new thread
Hey guys,
Today out of curiosity I stumbled into an Aveda salon at a local mall. Actually I stumbled into Aveda after stumbling out of a Lazarus salon that treated me, at least with what I felt, disrespectfully (oh well, what ya gunna do?). Anyway, I met a stylist named Kim who I talked to for a good 45 minutes about hair. It really is a great feeling when you find a stylist you like and trust. She was very supportive of male long hair, individuality, customer satisfaction, and etc. She actually told me that part of the training at Aveda is a section on respecting customer individuality (and an example was male long hair!). And she kept telling me how great it was that I was growing out my hair, even joking that she loved me becasue of my motivation about things in life.
But Kim did tell me one thing that has been bothering me. So I turn to you guys to offer whatever knowledge you have. I have fine hair. My hair is thicker, and tends to have a natural volume, but it's still fine in individual strand texture. She told me that women come into their salon with much more hair than I. She said that I had a good amount of strands, but nothing exceptional. She then said that fine hair has the shortest terminal length. She gestured to her chest level and said that most fine hair only grows to about this length. She said that coarse hair was the best type for growing really long and that all of her customers with really long hair have very corse hair. This makes sense as anything coarse should be more durable.
So I guess I raise a few questions. First, is it really true that fine hair has the shortest terminal lenght? And if this is true, what is the more important factor in determining terminal length: fine vs. corse or number of strands? (assuming equal growth rates)
I have exactly the opposite kind of hair to you - i.e. the individual strands are VERY thick but there aren't that many of them ! My hair is thinning out due to age (42)/MPB - when I was younger I had hair that could deflect bullets.
I'm not so sure about that. I know plenty of people with very long, very fine hair. I know of one woman with hair nearly ankle length hair which she says is "baby fine." ON the other hand, a co-worker of mine claimed her coarse, wiry hair became too dry and brittle to grow longer than mid-back. I think every head of hair is a unique combination of genetic tendencies and hair care habits that affect final terminal length.
Since most people unknowingly abuse their hair, I would guess that most never achieve their TRUE terminal length. (most people don't even care to reach terminal length, for that matter, they prefer to keep a trendier style, so keep cutting it off.) Since you can't change genetics, you can only give your hair the best, most gentle care possible, and let it keep growing, to find your own personal terminal length.
To Redleader, I would not be too concerned about what she said regarding terminal length despite having fine hair. I have a lot of fine hair on my head and have measured full shed strands (including fine ones) up to 44 inches long. It kinda puts a few holes in her theory, doesn't it? I can calculate your approximate terminal length. Here is an example of how I would do it. If you have 150,000 strands of hair on your head (and you likely do with fine hair) that each grow 1/60 of an inch per day, that is 208 feet of new growth per day. If your hair is currently 18 inches long and you shed 104 strands per day with a typical length of 12 inches (many are partial length) you are growing twice as much hair as you are losing. With the above parameters you would have an estimated terminal length of approximately 36 inches. I even did a spreadsheet for this. I hope you find this helpful. Absalom
Thanks Absalom! I think it's interesting how you calculate terminal length (in terms of total growth per day vs. total loss per day). I guess the best way to find out terminal length is to wait it out and see. While I was initially worried after talking to her, after 24 hours I have put it out of my mind and continue to let my hair grow.
Ms. Kim apparently doesn't know much about long hair. I wouldn't return to this salon, regardless of how nice she treated you.
It is true that coarse hair has the advantage of tolerating average/ordinary hair care with fewer signs of damage than fine hair, but many, many people have fine hair that is very long (classic length, for instance). My hair is ankle length and is fine hair. What enables our hair to get long is extra gentle hair care, and with your curls, you need even greater gentle care to keep from breaking strands. That said, you definitely can grow your hair much longer than mid-chest length!
Seems to me that a bigger issue for you would be how to care for your curly hair. Most curlies do not use brushes, but use only wide-tooth combs. There is a web site dedicated to curly hair, http://naturallycurly2.com/home/index.php where at the bottom there currently is a man's photo who has longish curly hair. Maybe you can find some help there.
Good luck,
JE
