Hair lengths

[dawnrader]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new so forgive me a little.

I'm wondering at what stage you become a certain length? For example if i have a few strands of hair that reach my waist but the rest is a little shorter, am i waist length or do i need the majority of my hair to be beyond the measurement?

Nic
x

[Amber_Maiden]

Nope, your at waist. I have layers, and my hair tapers at waist.

[battles]

I try not to call a length until a good amount of my hair is there. I wouldn't truly feel like I'd reached the next length if only a few hairs were there, but that's just me.

[Lostsoule77]

I wouldn't call it when it's just a few hairs. I would call it when most of your taper is there. If it's just a few hairs reaching waist I'd call it "can I call this waist." To me that means you are just about there, but not quite.

I think everyone will have a slightly different opinion though and we all set our own standards to a degree. If a few hairs at waist feels like waist to you then go ahead and call it. :)

[jaine]

I feel like it's cheating to call a length too early, and that includes pictures where only the tips of a few hairs are touching the finish line.

It's worse if there are multiple kinds of cheating in the same picture ... like a chin higher than normal, or camera higher than hair level. :p Or armpit length with a horizontal line drawn through the highest armpit. Or bra-strap length with an ill-fitting bra that rides up in the back. Just wait a few months and then call it when it's solid.

[Cassie 123]

It's totally up to you. The longer the hair gets, the more the ends tend to be wispy, at least for most people; few people would be able to declare their hair knee-length if the majority of the strands had to make it.

[jaine]

It's totally up to you. The longer the hair gets, the more the ends tend to be wispy, at least for most people; few people would be able to declare their hair knee-length if the majority of the strands had to make it.

That's true, I think if you have fairytale ends you can call it when the tips are there because if you don't you'd be waiting for years or more.

I was thinking more of a situation like this, where a lot of hair will reach the finish line in a few months, but someone is calling the length before that happens. (This example is my hair, and I don't think it looks like APL yet)
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=6736&pictureid=116991

[jeanniet]

I think to some extent it's up to the individual--within reason, that is. For people with wavy or curly hair, it can be difficult because the length may vary from day to day depending on the tightness of the curls. I usually take my hair pics on the day I do a wash, which is when my curls are loosest and my hair is longest. There might be 2-3" difference after I wash my hair and the curl is tighter. So that's why I started picking a certain day to take my pics--otherwise, it's too difficult to track growth because the visual length goes up and down on a daily basis and I don't measure.

If I only had a few hairs reaching a certain length, I wouldn't claim it, but that's not the way my hair grows so I haven't experienced it anyway. :)

[Cassie 123]

Jaine, can I just say that your hair is gorgeous in that pic? :thud:

[darklyndsea]

Most people go for overall visual effect. But if you want to call a few hairs hitting the milestone as being at the milestone, feel free to do it! The only person it'll affect is you, whether the effect is happiness at hitting the milestone or guilt because you feel you're cheating.

[Modarunner]

I personally don't feel that I'm at a certain length until a good portion of my hair is at that length, otherwise I feel like I'm cheating. That's just me personally.

[ericthegreat]

As a rule of thumb, I always judge by where the overall majority of the hair ends fall. This is why I choose to keep my hemline trimmed to one-length, that way I can be sure all of my hair can evenly fall at the length I want it to be.

Now if your hair isn't one-length, then I would again judge by which length that the majority of your hair falls to. So if only say 10 of your longest hairs reach waist, but the rest of your hair lies at mid-back length, then your hair is really at mid-back length and not waist.

[JamieLeigh]

I think that if a hair touches it, you get to decide if you want to call it or wait for the majority. It's your hair, not ours, so your opinion is the one that matters. Cheating is when you tilt your head back or the other ways that Jaine mentioned in her post.

BTW. My hair hasn't been trimmed in a year, so it's fairy-tailing, and when it's dry, it's wavy and only a few hairs are touching the crease in the back of my knee. However, when it's wet, it's over an inch PAST that knee crease and inching towards the top of my calf with those few hairs, while there are other shorter hairs that DO reach knee. Taking the average of that? I'm at knee. And it doesn't matter whether anyone else agrees with me, because it's MY hair and MY call. :D

[dawnrader]

Thanks for the replies ladies, i wasn't sure if there was a certain protocol as to when your hair reaches a certain point. I'm not yet at waist length, i have about an inch to go. I haven't been keeping track of my hair other than it's longer than it used to be and it's not been cut since August last year.

[julliams]

When you are asking that question, you are at "can I call this waist?". Basically, you wait two months and then you are totally at waist. To anyone walking by you in the street though, you have waist length hair. Enjoy your hair, it's at a great length and every extra growth you have now is a bonus!

[julliams]

Can I ask, is that your current length in your avatar? Because that length is definitely past waist and on it's way to being classed as hip. But your info says BSL so I'm wondering if it's an older photo?

[jojo]

Looking at your avatar id say yes you are waist. Deciding when we reach a certain length is very personal for e.g. bsl is so ambiguous some say the top of the strap and some say the bottom, then again some people wear the strap under their armpits; I go for bottom of strap but thats just me.

I am waist and didn't call myself waist until the bulk hit my waist line. However, in people with extreme lengths I can totally understand them claiming say knee when just a few hairs reach it, as the hair "normally" is more tapered at longer lengths.

[Jemoiselle]

Oh my goodness, we come here to encourage each other and enjoy the journey! Call it whatever you want as long as it makes you smile, we'll love you either way! Everyone has their own opinion, obviously hehe. You just have to pick your preference and stick with it :) Personally, I am one of the ones Jaine mentions LOL who, upon hitting APL, drew a line at the highest part of my underarm and called it the second I hit it solidly! So what? I WAS HAPPY AND EXCITED! Better than being grumpy, life is too short. Case in point, do what makes you comfy and makes sense to you. There is no right or wrong way :)

[xoxophelia]

^ agreed. I think you should also just apply a degree of common sense. I was (and to some extent still am) growing out layers. So, for a long time I had a bit of a V hemline. When my hair was BSL do you think people would look and say: "No, her hair is only shoulder length because a lot of it is that short".. No! People would have seen my hair as long as it grows down to around some point on my back. We wouldn't say everybody with a V or U hemline or layers doesn't reach the next milestone until 5" past or something.

So, as long as some hair does actually grow to that point, whenever you feel you are there, you are. It is really just a way of tracking progress anyhow.

[jojo]

Oh my goodness, we come here to encourage each other and enjoy the journey! Call it whatever you want as long as it makes you smile, we'll love you either way! Everyone has their own opinion, obviously hehe. You just have to pick your preference and stick with it :) Personally, I am one of the ones Jaine mentions LOL who, upon hitting APL, drew a line at the highest part of my underarm and called it the second I hit it solidly! So what? I WAS HAPPY AND EXCITED! Better than being grumpy, life is too short. Case in point, do what makes you comfy and makes sense to you. There is no right or wrong way :)


^ agreed. I think you should also just apply a degree of common sense. I was (and to some extent still am) growing out layers. So, for a long time I had a bit of a V hemline. When my hair was BSL do you think people would look and say: "No, her hair is only shoulder length because a lot of it is that short".. No! People would have seen my hair as long as it grows down to around some point on my back. We wouldn't say everybody with a V or U hemline or layers doesn't reach the next milestone until 5" past or something.

So, as long as some hair does actually grow to that point, whenever you feel you are there, you are. It is really just a way of tracking progress anyhow.

yes to both these its personal choice, as long as its growing it doesn't matter!

[BlazingHeart]

My hair has pretty heavy layering in the last 8" or so because it was grown out from a pageboy and never trimmed, so I call a length when I've got about 1/4 of my ends at that length. I figure as long as I'm consistent with how I call lengths, I'm still looking at the same thing. Does that make sense?

[dawnrader]

Can I ask, is that your current length in your avatar? Because that length is definitely past waist and on it's way to being classed as hip. But your info says BSL so I'm wondering if it's an older photo?


Looking at your avatar id say yes you are waist.


To answer the question, the avatar is old, i had my hair cut to my shoulder blades August 2010 (i have a pic of that) however i never got it cut again and i doubt i ever will except for trims.

I'm still a bit shorter than the avatar and i miss it terribly.

The reason i asked was to find out if there was a standard to calling hair lengths as i hadn't being paying attention to the length of my hair until the other night and found it only an inch or so from my waist so it wouldn't be too long before i could draw a line and say what length it was.

Thank you all for your comments :D

[owlathena]

Call me a cheater, but I'm going to claim the length as soon as my longest layers reach it. Sometimes my hair is wavy, sometimes its straight, so my length can vary day-to-day. I see where the tape measure says a certain length is, and then when my hair has that measurement, its there, even if body wave makes it look a little shorter.

[Cirafly24]

Call me a cheater, but I'm going to claim the length as soon as my longest layers reach it. Sometimes my hair is wavy, sometimes its straight, so my length can vary day-to-day. I see where the tape measure says a certain length is, and then when my hair has that measurement, its there, even if body wave makes it look a little shorter.

Same here :) You better believe that as soon as my longest hairs touch classic, I'm calling it!