The Long Hair Community - Long-hair questions I've been afraid to ask...

jenny'sdreaming · October 3rd, 2005, 08:12 AM

Now that I've announced my intention to grow out my hair people ask the natural question. How long? My answer is I have no idea since I've never had longer than around shoulder length or a little longer. I don't know how I will feel about it until it gets there. But a couple things I've always wondered and never known anyone with long hair to feel comfortable asking...

My dumb question #1: The weight of long hair causing more frequent headaches? Have any of you with uber-long hair found this to be an issue?

My dumb question #2: Do any of you find a particular length of hair to be more personally annoying than others? I mean to yourself not on other people. For example when it gets long enough to sit on maybe, or in my case I've always hated that in-between lenght in winter when I put on my fuzzy jacket with the high collar and hood and it feels like all my hair is being pushed right into my face because it's not quite long enough to stay inside or to fall down the back.

Thanks for your answers and feel free to laugh at me. I do all the time!

allege · October 3rd, 2005, 08:37 AM

The longest my hair has been was hip lenght, my hair is currently waist, I don't experience head aches often from my hair, sometimes some updo's will cause a head ache.

As of annoying lenghts, I think everyone that is growing will hit stages where they hate their hair, when its at a odd lenght that doesn't look to good. You have to be strong and fight the urge to cut.

zift · October 3rd, 2005, 09:02 AM

Those are not dumb questions jenny'sdreaming

I have thigh length hair which can be considered thick and it feels very heavy to me. Especially buns and updoes, I can't feel comfortable and don't wear them. and I also can't do ponytails maybe it's about the type of my hair which is wavy and frizzy that it pulls too much on the scalp and hurts. I can do braids though and the most comfortable and easy style: loose hair

I have found mid-butt length very annoying personally because it's when I started to sit on it and was not used to such a thing and that was a length when my curled ends regularly caught up to my bag but now as they have moved down it's no problem and I got the reflex to move my hair to the side when I sit so I'M OK now.
Oh and I havern't seen you around here before so welcome and good luck

Viviane · October 3rd, 2005, 09:11 AM

A friend of mine cut her hair above her BSL due to pains in her scalp. Now it´s better.

And the annoying part for me would be the one before 20 inches...

**dancingbarefoot** · October 3rd, 2005, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenny'sdreaming

My dumb question #1: The weight of long hair causing more frequent headaches? Have any of you with uber-long hair found this to be an issue?

Nope. I don't even notice the weight of my hair unless it's in a wet braid - for some reason, that makes the weight really salient - or if I've done my updo/braid badly. In the second case, it's not the weight that bugs me, but the strands I tensioned poorly pulling on my scalp. As long as your updos or braids have even weight distribution and no strands are bearing more weight than the others, there's no pulling on the scalp.

(I have less headaches with long hair than I did with short, if truth be known. It's unrelated to the hair, of course - I just don't get migraines anymore.

)

wonderlywroughte · October 3rd, 2005, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenny'sdreaming

My dumb question #1: The weight of long hair causing more frequent headaches? Have any of you with uber-long hair found this to be an issue?

My dumb question #2: Do any of you find a particular length of hair to be more personally annoying than others? I mean to yourself not on other people. For example when it gets long enough to sit on maybe, or in my case I've always hated that in-between lenght in winter when I put on my fuzzy jacket with the high collar and hood and it feels like all my hair is being pushed right into my face because it's not quite long enough to stay inside or to fall down the back.

For question number one: Nope. If its down, its all good! If its in a well-balanced updo, its also okay! Only if I place my updo in a bad spot on my head will I get a headache from it.

For me, BSL and down started to get annoying, I had this length when I was in highschool and it would get caught under my bookbag straps, my purse, etc.

Tailbone length gets annoying because it gets stuck in your pants.

Classic length is a little annoying now because if I sit onit, I won't notice until I actually try to move (and can't). But these are passing emotions which are usually solved by a quick bun. Hehe.

rawtoast · October 3rd, 2005, 09:40 AM

I don't think these are dumb questions at all!

First of all, no I don't find my hair to be heavy or cause headaches. I do feel it's noticeably lighter when I place it in an updo, but the only time I get a headache caused by my hair is if I do my updo too tightly ... which isn't good for my hair anyway!

Secondly, my hair has never really been annoying enough to cut it. I found it annoying when it was chin length because it was too short to do much with but long enough to get in my face and be generally distracting. When it first grew to my shoulders it annoyed me because it would get under backpack/ purse straps. When I first got BSL length, yes it would get caught in my bra backstrap. Waist length and hip length can get caught in jeans wasitbands.

I think that when it's long enough to sit on, that will be annoying for a little while, but gosh do I miss sitting down on the floor and having to make sure my hair wasn't dragging in the dirt

Oh well, what are goals for?

spidermom · October 3rd, 2005, 09:40 AM

My hair has been annoying at this length because when I'm wearing anything sleeveless, my hair can get caught under my armpits. It's a small price to pay and easily remedied by wearing it braided or up. No, I take that back. Sometimes nothing is "easily remedied." There are days when I'm particularly uncoordinated and can't get a comfortable braid or updo no matter how hard I try. If only one hair is pulled too tight, it can give me a headache.

Volkswillow · October 3rd, 2005, 09:49 AM

I'm not one of the Uber longs - but I find that most updos give me a headache, now - especially if my hair's the teenyest little bit wet. I tend to keep it up for as short a time as possible, and take it down as soon as I get home - Which is just fine, after all, why have long hair if you can't enjoy it

The annoying things about it are that it gets caught under my bag strap, or I'll sit back in a chair and scalp myself when I turn my head. And that it's so tangly - bt that's just my hair! You get used to it at every stage, anyway, like zift mentioned, you'll develop a habit of moving your hair everytime you do someting

nicolezoie · October 3rd, 2005, 10:14 AM

question #1: The weight of long hair causing more frequent headaches? Have any of you with uber-long hair found this to be an issue?

Like others have said, it has MOSTLY to do with proper tension & weight distribution. I'm known for redoing an updo 5-10 times if only 3 hairs are bugging me.

Improper placement or badly balanced 'dos KILL my scalp.

question #2: Do any of you find a particular length of hair to be more personally annoying than others? I mean to yourself not on other people. For example when it gets long enough to sit on maybe, or in my case I've always hated that in-between lenght in winter when I put on my fuzzy jacket with the high collar and hood and it feels like all my hair is being pushed right into my face because it's not quite long enough to stay inside or to fall down the back.

I kept my hair just above tailbone length for years. Then I started growing it longer. Within 3-4 months, about tailbone length, I began sitting on my ends, and it drove me NUTS. I became wholly paranoid of fraying my ends, so I stopped leaning against chairs, and had to start training myself to sweep it to the side.

Right about wrist length, I had to stop wearing wristwatches & bracelets because my hair would sneak into the clasps.

And, I finally had to accept that if I wanted *longer* hair I had to wear it up more. THAT took the most getting used to. Up until I could sit on it, I rarely wore it up. Mostly because of my lack of updo skills, partially because I had a hard time with weight distribution. Then I learned about separating my hair in halves, and that made my scalp so much more comfortable.

snowbear · October 3rd, 2005, 10:31 AM

All of the above answers are terriffic--I just wanted to comment on your "stupid questions"

There are no stupid questions, except for the ones that don’t get
asked. Therefore, you have asked smart questions.

Jessica Trapp · October 3rd, 2005, 10:37 AM

These questions are NOT dumb!

I'm not uber-long, but here goes:

question #1: The weight of long hair causing more frequent headaches? Have any of you with uber-long hair found this to be an issue?

No. I don't have any headaches when I wear it down. But there are some up-dos that I can't wear for long periods of time anymore though--like french twists. A two-strand twisted crown braid distributes the weight and is very comfortable all day.

question #2: Do any of you find a particular length of hair to be more personally annoying than others?

My hair grows so slowly that I'm grateful for every millimeter of growth.

Darian Moone · October 3rd, 2005, 10:40 AM

My hair isn't "uber" long yet (I'm waist length), but it's definitely had no effect on headaches except if I have a pony too tight or an updo too tight. As far as awkward lengths, I'd say I don't like my length right now and am trying hard to fight the urge to cut it. I'm still not accustomed to pulling it out of the way when I sling my handbag over my shoulder, etc. (if my hair is down).

For example, last week I was at a convention in St. Louis and the seating was in a stadium/auditorium. I kept feeling a weird tugging at my hair the first day and thought it was the people behind me moving around. On the 2nd day I got my hair STUCK in the metal plate that was screwed on the back of each seat's back rest! I didn't even notice the plate was there until my hair was stuck fast in it and a portion stuck wrapped around the srews. Ummm, yes, I did some damage to some ends there.

Needless to say, after that I remembered to pull my hair forward over my shoulder before sitting down.

I've had long hair in the past and my favorite length is hip length (personal preference). It's long enough to satisfy my desire for long hair (and for me to really realize it's there and to take care of it), and short enough not to be able to sit on it.

To each his own tho. This time around I may end up at tailbone. I guess it depends how I like it after it gets beyond my goal.

PS...There are no stupid questions!

Ruzika · October 3rd, 2005, 11:12 AM

Quote:

#1: The weight of long hair causing more frequent headaches? Have any of you with uber-long hair found this to be an issue?

I have almost waist length right now, and while I do get headaches(migraines actually) quite often, it's not from my hair for the most part. Usually it's due to stress or that time of the month, sometimes pressure(like in a plane) or certain scents(perfumes). The only time it's due to my hair is when I wear it up, so I don't do that often. Usually down or in a braid is just fine.

MemSahib · October 3rd, 2005, 11:44 AM

Like the others, I don't get headaches from my waist length hair unless I have mis-managed an updo, Jenny. Usually I know within seconds of finishing if it will be OK or whether I need to redo it for better balance. Somehow I have trouble getting braids right and I can't stand to have a couple of strands pulling (I think DancingBarefoot and I are together on this). Once in a while a particular clip will give me fits, but either repositioning it or finding a different way to use it usually works.