Waist | Hip | BCL | Tailbone

[Cichelle]

My hair, when stretched, is currently around hip length. I do have layers from when I cut all the relaxer out of my hair about three years ago, but I am not going for blunt hair of all one length at this point. I would like to reach tailbone by the end of the year. I try to keep my hair up most of the time, though that isn't nearly as easy as it used to be. As others have said, my dependable updos now give me trouble sometimes. I don't like the feeling of pulling on my scalp or the headache I sometimes get if I don't get the hair distributed right. Anyway, I've been trying to keep things real simple, which has pretty much worked well for me along my hair growing journey. I have to detangle my hair at the very least every third day or I get major problems. That's really my only big challenge these days since I cannot brush or comb my hair dry. So I wash/detangle a few times a week and I try not to get lazy about it. I went six days recently and sorely regretted it.

[Sceleste]

My hair is currently around hip lenght (I just trimmed a little so might be half an inch away). It took me a year to grow from waist to hip, and will take about 6 months to reach tailbone. My hair generally grows slowly, a bit slower than average, but growth always speeds up at summer.

I usually wear my hair bunned or braided. I, too, have had difficulties with my good ol' updos. They just don't work anymore. Recently I have worn my hair on a braided bun held with one hair stick. I read Harpgal's instructions from here http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=111545&postcount=19 and noticed it works really well.

[spidermom]

I reached waist length last spring and am now at hip length. When my hair is streaming down my back in the shower, I can feel it at tailbone. But it's going to be awhile before it's at tailbone while dry. Maybe by the end of the year. Maybe not. I've been trimming all along to keep my ends on the thicker side (I've got taper anyway). I will keep trimming every 3 months or so as my ends stay nicest that way. So it will take as long as it takes, and that's all right with me.

[Meli]

I'm also on my journey between waist and tailbone. I'm currently at "can I call this hip length" and according to some of the replies in the "How do you decide where hip length is?" thread, I probably can call it hip length by now. But stubborn as I am, I still want that missing half inch before I claim solid hip length. I hope I will reach tailbone at the end of the year, which would be waist to TBL in one year. But as my growth has been slower lately, I might need some more time.

I did this journey about ten years ago, but I didn't pay attention to how fast my hair was growing. I was busy with school and only measured my hair occasionally. I think I may have had very slow growth or even a stall at waist, because it felt like I was there forever - I know I was hovering around waist for at least a year. But I was also a trimmer back then, and I can't tell how much of my growth that was trimmed away. Then, when my hair obviously grew again, and I suddenly realized that my hair had got much longer, it felt like my hair had grown just over night... I started to think "is this hip length or do I need more length to call it that?" This was long before I heard of the different names of hair length according to certain parts of the body, and it was most likely well past the LCH definition of hip length by then. And soon enough, the day came when I realized that my hair actually reached into my vertical smile when I was in the shower. Then I started to think "wonder if my hair is butt length yet..."

From lack of knowledge about longhair-care, I did not change my routine as I approached tailbone the last time. As one could expect, my hair, and especially the ends, were in terrible condition then and breaking like crazy. I never made it longer than just past tailbone with my former routine. I have changed everything about my routine since I found LHC, and I'm pretty sure my ends will be in a lot better condition when I reach TBL this time.

[Delenn]

What sort of routine changes do you guys plan to do or foresee you might need to do? I honestly haven't thought about it, I figured if everything's still working for me why change. Coconut oil and henna have been my secret weapons and I haven't really needed to do much else.

[Amara]

Well, I imagine that for the next while I'll need to take extra care of my ends. I don't know if they'll make it with me to tailbone. They've been every color under the sun and they split but don't break off... but as they age even more I'm guessing I'll notice it more...?
So so far, my only trims have been because I desired to blunt the ends more and when I got tired of S&Ding. I think as I go, trims might become more necessary because of all the damage.

[Sceleste]

What sort of routine changes do you guys plan to do or foresee you might need to do?

The only thing I can think of right now is washing. I will probably start doing more scalp washes because the longer my hair gets the longer it dries, and the harder it is to detangle after washing. Now I scalp wash maybe every third time and use CO or diluted shampoo other times.

[Nevermore]

EEEE, finally a journey thread for me! Haha. I'm at waist and I need 6ish more inches to get to tailbone, stretched. I'll need three for hip, so I should be at hip by August, even though I've decided to be conservative and just want hip by Halloween. If I do get to hip by August though, I'll be heading onward to classic for Christmas, lol.

[Seraphina]

I am currently at this stage too.My hair,I think,has just reached hip length after ages at waist.It's hard to tell.I've noticed that at this length I've had to be extra careful with tangles,so I wear my hair up virtually all of the time to try and minimise the amount I get.

[Indigo Girl]

I'd like to join these ranks as well ~

I have been at slightly longer than waist for over a year now...I seem to be stuck on this length because my ends keep splitting so bad that I have to get constant trims.

I hope this isn't terminal for me...I am really looking forward to hitting tailbone.