Growing Hair. Just let grow or regular trims?

[Perplexing]

I know the 'done thing' is to have regular trims but I find that the style changes subtly each time and I lose the will to keep growing as I have to have it re-trimmed. Whereas if I let it grow the proportions stay the same sowehow and then when at desired length I can get it cut how I want it.

Should I just grit my teeth and not to go to the hairdresser for, ummm 6 months? Or is the biggest crime known to hair?

This happened yesterday and I ended up with much shorter hair which has just set me back at least 2 months' growing time - grrr. I feel pressured (?) to keep going for trims, especially as I am going for colour in between and they say - 'when did you have it cut?' (in my mind code for 'your hair looks shit'). Am I mad?

Thanks Awful, that sounds a good plan.

3 years - that's an impressive feat of patience!

I find it's a challenge to know what to do with it while it's growing. How did you manage? By clipping / tying back / putting up etc?

depends on how your hair fares when it grows. Mine is pretty straight and I've not had it cut since November, as am growing it. It could do with a little trim now, but i would only go at this point because I've grown it quite alot.
I home colour so don't get the hairdresser comments.

Mine grows quicker with regular trims, but it grows quickly anyway. I haven't had my hair cut since February because I really can't afford it (been studying for past year) - I have a great relationship with my hairdresser and wouldn't go anywhere else, but at £60 a go for a trim I can only justify it by going half as often as I would to someone who charges £30.

Grow it until you don't like it, then get it cut. There will always be an awkward puffy-scraggly stage between short and long, but I find once I've gone past that I get used to it as it is and it seems silly to get it cut.

Paul Mitchell Super Strong Treatment (white squeezy bottle, pink cap) is your friend. It's amazing, mine's grown from just above shoulder length to bra clasp since I had it cut short for charity in August with no visible split ends.

My hair is quite thick and wavy - so it's quite dry and I guess would get damage on the ends. Being religious with hair masks and oils etc can help this. I dunno - I just think I would rather leave it quite a long time between trims otherwise you don't seem to see any 'progress' anf it gets dispiriting.

I have been growing out a v short crop for almost two years.

I started off by first aiming for a bob and a fringe. But it took ages as I went in tp the hairdresser every couple of months for it tidying up.

So, I haven't been now since February . Hair looks a bit messy, but over summer I have got away with it by tying up and clipping fringe away.

Now it is almost shoulder lenghth, with a nose length fringe.

I plan to leave it for a few more months before venturing in for a trim.

Good luck op.

This 'bra clasp length' thing. I often hear that as a benchmark. But in my case that seems very long - I have just measured from the top of my head to my bra clasp and that is 24 inches! For me (with my wild woolley mane) I feel that it might just be too much hair. It is very wavy and would need to be layered quite a lot I think.

Is this the kind of length you/others mean by 'bra strap length' I wonder? Would be really interested to know.

Thanks Yoni. I wish I hadn't bothered to go for a 'trim' yesterday. Feel v annoyed as £36 poorer and hair too short . I live and learn!

Firstly, find a hairdresser who understands that you are trying to grow your hair and doesn't do the whole 'when did you last have it cut' thing - easier said than done I know, but I find if I stick to the same hairdresser they eventually get to know my hair and do what I want.

I went for regular trims every 12 weeks when I was growing mine, otherwise the ends looked awful and you end up having to have more cut off than you want in the end because it starts breaking up the hair shaft (if you have weedy weak hair like me anyway!) They literally just took the ends off and tidied up the layers, and it grew plenty fast enough.

It's what I mean. When I had it cut for charity, they took 12 inches off to take it to shoulder level, so for me it is still quite short.

Grow it as long as you want! I used to French plait (/braid/whatever you want to call it) mine when it was still short, then put the bottom half (ie the plait that would ordinarily hang down your back) into a pony tail or low bun when it was too short to plait.

I also found that I could wear wider hair bands, rather than thin Alice band styles. By wearing it half up/half down you lose lots of the thickness, and it stops my hair puffing out to the side (and keeps me much cooler).

When I be growing out my layers, my hairdresser's tactic was that the shortest layer would never go shorter than the next shortest was previously, if that makes sense. So you gain the difference in the shortest layers each time you get it cut.

I grow it to a certain length then go for a chin length bob. It's annoying because I can't clip it back but at least I'm not growing out layers.

Do you think 5ft 5 is too long for bra strap length hair?

The age thing I am not so bothered about as I can just wear it up have elegant chignon on days where it would look OTT. Because my hair is thick and I would need layers it would look quite 'beach shaggy' (if I can use that description! - am a bit worried this may look too 'try hard' on me? In my imagination, ladies who do have longer hair look better with it sleek (not poker straight but not beach waves...?)

Think I will aim for just below shoulder length and see how I go

Ah - but Old Roan - I don't want to grow out my layers - non layered hair for me is total clumpy triangular nightmare!

Keeping the layers in proportion but tidy is the problem I am having - which is why I am tempted to go for the 'leave as is' method until I can see what I have to work with.

Two years ago I had my hair cut from proper long (well below bra line not quite waist) to a layered bob. Have experimented with styles but miss my long hair so much. Now going every 3 months and its v thick but only just brushing shoulders.

Why oh why I cut it I don't know.

BTW in my post about 5ft 5 I meant to say is 5ft 5 too short for bra strap hair!!

redwelly - i sympathise. Some of us just feel better with longer hair. It's almost a spiritual thing - it's just part of who we are. It's a shame there is such pressure (sometimes I feel) to go shorter as you get older.

Hang on in there - now you are at shoulder length it will soon be 'proper long'.

I have long straight hair, havent had it cut in over a year. It does need trimmed at the ends but still looks good once it has been straightened. I remember reading a science magazine which said that hair grows at at the same constant rate, whether cut or not. So ive been trying to grow my hair to below waist level hence not having it cut.

Just lie when they ask. Say you had it cut a few weeks ago. If you don't want it trimmed then don't be pressurised into having it trimmed. The worst that will happen is a few split ends. You can get them trimmed when your hair is a length you want.