I'm curious to see what the "stats" are here. ;) Cause it seems like there's a lot of ladies here that have had long hair most of their life, and a few that changed to wanting to be long (like me) later on in life. Thanks everyone! :)

Do you want the poll to reflect the first time I decided to grow out, or the second?

The first time was from a pixie cut. I grew out to a little longer than shoulder length. That was in college, and prior to that time, I'd never had hair longer than my chin. It stayed at the between shoulder and BS for a while.

The second time was when I had let it grow (mostly through laziness) to mid-back, and then realized I liked it. That's when I decided to grow out to waist length. That was about 6 months to a year ago.

Cheers,
Jonobie

remove

Do you want the poll to reflect the first time I decided to grow out, or the second?

Cheers,
Jonobie

Hi Jonobie, I guess the second time, cause that's what you're currently doing and that's what I'm most curious about! :D Thanks! ;)

I've kept my hair just past shoulder length for a long time. Last year I was insanely busy and just didn't get it cut. I decided I liked it and would continue to let it grow.

Pol

I had a really short cut and grew it to about my shoulders. I didn't really have the purpose of growing it long until it reached my shoulders.

I'll say I "started" when I found a long hair website (LHL). I was at waist length. That was over 2 years ago.

last november 1rst i had a haircut into collar bone/layered. then i thought i'd grow it out till shoulder or probably till BS. this february, when i had shoulder length hair, i decided i'll grow all the way till tailbone. and now i want it till midthigh, if it looks nice.
oops, should i have voted for shoulder length? :rolleyes:

I voted "pixie" - had long hair as a child and teen, then went to a chin length bob at 17, pixie at 21, growing out since.
I stayed at just above BS for several years though, it was only last year that I decided to go longer.

That's a hard one to answer....I had decided to grow it out when I moved out of my house and came here to college...I had pretty close to a pixie at that time....but I got up here and kept getting it cut! But not too short.....shortest was chin length with layers, which looked cruddy cause I never did anything to it...layers that short aren't the "wake up and go" kind of hair....and the last time I got it cut, I wanted a trim and the lady took off like probably 3-4 inches off of the back....but not too long ago was when I found this board and decided to grow it even longer.....I want waist-length now...so I don't know what to say.....either pixie or shoulder-length...:D

I'm one of the people who voted for "always had long hair". I mean, I was quite bald as a baby ;) but once the hair started coming, it was long! All throughout school, I was probably one of the few girls who had waist length hair, or thereabouts.

While I wanted to grow my hair down to my feet when I was really small (ok, probably read to many princess fairytales) that sort of stopped as I grew older. I liked my long hair, but couldn't figure out what to do with it, so was considering chopping.

Enter LHC and Katz's updo site! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be growing my hair longer. I now know how to take care of it, and what to do with it in the way of updos - no longer limited to a ponytail and bun!

Anyway, that's my little rambling story. Fun poll!

Rachel

I actually started out at about chin
length and all layered because I
was told, it was easier for curly
hair! Hmmm, I'm thinking differently! :)

Oops, sorry guys I really thought I had put in all of the different "lengths" and I missed "chin length"! :rolleyes: Oh well, I guess if you vote "bob/collar length" that would be close enough right? :?: I don't know how to change it either. :? But I'm getting "the picture" anyway of the stats here so oh well...! ;)

I've always had long hair (after the age of 6)...usually hovering around bra-length. I would consider getting a 'cute' and stylish cut every once in a while, but I could never bring myself to do it. I knew I'd miss my hair faster than I could grow it back. I just identify myself as a long-haired person. It wasn't until recently that I considered having a goal length (right now that's waist-length).

Pixie minus some I think.
I started with a very spiky razored inch or so on top, and virtually no sides - we're talking seriously short - in 1984.

My hair is tailbone now, 19 years later. I've had 2 major cuts ( the last in 2000) - both times about 6 inches - to get rid of damage. I just cut 2 inches off, at Easter, because I'm trying to keep a tidier hemline.

Gren :D

I had not had long hair since I was a teenager. But, my hair had already grown to my goal length of BS when I found LHL a few years ago.
Soon afterwards I decided to change my goal to classic.

Really I thought that BS length was long until I got there. Now my hair is reaching my hips and I still don't feel like it is really long.

I voted for shoulder layers. I was going for something about shoulder blade length with light layers that day and got a lot more than I asked for. Lesson learned! :( I missed my long hair so much I could hardly stand it.

My starting length isn't there :( I started from a chin length bob - I've never been as short as a pixie, but it was nowhere near my collar bone when I stated to grow.
The bob wasn't actually my choice of style - my hair had always been at least to my shoulders, but then I had a perm, and after 12 months it needed cutting out as I couldn't stand the 6" of straight and then 12" of spiral curls any longer, and gradually trimming it out would take too long. So I gritted my teeth, chopped it off, cried, and refused to look in the mirror for months :(

Probably a stupid question, but what's the diference between collarbone length and shoulder length? Looking at my self (with rather prominent collarbones) they form a part of my shoulders.

Hi Anka, in my opinion, collar bone is a little bit longer than shoulder length.
Daneille

phew! then i started with shoulder length layers and its grown a little longer than collarbone lesser than BS now.

When I stopped trimming my hair on a regualr basis, it was about two or three inches shy of bsl. I never really decided to grow my hair long, I just stopped getting major trims after I lost a lot of length at the age of seventeen as a result of a trim and a perm. I was horrified and vowed never to perm my hair again and to stop getting a couple of inches taken off every time I got a trim.
Take care,
Angela

http://pic2.picturetrail.com/VOL26/934613/1719136/20277979.jpg

I picked shoulder length, and layered, but that's actually the shortest my hair has ever been. It was after that cut that I decided I wanted it long again. Actually it was at least a few inches past my shoulders before I decided I wanted it really long, and it was a little past BS length when I started posting at LHL.

I'd had long hair when I was younger, and in fifth grade I think it reached waistlength, but then I started getting it cut shorter, and after that it ranged from shoulder to a little short of BS. Usually it was about in the middle of that range.

I've had it long most of my life with short periods here and there. I had a punk hair cut in high school :shock: sticking up on top of my head SPIKEY :D

I decided to grow it back out long when I was 20 and I've had it that way ever since.

I've only had short hair for a very brief period of my life, but when I decided to grow it long, it was definitely *very* short, no more than about an inch on top and 1/4" elsewhere.

I maintained my hair at about waist-hip length for 7 years, and about a year and a half ago I decided to grow it longer. I couldn't really decide what to do with it, but I knew that I didn't want it short. Now that it's longer than it's ever been in my life, I'm learning all sorts of interesting updos and things to do with it that I never could when it was even 8 inches shorter.

Been short almost all my life, from near crew cut (thanks, mom) to wedge cuts to shags. Current starting point was a longish pixie (or shortish shag), about 2-3" all over.

My cut isn't really listed. I started growing my hair back in 1980(!) and had a seventies style page boy. Then I had to play Violet (from Peanuts) in a play and wanted to have hair long enough for a ponytail. At first I just went a little bit longer without cutting it, then I decided to let it grow.
Grrr! 23 years later and still not to my waist!
Kim B.

I had tried many times to grow it, but always cut it before any of it touched the shoulders. So it was "longish" for a while. I guess some of it was about 6 inches long when I actually decided to grow it back in November 2000.

I never would've worked up the courage if I had not found these boards (began with LHL). My current length (29 inches) was never part of the original plans :)

I'm not sure what length it was when I actually started growing it out this time since I've decided to grow it out numerous times but always gave up and trimmed it back to shoulder length. I think once it finally got a couple of inches past shoulder I figured I might as well keep going. :)

I started at a 15" chin length bob... it's been a looooong road with many changes for me since then; however, I am more excited than ever to grow my hair out long!!!

:D

It took me years to get below shoulder length (I always trimmed it back because I had spit ends) until I found out how to care for my hair. Now it's about mid-back.

I put "pixie", but it was more like "big blonde afro" *lol*...

I've had really long hair more of my life (a typical style from my childhood consisted of my mother parting it all the way down the middle, putting each side in a kinda-high ponytail, braiding each all the way down, looping them up and attaching the ends in with the base of each tail - so I had "door-knockers" on either side of my head! :rolleyes: ) There were 3 times in my life (I think) where I got a drastic cut - once when I was about 5 or so, I got a Dorothy Hammil short feathered cut (which looked kinda cool), and then when I was 8 or 9, I got a shoulder-length page boy (which looked stupid), and finally, when I was a freshman in high school (1991), my mother convinced me to get it cut to mid-ear length and permed (which looked ridiculous - see above description!). I haven't cut any more than an inch and a half (perhaps 2) at any time since 1991....in the past 3 or 4 years, I haven't cut off any length at all, just done S&D.

The main reason for growing it out this time was that I *hated* trying to work with it when it was short - it got in my face, and I couldn't pull it back! When it finally got long enough for a ponytail, I had this tiny "poof" at the nape of my neck - SO classy! *makes face* I made a promise to myself that I'd never cut it again, though strangely enough, I never had plans to grow it extremely long....weird, huh?

I've always had BS or longer.
Except for one time when I cut it to my collar bones ONE TIME.
I'd never be brave enough to get a pixie hair cut I'm amazed how many of you had. Itd be interesting to see some pictures of pixe and long next to each other of the same person.

When I was four I threw a tantrum in the hair salon, refusing to have my hair cut. My mother, figuring that she had to pick her battles, agreed to let me grow my hair long. It hit waist length and stayed that length until I was 12 when I decided to cut my hair to shoulder length. Mistake. It looked fine, but every time I saw someone with long hair I was jealous and I just *felt* like a longhaired person. Now my hair is waist length again, although I've gone through periods of maintaining my hair rather than actively growing it.

I've always been longhaired at heart...long hair rules! :D

My hair was at ear-lobe length when it started whispering "grow me...grow me".

So I did.

That was 11 months ago, ans I am now at shoulder-length.

Hurrah!!

I voted Pixie, although I wouldn't call it that. But that was the choice that was closest to it.
In April 94 I got my hair cut to 3 inches long and I asked her to feather it to blend the back. I wanted it to look like it wasn't just cut. Even though my hair was like 8 inches long then. That's 8 inches on one strand pulled out. Not the forehead back method.

This was august 94 a few months later.
http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Mar/20043209019866715972149.jpg

After having my hair near shoulder length the two previous times this time I was over 18 and no one could force me to cut it so I let it grow until late 97. I need to update a lot of posts and my journal because I was thinking I waited till 96 but now I'm remembering that it wasn't until after the first 2 weeks of august of 97 that I got the first trim. I remember now because that august I was driving around lower Michigan on my first lighthouse photographing vacation and I was thinking of getting a trim while I was out of town. But I waited till a few weeks later and did it closer to home but still an hour away. So now that I'm remembering that, I have had 2 complete periods of at least 3 years between trims. That first time I lost a lot of inches cuz my hair was uneven. This time I trimmed the other day using Feye's slight U and only lost up to 2 inches and in most spots only 1/2 an inch.

So I had a chin-length bob that had grown out from a bob that came just barely to the corners of my jaw. I'd been getting semi-regular trims to keep it short but the last time it made it to my chin, I decided it was icky to go into a salon and have a complete stranger touching my head. I didn't get a trim for over a year after that. I have issues, okay? ;D

When it was around shoulder length, I went to see some family in Seattle. I stepped off the plane and my hair went "boing" in the humidity. My mother asked if I'd gotten a perm. That's when I realized I had curly hair. So when I got back home, I started looking around the internet and finding out how to take care of curly hair. It was at this time, when I was learning how to work with rather than against my hair, that I decided to let it grow long.

After reading about all the pixie cuts, I remembered the pixie cut that was inflicted on me when I was about five or six. Up until then, my hair had been allowed to grow so it was pretty long. One day, I was in a particularly horrific battle with my mom about the tangles in my hair. She threatened to cut it off and the next thing I remember is sitting in my sister's highchair getting all my hair cut off. Someone at school thought I was a boy. It was awful. I think that was the beginning of my obsession with long hair.

I've never really thought about my hair, and it's gone from pixie short to just past shoulder length like a yo-yo. It wasn't until my divorce when I didn't have the time or money for a haircut that I decided it would be fine long. I never really planned on growing it long, it just happened.

And the lack of planning continues - I still don't worry about my hair growth.

I said pixie. It was in 2002 at pixie length that I made a real decision. I found LHC in 2003 and thats when I learned how to reach my goals.

I talk like I am a long hair virigin but I am not. Up until age 13 or 14 I had waist+ length hair which I loved & took care of myself. Actually I was somewhere between waist & butt crack for lack of a better description. Un-announced my Mom told me one day after school I had a hair appointment.

No problem I was an obedient daughter, a real hair trim in a real salon was a treat. I had no idea until I was in the chair & my hair was being cut that she had schedualed me for a pixie. I was shocked and horrified, but by the time it really sunk in I was being handed my braid. Thirty years later I still have my 20" braid they hacked off and handed to me. I remember feeling like I had been de-sexed, to shocked to even react.

After that I kept it short to medium length and got into perms & colors. I always secretly grieved over my hair though & to this day have my braid. In 2002 I got tired of grieving over dead hair and decided even at this late juncture it wasn't to late, so here I am at my age growing my hair out and looking forward to the day when I can finally retire my "dead braid" because my real hair on my head is longer than that. It's never to late!

I said shoulder length layered (I think...) my mom cut my hair to chin from six to eight, when I wanted to grow it out, but I got impatient around nine or ten, cut from bsl to mid neck, then to chin. then I cut my hair like pixie short once, and grew it out, but only to shoulder, then cut to chin, then started growing out again, kept it at shoulder (layered) til I found these boards...and then I made the decision to grow it all out :)

After that I kept it short to medium length and got into perms & colors. I always secretly grieved over my hair though & to this day have my braid. In 2002 I got tired of grieving over dead hair and decided even at this late juncture it wasn't to late, so here I am at my age growing my hair out and looking forward to the day when I can finally retire my "dead braid" because my real hair on my head is longer than that. It's never to late!

First here's a big hug :grouphug: for having to go through that. Knows your pain.

Did she ever say why? I'm sure you were caring for it yourself then and it wasn't like she was detangling it. I assume when you said the salon was a treat that it means she did the other trims?

I know that it was traumatic and that you felt the way you did, but just remember that even though she did that to you it didn't change who you were. Things like that usually make us like ourselves more and in these cases love our hair too. So you are finding your friend again but your friend never really left you. Instead of being on your head it grew out of your heart for awhile. Your hair knows you love it. Just remember that when you think to yourself that you love your hair it responds because your body reacts to positive thoughts.
That's probably the best "pill" you can take.

I just wanted to say that from what I can see in your picture you have some very nice hair and it looks like its been loved.

Oh and you get the treat of being the first to hear me use my old motto that I haven't used in 3 years.

"No Tangles"
It means no tangles in your hair and no tangles in your life. If you get one just work it out.

So "No Tangles" :)

Who knows purplebubba. Thirty years ago really was a differant time and a differant place. Attitudes were much differant back then especially towards children. I know at least in her case children were seen more as property than as people. Remember at that time woman were still fighting for a place in the workforce and there was a huge civil rights movement. Woman didn't have a lot of rights let alone children.

She didn't really think she was doing anything wrong, pixies were very fashionable, Mia Farrow had cut her hair. If she decided she wanted my hair short it wasn't a discussion. I am not judging or defending it was just a totally differant mindset in a differant generation. Thank goodness things have evolved.

I am well over it now. It's funny the power hair has. Growing it back after all these years is a huge sense of freedom.

I've had long hair most of my life. When I was in the 2nd and 7th grade, it was cut to about shoulder length because of bad cuts. I think I liked it in 2nd grade (Dorothy Hamil era), but cried for weeks and hated all hair dressers for quite sometime after the 7th grade horror. After about a year my hair was back down to bs length, thank goodness for fast growing hair!!!!!!!!

I've always went a long time between cuts and a short cut for me is having shoulder length hair. I did that once as an adult and grew it right back out. Mostly I've been at BS and have occasionally been between BS and waist, sometimes even making it just about to waist and then have it cut again. Of course, now that I'd found you, I want it to grow and have learned so much about caring for my hair I look forward to it getting to waist again and possibly tailbone as a longer term goal. I should be back to waist by the summer if I don't cut my long layers off and even things up first, otherwise, it'd probably be more like early winter.

I've never had hair past my shoulders. In fact it was only that long once in college. Most of the time it's been pixie or chin length bob.

I started growing with a virgin haired pixie cut.

My hair was almost waist length when I was in 4th grade, and I begged my mom to let me cut it and she finally let me. It was about chin length and stayed around there till about 8/9th grade. It started getting long again and chopped about 4 inches off at the end of 10th grade to between shoulder and chin, then in the middle of 11th grade I cut it again. That was the last time I cut my hair. So I would say I started growing it out when it was a little above shoulder length.

My hair has been at classic length off and on my whole life.
For awhile when I was with my mother it was cut to pixie style or similar short cut.

My hair was past waist length two yrs ago when I started bleaching and bc of damage( my own stupidity) ended up at collar bone length this last May when I stopped.
I'm getting past where my hair was before all the damage and going to thigh length, once I get there maybe longer.

I had waist-length hair when I was little, but I didn't know how to take care of it. I got tired of spending over an hour detangling it every time I got out of the shower, so I cut it to shoulder-length, then to ear-length, then almost shaved to my scalp when I was fifteen or sixteen. I let it grow out a year and a half ago due to sheer laziness. I made the actual decision to have long hair about six months ago. I selected "pixie," because that's the closest to the length my hair was at that point. It's currently just past my shoulders, except for the bangs, which are chin-length.

I had booty length hair until eighth grade, wore it bsl until college and had a pixie from then on. Through my twenties and thirties I've gone from pixie to layered shoulder length and back. Here I am last March/April:

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Mar/20043301917911092140111.jpg

my hair was closest to pixie I guess, though I personally never described it that way myself

I voted any length past shoulders.

I was actually just below shoulders. Whew, bad memories of that length. That has been the most difficult stage for me.

Angel Hugs and Love

I voted for "Are you kidding, I've always had long hair."

My hair has never been shorter than BSL to almost tailbone length unless it was brought on by a bad salon trim which I obviously had no control over. (teenage years). The first bad salon ended up in me having hair about mid shoulder blade length hair when I was about 15 years old. I was so upset.

I don't remember anymore, not when I decided to grow my hair again, for the second time (I had long hair most of the time in primary school, it was a little past bs lenght at the longest; though I wasn't wearing bra at the time). I also don't remember how short my hair was.
I just know It seems to me I have been growing long hair for years and years and it's still shoulder length, I just didn't know how to keep splits at bay. But now I'm sure I can finally achieve my long hair longings! The hair is getting healthier from month to monh. :-)

When my hair was naturally curly I went back and forth between waist to chin, layered and not. When it went straight, I mostly wore it between chin and shoulder, sometimes lightly layered. I cut it all off, then grew it to a bit past chin length, lightly layered and angled around my face, and kept it there for a bit.
I think when it hit shoulder length again was when I decided to grow it longer again.
My final goal is waist length, but I probably won't like my hair at that length because I'll keep comparing it to how it looked when it was curly.

Cheers
Dvips

(edited for typo)

I wanted to say that there are now at least 2 polls with this topic.

Here is the other
(Edited to add: in case you haven't had the pleasure to read the other one or participate in it)
"What length did you start with?" - by Moonstone
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com//showthread.php?t=220

I wanted to say that there are now at least 2 polls with this topic.

LOL! Relax, after a couple of years everything will get rehashed again and again. So what?... :roll:

I voted "any length past shoulder," my hair was approaching tailbone when I discovered hairboards. I wasn't actively growing it before that, I just hadn't cut it in over 10 years! :blushing:

I wanted to say that there are now at least 2 polls with this topic.

Pot calling the kettle black, anyone? 8)

Pot calling the kettle black, anyone? 8)

Um actually no because I didn't mean it to sound like that. I meant that to sound like I was helping out. Not criticizing.

I meant that I was posting the links to each other in both threads so that if people wanted to answer both they could. Or to simply read the answers they might have missed by only reading one. Especially the newbies.

I don't have a problem with multiple threads. I even volunteered weeks ago to do searches and organize them. I think I posted about it on either the articles or the projects board.

Yes I have posted threads with similar topics to previous posts. That happens when you're gone for 11 months. When I do find a similar thread I link them to each other. Me having posted similar topics myself is the reason why I point out other ones.

I'm sorry I said that wrong. I will go edit it.

The first time I grew my hair long was when I was a preteen, and long hair was coming into style as a reaction to bubbleheads. I didn't change my style until I was in my late twenties, and the hair got too long for me to take care of.

At that point I had it cut to my shoulders, and then got a limp, wavy perm, which I hated, as I had requested body. As soon as it grew out enough to cut off, I chopped it myself, and continued to cut it for a year or so, during which time I got lots of compliments, go figure. Then I went through a series of bobs, grew my hair waistlength with bangs, grew out the bangs, bobbed all at shoulderlength, and have been growing it out ever since.

It has been more or less at waist-length for a long time, but now that I've found internet hair communities, I've begun taking care of it so it really grows long again, instead of breaking off at my waist. Wearing it up all the time and CO wash are really helping. Just this month it's grown 3/4", and it looks good at the hemline, REALLY LOOKS LONGER, so I'm very encouraged.

It has been more or less at waist-length for a long time, but now that I've found internet hair communities, I've begun taking care of it so it really grows long again, instead of breaking off at my waist. Wearing it up all the time and CO wash are really helping. Just this month it's grown 3/4", and it looks good at the hemline, REALLY LOOKS LONGER, so I'm very encouraged.

That is great Katherine.
It's just so amazing how doing such simple changes can make so much difference between hair that's just hair and hair that's just beautiful.

I'm glad you're having success. :)

I meant that I was posting the links to each other in both threads so that if people wanted to answer both they could. Or to simply read the answers they might have missed by only reading one. Especially the newbies.

Yes I have posted threads with similar topics to previous posts. That happens when you're gone for 11 months. When I do find a similar thread I link them to each other. Me having posted similar topics myself is the reason why I point out other ones.

I'm sorry I said that wrong. I will go edit it.
No apology necessary, Bubba, it's just that I noticed the irony of you pointing out to others that they're repeating topics. :mrgreen:

I put shoulder/bob cause that was this time.

Originally, when I was about 14/15 It was a pixie/boy cut but I have never gone back to that.

Irishred

I see that, once again, I voted the same as the majority of the voters.

Started with a pixie, on my way to tailbone.

I chose shoulder length layered, although I really have only a few layers in the bottom. Oh, I also have wispy bangs that I am growing out as well.

"Do not despise small beginnings!" (somewhere in the Bible)

Like Wholeheart Mom, I chose shoulder-length layered (though it was really 2-3 inches above my shoulders). The layers can't grow out fast enough! :grin:

Wow, I just wanted to say how fascinating it is to see how many people started from a length that was shoulder length or above.
I count 110 right now.

Wow, so many others from pixie!

Pixie-minus-some here, really - boy's cut plus a teeny bit to feather at the very edges and a little more flirty length on top. Liked it a lot actually, and first left it uncut for budgetary reasons :silly: , then sort of deliberately started growing it out in stages (1. might as well let it grow 'til I can pull it up off my neck. 2. guess I should grow it until I can pull it all back off my face. 3. until next spring, no matter what I think of it between now and then - if I still don't like it, off it goes.)

3 is where I'm at now, but since finding this board and CO washes and french twists (I know I said this somewhere before but "thanks, Madeleine!") I'm seriously considering growing it to my butt or longer, just to see if I can. If it hits a length somewhere along the way where I like the look, that's probably where I'll eventually keep it. :face:

I had long hair as a child about 4 inches from my elbow. Then It became badly damaged. I started growing my hair consciously in May 2003 and my hair in the back was at the bottom of my neck. The hair on the side reached my cheek, and I had a bang that reached my nose. I am brastrap length now... yay!

(Soft, sad piano music playing in the background; a profile of Glendora looking out a sunny window with a pensive look on her face)

Okay, now that the Pity Party stage has been set, here goes. :lol: From the time I was tiny it was a constant battle to be "allowed" to keep any of my hair at all. My parents decided early on that my sister was graceful and beautiful and I was quirky and clumsy but in a CUTE way, of course. But that my sister was "the girl" and I was "the boy".

(Issues alert...issues alert...)

She got dance lessons because she was "so pretty and graceful" and I didn't because I was "a klutz". Actually, when I asked my mom if I could take them, she burst out laughing. "YOU? Maybe you should learn to walk without tripping over yourself first. I think that's required in most dance classes."

My sister was dressed in pink, I in blue. (I was the boy, remember? Duh!) My mom periodically chopped off our hair--both of us--but more rarely was my sister the victim because she was "feminine" and "knew how to take care of her hair" whereas mine looked "awful all the time" because I "never brushed it" (did the fact that I was two years younger than my sister possibly have ANYTHING to do with my not performing as well as she on each of these things? Hmmmmmmmmm...)

My mom gave us Dorothy Hammils when I was about 9 and my sister was 11. My sister was a VERY early developer and was a size C bra at age 10, believe it or not. Well, we got our cuts and we were all in the store one day and a nun bumped into me and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, son." My mom pulled me aside to say, "See? Even strangers know your sister is a girl but they all think you're a boy."

So after that my sister managed to gain a few inches here & there but I was always chopped, chopped, chopped. I learned how to brush my hair EXTREMELY well so my mom had to change her tune to, "your hair is thin and stringy and awful. The longer it gets, the worse it will look. God, you look HORRIBLE. I'm going to cut it."

When I was about 11, my mom told me I COULD GROW MY HAIR.

HOLY CR*P.

So I started growing it and she announced that it looked like "such sh*t" (am I REALLY spilling this on a message board?) that if I wanted to keep it long, I would have to perm it, "so that it will have a little body or curl or something to make it look less stringy and awful."

So I got my first perm, a home one. After that, it was perm after perm after perm. Toni Home Waves. God knows how, but it didn't fry my hair into oblivion, and in fact, each one fell out into straightness again, and one day I realized my hair was at bra strap length (I didn't think of hair measurements that way at the time; I'm looking back and remembering where I saw it fall).

Then I was about to enter Freshman year and all the girls were getting "feathered" hair and I went to a salon (gasp!) and told her I wanted the FRONT ONLY feathered, and to keep the back long.

She chopped it up to the bottom of my neck.

After that I grieved horribly and I thought my hair looked awful and I started in with the perms again, figuring I would never have long hair...never. It just wasn't meant to be. Around Junior year I started with the colorings and those were what really killed my hair. I know now that I was just really, really dissatisfied with myself (ya THINK, Glendora? :silly: )

I kept the colorings up all the way until July of 2002. Then I said, "STOP. No more." I was tired of having truly awful, thin, straggly, awful, processed hair. I would try to grow it but it never got longer than it is now (about 22" or thereabouts) before it was so horribly dry and damaged that I would get some chopped off.

Now it's been two years since permanent color and this is the first time I've had real hope that I can, in fact, grow my hair as long as I want. I don't have to perm it, I don't have to color it to make it "not so boring" or "not so awful" or "like it looks like you (I) actually have hair." (My mom is dead so I really shouldn't diss her but I guess this question really got me thinking.)

And the EXACT time and EXACT length that I decided to grow it long "for real": Three weeks ago; and 22". I know b/c the night before I found LHC, I was standing in CVS with my hand trembling over a bottle of L'Oreal Beige Blonde or some such color. I had done it...I had grown out ALL color and perms...and all I could hear was my mother's voice..."It looks awful. It needs some color. It needs a perm. It needs...it needs..." No. It doesn't need anything but my own TLC. It ISN'T awful. And you know what? It's thicker than my sister's!!! Hello!!!!!! Isn't it weird how you can literally look straight at something and NOT see it just because it's been drilled into your head that it's not there? It's not so terribly thin after all. In fact, it's quite nice. And the color is fascinating. I call it "honey" colored. It's nice and even, it's healthy and shiny. And I guess that thought was what took my hand away from the box of hair color and brought me here. :)

The End

I've had long hair most of my life usually hovering around near waist. But had it cut a few inches below shoulders late 1999 by a horrid hairdresser. I've been struggling to grow it since then as i have overprocessed it a few times since then and had to have it cut along with another horrid hairdresser.
:twisted:

Now i hope to get it past my waist and down to classic and i'll see if i want it longer after that. :smile:

My last "short" cut was a jawline bob *shudders* which gave me a serious case of permanent bad hair days and wouldn't look nice unless I blow dried it regularly with a round brush so the ends would all turn in properly, as mine kept insisting in facing this way and that. Talk about high maintenance. :rolleyes:

I cut my hair really short when I decided to grow my hair long. It had been badly scorched by Loreal super-duper bleach. I had been bleaching my hair for years, and I didn't even know what the natural color of my hair was! :lol: I knew that I was going to try the natural way, since I was sick of frizzy, tangley dry hair and an irritated scalp. I wish I had a dollar for every bottle of sun-in I used throughout high school. HA! My natural hair color is nice, and I like it. :cloud9:

I started growing my hair from a shoulder length cut, Feb. 2004.

I've always worn my hair anywhere from chin to waist length. Most of the time, I decide to grow it long when my hair is just above my shoulders. Right now my hair is about 1 inch below my shoulders. Luckily I get about an inch of growth a month. I'm going to leave it alone and let it grow...this time for keeps! :grin:

I started with a pixie cut, and then started in earnest again at chin length. Now I'm a little beyond collarbone length.

Melanie - I'm so sorry to hear of your hair history - I had a similar history, though I didn't have a sister. *hugs*

I'm going all the way now. No more bleach, no more perms, no more cuts (except microtrims).

I started growing my hair out from a shaved/pixie top cut in May 2002. I originally cut my hair in March 2002, but I had maintanence cuts to keep the style. I got tired of the cut by May and decided to grow it out. I've been growing it out since I was 24.

Technically I started with buzz cut. But I didn't decide that I wanted REALLY long hair, in as healthy a condition as possible (those two went hand in hand because I'm an anal prefectionist, my hair must be perfect [no splits, not dry or damanged, etc], AND long) until it hit about shoulder length, then I started wanting waist length hair really badly.

When my hair got to bsl, I decided I wanted my hair to be to tale bone.

Mid back, I decided I wanted classic.

Closer it gets to tale bone, I realize mid thigh might be pretty cool.

At this rate, I'll NEVER reach my long term goal! :brickwall

As also seen on my homepage - pixie.

/Fia

I started at my chin level and all completely layered....
I wore it that way for years because my hairstylist
said it would be too hard for me to grow out
naturally curly hair..........was she clueless or what?!?!

For most of my youth as a kid, it oscillated. Long to short to longish, but my mom was always pushing for me to get it cut. It was also very, very thick and dark, and I had no idea how to take care of it or make it manageable or very nice at all. So -- chop after chop. It always looked like extra-wide black hay.

However, when I'd get it cut, it would look like a totally uniform, undifferentiated brown-black mass on the top of my head. I did all that gel/mousse/garbage that you were supposed to do int he 80s, but in retrospect, my hair always looked like a uniform black glop on my head. That's the problem with very dark hair; as far as I'm concerned, the darker your hair, the better it looks long. If you try to cut and style it, it's just going to look like a shapeless black glob anyhow. When it's long and properly conditioned, it can look shiny and healthy and decent.

Yes, my hair was dismally short and butt-ugly when I was a teenager. There was always a desire to have it long, but I didn't know how to take care of it and believed all that horsesh*t you'd hear about "short hair is so easy to take care of!" and "your hair is too thick to wear it long," so I'd just figured I was stuck with ugly boy-cuts. And with my long, rather angular face, a short cut made my jaw look like a kindling axe. *shudder* BUTT-UGLY. And I "tried" to grow it, meaning I went to the salon like my mom said and got it cut every six weeks to "help it grow." *sigh* Tried and failed. *sigh #2* I guess my hair was just ugly and dry and too thick and wouldn't grow, right?

Then, I went to college and wasn't at home near the salon where I used to go for those "trims" I got while I was "trying" to grow my hair and inevitably failing because all those "just a trims" would hack off any progress. And wonder of wonders -- IT GREW. And I never got anything more than a trim again, excepting one recent unfortunate hack-job that resulted in me missing seven inches and wanting to strangle the chopper.

So I guess you can say that I started when I was out of high school and went to college, and it was at the backof my neck then. And I still didn't know how to take care of it until very, very recently -- coming here, really. It had stalled at my waist until then, until about May of this year. (I'm still not entirely sure if it's growing, and am afraid to get optimistic.)

Now, it's up every day, and I never EVER EVER EVER plan on cutting it. I've finally gotten past the barrier of my beltline and I'm going to see how long this mop can get!

I picked coller bone layered, because thats was the last cut i had. I have been trimming since and jus decided one day that i wanted to grow it out.

I've had long hair for basically all my life. I know I had short hair when I was four, but by senior kindergarden I had longish hair (who didn't?). I haven't cut it short since then, though I trim it so the longest its been was waist length. Now its a few inches above, but I'm growing it longer!

I started with a shoulder length layered cut.

Meg

Hmm, I put chin length bob, because about 4 years ago I had it cut in a bob about chin length, and then just grew it to about bsl, and I got it cut again this past June to a bob and now am working on growing it out again! Its about 2 inches longer or so.

I've ALWAYS had long hair! :)

I had a horrible haircut when I was about 17 or 18, it was a bob and it looked ridiculous. (I'd cut my hair very short a few years earlier, had grown that out a bit and kept a bob for a while). It was then that I decided never to have a haircut again. Only had one since) But it wasn't until november or december of 2003 that I really decided to let mai hair grow long, as in LONG.

I voted 'shoulder/bob' but in dec. '03 it was actually *just* past my shoulders.

It's interesting to see how many grew out from a pixie. I wonder if the trauma of having hair so short made them want to go to the other extreme. :)

I never actually wanted long hair until just recently. It's always been anywhere from chin to shoulder length. I first got interested in growing my hair out when I moved to a colder climate. Then, I found the online long hair sites and have been actively growing since. Right now, I'm somewhere between shoulder blade and bra-strap length with a ton of layers and bangs. I hope to get to bra-strap length with no layers as my first goal. It should probably take a year to a year and a half.

Natchen13

I never actually decided to grow my hair long before, I just never bothered to cut it and it grew and grew and grew- until it was waistlenght! :smile: 3 months ago my hair was just below shoulderlength and it was about then I "sort of" decided to grow it long again. But taking care of it much better this time...

I've let my hair grow ever since the decision was mine to make. I guess that makes me a die hard :rockerdud

I made the decision when I realized that every time I went to my stylist and said that I was growing my hair, he would trim an excessive amount and my hair was not growing! I stopped going to him and my hair was shoulder length or just below it. When I joined here I wanted waistlength and now I want classic. I think I am going to end up with my terminal length, whatever that may be.

I've voted for "are you kidding I've always had long hair" That's true I've always had long hair but my truely, really first attempt of superlength hair started at tailbone-length. Now I don't just want long hair I want my hair to my ankles...

I wish I could have voted for anything longer than a pixie. Since I just decided a grow my hair a few weeks ago it's still pretty much a pixie. When I was a child I was forced to wear it long. No decisions from me. The longest was tailbone length in middle school. Then it was bsl in 9th grade. The next length I remember is some poofy chin length in the late 80's. Anyone remember when we didn't know how bad Aqua Net was for our hair? I was a can a week girl myself. Sprayed it to death. I remember people being able to bounce pennys off it. :lol: So after high school it kept getting shorter and shorter. Until one day I got it clipped on the sides and spiked on top. My dad was so mad. That made me so happy. So I kept cutting it for spite. He even called me some things I would never call anyone. Especially my child. I guess I just got used to getting it cut. So I kept it short for years. When I tried to grow it out it took so long and grew so slow that I'd always chop it off in frustration. I never even got to chin length. I can't wait until I get my first pony stub. I'll be so proud of myself and then I'll know that I can do it.

I wish I could have voted for anything longer than a pixie. Since I just decided a grow my hair a few weeks ago it's still pretty much a pixie. When I was a child I was forced to wear it long. No decisions from me.

You know, it's such a shame when parents make their kids' hair a source of massive power struggles. :-P Either they want to grow it long, and their parents won't let them, or tey want to cut it, and they won't let them. *sigh* Something that should just be a source of fun and personal expression gets turned into this major angst thing ...

My hair was a little shorter than bs length when I found the hair boards and changed my perspective on my hair from "letting it grow" out of laziness to intentionally "growing it out" and keeping it as healthy as possible in the process.

Shoulderlength when I decided. I did have it shorter b4 and then abit longer or even much longer, always depending on how bad or good it looked. Sometimes I had to cut it off really alot because of damage from perms and things. But the last time was in 2001 summer I think that it was shortest and from that moment on I am growing :)

I wish I could have voted for anything longer than a pixie. Since I just decided a grow my hair a few weeks ago it's still pretty much a pixie. When I was a child I was forced to wear it long. No decisions from me. The longest was tailbone length in middle school. Then it was bsl in 9th grade. The next length I remember is some poofy chin length in the late 80's. Anyone remember when we didn't know how bad Aqua Net was for our hair? I was a can a week girl myself. Sprayed it to death. I remember people being able to bounce pennys off it. :lol: So after high school it kept getting shorter and shorter. Until one day I got it clipped on the sides and spiked on top. My dad was so mad. That made me so happy. So I kept cutting it for spite. He even called me some things I would never call anyone. Especially my child. I guess I just got used to getting it cut. So I kept it short for years. When I tried to grow it out it took so long and grew so slow that I'd always chop it off in frustration. I never even got to chin length. I can't wait until I get my first pony stub. I'll be so proud of myself and then I'll know that I can do it.
Good Lord woman! We have had the exact same hair life!!! DH was the one to call me names though, not Dad. Your entire history is almost exactly the same as mine! The only way I was able to get any length at all was when I came to this site! If I can do it, anyone can! Good luck to you!!!

Good Lord woman! We have had the exact same hair life!!! DH was the one to call me names though, not Dad. Your entire history is almost exactly the same as mine! The only way I was able to get any length at all was when I came to this site! If I can do it, anyone can! Good luck to you!!!

Thanks so much! :flowers: It's great to know that someone has had the same experience's that I have.

You know, it's such a shame when parents make their kids' hair a source of massive power struggles. :-P Either they want to grow it long, and their parents won't let them, or tey want to cut it, and they won't let them. *sigh* Something that should just be a source of fun and personal expression gets turned into this major angst thing ...

Oh, and my dad just loved having all that power. He was continually on a power trip. If things didn't go the way he wanted, we all suffered. I'm still scared of him to this day. That's why I love being a Navy wife and living far, far, far away.

I put shoulder length with layers, which is where I am at right now. I have had hair that was mid back, but I never really knew what to do with long hair, so I cut it. My hair has been like a yo yo since. Short, long, short, long. I finally decided to let it grow out because I really hate styling my hair the way I need to with short hair, and now I am seeing the many things I can do with long hair. I can't wait till my hair is really long again. Fortunately it is long enough to enjoy some simple updos to tide me over until I can really do some fun stuff!

Cheyenne

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/Esie/up_to_2003_montage_20625209.jpg

Above BS, c.Nov 2001, ~26.5"
Top left shows it about then - don't have just that pic anymore as that pc died

I picked pixie, even though it wasn't quite a pixie, but it wasn't collarbone length either.

From this:
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-5/181204/Hollieshort.jpg


To this:
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-5/181204/Nov_14_04_i.jpg

:hollie: :hollie: :hollie:

it was a short pixie, but had to start somewhere

I voted pixie, but I don't really know what a pixie is. My hair was way above collar and is layered. When I got it cut last, I had maybe 1/2 inch all over the back and sides and about 1.5 inches from crown forward. :) That was 21 months ago now.