'm just getting bored with the english braid and the rope braid and the braided bun.


Yes, I agree with you. I also have fine but thick hair. My hair has to be longer to do certain buns. I also can't do a proper crown braid because the first side looks ok, but the second side is too fat and looks silly. Chinese bun, figure 8 or infinity buns work well for me. Rose buns only work if I section hair into 3 buns.

[unheardletters]

I have the same circumferance for my hair on the top as the bottom, even when I had hip length hair.

[dulce]

Mine is only waist but tapers due to lots of layers so I braid a few inches then finish with a Flexi 8 clip,leaving a very long thick tassel.My braid tapers so much if I braid to the end it is really pitiful.I like the look of a long tassel anyway.

[FrozenBritannia]

Good Grief! Your hair at the ends is thicker than my ponytail at the top!! (1.75 inches)... I doubt the ends of my braids are even measurable at this point!

That being said, an east-indian girl I knew growing up had the same problem (and such gorgeously thick hair-*sigh*) and she used to do a very long braid, tie off the bottom, and then fold the braid up like one of those snap bracelets (sort of rolling it up the braid) and tie it off again close to the head and then either pin it to her head. The ends were nowhere to be seen!

[Kathie]

I've recently just had layers put in because I was finding my ends too blunt. They start around 2 inches up from the bottom of the hem line, they're very subtle and have made my ends look much better. So for me some very slight layering has helped.

[katsrevenge]

Hmmm I have similar hair. Fine but thick. At the top where I've alot of new growth I'm measuring 5 inches. Below the growth its 4 and even with all my layers my tassel is 3.
I'm almost waist with my longest layers.

That plugin webpage said I could get over 80 inches of hair. Op did you get the same?