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I've had long hair a couple of times, but ended up cutting it short for various (regrettable) reasons.
Currently, I have not had a haircut for almost six years .... but I have a an odd problem. After the first year and a half, my hair reached 15 inches, but has not grown since. Isn't that a bit short for terminal length. It has grown much longer than that in the past.
Also, weirdly enough, a couple of people asked me if I cut my hair recently - which means it looks shorter for some reason. I have not cut my hair for years, but have to admit, it doesn't "look" as long as it did a year or so ago. Is my hair sucking back into my head?
Wondering, and wishing it would grow longer ....
First off great to hear from you again lifobryan.As for your question its not a weird one at all.I haven't had a haircut since 2006 so you'd think my hair would be incredibly long by now but in reality its only around mid back.Now I do color my hair so I know its still growing being I have to recolor every month or so being the new growth isn't colored.That begs the question what's happening with my oldest hair on the ends?I assume its just breaking off so while I know my hair is indeed still growing but it never gets longer than it currently is.With that said I'm sure your experiencing the same cycle except you won't know it if you don't color your hair.I do wish I could achieve a bit more length but it is what it is my friend.Cheers
Mârk
I tend to agree with Hairball. That's what happened to me I was told by my sister in law hairstylist. I didn't cut it for 18 years but after 3 years it started looking shorter in photos and never got longer than 18 inches. I could pull out inches of hair from my head and that's not from the scalp but it was breaking at the ends. I thought it was part of male pattern baldness for years since my dad is bald but I realized that I still had most of my hair at 45 so something else was going on. It was very dry and damaged.
It was so damaged that the damaged hair was breaking faster than my growth rate. I like Hairball's idea of dying because I had to see it to believe it. What I did was a bit more invasive-I shaved the sides of my head to see if it would grow longer than the 3 inches that was there and it did.
So what to do? There are products out there claiming to repair the hair but they never worked for me and I just started over. How are u treating your hair? Swimming in chlorinated or ocean water without a swim cap. Blow drying or using heat styling on your hair? The first thing to do is moisturize the ends with argan oil or something similar. I would say if u can see split ends that are indeed at the end to surgically cut the damage out. Your hair is long enough to do it yourself. Look at girls on youtube who posted videos of how to do it...hopefully it only involves taking 1/4-1/2 inch.
Marty
Thanks Marty - that is great advice! I don't color my hair, but I do swim in lake water frequently - which means frequent washes. I will try trimming the ends and using argan oil. Do you apply the oil throughout, or just to the ends?
Many thanks for the advice - cheers!
Right now I'm still in the awkward hair phase for the 3rd time in my life and I think it's growing slower than it was but I do see progress at around 4". It looks fuller than when it was long and damaged so I take it this is how it should always look when healthy. So it's difficult for me just to oil the ends at this point. Right now I'm using a lot of hair rinses that I make from cooled down concentrated green tea with chamomile tea and then put argan oil in it (just 7 drops) and 3 drops of peppermint oil. That's at night but in the morning I get my hair wet again and add a watered down sweet almond oil and peppermint oil (it's a concentrated essential oil so just a couple drops in the container). I put this through my entire hair from my hands but just a little so I don't look greasy but it keeps it from getting frizzy when done air drying.
Instead of shampooing everyday, try a hair rinse or just plain old cool water to keep from washing away all the oil on your hair. What u want to do is move the oil from the day's activity off your scalp and water around 70-80 degrees F will do that. Just shampoo 1-2 times a week.
U can also try a deep conditioner with coconut milk. Right now what's in my kitchen goes on my head so I actually make this too from a can of coconut milk and avacado oil. The link I found is on this post. I substituted avacado oil for the olive oil and wasn't sure about the other 2 ingredients so left them out.
Being your hair is a lot longer than mine then I would say just oil the ends-about 3" should be enough. Also add some argan oil to shampoo if it's not already there and do co-washes (conditioner washes).
Marty
Marty
Coconut milk deep conditioner
Here's the recipe I used. It was a couple weeks ago and I should've put this in my Google Drive but will now since I already forgo.
So, I found a recipe for an easy deep conditioner that contains mainly coconut milk and aloe vera gel. I made this and checked the pH which is around 5 (that's what is wanted-the pH of just the coconut milk is 7 which is too high but the aloe vera brings it down). It then calls for olive oil but I reduced the amount and added some other oils as well. Here's the amounts:
1/2 cup coconut milk
5 tablespoons aloe vera gel
2 teaspoons of olive oil
2 teaspoons of coconut oil
2 teaspoons of avacado oil
Wisk everything so the oils mix well with the milk and aloe. Funnel into a squeeze bottle with a thin nozzle. My hair is only around 4" so I only needed half (I froze the rest for later). Put the bottle over your head over a sink and slowly apply. This is pretty fluid so be careful not to make a big mess. Once hair is soaked I used a shower brush to spread it and then put a durag on my head so it doesn't drip all over the place. Let it soak into your hair for at least a half hour and wash out.
Marty
Thank you so much Marty! This is such great information. I will try this and let you know how it goes.
Very much appreciated - cheers!
Bryan
Great to hear from you too Hairball! Sounds like we are having some similar issues. I don't color my hair, but it is dry. Interesting point about the ends. Well, best luck in further growth for both of us. Cheers!
My hair has lost maybe 3 inches of length in the past 10 years. I think aging does have a negative effect on hair terminal length. I am 66 years old now and my hair is still over 3 feet long. I guess I got lucky.
Scott
