Knee and Beyond

[SandyBottom]

I never get tired of seeing super long hair! When pictures like yours are posted, I find myself going back a few times and thinking, "Yeah...that's really cool."

[-Aithne-]

Your hair is so beautiful, MusicalSpoons (and I love your rainbow moth skirt and your striped socks XD)! It looks so loooong and it makes me super excited that mine might be that long someday (or not). I think your ends look fine! The arrow made me chuckle XD and now I can see that you're wearing PARROT leggings! Too cool! Your hairtoy holder is really neat and pretty, too!

I think I can understand how waiting so long could make it feel anticlimactic. I mean you see your hair everyday and it grows and grows... I guess you don't really notice your floor until you step on it (takes notes). It's so cool to find out neat trivia like that. It's the stuff of dreams for me and it's so exciting to see length like yours *big smilies* I guess now you graduate to the "Floor and Beyond" thread! Congratulations *warm smile*! ...and I also think your bun in your avatar is so perfect looking. I think that every time I see it.

I'm a former hairdressing student so maybe I've been trained to notice 🤔 dyed or not your hair is beautiful!
Instead of dying the turquoise I'd suggest just buying turquoise clip in extensions 😁

Bat, that is so cool that you learned how to really see people's hair I took your suggestion and ordered some and they just came in XD They look really pretty in the packaging ...but I have to wait a while to post mor pictures because I'm already halfway to 50 pictures (the limit until I get 1000 posts...so far...le sigh).

I hope I see a person with floor length hair In Real Life someday (but I kind of doubt it. I rarely even see classic here and I've only seen knee once in my life at Target.).

[MusicalSpoons]

Oooh sorry I disappeared for a bit. But awwww, you guys!

Congratulations on FLOOR, Spoons!!! I'm so excited for you!

I hope you're proud and happy for your accomplishment even if it feels anticlimactic! I feel like especially with this milestone, it doesn't matter if you have a single hair on the ground or a hundred, because even one is a tripping hazard and more than earns you the right to call it floor

But I feel you on those Flippy Ends, 100%. I had to get help stretching out the length when I first called it because as soon as the camera comes out they want to defy gravity *rolleyes* It took a couple extra inches beyond floor to really start looking like it from the ground view, which is annoying. But the measuring tape doesn't lie, even if sometimes pictures do!

So enjoy your hair and this incredible achievement, and it's been a pleasure growing with you

Awww amazing, thank you sooo much! This bit made me LOL! And it has indeed been such a pleasure having you as a growing buddy too, and I can hardly believe my eyes on the other thread ... well, I'll comment more there.

Congrats MusicalSpoons! Floor is such a longtime accomplishment.

Thank you!

Congratulations! That is wonderful. And yes, hair is funny, the moment you set up the camera, it decides to defy gravity. None of my normal hair shoots look like FTL unless I stretch it real hard, normally they look like TBL at best.

Thank you, and yes it's amazing how even straight hair can have shrinkage! FTL wow, either time is flying or your hair is growing really quickly. You'll soon be joining us here with this as your length thread, I look forward to it!

Wooo photos looking good!

Thank you!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! Your hair looks incredible

That's not a word I would ever think to use to describe my hair so that's really sweet of you to say, thank you!

I never get tired of seeing super long hair! When pictures like yours are posted, I find myself going back a few times and thinking, "Yeah...that's really cool."

Aww that's really cool to hear, thank you!

Your hair is so beautiful, MusicalSpoons (and I love your rainbow moth skirt and your striped socks XD)! It looks so loooong and it makes me super excited that mine might be that long someday (or not). I think your ends look fine! The arrow made me chuckle XD and now I can see that you're wearing PARROT leggings! Too cool! Your hairtoy holder is really neat and pretty, too!

I think I can understand how waiting so long could make it feel anticlimactic. I mean you see your hair everyday and it grows and grows... I guess you don't really notice your floor until you step on it (takes notes). It's so cool to find out neat trivia like that. It's the stuff of dreams for me and it's so exciting to see length like yours *big smilies* I guess now you graduate to the "Floor and Beyond" thread! Congratulations *warm smile*! ...and I also think your bun in your avatar is so perfect looking. I think that every time I see it.

Awwwww your comment is such a bundle of lovely compliments, really very sweet, thank you so much! If my hair ever actually *looks* floor length before I cut back I might post on the other thread, but this one is definitely my 'home' especially as I don't plan to stay at floor for very long. (Famous last words ... ?! We'll see.)


Well, reaching it felt a bit anticlimactic before but your reactions have really buoyed me up!! Thank you all of you for your lovely words

[floridaorchid]

Bat, thank you *smilies* Wow, I can’t believe you noticed! You’ve got amazing eyes or an amazing screen *smilies* I did have dye and it is growing out. I wanted my hair be a milk tea colored bob, like FloridaOrchid’s actually, but the stylist made it like dark pumpkin orange (think Halloween pumpkins after you microwave)…and I was devastated. I went to another place and they dyed it a dark brown, which I liked and thought matched my hair, but yes, the bottom is dyed but I thought most of it grew out. It was like ten-ish years ago? I did like it, but I’m not a “maintain your hair’ person so…natural is easiest, even though I love colors and will indulge in cool violet sometimes. I’d like to do turquoise like you did someday, though. Only on my bangs, though. I don’t like the way my hair feels when it’s bleached… Oh, but the Ombre could be from the way my hair reacts with flash. It gets gray colored. The dye is only a bottom-of-the-ears worth of bob, so…

I just realized you said this and wanted to thank you. My hair color is something I struggle to like sometimes, and this made my day.

I really love the deep color of your hair. I think violet or turquoise would be really cool! I do agree though that natural is easiest. The upkeep of going to salons in draining time-wise and occasionally money-wise.

[Entangled]

I think my hair would be much the same if I hit knee length. I always have a lot of tamper and I'm never sure if it's breakage or natural taper. Either way though, Entangled, that's some impressive hair.

Thank you! You know, at some point I think it's not really clear how much is breakage vs. natural taper because I don't think you can get to FTL+ without some breakage, no matter how gently you treat your hair. It used to bother me, but I'm pretty chill about it now.

Cool Entangled!!! Congrats! Another goal reached!

Thank you!

Congrats, Entangled!! I love that feeling, looking in the mirror and your own length surprising you

I have a long satin sleep cap and I do find it useful. I usually do a bun for sleep, but I always wear mine with a braid or loose hair. The extra layer of protection (as well as containing it) really minimizes friction and tangles for me.

It's pretty fun! I wore my braid down the other day and had some people ask me how long I'd been growing it (which is a hard question to answer, because I've cut off around 5 or 6 inches before and periodically decide to lose a few inches, so it sounds like it takes longer than it did, and I try to demystify growth time when I can). After the conversation, I realized that I'd passed normal "extra long," which I'd say is around classic or so—not a ton of people may have it in my area, but most people will have previously seen someone with classic-length hair. But 5 inches to floor is probably significantly less common...I just didn't realize it was that long because I'd stopped paying attention after I adjusted to FTL+ sometime in 2020.

Congratulations Entangled! and it looks like the longest are well approaching ankle.

At least it looks floor length from seated and standing height for anyone else so I don't feel too impostery calling it outside LHC either.

It actually feels really quite anticlimactic because so few hairs are there, but I'm slowly getting used to the idea of having floor-length hair even if it's only technically. I still want to see if I can get to 72", and if that happens I might cut back to 70" and see if it'll regrow, or I might just go ahead with the plan to cut back to calf. But my ends have been ridiculously thin for so long and despite the breakage they are not currently bugging me, so I'll just see how it goes. When they do consistently bug me again I will cut more, either to ankle or calf. I'm just shocked to even be considering anything other than what was my plan for so long! Some lingering LHC-itis, perhaps.

Thank you, and congrats again! I feel you on the anticlimactic thing—at some point for me, the wisps feel wispy, no matter how long they are (I wonder if people with fairytail ends are more prone to this than regular trimmers/blunt end-ers?). But floor is still pretty sweet!

[Entangled]

And here it is! I did it! Length shot! …and certified calf by Lapis_Lazuli (whose comment gave me the extra courage I needed to post this…thank you)! I can’t believe I made calf…well, a wispie of calf. I thought Knee was terminal for me for years, but bunning every day has totally made a difference for me. Thank you, LHC *big smilies* My side hair from the “pseudo bob” that I used to have pre-pandemic is now at waist so I still have some thickness traveling down (I so love the phrase “thickness traveling down” XD) to look forward to *another smile* Oh, but my hair is so mussed because I have to run to my spot and retake and retake and retake the picture. Even then, I’m not centered…but if I worry about that I’ll never get to post a length shot. I did it…just shy of two months after I decided I wanted to do one…!

I love the big loose waves! Congrats, and your hair is lovely!

I've been at knee since last October (ish) and have started trimming more often so I can begin thickening up my ends as I approach my final goal of upper calf - I think I'm just about and inch or two away from where I want to be, and this so far seems to be the only milestone that I'm approaching where I've decided NOT to push my final goal further back as I get closer. I think this may be it for me, which is really weird to wrap my head around after joining here 7 years ago at waist length with what felt like an unachievable dream of maybe reaching classic length.

One thing I've noticed both within myself, and it seems also in this forum, is that the excitement of having very long hair has kind of died down a bit... I still feel like it's a great achievement, but I don't feel the need to share it as much. And by the quietness of this thread, it seems like others might feel similarly. I know that we all probably have figured out all the kinks in our haircare routine at this point, but is it just that that makes this thread discussed in less often? Or could it be that there are simply less of us that have reached this length so less traffic here overall? Or is it really a lack of excitement that makes this thread a little slower than the shorter lengths?

Also, what do all of you do to stay active in the community once you reach these longer lengths? Is it time for me to go back and start giving more encouragement and advice in the shorter length threads? Or have most of you stepped back from posting on the LHC site overall, now that you're here?

Your color and texture are subtle and pretty! Thanks for sharing, and congrats!

Re: posting, that's a good question...I tended to spend a lot of time on the forum when my hair was shorter in part because the forum was new to me. The other part of the equation is that hair-growing is a slow process, so in the beginning, I did all sorts of experimentation and styles and that helped quell the impatience. As a result, I was more active on the boards. After I reached about hip, though, the sense of disconnect I'd felt between my actual and desired hair length sort of dried up. After that, there definitely was less excitement because it had been replaced by contentment.

Additionally, having tried many experimental wash methods, I have more or less found a routine that works for me, and since I'm not currently brave enough to try dyeing, there's generally less to talk about. I will also add that style-wise, the increased difficulty of detangling after fingertip length made it more work to do anything other than stick buns and a single braid. (I don't know if this is the case for everyone, but FTL was more than just a learning curve of "how do I adjust my technique now that my hair is longer than my arms?" My hair actually got more tangled and harder to detangle, and has remained diff. I had to change my detangling methods, and now use a comb almost exclusively, and keep my hair braided 90% of the time). I also tend to need less community support to feel validated about my hair compared to when I started growing, and posted photos as a way to get positive attention and keep my motivation up. (I also had a year and a half break, and was saddened to find that several members with which I had budding friendships had more or less dropped off the map, so that's another hit to posting motivation).

I tend to lurk on the off-topic boards and blogs, though I don't post much as I'm usually viewing on mobile and find phone-typing to be frustrating. I occasionally pop in on new threads and comment, but less than I could. I also had a year and a half break, and was saddened to find that several members with which I had budding friendships had more or less dropped off the map, so that's another hit to posting motivation. So overall, I have noticed that I've posted less over the years for various reasons, and it's probably also true that there are fewer people at these lengths. I imagine someone who's always had knee length hair who suddenly finds the boards would potentially be a more active poster than someone who's grown from bob to knee here.

Still, there are a few things out there to learn! For example, my scalp is pretty tricky, and while I've found ways to manage it, I'm not super satisfied with the ratio of bad days to good days. In an ideal world, I would be able to stretch washes, but given the practical limits of my life, I really can't (perhaps it's physically possible, but functionally, I don't have the motivation and space and tools and pain tolerance to be able to do much more than I've already tried). Unfortunately, I also hate having wet hair, which means I tend to avoid washing, so my hair is usually wet and annoying, or greasy, irritated, and annoying, with only 1.5 good days to any wash cycle (which right now looks like washing every other to 4 days depending on how much I procrastinate). I sure wish I could be one of those people who only have to wash every 1-2 weeks!

I've always had an interest in natural haircare, but when I started growing, my parents were still shopping for me, which limited the amount of "weird" things I could try, and the difficulty I've had managing my scalp has made me reluctant to try much, so maybe there's still room for trial and error (I've never done herbal washes, or tried rice water). I recently acquired some tea tree oil, as well as some tea tree shampoo, which (maybe possibly hopefully?) could help reduce some of my difficulties longer term? (that's the hope, anyways, that I can break the conventional shampoo cycle). I'm pretty sure I have SD, though there was a language barrier for me the last time I went to a dermatologist, and the American dermatologists I've been to are more interested in stopping the problem than naming it. Given the fact that my grandmother also had scalp problems at a time when it was normal to only wash once a week, I feel like the odds are low that I can get around things...

[Reyn127]

Entangled, sorry I just checked back up on this thread after a while! But I feel pretty similarly to you about the whole posting less because you've done a lot of the experimentation already, and feeling like you've grown to a certain goal so that you don't have to fill in the impatience with growing, by hanging around these forums a lot.

I just find it somewhat of a shame that a lot of people (not you specifically, as I've done it as well now) who have grown to very long lengths on here, or used to be very involved and helpful in the community, have posted less and less over time. Of course I know there are new members who keep things going, and a handful of members who have been around who are still active. But I just remember being a new member myself, and searching everywhere for new advice from established members, as I felt it was the most helpful and inspiring. I keep telling myself that I want to get back on here more often, but it only happens in phases rather than consistently. :/

[Reyn127]

BUT, as a general attempt to revive this thread/check in on you all.... how is everyone here doing?? Any hair news that anyone would like to share? How about goals for the new year?

I find that my 2024 hair goal is the same as last year - to do occasional microtrims as I continue to let my hair grow to my final goal (upper calf), while also thickening up the ends in anticipation of starting to maintain the length when I get there. I was sooooo close to my goal a couple months ago, but sadly I got a chunk of my hair sucked into a leaf blower and had to cut off about 3 inches in November to even it back out. (It was dumb of me to use the leaf blower with my hair down, even though I only used it for less than 2 minutes.) But that incident set me right back to knee length, so I have another probably 4 inches until I'm at my goal length again. Oh, well. My other goal is to post somewhat regularly on my youtube account - I've decided to hair hairstyle tutorials and the occasional product review and other hair-related stuff. Hopefully I can stick to at least a few videos each month.

Lastly, I have some fun hair photos to share - not quite "regular" length shots, these are just from about a week ago with damp hair, I was fluffing it around outside trying to hep it dry and having some fun with it.

[TatsuOni]

Your hair looks beautiful Reyn

I'll do my last microtrim this year and measure to see where I'm at.

[jmrdelorean]

You are very lucky that you weren’t seriously injured by the leaf blower. Power tools and hair can end very badly. Your hair looks very nice. Your patience has paid off.