Awkward hair questions: "How long have you been growing your hair?"

[arc691]

You all get this too?? That is so funny! Whenever I'm in America people always ask me this question~ I usually just say, Oh, I've always had long hair~ and try to walk away or change the subject.

[PixxieStix]

Well, no one has asked me this yet (my hair isn't long enough), but when they do, I'm pretty sure I will be using my LHC start date as the point where I "officially decided to actively grow out long hair." So, if someone asked me now, I'd say a few months.

I haven't shaved my head in a couple years, so I guess one could say I've been growing since then, but really, I was just waiting to get over the trich and have my hair fill in the bald patches on top before "seriously" growing out again. Yay for LHC!

[DarkSky]

No one has ever asked this question and I as well would have no idea what to say to them. I've always had longish hair and really never made a conscious effort to really grow it "longer" till August after getting way too much hair cut off at my last trim last spring.

[Diamond.Eyes]

I say about 3.5 years. I only cared about growing my hair out when I wanted the nasty black dye that was in it to be gone. Then I realized that I liked having long hair, so I kept growing it.

[slz]

I'm still hung up on why such a question should be awkward. For the most part, it's a general curiosity thing, they're not asking for your life story or anything

It's awkward because it's a question that has no answer in most of the cases - very few people I guess wake up one morning and decide "that's it ! as of today I'm growing my hair out" ad then shave it all off for a real start. It (the question) operates under the premices that "growing one's hair" is, like moxamoll said, a deliberate activity, which it isn't for most.

I also tend to get caught up in the idea of growing your hair as if it's a deliberate activity. "Want to go to a movie tonight?" "Can't - I have to grow my hair!" LOL

So yeah I find it awkward when people ask questions that do not make sense as is, to me it's like asking "how long have you ben growing your legs ?", kinda (yes I know it's not exactly comparable, but, you know, the general feeling). The most awkward being not only that the question gets asked at all, but that it ges asked ad nauseum by mostly whoever you meet who has any interest into your long hair.

And then there's also the fact that I can't grasp what's so important in putting a time frame on things, that it's the first question they have about my hair - it just boggles my mind. If you want another weird comparison, that'd be like, say, if one of the first thing people asked when getting to know you were your shoe size, or this kind of "irrelevant" information : who cares ? I don't get it.

But then I read what Beatnik Guy said :

Mostly they're not actually interested how many years, but just want to know that it's an endeavor that takes longer than they would have patience for.

and I think he must be onto something. It still doesn't belong to the scope of thinks of any interest in my world, but yeah, it kinda makes sense.

[Sweet Beat]

I get that question often too! Always hard to answer. I've always had quite long hair and I didn't really think of it when I was like 8 yrs old :P I've just ended up this way and it's first when i joined TLHC I started to be aware of exactly how long my hair was. I hardly measure it before I joined.

[Carrie Ingalls]

Am I the only one who sees this as an opening for launching into a long discussion about hair?

No, your not the only one, and I have had many a discussion about long hair that started with this or some other questions/statements, including but not limited to: "Do you get headaches?" "You must go through a ton of shampoo!" "How long does it take you to shower/wash it?" "Your hair is so long!" "Are you going to donate it? / Have you ever heard of Locks of Love?" "It must take you forever to brush you hair!" "How do you straighten it!?" "It must take forever to blow-dry!" ...etc...

I also, often tell people about the LHC (if they seem even remotely interested), but the reality is that I don't always have the time it takes to really answer all their questions, and most people aren't really interested even though they spout off a bunch of questions (they don't wait for or listen to the answers). So, usually I try to give just enough of an answer to satisfy them so I can get back to whatever I was doing in the first place.

[Panth]

I usually say "ages" or something. If asked further, I tend to say when my last cut was (as opposed to trim).

If they really are curious about how long it takes to grow (and they're being nice about it) I usually come up with an estimate based on Igor's growth times. She's the only example I know of who's gone from bald to past classic in one straight run - makes things easier for calculating.

[Bandia Rua]

Ive been actively growing my hair since 2002... Theres the lesson....STOP CUTTING, if you want to make any gains on length,... my hair would be well beyond my knee length goal if Id just STOP TRIMMING...remember hair grows a half inch a month so a few times a year of an inch here or an inch there then some dusting there and so on can totally obliterate what youve managed to grow.

Yes Im bitter....lol

[Rivanariko]

I guess I just don't like discussing my hair with random people, lol. And I find any question that I can't come up with an acceptable answer that makes sense to be awkward. Not awkward in the "that's too personal" sort of way but in a "I can't find an answer and therefor this conversation is becoming uncomfortable" way.

The only time I've volunteered information about how long it's taken for me to grow my hair was when one of the girls I work with was saying that she wanted her hair to be as long as mine by graduation (May) when it's shoulder length now... I had to explain to her that ever people with super-fast growth won't grow from shoulder to tailbone in six months! Although I know we all wish we could!