KurlyNinja
New Member
I just know on the long hair community site they measure their hair in inches as well as by APL, BSL, ect. Why dont we do the same on here? 
Just an innocent question...
Just an innocent question...
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Why dont we measure our growth in inches like other hair forums?
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Their common way of measuring, which is from the front hairline to the bottom of the hair in back, is a little odd to me because like 12" of the measurement is just your head. 
If your hair is 2" long from root to tip, you measure from the front hairline to the end of your 2" strands in back and end up with like a 14" measurement for hair.
I kind of like the way of measuring where you measure root to tip on a given portion of hair.
If your hair is 2" long from root to tip, you measure from the front hairline to the end of your 2" strands in back and end up with like a 14" measurement for hair.I kind of like the way of measuring where you measure root to tip on a given portion of hair.
Nonie
Well-Known Member
@KurlyNinja because length checks are usually a personal thing. For some inches mean something. For most, hair is determined to be long by where it falls on their body. Length measurements are not for comparison whereby we all require to use one constant scale. So for instance @*Happily Me* had hip length hair before she decided to transition and loc. She isn't 6 foot tall but to her or me, it doesn't make a difference what hip length is to her. All I and she saw was long hair and all that mattered was that at one time it was only neck length, then shoulder then BSL then waist and finally at hip length.
Some people take the inch measurements from the crown (most white hair forums do) but most of us measure from the nape. Some people have all the hair falling to one level so that the hair at nape ends at the same place as the hair from crown (they have a blunt cut because their hair is always worn down). For them the crown hairs are way longer than nape. But for some of us, all our strands are the same length so the hairs at the crown would not reach where those at the nape do. So we just choose the nape, for instance, as the focal point and it's where that hair reached from month to month that matters to us.
So you see, not everyone has the same goals or cares or interests as the next person. So we can't all use the same scale or rules. mwedzi, the root to tip is how I do it too. And even then you have to try to measure the same area each time to monitor progress--and if you have different lengths then you may have to take different measurements to get an average or just a way to track progress of the different lengths.
Some people take the inch measurements from the crown (most white hair forums do) but most of us measure from the nape. Some people have all the hair falling to one level so that the hair at nape ends at the same place as the hair from crown (they have a blunt cut because their hair is always worn down). For them the crown hairs are way longer than nape. But for some of us, all our strands are the same length so the hairs at the crown would not reach where those at the nape do. So we just choose the nape, for instance, as the focal point and it's where that hair reached from month to month that matters to us.
So you see, not everyone has the same goals or cares or interests as the next person. So we can't all use the same scale or rules. mwedzi, the root to tip is how I do it too. And even then you have to try to measure the same area each time to monitor progress--and if you have different lengths then you may have to take different measurements to get an average or just a way to track progress of the different lengths.
KurlyNinja
New Member
Their common way of measuring, which is from the front hairline to the bottom of the hair in back, is a little odd to me because like 12" of the measurement is just your head.
I kind of like the way of measuring where you measure root to tip on a given portion of hair.
That is kind of odd to me too. Its like they assume everybody has a blunt cut even though thats not true. But even still we could find a different way to measure like from nape bottom of hair. Why dont we do that?
aishasoleil
Well-Known Member
I am a member of LHC as well and I've noticed the difference. Now, I can't speak for everyone but personally, I prefer the APL, BSL, etc. method because I am lazy and it is just easier for me to stretch out my hair and see where it lands. LOL! I don't want to mess with a daggone measuring tape. I do have one though and sometimes I will use it to check my length. Just not that often. Also, I think it is easier to use that method on straight hair (whether naturally, chemically, or heat straightened) because it doesn't require pulling/stretching. So maybe those who straighten their hair are more likely to use a measuring tape? *shrugs*
Lol. Dang... why does my answer look like it's written in novel form?
Lol. Dang... why does my answer look like it's written in novel form?
danniegirl
Well-Known Member
i have a nice little rubber ruler i use and i was just telling my GF that i couldnt wait to reach tape measure length. I think it just a preference here for people to just use names i dont think its easier at all
KurlyNinja
New Member
Charla
New Member
I like to use a combo of inches and body markers. (See siggy.) The inches is for my own benefit and sanity saving because I won't hit APL at the same time as someone else because our body dimensions and a ton of other factors are different.
But I still subscribe to the body markers because that seems to be the most common identifier for "our" forums and easier for the next lady to identify on me.
But I still subscribe to the body markers because that seems to be the most common identifier for "our" forums and easier for the next lady to identify on me.
faithVA
Well-Known Member
I'm just too lazy. Getting it prepped just to do a body measurement is overwhelming. 
And for me at SL, I don't know that I care that my hair is 7". It doesn't mean anything to me. I really only care about APL, BSL primarily because there are things I want to do with my hair that I can't do now. But if I am APL at 10", 12" etc, it won't mean anything.
So to answer your question, after all that, I think that people who have some purpose for the numeric measurement do it that way. Some of us don't have a need for it so we just use the body measurement. We won't get one way of doing it on this board.
And for me at SL, I don't know that I care that my hair is 7". It doesn't mean anything to me. I really only care about APL, BSL primarily because there are things I want to do with my hair that I can't do now. But if I am APL at 10", 12" etc, it won't mean anything.So to answer your question, after all that, I think that people who have some purpose for the numeric measurement do it that way. Some of us don't have a need for it so we just use the body measurement. We won't get one way of doing it on this board.
Chaosbutterfly
Transition Over
To build up the future of our children.
skraprchik
New Member
I'm on the LHC too and I find their way of measuring to be a hassle. It's not comfortable to try to accurately measure curly hair this way. If you look in many of the threads, the curly-haired members are always complaining about the difference shrinkage makes and they end up focusing on body markers as well.
Nonie
Well-Known Member
KurlyNinja Not at all
, because while I'm so self centered that I couldn't care less what anyone else is doing, I too measured in inches at one time--long before I even knew hair forums existed and that others cared about length as much as I. I wasn't competing with anyone. I had just learned that hair grows on average about 6 inches a year. Measuring in inches may work for some because they are able to tell how many inches they were able to retain.When I started my HHJ in 2001, I was relaxed. I started to transition when I had 1 inch of hair. I know this because my new regimen involved dusting 1/4 inch so I had to get familiar with how much that is. As my hair grew, I saw the natural hair growing and could tell progress was steady. I had now become familiar with how many inches we get per year. So with my trimming, after one year, I had no more relaxed hair but I wanted to know how much hair I had in inches...to see if I was making progress closer to what is expected of good hair growth. I had 4-5 inches of new growth and 5-6 inches of total length (Yay me!)--I only used to get to this length when relaxed.
After another year, I measured again--to see if I was still retaining well with my trimming every 6-8 weeks. I found I had 9-11 inches.
(BTW I give two numbers because some parts were 9 inches and the longest parts were 11 inches): 
I had just joined the forum a month before doing this measurement. I didn't care what anyone else was doing. With my new awareness of how much hair we grow a year, I was just sooo happy that I had broken the barriers that kept me around 3-4 inches throughout high school and around 5 inches when relaxed all my life. So to me, the inches meant something. The fact that I had hair that was about 3 times what I had for most of my life was out of this world.
Then I didn't really care about inches anymore. I had achieved LONG hair. (It's kinda like how when you're losing weight you might obsess with weighing daily, but when you wake up looking like a model and can wear whatever you want, how much you weigh becomes irrelevant and being slim and sexy becomes your norm.)To me 9-11 inches was LONG and that was always all I wanted: long hair. I didn't care if I never had any more inches. Which is why I went crazy and played hard and gave myself a setback from too much heat LOL. I didn't know where 9-11 fell on my body because hanging hair was never a dream of mine. Getting hair into a puff is all I ever wanted and now I had hair that could do that. After the setback, I went back to braids and grew it back to that length and this time I was gonna have a stylist help me learn to style long hair coz I never had 9-11 inches before. Only she chopped it off. So I swore off stylists. I got it back to that length again and as before I stopped measuring...and just started to enjoy it. But then my hair started to surprise me. I'd be stretching it to fingercomb and it'd feel like it is stretching more than usual, so I'd see where it reached on my body...so that to me became my now preferred method of checking length. Plus it also helped me respond to questions about whether I have SL or APL... And I can't imagine what 10 inches looks like without standing with a ruler by a mirror. That's too much work. Why do all that when I can just quickly tell I'm making progress if today I could reach collar bone but tomorrow I'm at APL?
So as I said, it's just each person's preferred method and what it makes sense to them. When I talked about "comparisons" was to make the point that we cannot have ONE rule for all, unless the purpose is to see if when Jane says she is at APL she's talking about the 7 inches on a midget or 24 on a giant. Only when we need to compare would there be a need for ONE scale for all. But for each person's own info, then it's whatever is helpful for their own tracking of progress that they use.
White people or folks with relaxed hair who get a blunt cut and have hair falling to one level would perhaps use inches and the same scale like the one below because a chart like this makes sense to them, as does measuring progress from the crown. In this case they monitor the longest strand...not worrying about the shorter ones at the nape:
BTW, just so you can see how for some people inches make little sense, one time when I posted the first images showing my 5-6 inches of natural hair, someone didn't believe that was really 5-6 inches and thought it looked more like 3. Coz her perception just didn't see 5 inches. So to help her see it, I posted a measurement of my forehead so she'd see that while my forehead is shorter than that stretched section it is indeed at least 3 inches and if you were to take a thread and hold it against my forehead on that first image you'd see the thread would be shorter than that hair and be about 3/5 of it. So for some inches are too much work.
I think it would be good to measure in inches. Maybe it would cut out all these debates about where our body parts are. No reason why we can't do both. Whether we measure from the hairline, the nape, or from the root doesn't really matter IMO as long as we're all using the same method. I like measuring from the hairline b/c it's easy to do when my hair isn't straight. I can just measure to the part of the body where my straight hair falls instead of having to take my hair down to measure.
Sent from my HTC Evo
Sent from my HTC Evo
HautePinkHeels
New Member
First off, hi everyone! 
Long time lurker, first time subscriber. And yes, I always type in hot pink font.
To answer the question, I've lurked LHC too and noticed the difference. Personally, I do both the inch measuring and the milestone measuring. The milestone measuring in my case is more for the benefit of other people I'm talking to. It's easier for someone else to understand that my hair is "armpit length" versus saying "my hair is 12 inches from the nape of my neck." Unless that person is a chronic weaver, she probably has no clue where 12 inches falls on me.
On the other hand, I measure inches because although it's easier for someone else to assess my length in terms of where it falls on my body, I'm the kind of person who will do a length check today and 6 months later check again and feel like my hair hasn't grown because honestly, sometimes it's hard to tell via a pull-down test in the mirror. But when I can look and see that my hair was 6 inches long in April and now it's 9 inches long in October, I can be sure within myself that I've achieved something.
And back to lurk mode I go.
Long time lurker, first time subscriber. And yes, I always type in hot pink font. To answer the question, I've lurked LHC too and noticed the difference. Personally, I do both the inch measuring and the milestone measuring. The milestone measuring in my case is more for the benefit of other people I'm talking to. It's easier for someone else to understand that my hair is "armpit length" versus saying "my hair is 12 inches from the nape of my neck." Unless that person is a chronic weaver, she probably has no clue where 12 inches falls on me.
On the other hand, I measure inches because although it's easier for someone else to assess my length in terms of where it falls on my body, I'm the kind of person who will do a length check today and 6 months later check again and feel like my hair hasn't grown because honestly, sometimes it's hard to tell via a pull-down test in the mirror. But when I can look and see that my hair was 6 inches long in April and now it's 9 inches long in October, I can be sure within myself that I've achieved something.
And back to lurk mode I go.
Nonie
Well-Known Member
FoxxyLocs...but those debates are usually not the problem of the poster whose being challenged. As far as s/he's concerned, progress has been made, hence the posts to announce it. What others think is neither here nor there, so unless someone is so concerned about others' approval, why should we have to give several different measurements.
What's more inches won't tell you whether it's SL or APL coz everyone's proportions are different. So we'd still have people saying "that doesn't look like 5 inches". I already shared I've been told that myself and had to give a reference point.
So IMO, it should not matter to anyone else what anyone else uses as their scale. Plus who has the time to measure hair, then measure distance of body parts, then observe in the mirror to see what fraction of that distance the inches the hair shows up to be is covered?
Some of us already feel exhausted just being told to pick up a ruler when I know that because the hair above my ear used to reach CBL but now reaches APL, I've made progress. That's all *I* care about. Now if anyone else wants to know inches from crown, hairline, nape...erhmm...they may just hafta do the work.
What's more inches won't tell you whether it's SL or APL coz everyone's proportions are different. So we'd still have people saying "that doesn't look like 5 inches". I already shared I've been told that myself and had to give a reference point.
So IMO, it should not matter to anyone else what anyone else uses as their scale. Plus who has the time to measure hair, then measure distance of body parts, then observe in the mirror to see what fraction of that distance the inches the hair shows up to be is covered?
Some of us already feel exhausted just being told to pick up a ruler when I know that because the hair above my ear used to reach CBL but now reaches APL, I've made progress. That's all *I* care about. Now if anyone else wants to know inches from crown, hairline, nape...erhmm...they may just hafta do the work.
topnotch1010
Real Housewife of Houston
EssenceOfBeauty
Well-Known Member
Huh?
ETA: ^^^^ I was just thinking the same.
I can vouch for rulers in Africa, I have seen them.
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QUEENJAMES231
Well-Known Member
I do both too and like others I usually just like to do the measurements so i know how much I retained but when I'm talking about my hair or taking pics I just use body measurements because no one else knows (cares) how many inches I am
I measure in inches as it is a precise way to tell how much I am actually retaining in a given time period. It also allows me to monitor growth from period to period, e.g. did I grow/retain more or less in the winter or the summer? I only started paying attention to the milestones when I joined this board. I have a shortish neck and a long torso; getting to shoulder length is not really a feat for me. When I make it to bsl/mbl and beyond then it is on.
divachyk
Instagram: adaybyjay
For someone that is really monitoring growth/retention, measuring via a tape measure might work best. I have a length check tee and as long as I can visually see growth and retention, I'm cool. I might be an odd bird but I don't have the time and energy to be breaking out a measuring tape to track every little inch as it's simply not that serious to me but I get why it is important to some.
Rei
New Member
Huh?!
Sent from Topnotch1010's Samsung Galaxy Tablet using LHCF
Huh?
ETA: ^^^^ I was just thinking the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww
No one's saying you have to measure every inch. I wouldn't do that either. But if you take a quick measurement at each milestone I think that would be useful. Measuring only takes like 5 seconds, it's not that big a deal. Anyway, I'm not that invested either way. I've measured my hair before, but that's not how I track my progress. I do think it would be useful though.
Sent from my HTC Evo
Sent from my HTC Evo
ChristmasCarol
Well-Known Member
I'm on LHC also, and I measure in inches and in body markers. I use inches to figure out how much time it will take to reach a goal. For example, I have 4.5 inches until I'm scraping WL, so by dividing by .675 inches per month - my growth rate, I know it will take 7 more months (6.67, to be exact)
As other posters have mentioned, I use body markers for the sake of others and inches for my personal use.
As other posters have mentioned, I use body markers for the sake of others and inches for my personal use.
Stormy
Well-Known Member
Well I use both a ruler and body measurements depending on where I am in my hair journey. Not from root to end though, just crown, sides, nape, etc... For example I BC'd in July and have 3 inches of hair now in those areas. I'll keep measuring with a ruler until I get to around 7 inches. Once I get to shoulder length I won't measure anymore with the ruler until I'm really close to APL. I'll measure with the ruler only to see how far away I am from there, but not overall just to say I have 12 inches or so.
