Shoulder | Armpit

**Springpaw** · February 12th, 2016, 06:53 AM

It's been a while since I last posted here. The last few years I've kept my hair short, and it's been lovely. But now it's time for a change! (again) So I'm starting to grow it out. It's a slow process and as much as I'm looking back at old pictures sometimes it's nice to just appreciate what is right now.

So this is from last year in april, when I just decided I wanted to grow it out again.

And this is from wednesday:

It's gonna be a lovely journey!

**Arctic** · February 12th, 2016, 07:06 AM

Originally Posted by Springpaw

<snip> And this is from wednesday:

It's gonna be a lovely journey!

(Bolding mine.)

Congrats and I love your attitude! With that kind of thinking the journey will, indeed, be pleasant and enjoyable, instead of stressful and full of impatient and unhappiness with one's own hair. Speaking of which, yours looks great!

Congrats to everyone else too, whether it's for reaching shoulder or APL; both are noteworthy milestones!

I have been taking distance from length-related threads lately, and will continue doing so, and personally this has been a good decision. I'm not very hair obssessed anymore, but I noticed in the end months of 2015 that I started to check the length far too often which did took some enjoyment out from how I see my hair, and how happy I am with it.

But, I reached "can I call this APL" in December and now it has started to actually look APL, so I will "officially" leave this thread now. I might check in occasionally and cheer you guys onwards!

And as a shameless reminder to everyone, I have those dosens of hair styles (photos and tutorials and observations) for shoulder-APL length hair in my blog for inspiration. (Links to those 3 posts are under my blog's header). I won't be updating those posts anymore (I have too long hair!!!

) but I might edit the posts sometime to a) reflect that the hair style project is finished and b) to organize the styles better and c) maybe add some links to videos/tutorials that others have made. But right now I am too busy for that kind of work, so the photos are a bit of a jumble there.

**Arctic** · February 12th, 2016, 07:18 AM

Originally Posted by tacey

Thanks, Arctic! I scrolled back a few pages and browsed some more - one or the other strategy turned up your blog already! You've got a great list of styles that work - and I love the pictures you put along with your own experiences with the style. As a confirmed hair klutz, my next step will be taking your style names to youtube for some handholding tutorials! I saw a lot of things I would never have guessed shoulder-length hair could do, so THANKS for expanding my options!

You're welcome! I started that project when my hair was closer to collarbone than just brushing shoulders, but I had done many of the styles for sometime already, before I started taking those photos. The project stretched from few weeks (that's what I had imagined it would take) to months (probably over 6 months), and ofcourse my hair grew (slowly and with trimming, but grew never the less), so some of those styles were done with hair somewhere between shoulder and APL, but I still call the project "styles for shoulder length hair" because outside of the long hair forums people in general don't micro-categorize hair lengths like we do.

But with so many different hairtypes (thickness, texture, slipperiness...), how long my hair was isn't that relevant, because there is always someone who can do the style sooner, or later, than me. So happy experimenting, I hope you'll find practicing new styles and doing your hair as relaxing as I do! Good luck on your growing journey also!

Originally Posted by Unzadi

Arctic's styles are one of the big reasons I felt comfortable taking the plunge and cutting to shoulder. Oodles and oodles of fun stuff to try.

Thank you, I didn't know that! Now I am absolutely flattered!

Originally Posted by vpatt

I've been really lazy about learning new styles since I joined LHC. But Arctic has posted so many tempting styles that is is really worth checking out.

Thank you!

**Idreamlong** · February 13th, 2016, 02:41 AM

I honestly have no idea where my hair is really.

It's curly and some days it looks virtually at APL and some days it looks miles away!

I've decided to straighten it for, what will be the first time in 6 months (eeek) to see the length properly. I've had to do regular trims & S&Ding to cut out the damage so whether there's going to be that much difference in length I don't know. I'm hoping it will all look healthier though.

**Unzadi** · February 13th, 2016, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by Arctic

Thank you, I didn't know that! Now I am absolutely flattered!

You are quite welcome. I wasn't at all nervous, but looking forward to trying new things, and there are lots of them. Change can be fun.

**Unzadi** · February 13th, 2016, 08:56 AM

Springpaw, your waves are gorgeous. That is some amazing growth. It will indeed be a lovely journey.

**Springpaw** · February 13th, 2016, 10:39 AM

Thank you Arctic and Unzadi! I'm still trying to figure out my waves and curls and what works and not, and that's a bit of a struggle... But it's kind of fun experimenting too!

**Unzadi** · February 13th, 2016, 05:05 PM

Experimenting is fun. I'm figuring things out, too.

**missrandie** · February 13th, 2016, 06:51 PM

So, I experimented with a variation of LOC.. My waves are out of control! It makes me so happy to know.. And from previous experience, they have the capability to stay in pretty wavies

the only bad thing is that it eats up length lol

**Ashflower89** · February 14th, 2016, 03:56 AM

I don't know what the heck I did this month, or if I was leaning too far back, or hunching forward on past months pictures.... but it seems like I got a ridiculous amount of growth this past month. I just take my pictures with my phone in a mirror tho.... so there's a pretty good chance my posture is inconsistent lol.

Either way I'm very happy. I have been eating 2-3 eggs daily for over a month now, so maybe I really did jump that much growth.