new thread
i its been 5 years since my last short haircut.........................................my hair is about down to the bottom of my rib cage......i am trying to get it to my waiste but is growing really slow.......is this a common thing the longer your hair gets the slower it grows?..................
Well, as your hair gets closer to "terminal length," the maximum length the strands can achieve considering both the rate of growth and how long a typical growth cycle for the follicles lasts, it will be quite natural for the apparent growth rate of your mane to slow down. As it has been five years since your last haircut, this is not surprising...the typical growth cycle for the follicles in the human scalp is in the range of three to six years, and it is when one approaches the length of this cycle for most of the follicles in one's scalp that one will see the apparent lengthening of the mane slow down. The product of the length of this cycle, with the average rate of growth (i.e., of a strand from an average follicle, averaged over its entire life span from when it first sprouts to when it finally falls out), determines the "terminal length."
However, not all follicles in your scalp run on the same cycle: Some will have much shorter than average cycles, and others can have much longer than average cycles. Those having longer than average cycles will produce hairs that may just extend a part of your mane to your waist. You may have perhaps six more inches to go, but because the apparent length of your mane is now being controlled by the above-described equilibrium process, that length may require more than the typical year to achieve. Why not just persevere and see if enough strands that last longer than the rest will make it to your waist and look fairly decent? Even if you "stall out" before then, the length you describe now sounds to me like something quite attractive anyway.
not to mention that not all the hairs from the 'original cut' (5 yrs ago)are surviving now. hair may average a half inch per month but as you've been growing yours out more and more of your hairs have reached the end of their respective cycles- if your hair averages a 6 year growth cycle, then a 5 year time lapse means that only those hairs that were new (beginning of their cycle) when you got the cut are at the base of your rib cage. the others have fallen out and been replaced. if you have gotten regular trims then your length is not where it could be... on the other hand the end (near your rib cage) will look pretty good.
if you're wondering whether or not you are reaching terminal growth, skip trims for a year then assess your hair in the mirror- look at its density down the length of it. does it 'peter out' the last few inches? that's an indication that you're nearing terminal length.