Awkward hair questions: "How long have you been growing your hair?"

[Rivanariko]

I'm never sure how to answer this question, and it is probably the question I get asked the most.

"How long have you been growing your hair?"

As far as I'm concerned, I've been actively trying to grow for two and a half years, since I joined LHC, but I was at waist length at that point, already "super-long" by most of society's standards. I feel like it's misleading to tell people that I've only been growing for two years, but I also feel like "I've always had long hair" isn't quite true either, because I have been actively growing it these past couple of years.

I think the last major cut I had was in 2004 to a few inches below my shoulders for a play I was in, and that felt insanely short. I just let it do its own thing until 2009 when I discovered LHC and realized that I could grow it long if I took better care of it.

I feel like the only way you can honesty answer "how long" is if you started from bald or a pixie or something.

[Madora]

Your point is well taken, Rivanariko.

Personally, I just tell people that my hair has been growing since my last haircut and give the date.

There seems to be this misconception that if you have waist length hair, you have never cut it, which, of course, isn't so for most of us.

[Oksana]

In my mind i have been growing my hair out for the last 6 years but only since joining LHC have i taken it seriously and enabled my hair to actually grow :p

[jacqueline101]

I've been growing mine for a while. Its been about six months this last time. I feel like I will succeed this time. I have been doing a lot better since I've joined the LHC.

[PlainLight]

I never know how to answer that either. My hair has always been long by most people's standards, never shorter than APL, but I wasn't consciously trying to grow it out until about two years ago - when it was already waist length!

[Freckled.Thing]

Haha, I got this question a few weeks ago.
I've wanted to have very long hair but have never been able to grow it past BSL, so it's basically been at BSL since 6th grade or so. I found LHC about six months ago and have grown a few inches since then but it's not like that's when I started growing my hair!

Yeeeah, I tried to explain but I think I just sounded crazy. (I didn't mention LHC, or BSL or anything) :o

[Amber_Maiden]

Good point!

I could go with from the last time I cut my hair, in October... But most of the time I go with 4 years ago when I cut my hair from hip to chin.... But in that time I have cut more than a two feet off.... Hard to gauge how long I've been growing it...

[Lostsoule77]

Let me preface this by saying that I tend to be both literal and a wise *ss. I've never been asked this question, but as soon as I read your title the thought in my head was my entire life. :shrug:

I know that is not what people mean when they ask the question, but I wouldn't quite know how to answer what they are asking. I've had "long" hair the majority of my life. I don't get hair cuts as often as I'm "supposed" to, so it just keeps growing. I never had any plans to change this. I didn't actively start trying to grow it longer until I found LHC. I think when people ask this though they really want to know how long it took to get to it's current length and that obviously isn't a simple answer.

(All of this is part of what makes me so awkward in person.)

[moon2dove]

As you can see, I put from shoulder, only because I didn't think my hair would actually grow 'long' . But my last short haircut was in 2008 when I had my nightmare hairdresser cut.
I asked for no shorter than shoulder length cut, she cut it into the back of my head and the sides just below my ears. aargghhh!! It looked awful.

So, I would say since 2008 :)

[moon2dove]

@Lostsoule77


(All of this is part of what makes me so awkward in person.)

^^^^You made me chuckle :) :)

[moxamoll]

LostSoule77 you aren't alone - I had the same thought. I also tend to get caught up in the idea of growing your hair as if it's a deliberate activity. "Want to go to a movie tonight?" "Can't - I have to grow my hair!" LOL

I tend to answer this by saying something like, "Well, I haven't done a major cut for about two years now." They tend to focus on the "two years" part and are happy and I feel like I've said something that sort of makes sense.

[Nini]

I just say that I've always had long hair, of varying length of course. Except when my dad tricked me into cutting it real short when I was five, and to just below my ears when I was in fifth grade. That wasn't my dad's work though;)

[Kelikea]

Maybe I'm a bit of a smart a**, but I'm pretty sure that my hair has been growing since before I was even born, regardless of whether or not I had a hair cut.

Ha, Ha. Hopefully everyone will see the humor in this.

[lesbia]

I'd answer "two years" because it is two years since I decided to grow my hair long and I stopped cut it (I only had a couple of microtrims) :)

[Carrie Ingalls]

I always just say something along the lines of "I had it cut to my shoulders when I was four and a half, then I had it trimmed sporadically growing up, and I have been maintaining at ankle length since the early part of 2009." I have been asked soo many times, the answer is quite rehearsed. I think that is part of why I don't really like giving a response like "my whole life" because it just adds time to the conversation and a lot of the times I get asked I am in the middle of something (studying, shopping, going somewhere, etc.)

[spidermom]

I once asked my long haired SIL the same question, and she said "all my life; how about you?" I thought that meant that she had never cut it, but she meant that she'd had hair all her life.

I haven't been asked that question, but I'd say about 10 years.

[trolleypup]

Given that my hair is at terminal, it has been longer since my last haircut than the age of the longest/oldest hairs. Usually I say something like..."A very long time, but this is as long as it gets, about 7 years of growth."

For shorter lengths, something like "Two years from waist length" might work.

[going gray]

For as long as I can remember, it's been back & forth from 24"(?) to short pixie! I've finally decided to get off the "roller coaster" once & for all.

[Herb]

I get that question all of the time. I just say: "I haven't had a big cut since middle school." :)

[Beatnik Guy]

"Oh, years and years" usually satisfies people. Mostly they're not actually interested how many years, but just want to know that it's an endeavor that takes longer than they would have patience for. :rolleyes:

The actual answer is that my hair has been long my whole adult life.

[Bene]

I'm still hung up on why such a question should be awkward. For the most part, it's a general curiosity thing, they're not asking for your life story or anything :laugh:


"For a while, I guess" should satisfy most inquiries unless they're asking for details, in which you can can choose whether or not to give details about how long it was when you actively decided to grow long and whatnot.

[Milui Elenath]

Am I the only one who sees this as an opening for launching into a long discussion about hair?

I usually answer that I've been growing since I was 14 when I had an 'urchin' haircut and then I go on to tell them that I grew my hair till waist over a few years and remained there believing that it wouldn't grow anymore and trimming it. Then I launch into the wonders of LHC and how my hair is nearly at the goal I have always wanted. I finish off by telling them that if they're interested in long hair they should check it out. - If they didn't want to know then they shouldn't have asked. :D

[EdG]

I just say "I've had long hair for a long time". :)

If they really want to know, I estimate my longest strands are 8 years old.
Ed

[Viperalus]

I just say "I've had long hair for a long time". :)

If they really want to know, I estimate my longest strands are 8 years old.
Ed
Good one!
I guess you are the one that I have read the best hair care tips on a web page a couple of years ago.
That at the signature is your current hair length? You used to have such "enviously" very long hair! :)

[EdG]

Good one!
I guess you are the one that I have read the best hair care tips on a web page a couple of years ago.
That at the signature is your current hair length? You used to have such "enviously" very long hair! :)Hi Viperalus! In addition to having long hair for a long time, I have been on Internet hair boards for a long time.

Yes, my signature picture is current. Welcome to LHC!
Ed

[nellreno]

I say I've been growing my hair out since the summer of 2007. That's when I got my terribly awkward pixie cut that I hated so much and decided to grow my hair out then (though I really didn't take care of it well.

[Egana]

My hair is not very long yet (APL with layers) so people don't ask me "how long I've been growing my hair/" But they do ask how I tame my curls - and since I do a variety of things (some more successful, some less so) I have found that that most people notice my hair, and want to use it as a point of conversation. They are not really interested in the actual content involved in the answer. So I give them a few details, and then ask them a question about themselves, and the conversation continues.

[KwaveT]

I estimate that my last haircut was about April or May but I started to take this seriously back in September and have made some good progress since my last haircut.

[lacefrost]

Since I grew out chemical straightners, I get to say unequivocally, " three years." But otherwise I'd say something like, "Since my hair has been shoulder-length, I've been growing it for x-years" or something like that. It took me awhile to develop my response because initially I was like, "always o.O"

[misspriss]

Gee, I always just shurg and say "a while..." Seems like I'm always growing it out. I just pause every now and then and keep a length, more often than not I am growing it.

[arc691]

http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy68/terryandjody/Christmas%20Smilies/8bohue8.gifYou all get this too?? That is so funny! Whenever I'm in America people always ask me this question~ I usually just say, Oh, I've always had long hair~ and try to walk away or change the subject.

[PixxieStix]

Well, no one has asked me this yet (my hair isn't long enough), but when they do, I'm pretty sure I will be using my LHC start date as the point where I "officially decided to actively grow out long hair." So, if someone asked me now, I'd say a few months.

I haven't shaved my head in a couple years, so I guess one could say I've been growing since then, but really, I was just waiting to get over the trich and have my hair fill in the bald patches on top before "seriously" growing out again. Yay for LHC!

[DarkSky]

No one has ever asked this question and I as well would have no idea what to say to them. I've always had longish hair and really never made a conscious effort to really grow it "longer" till August after getting way too much hair cut off at my last trim last spring.

[Diamond.Eyes]

I say about 3.5 years. I only cared about growing my hair out when I wanted the nasty black dye that was in it to be gone. Then I realized that I liked having long hair, so I kept growing it. :p

[slz]

I'm still hung up on why such a question should be awkward. For the most part, it's a general curiosity thing, they're not asking for your life story or anything :laugh:
It's awkward because it's a question that has no answer in most of the cases - very few people I guess wake up one morning and decide "that's it ! as of today I'm growing my hair out" ad then shave it all off for a real start. It (the question) operates under the premices that "growing one's hair" is, like moxamoll said, a deliberate activity, which it isn't for most.


I also tend to get caught up in the idea of growing your hair as if it's a deliberate activity. "Want to go to a movie tonight?" "Can't - I have to grow my hair!" LOL

So yeah I find it awkward when people ask questions that do not make sense as is, to me it's like asking "how long have you ben growing your legs ?", kinda (yes I know it's not exactly comparable, but, you know, the general feeling). The most awkward being not only that the question gets asked at all, but that it ges asked ad nauseum by mostly whoever you meet who has any interest into your long hair.

And then there's also the fact that I can't grasp what's so important in putting a time frame on things, that it's the first question they have about my hair - it just boggles my mind. If you want another weird comparison, that'd be like, say, if one of the first thing people asked when getting to know you were your shoe size, or this kind of "irrelevant" information : who cares ? I don't get it.

But then I read what Beatnik Guy said :

Mostly they're not actually interested how many years, but just want to know that it's an endeavor that takes longer than they would have patience for.
and I think he must be onto something. It still doesn't belong to the scope of thinks of any interest in my world, but yeah, it kinda makes sense.

[Sweet Beat]

I get that question often too! Always hard to answer. I've always had quite long hair and I didn't really think of it when I was like 8 yrs old :P I've just ended up this way and it's first when i joined TLHC I started to be aware of exactly how long my hair was. I hardly measure it before I joined.

[Carrie Ingalls]

Am I the only one who sees this as an opening for launching into a long discussion about hair?

No, your not the only one, and I have had many a discussion about long hair that started with this or some other questions/statements, including but not limited to: "Do you get headaches?" "You must go through a ton of shampoo!" "How long does it take you to shower/wash it?" "Your hair is so long!" "Are you going to donate it? / Have you ever heard of Locks of Love?" "It must take you forever to brush you hair!" "How do you straighten it!?" "It must take forever to blow-dry!" ...etc...

I also, often tell people about the LHC (if they seem even remotely interested), but the reality is that I don't always have the time it takes to really answer all their questions, and most people aren't really interested even though they spout off a bunch of questions (they don't wait for or listen to the answers). So, usually I try to give just enough of an answer to satisfy them so I can get back to whatever I was doing in the first place.

[Panth]

I usually say "ages" or something. If asked further, I tend to say when my last cut was (as opposed to trim).

If they really are curious about how long it takes to grow (and they're being nice about it) I usually come up with an estimate based on Igor's growth times. She's the only example I know of who's gone from bald to past classic in one straight run - makes things easier for calculating.

[Bandia Rua]

Ive been actively growing my hair since 2002... Theres the lesson....STOP CUTTING, if you want to make any gains on length,... my hair would be well beyond my knee length goal if Id just STOP TRIMMING...remember hair grows a half inch a month so a few times a year of an inch here or an inch there then some dusting there and so on can totally obliterate what youve managed to grow.

Yes Im bitter....lol

[Rivanariko]

I guess I just don't like discussing my hair with random people, lol. And I find any question that I can't come up with an acceptable answer that makes sense to be awkward. Not awkward in the "that's too personal" sort of way but in a "I can't find an answer and therefor this conversation is becoming uncomfortable" way.

The only time I've volunteered information about how long it's taken for me to grow my hair was when one of the girls I work with was saying that she wanted her hair to be as long as mine by graduation (May) when it's shoulder length now... I had to explain to her that ever people with super-fast growth won't grow from shoulder to tailbone in six months! Although I know we all wish we could!

[Orangerthanred]

Everyone's hair has been growing since the beginning of their lives, of course.

[princessp]

I think this is the first question people ask when they see my hair down because it is the first thing they think of. To us, it is kind of a silly question but some people rarely see really long hair. I usually answer that my hair has always been long (which is partially true). If they persist with the questioning (often the next question will be "how long are going going to grow it?") I usually just share with them whatever they want to know. If I don't want to talk about it I change the subject, but often the conversation leads to hair care (a subject I'm always eager to continue discussing). :)

The other day I was discussing hair with someone and I mentioned she had short hair (she had somewhere between shoulder-BSL). She looked at me sideways (shaking off my LHC mindset) and I had to add that my standards of long were obviously very different than hers! It was kind of funny actually, we both laughed at how relative things can be.

[Yame]

If I feel like they are genuinely curious, I give them the long answer:
"Oh, I don't know... my hair was around shoulder length back in high school, then I decided to grow it out. It got to around this length probably about 4 years later and I've just kept it there since."

If I feel like they aren't and are just looking for something to say, I give them the short answer:
"I don't know. My hair has been this long for a while now."

But surprisingly, I never really get asked that.

[Jing]

I did start growing from a pixie, even though I didn't have the slightest idea of how long I wanted to let it grow at that point. I guess I'm lucky in that I have an easy answer to the question.

[LadyLongLocks]

There are 2 answers I give.

Since 1991, because that was my last shorter cut (from classic to arm pit length, of course I had tons of trims from then to now)

~or~

9 years. I divide my length in inches by growth per year. My hair is almost 63" and it grows 7" a year.
I have been using this answer a lot.

It was really from the age 14 when I got a horrible short haircut at a salon, but I usually don't tell them that story.:D

[julya]

This question is easy for me, because I did have a pixie cut I decided to grow out in 2003. I do hear this question whenever my hair is in a braid or down.

[trilobite]

Since my last bob, It was so much work! It may sound strange, but long hair has been my rebellion since I had small children with a lot of expectations and not much support. Now it's my rebellion from the expectations of middle age. So I guess I have been growing it seriously for about 10 years. Discovering hair toys made it lots of fun.

[Beatnik Guy]

I think this is the first question people ask when they see my hair down because it is the first thing they think of. To us, it is kind of a silly question but some people rarely see really long hair.

Yes. It's worth keeping in mind that a lot of people don't know what to say when they see long hair so ask something which seems inane to us. :rolleyes:

[Modarunner]

I can truly say I've been growing my hair for 2 1/2 years, since I shaved almost my entire head when I started and have been growing since.

[missoj]

I would day I have been growing my hair since November 2007, technically four years since my last hair cut (have been trimming though). For the first two and half years I'd been growing it with benign neglect actually, I wasn't thinking about it growing just letting it grow. Once it got past shoulder length I began to get excited about the length and thought about getting long hair. Then I came across LHC, lurked for a while and then put effort into letting it grow and setting length goals for the past year.

[Viperalus]

Hi Viperalus! In addition to having long hair for a long time, I have been on Internet hair boards for a long time.

Yes, my signature picture is current. Welcome to LHC!
Ed
Hi Ed,

Yes, now I remember from where I first found you. Some years ago I happened to stumble on an old-fashion board, difficult to use.
Thanks, I am happy to be here!

[kaiakai]

Maybe I'm a bit of a smart a**, but I'm pretty sure that my hair has been growing since before I was even born, regardless of whether or not I had a hair cut.

Ha, Ha. Hopefully everyone will see the humor in this.

That would be my answer :D