new thread
I'd like to clarify a few bit of information I see being haggled over all the time. I'm not a professional, but I've had long hair for two-thirds of my life, and I've done a lot of casual research on it. Here's some of what I came up with:
Growth Rate / Maximum Length:
The maximum length a particular individual can grow their hair is dependant directly on the growth rate, the hair's lifespan, and indirectly on its health. If your had perfectly healthy hair, you could calculate your maximum length simply by growth rate (average is 1/2 inch/month) times lifespan (average is 3-4 years). However, most people don't have perfectly healthy hair. Heat, chemicals, split ends, weather, hairbands, lack of vitamins, and even normal wear and tear can cause a hair to fall out or break off sooner or grow more slowly than it should. Vitamin supplements, proper brushing, trims, and other care can ease the damage, and help your hair to grow **UP TO** its full potential. NOT BEYOND. If you are at your maximum length now with perfect health, nothing you can do will make it grow longer! However, if you aren't there, some of the tips above may help you to eventually acquire those inches.
Trims?
I've seen some people claim there is no point in getting haircuts, and some people give (often corrent) reasons why it is good. There are valid reasons, and any professional hairdresser will recommend frequent trims to get rid of split ends, and not just so you will keep coming back. As mentioned above, split ends damage the end of the hair and make it more susceptible to breakage. Thus, if you don't cut the split ends, you could end up with shorter hair. Furthermore, split ends breed split ends. That isn't to say that they cause MORE split ends, but if a hair is split, it will quickly split further up with less resistance than the initial split took. Thus, if you decide to eradicate split ends later, you'll have to take off more. Do the math yourself: 1/4 inch * 6 trims / year (recommended by hairstylists) = 1.5 inches. If you wait, you may end up having to cut 1 inch * 2 trims/year = 2 inches! So if you want healthy, split-free hair, you may lose MORE hair if you wait on those trims.
Now an argument for infrequent hair trims is often an argument for spending less money. With long hair, the solution is simple. Go out to some place that sells hair supplies, get some clips, combs, and hair cutting scissors (IMPORTANT! Most everyday scissors are not really sharp enough for hair, and will not give a clean cut), and trade hair trims with someone else. Trimming hair (not styling) is simple if you are careful. Here are some simple steps to making it look nice:
1) Wet the hair. Damp hair is just so much easier to work with.
2) Thoroughly comb the hair. To estimate where the bad parts start, slowly pull a fine toothed comb through the hair until you come across resistance you can't get rid of (ie, it's there no matter how many times you work it out). This will probably be less than 1 inch from the end.
3) Separate the hair into layers and cut those individually. First cut a thin row of hair closest to the neck, and gradually work up. More layers means more time, but an easier cut.
4) Tips: Match up previous layers with the ones below to ensure length similarity. Work from the middle out to avoid lopsidedness. Only cut a small bit of hair at a time to ensure a clean cut. Bring along a spray bottle of water to wet hairs that have dried in the meantime. It may be beneficial to ask a hairdresser to watch a trim carefully first. She may even explain what she is doing.
I am working on a website for long hair, but because of classes and other personal committments, I haven't had time to update it in a very long time. Eventually I hope it will be nice. Feel free to visit what is there in the meantime..
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Barbara,
Thank you so much for the very useful information.
I copied and pasted it into a "hair info file" on the hard drive.
Nice web site too.
Dale