I WANT LONG HAIR!!!

[Cesarina]

I'm a very grown up woman, (I won't see 60 again!), but I yearn for long hair!
My hair is very curly - not soft waves or ringlets, but frizzy curls. Left to air-dry it looks and feels like a Brillo pad and shrivels up. Looking at charts I would put my type of curl as a 2B/2C. It has always been coarse and is still quite thick.
My mum was Italian, and my natural colour was black, but now I have let the grey grow out and I love it.
Thing is - it has never grown past my shoulders, which is where it's at now.
I wash it twice a week, using good shampoo and conditioner.
Every few months I use a hair mask.
Sleep on a silk pillow. I use heat protection and blow it dry smooth, (air-drying or using a diffuser just results in frizz). When smooth, any rain or humidity causes it to frizz up.
I get the ends and layers trimmed every 10 weeks or so.
I have a good diet, but I'm about to research as to whether any vitamins may help.
No hairdresser has ever had anything to suggest, and I'm wondering if some people, (like me?), have hair that is just not designed to grow long?
I know I'm vain and this is a first world problem, but are their any MN hair experts out there? Please?🙏

Hi there are 4 that are on the salon list at Only Curls website but we can't add screenshots arghhh.

I'll see if I can do links.

https://www.facebook.com/ImagoHairBeautyWallaseyWirral
The curly hair specialist is Emma.

https://www.wildernesshair.com/services-4

Hope these work x

Would you mind sharing which brands you use?

When I grew mine I left it a year before getting it cut . It absolutely worked now I only get mine cut once a year . Mine is also curly and grey .

I'm growing my hair out from a short pixie cut at the moment, and my hair dresser has been perfectly happy to cut it every 5 minutes 😄, hmm.

My hair does grow pretty quickly though, and I'm nearly there. I'd probably have got there more quickly by not cutting it all the time though.

That's so kind of you, and thank you! x

Mine won't get long either and my hairdresser said exactly what @Revengeofthepangolins said - my follicles fall out before they have the chance to grow long, simple as that unfortunately. I've thick but fine hair too, there's loads of it. And yes, there's always loads of it blocking drains and getting into me dinner

Shampoo 2 X a month . Max
You can run water through it. Doesn't matter which shampoo.

Hi everyone,
I was gobsmacked to start receiving replies to my thread so quickly, and to have had so many helpful suggestions regarding what I have already admitted is my personal vanity!
I probably won't post anymore as I think I have more than enough great advice.
So if anyone makes further posts and I don't reply, please don't think I'm being rude.
My experience of this thread has been Mumsnet at its best! Love to you all ❤️

Anecdotally as an ex hairdresser- Take a sea kelp supplement

Agree about not cutting it. Every time I've grown out my hair, I've just not cut it. Every time I listen to the "you must have regular trims - it will make it grow faster" it has stayed about shoulder length. I'm sure thay advice works for some people, but I don't think it is right for everyone.

I'm growing mine atm and just not cutting it.

@ShortBreak How did you get on while you were growing it out? I'm hoping that my pixie will transform into a nice long pixie and then a short bob etc etc without looking awful but just now I feel it looks like a wig ... Did you keep a fringe? That's the most problematic bit for me as it gets heavy and lumpy

Mine won't grow long - have tried not touching it all; small trims; not washing with shampoo, various supplements, vitamins, treatments - all sorts of things over the last 40 years. It's genetically programmed to fall out at a certain length and that seems to be that!

I told my hairdresser this time last year I wanted a shoulder length MOB. It was just below my ears at the time. So she trims the layers literally fractions every 2 months. MOB achieved. The trick I think is to have it thinned not cut.

But I think I'm lucky. My hair isn't thick, but I have loads of it. In sunshine I swear I can feel it grow.

I second PP to leave it as long as you can stand between washing and styling.

I'm 53.

The top layer of my hair is a bit wavy. The rest understand is mad curly. It's also ridiculously thick and heavy.

I have it cut by a curly hair specialist. She said once every nine months or once a year is sufficient if you want it long. Mine falls below my bra strap. If I pull it straight, it's below my waist.

Follow the curly method. You don't need it cut so often.

Good luck!

PS. Long, curly hair is a pain in the ass and takes sooooo much looking after! Tying it up and wearing a bonnet at night, all the products, the maintenance, the cost of products...bahhh!!(

*underneath - not understand

Oh and it's grown from an above shoulder length bob to acres of flipping annoying hair in three years.

I'm not buying the no cutting. When I was younger I just grew my hair out, let it air dry and went to the hairdressers once a year - it was long, silky and gorgeous. Then I just hit a point in age and it wont grow past my shoulders without getting split, frizzy and deadlooking :( i do allll the things - wash carefully, no rubbing, wide tooth comb, no towel. Its never been dyed and i dont use straighteners or curlers so only heat is hairdryer and i try to minimise that. If i dont go for a trim every 3mo, i just get split frizzy deadness again 🤷‍♀️ i think its that follicle death thing someone mentioned upthread.

I’m not too far away from you, over in Knowlsey. We’re also looking for a curl specialist for dd (13 ) as she has a head of corkscrew curls that seem to grow outwards and need a good trim.

i was told to go and see an Afro stylist in Liverpool ( there are loads ) as she has 3c hair. May be a good option too?

@Younginside, it's been a bit painful, but maybe not as bad as I thought it might be.

As I mentioned, I've had regular hair cuts throughout, and sometimes it's been good to feel like it's got a bit of a style rather than just looking a bit grown out. It's also looked a bit rubbish sometimes though!

There was a bit of a turning point when I realised I'd have to stop styling it a bit randomly like I used to do with my short pixie cut, and I'd have to actually dry it and style it properly instead. I also dug out my old hair straighteners, and these helped a lot - do you have a pair?

So, my hair is now nearly a bob, but a slightly odd one that gets longer towards the back - we're aiming for the more normal longer towards the front.

What about you, how far have you got?

@ShortBreak I'm not as far on as you are - my pixie was really short as recently as September. Like you I've been having regular cuts as I want to feel reasonably happy with my style throughout and am prepared to wait a bit longer.
Right now it's just a long pixie really so I've a way to go ... aiming for a chin length bob to start with, probably keeping a fringe until that point. Then I might grow it a bit more and have a side fringe - not sure yet.
I don't have straighteners but my hair is v straight already. It's quite fine but there's loads of it so the key is probably layers to reduce the heavy wig look 😅
I have had very short hair for most of my life, but now that I'm 60 I'm not sure that I can carry off the gamine look any more, and feel I'd like a softer style.

@Younginside, it sounds like we have a similar endpoint, although I don't have a fringe, and I have a secret undercut (you don't really see this unless I put my hair behind my ears / in a ponytail.

I have really thick hair - I think more in terms of amount than texture. Discovering hair straighteners massively changed how I'm able to style my hair, even though it's relatively straight. I've had a bob when I was a lot younger, but I had a short pixie cut for the last 12 years or so I think.

I'm just ready for it to have grown out now TBH 😄. My hairdresser says that hair grows 1/2 and inch per month, but I'm sure mine must grow quicker than this.

How is everyone getting on with their growing adventures?

I had my hair trimmed yesterday, and I tried to be really clear, but my lovely hairdresser has cut a bit more off than I'd like again. Hi hum. I can't even tie it back properly now, whereas I could before.

I'm going to cancel my whole next haircut (or possibly two). I think my hair would have been so much longer if I wasn't getting it cut so often.

My hair wouldn’t not grow and my fringe and the hair just above my ears was always much shorter. I use minoxidil regaine 5% foam (men’s version) applying roughly five nights a week. I’ve been using for years and my hair is growing well and my fri he and the shorter hair I mentioned is the same length as my hair. I haven’t grown it long because it’s thin and I’ve had hair loss I’m recovering from but I could have as it’s grown lots!

Oh, that's good news @Powderblue1.

Annoyingly, my hair is growing, but my hairdresser keeps cutting too much off.