Being super fine will I be able to grow long pretty hair?

[ZeppHead]

It might sound like a weird question...but let me explain. I have thin, fine hair. The type of hair you can see through. I do nothing to damage it: no dye, straightening, blow drying, nothing. Though I have abused the heck out of it in the past I take very good care of it now and haven't abused it in quite a few years. I have always wanted waist length hair. My sister has waist length and all my other sisters have nice hair, just a little thicker than mine. My mother has VERRRY fine hair.

In my attempts to grow it waist I condition every day, wash every 2-3days and I would call my hair normal to dry. I S&D frequently and self trim maybe every 6 months. I do get split ends but nothing really bad that would call for a major cut.

I have not had hair much longer than my current length as it gets so hard to control and since its so fine it knots up so fast I have to comb through every few hours or else it looks a mess. (Just have to mention, I use nothing but a wide tooth comb while wet AND dry.)

Since it is so fine and prone to knotting do you think I am stuck at this length? I know the longer it gets the more thin it will look. It is very hard to maintain any kind of thickness as I grow since I don't have much of it to begin with! I have had stylists tell me layers will help and keep it shoulder length but I don't like it that way. I am very low maintenance, do not want to style my hair everyday and like a blunt hemline.

Also, from the pictures does it LOOK fine and thin or is it just me?

Any tips on how to keep thicker ends as I grow out? I am on prenatal vitamins since I am 3.5 months PP.


This is when I first cut my hair in May of 2011:

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o233/****offb/June24.jpg


This is April 2012:
(no major cuts, all s&d and a few small self trims)

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o233/****offb/4-18-12.jpg

[earthnut]

I cant' see your pictures, but you can grow fine hair long.

I have very different hair from you, but I do several things to avoid knots and breakage. I avoid messing with my hair much at all when wet because wet hair is more fragile and prone to breakage. I keep my hair up at night and during the day as much as possible to protect the ends and prevent tangles. I've also found oils to help me tremendously in preventing tangles. You may want to experiment with different leave-ins to prevent knotting.

[Honeyfall]

Absolutely you can grow very fine hair long! And it'll look so pretty when you do! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. With very fine hair you will face some challenges, but it can be done. It sounds to me like you've already got a good handle on what you need to do to keep it healthy, so all that remains is to be patient and get into some cute updos. :D

[Laur]

It can definitely be done! There are lots of fine haired LHCers with amazing lengths. It will just take care and updos to protect it from tangles and damage, which I sounds like you have a good handle on, and time to grow!

[catamonica]

My hair is fine & thick. But I still use seasoned chopped onion in my shampoo. It makes your hair thicker. Add 1 0r 2 capfuls to your shampoo. Your hair will feel thicker. I hope it helps.

[Laur]

Also, check out the fine/thin hair thread in this forum for lots of other fine haired LHC folks!

[spidermom]

The only advice I can offer is that you might want to put your hair up during the day instead of combing through it every few hours. I find that the less I mess with mine, the better its condition. Putting it up very carefully protects it from mechanical damage, keeps it out of your way, and prevents tangling.

P.S. - the links you put in offer no pictures. I get a message saying they've been moved or deleted.

[Hollyfire3]

My hair is fine & thick. But I still use seasoned chopped onion in my shampoo. It makes your hair thicker. Add 1 0r 2 capfuls to your shampoo. Your hair will feel thicker. I hope it helps.

I wonder how this works? Has it increased your ponytail at all? Very intresting and glad you found something that works!

[mzBANGBANG]

Can't see the picture, but as a fine-haired person I have to say yes you can definitely grow your hair longer than it is now! I started LHC at 22 inches in December. I had never paid much attention to the length of my hair because I always seemed to have APL or shorter hair. Once I hit BSL, I noticed it began knotting up like crazy. In order to control the knots, I ended up using a coney serum (careful since cone build up can give the illusion of dry ends, requires clarifying). The serum gives my hair plenty of slip. While it can still be unruly, this is just a necessary evil of getting through the BSL stage. I'm told once it hits about waist it tames down a little :)

[lapushka]

As has been suggested already, I'd start wearing it up. There's nothing worse you can do than keep messing with it constantly, throughout the day.

And certainly yes, you can grow fine hair long. Check out the fine, thin hair thread!

[dulce]

I was also told that as mine is fine also,but in my 20's/30's had it to tailbone and had it BSL most of my younger life,now at 60 am a bit past waist.So fine hair does grow long!Just give it tender loving care as due to being fine it will break/damage easier.Avoiding dyes, brushing[I use a wide tooth comb instead of a brush]hot blowdyers and flat irons really helps.

[torrilin]

Adding my voice to the chorus... mine's around waist length now, and I've never had any trouble growing it long.

Convincing it to STAY in updos, yes, grow long, no.

[Alva]

I never had trouble either growing it long. My ends were reasonable even when I took little care of it and wore it down all day. When wearing it up however the damage done is less of course and the only reason I ever chopped back to shorter lengths wasn't because of the bad state my ends were in, but because of the annoyment that it got so long that it wasn't fun anymore to wear it down. So yeah, it can get really long even when it is fine. Mine is 2.75 inches thick and babyfine. However it won't be the same for everyone, several factors influence the outcome. I am lucky I have good hair genes as in, my hair grow quite fast and it has a long cycle, doesn't shed much.

[Charlotte:)]

I have fine hair that I wear down almost every single day, and I'm having no trouble at all growing it out. So my answer is 'yes'.

[LotteFV]

I wonder how this works? Has it increased your ponytail at all? Very intresting and glad you found something that works!
Yeah I'm wondering too, because my circumference is 5.7 cm, which is really not much at all. Do you mean onion seasoning powder or seasoned onions?

[constructamane]

Zepphead...your hair in your avatar is just gorgeous...As another Fine i/ii, your hair is to DIE FOR, no matter what! Keep growing!

[MsBubbles]

My hair is fine & thick.

But you have your hairtype listed as M for medium thickness, not F for fine.

[Silver Swan]

I have had stylists tell me layers will help and keep it shoulder length but I don't like it that way.


Just wanted to reply to this one comment - I too have had many hair stylists recommend layers, or thinning for my fine (and straight) hair "to help give it body". Well, it just means less hair further down the length which doesn't give it more body, it makes it look thinner than it is.

(There is bound to be a thread about this somewhere, but I don't recall where sorry) Since reading info here on the LHC I won't ever be getting my hair thinned again. :)

[drquartz1970]

But you have your hairtype listed as M for medium thickness, not F for fine.

It is possible to have both FINE and Thick hair. I have lots of fine hairs growing very densely on my head, hence having thick head of hair. Fine means the individual hair size and thickness refers to the diameter of ponytail size.

[torrilin]

It is possible to have both FINE and Thick hair. I have lots of fine hairs growing very densely on my head, hence having thick head of hair. Fine means the individual hair size and thickness refers to the diameter of ponytail size.

Catamonica's userinfo: 1a / M / i/ii

Yet in her post she describes her hair as fine and thick. M is not fine, and i/ii is not thick.

[holothuroidea]

I sure hope so. I'm growing my hair out whether I like it or not, though. :laugh:

[MsBubbles]

Thanks for helping to explain that, Torrilin, when I was away from the computer! DrQuartz, I don't think you got my meaning there.

[PolarCathy]

I'm def not superfine, but still can't decide if it's fine or rather medium, with a 10.5-11 cm pony (I measure different each time).

And I still don't know if I will be able to grow it long, I mean, with a healthy hem. Not just like a tenth of my thickness, say, at hip, because it already started to fairytale at MBL and I don't know what to do. Let's just say that I'm very skeptical that I can make it.

In any case, good luck with your endeavor, I hope you can make it. :blossom: Based on your avatar, it would look awesome!

PS: I can't open your pictures.

[ZeppHead]

Thanks for all the responses! I have never been able to get past bsl due to it starting to look real ratty looking and despite its health it just wont look "nice" because it has no thickness. I am working on the pictures, I dont know how to post them in the thread!

[TiffanieJean]

Yes, you can grow it long. It just takes longer. My hair is fine as well and I get a lot of split ends, regardless of what I try to do to stop them. Shedding tends to be a problem for me as well (My postpartum shed was a little traumatizing). The thing that has helped the most is hair masks. Jojoba oil and Castor Oil specifically. Both have very good benefits, especially for damage prone or thin hair. I've been using the Castor Oil for about 4 months and have noticed a lot of little baby hairs growing. The Jojoba oil is wonderful for strengthening and locking in moisture. I have a post for both Oil's on my LHC blog with a ton of info if you want to know more about how they work.

[wendylai]

I think there are several type of "thin" hair.

There is this very glass-like hair that's smooth and even, although thin in circumfence.

Then, I think maybe the most common type, alas slightly more "dryish" and with more body.. someone could call this 1b ;)

Maybe the most unlucky is very fine and dry, prone to electricity and breakage..

I think this might be the most defining issue weather you'll be able to reach waist / tb lenght :/

I'm myself mixture of fine, medium and (some) coarse hair. No one in my family I know has ever had waist or waist + lenght hair. Therefore I think it will be challenging for to reach for example tailbone. Not that I think it has occurred to previous generations to focus on hair growing, but I think that not to have at least one laissez-faire long hair relative could also give you some quidelines whether you're prone to growth or not.

Not sure if I answered your question really :D Fundamentally, as they say in my country: who lives, shall see ;)

[winship2]

When I joined LHC it was because I suddenly realized my hair was getting rather long for the first time ever and I had better take care of it. People here inspired me to try some different products, and among other things I moved to a more moisturizing shampoo. My scalp is oily and I had always used products emphasizing removing oil. My rather fine hair looks thicker and healthier with more moisturizing products, leading me to think that all this time I've been too harsh on it. I still have to shampoo and condition every day because of my scalp, but I only shampoo the scalp.

This is an unnecessarily long-winded way of saying: Try more moisturizing products, especially as you say you wash frequently. Also, henna makes my hair thicker and healthier, but consider the color aspect carefully. Maybe cassia would be an alternative. Good luck to you :)

[torrilin]

Thanks for all the responses! I have never been able to get past bsl due to it starting to look real ratty looking and despite its health it just wont look "nice" because it has no thickness. I am working on the pictures, I dont know how to post them in the thread!

It sounds to me like a better description of your concern is you're afraid your terminal length is super-short, and that your hair will start to fairytale because you've hit terminal sooner than you wanted.

Your hair isn't "unhealthy" or "ratty" or even "terminal" because your ends are starting to fairytale. It merely means that some of your hairs grow faster than your average growth. This happens to everyone if they choose to trim their hair very rarely. But most of us aren't going to suddenly hit terminal because we choose to stop trimming our hair for 6 months. If that really did happen, there'd be a lot more LHCers at terminal, let me tell you! And I'd be one of em... and I assure you I'm not.

If you currently go 6 weeks between trims, you can probably go to an every 3 months trimming schedule with no issues due to split ends or uneven growth. If you're gentle with your hair, every 6 months is almost certainly doable. Not every fine haired person can go no trims or one trim a year. Some can, but I don't think most of us are that good at being gentle with our hair to start out. That's fine. You don't have to cut out trimming to grow long hair.

Heck, quite a lot of my growth has been with trims every 6 weeks. My hair grows pretty fast, so I can trim often and I still see a lot of growth. As an adult who pays for her own hair appointments tho... not so much frequent trimming.

[constructamane]

i was waiting for that...I see people in LHC who go for 1 yr or more without trimming. I was wondering how other finers do with this.

[Silverbrumby]

i was waiting for that...I see people in LHC who go for 1 yr or more without trimming. I was wondering how other finers do with this.


I can, go 6 months but at 9 its ratty on the ends. I fairytail at BSL. No sure what terminal is on me but Im hoping for mid back lenght.

[Dragon Faery]

If your main issue is tangles, wearing it up can make all the difference. The more you wear it up, the less it will tangle.

And judging by your avatar, if it's you, you have nothing to worry about. Your hair looks gorgeous, and it certainly does not look thin. It may *be* thin, but it doesn't look that way to an unbiased observer. :) Maybe you're used to comparing it witth your sisters'?

[Tabihito]

I think there are several type of "thin" hair.

There is this very glass-like hair that's smooth and even, although thin in circumfence.

Then, I think maybe the most common type, alas slightly more "dryish" and with more body.. someone could call this 1b ;)

Maybe the most unlucky is very fine and dry, prone to electricity and breakage..

I think this might be the most defining issue weather you'll be able to reach waist / tb lenght :/

Thin and fine hair are mostly independent of each other, and wholly independent of whether or not you have wave or curl. I have a lot of wave (more like curl, really, but I consider myself a 2 because it doesn't curl all the way to the top and never has), but my hair is also extremely fine and rather thin.

Fine hair may be easier to keep moisturized than coarse hair, but it is going to be more susceptible to breakage. From personal experience, I do know that I'm static-prone, but that's never seemed to cause any damage to my hair that I can notice.

Any hair type can be grown out to its terminal length if you take good care of it. Though that length may be shorter for those with thin hair, that's not a rule. If you choose to keep your hair trimmed so that it doesn't fairytale at the ends, it's still possible to have it long and pretty, it just may not reach the extreme lengths that some of our members have.

[RapunzelKat]

Absolutely thin, fine hair can be grown long and look beautiful ;) My hair is fairly thin (2.5" ponytail circumference), ultra-fine, and it's also stick straight, which makes it appear even thinner. Mine is now approaching classic length and looking pretty good :)

Another vote for wearing it up - it helps so much with those pesky tangles, and just generally protects your hair from damage from wear and tear, friction, etc.

[laceyfairy]

I've found that wearing it in braids or up is a lot easier. Basically no tangles and you don't have to worry about things getting caught on it. Good luck!

[torrilin]

I can, go 6 months but at 9 its ratty on the ends. I fairytail at BSL. No sure what terminal is on me but Im hoping for mid back lenght.

If your sig pic is you, you're not fairytale at BSL. You might be starting to show some growth differences that give you taper. Fairy tale ends are more like what you'd see in Trolleypup's sig picture, or in the fairy tale ends thread.

We talk a lot about how the average person's hair grows 6" in a year. Our hypothetical average person has about 100 000 hairs on his or her head. Some of those hairs will grow 0 inches in a year, like the short bits around your hairline. Some hairs might grow 12 inches. If you happen to have a lot of hairs that grow more like 12" a year, and another large chunk that grow more like 5"... naturally your ends won't be a uniform thickness, unless you make sure to cut all the hairs that head for the floor at 12" a year back to match with the 5" a year hairs. And then you're trimming a lot and you feel like your growth is slow.

How you deal with this sort of thing is up to you. But it's a natural way for hair to grow, and it doesn't make your hair bad or ugly.

[Vintagecoilylocks]

If your sig pic is you, you're not fairytale at BSL. You might be starting to show some growth differences that give you taper. Fairy tale ends are more like what you'd see in Trolleypup's sig picture, or in the fairy tale ends thread.

We talk a lot about how the average person's hair grows 6" in a year. Our hypothetical average person has about 100 000 hairs on his or her head. Some of those hairs will grow 0 inches in a year, like the short bits around your hairline. Some hairs might grow 12 inches. If you happen to have a lot of hairs that grow more like 12" a year, and another large chunk that grow more like 5"... naturally your ends won't be a uniform thickness, unless you make sure to cut all the hairs that head for the floor at 12" a year back to match with the 5" a year hairs. And then you're trimming a lot and you feel like your growth is slow.

How you deal with this sort of thing is up to you. But it's a natural way for hair to grow, and it doesn't make your hair bad or ugly.

Thank you for these statements.

[RoseOfClare]

I have fine hair and my hair is just past BSL.......... i can't wear it in a simple ponytail it'll tangle up really bad.............. if I leave my hair down and look at it funny it'll tangle........ my suggestion is braids will be your best friend!!! Oil will help with detangling!!! OOO and when I have really nice kind of tight braid waves it will tangle a lot less often which is weird to me but hey if it works it works!!!

[Vintagecoilylocks]

More ladies with thin, fine and longer hair:

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=79937&page=9

Its all inspirational:)

[AlexDig]

I know this is an old thread but I still wanted to say thanks for all the inspiration! I've been feeling down on my fine, thin hair and it's super helpful to hear all these things!

[ZeppHead]

Thanks for digging up this oldie but goodie! I am still active on here and still growing! I am just about waist now and looking forward to the next year growing to hip. Currently my hair is in great condition as I treat it very well and keep it up most of the time. I wore it down today for about half the day and it looked great only a few tangles by the time I put it in a braid for bed. I am very happy with my fine thin hair and think it will look beautiful by the time I get to classic. There is hope! If your like me keep growing! Some of my problems grew a lot easier as I grew longer and it gained health. Thanks for all your responses! :)

[fiðrildi]

Glad to read that you're still growing your hair, and I can't wait to see pictures when you reach classic! :thumbsup:
I have the same fine hair type than you (F/M and ii), and I'm sure that I can grow long healthy hair as well ;)

[ZeppHead]

Here's my hair as of this morning! :) I am at a happy length but am shooting for classic here and cant wait!


https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3937/15020417754_5d6d1a4765.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oTiyTU)2014-10-27 07.49.27 (https://flic.kr/p/oTiyTU) by tattooed_metal_barbie (https://www.flickr.com/people/87709754@N08/), on Flickr