My nape is 6 or 7 inches long. It used to be almost bald when I was relaxed, but since I've been natural, it has grown to be the longest. It's also very fine and very soft.
Man I am mad to see this thread. I just assumed the hair at my nape was the same length as my hair. Guess not. Its about 6 or 7 inches. Now I'm going be obsessing about this.
I grew mine out by texlaxing. I've just recently gotten a professional corrective relaxer. Now my hair is full. My avi is from Sept 09 and siggy is from July.
When my nape was texlaxed, I paid special attention when applying my conditioner and moisturizer. As for wearing a coat often, is it possible you can sew a cute satin lining into the neck of the coat? I imaging it won't show. Or you can get a non-cotton scarf and wrap it around your neck first and then put on your coat.
My nape is at least the same length as the rest. The texture is ever so slightly a larger curl back there. Consequently, it doesn't break as much as the rest of my hair.
I believe my nape grows faster and is now the strongest part of my hair since I stopped relaxing. I have to keep trimming it to keep it in line with the rest of my hair.
Mine is about 4.5 inches now. The reason i had no nape before was due to curling irons, need to stress this as i didn't have straightners back in the day.
I swear those curling irons snapped my nape off all the time plus the heat aspect.
Flat ironing doesn't do anywhere near that much damage to my nape now.
For the first time in my memory, my nape is actually the longest and best-growing part of my hair...fully an inch longer than the rest of my hair. It 5.5 inches long now (a tiny bit more than half an inch per month.) The rest of my hair is 4.6 inches (less than half an inch per month in growth).
I was surprised at that and measured twice just to make sure.
I started with 1.4 inches in March after my BC.
(Aside: Based on that, I now know without a doubt that I am a slow grower. That makes me sad but happy at the same time. It also helps me to know that I need to do all I can to retain since it grows slowly.)
Thanks, OP. You made me actually think about my growth...unintended consequence of figuring out my nape length!!
My nape is about 6-7 inches. I cut it down after a terrible dye job last year. It's past neck length. Before the cut my nape was very long, the same length as most of my hair.
And my nape/kitchen grows FAR down my neck too. Braiders always try to catch every hair. My aunts suggested I "clean it up" but I'd rather long wispies over stubble anyday.