My hair grows the standard .5”/month without intervention. I can grow more hair in a month with interventions— anywhere between .75”-1”/month.
I have reached waist length in 2 years 4 months, from my nape, which is ~13” of hair. Scalp to ends is about 18” of hair on my sides. From my crown, waist length is about 24” of hair. So different parts of my hair reach waist length at different times.
Retention is my most obvious hurdle. Between trims, over manipulation, and the odd experiment that goes awry, I could reasonably retain 4.5-5.5”/year.
So, the first time I hit waist length, I basically lived in protective styles for a year. I don’t particularly like doing that, if I can help it. So a lot of my growth journey in the last 3-5 years has been about retaining as much hair as possible without hardcore protective styling.
I am now growing out (another!) super short (for me)— shortest in 10 years— hair cut and my “out” hair is so ugly that it’s the only thing that motivates me to PS.
I am 5’5”. For my hair to look “evenly” WL, it will range from 13”-24”(back to front) and takes 2-3 years depending on the section of hair.