"Terminal Length" hair

Does hair have a "terminal" length?

  • Total voters
    142
LovinLocks

LovinLocks

Well-Known Member
"I know everyone has a terminal length sooo I guess it all depends on that .."

Do you believe we have a "terminal length"? Searching my soul I believe I may have thought that. After finding this place I have been positively encouraged that perhaps it ain't so. Thus, when I read this it kinda jolted me. Plus, I've heard one's hair growth slows down with age (moi category = old). Hmm, you all say what - particularly those that have done research on the matter.

Thanks in advance.
 
I dont believe my hair has terminal length. I believe with the right hair care and practices your hair can grows as long as you want it to be. :)
 
Yes we do, However I do believe that it can be extended. This is why I want to get on those coffee rinses ASAP, and anything that else that will extend it.
 
I don't believe that people have a TERMINAL LENGTH. The reason why i believe this is because if you look at people that relax, they HAVE TO KEEP ON RELAXING because they have new growth. If we all had a terminal length, then people would relax and never again need a touch up. Hair can't STOP GROWING.
 
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Yes we do. If we didn't everyone would have miles of hair. I've seen people with really long hair to their feet but I've never seen anyone with mile long hair.
 
drasgrl said:
Yes we do. If we didn't everyone would have miles of hair. I've seen people with really long hair to their feet but I've never seen anyone with mile long hair.
Click to expand...

ITA.

In addition I do think you can extend it though(MSM).
 
drjo91 said:
I don't believe that people have a TERMINAL LENGTH. The reason why i believe this is because if you look at people that relax, they HAVE TO KEEP ON RELAXING because they have new growth. It we all had a terminal length, then people would relax and never again need a touch up. Hair can't STOP GROWING.
Click to expand...
well because all the hair on the head isnt at the same growth pattern. you will always have new hairs growing in to replace the old shedded ones, hence the need to relax all the time.
 
BillsBackerz67 said:
well because all the hair on the head isnt at the same growth pattern. you will always have new hairs growing in to replace the old shedded ones, hence the need to relax all the time.
Click to expand...

I used the relax example because is the best way that i can explain it. I thought my hair wasn't growing when i didn't know about hair care and i had a relaxer...while i had to get TOUCH UPS, but yet i thought my hair wasn't growing.
 
So when you're hair reaches a certain length, it sends a message to your roots saying STOP GROW NO MORE...than when you cut it, it sends another message saying OK COAST IS CLEAR GROW BABY GROW...
Hence, I dont believe in terminal length. Length has nothing to do with growth.
 
Hair will grow. It is how you take care of it and what you do to your body that determines how long it will grow.
 
Yes most definitely. Although I think the word terminal length is misleading.

I believe that our hair grows for a certain period of time. At the end of the growth period the hair starts to shed. So if your growth period is 5 years.. you will grow hair until the end of the 5 year mark and then your hair will fall and will be replaced with new hair. Because of this it may seem as if your hair is growing a certain length when in truth it is growing for a certain amount of time... and then it starts to shed.

It has already been proven that we have growth and resting phases.

If there was no such thing as terminal length our eye lashes/brows and body hair would be out of this world LOL. It doesn't make sense that we have terminal length on every other inch of our bodies but not our heads.

I think this theory applies to animals also. Animals with hair and/or fur only grow hair to a certain length.

However I think that for the average person, terminal length is at least MBL/WL. I believe that the vast majority (with the correct hair care) can surpass BL.

Hope this made sense. I drank waay too much redbull so I'm feeling a lil' :drunk:
 
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Noir said:
Yes most definitely. Although I think the word terminal length is misleading.

I believe that out hair grows for a certain period of time. At the end of the growth period the hair starts to shed. So if your growth period is 5 years.. you will grow hair until that 5 year mark and then your hair will fall and will be replaced with new hair. Because of this it may seem as if your hair is growing a certain length when in truth it is growing for a certain amount of time... and then it starts to shed.

It has already been proven that we have growth and resting phases.

If there was no such thing as terminal length our eye lashes/brows and body hair would be out of this world LOL. It doesn't make sense that we have terminal length on every other inch of our bodies but not our heads.

I think this theory applies to animals also. Animals with hair and/or fur only grow hair to a certain length.

However I think that for the average person, terminal length is at least MBL/WL. I believe that the vast majority (with the correct hair care) can surpass BL.

Hope this made sense. I drank waay too much redbull so I'm feeling a lil' :drunk:
Click to expand...

Thanks Noir, I'd also like to add:

Anagen lasts between three and seven years in most people.
  • As we have seen, a hair grows at a rate of about 1 centimetre a month.
  • After one year it will be 12 cm long. After five years it will be 60 cm long.
  • Waist-length hair is 80-90 cm long, and will have taken about seven years to grow.
  • Shoulder-length hair will have taken only about three years. Thus only people with long anagen times can expect to grow their hair down to the waist.


Can you beat genetics with nutrition and growth aids? :sekret:

(pg.com)
 
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Out of curiosity, for those that do not believe in a terminal growth period or terminal length, what do you consider shed hair to be? That is, why does hair shed (not break, shed)?
 
I take it from everyone's comments that people may not understand what "terminal length" actually means.

It doesn't mean that the hair grows to a length, and then stops shooting out from the root. It means that the hair grows for a certain length of time before ending it's life cycle and falling out (to be replaced with a new hair). Noir sums it up well.

It's already been scientifically proven that all hair on our bodies does this, and each type of hair has a different length for their cycle. The hairs on our bodies that remain the shortest have very short life cycles (eyebrows).

So sadly, we can't grow (even the hair on our heads) for miles. I think the Guiness World BoR has the longest human hair ever at 12 feet on a woman who'd lived a very long time.
 
Another key point though- is that all of the hairs on your head are not in the same phase at the same time. Other wise we'd go completely bald, eyebrowless, lashless, and "brazilian" when we reached the end phase. :lol:

Then we'd have to start back over every 5-7 years! This is why I partly agree/partly disagree with the idea of an overall terminal length as a collective term. The length that each strand will grow to is not *pre-set* as is kind of implied by the term "terminal". What is pre-set is the length of the growth phase. Also, some strands will not be at end phase when others are- and those strands that are not, may continue to grow well past the length that the shed hairs made it to before they fell out.

Not to mention, with proper hair care and good circulation some strands may grow to a longer length (within the same period of time) than the others which may fall out more quickly. For example lets say during the anagen phase of one strand I slacked on my regimen- and that strand only grew to a certain length. I may have at some point gotten my stuff together during the anagen of another strand. So strand b will have grown longer than strand a did- though both had the same length of anagen phases. Don't know if that made a lick of sense. :lol:

This explains how we trim our hair in blunt cuts and yet a few months later our ends are no longer even (splits aside).

So yes, I agree that there's a terminal length to a certain degree-- but I think what's more important is the length of the growth phase. Terminal length just happens to be the length the hair got to before the growth phase ended. But as is highly proven by LHCF you can maximize your growth phase- and make the most of that time- using various techniques.

I guess my point is just that the main factor is that of the length of the phase- not the hair. The former is relatively fixed, but the latter is not pre-set.
 
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I do believe in terminal length for the reasons stated above. It is a FACT that hair only grows for a certain period of time, then it sheds. Your growth rate determines how long your hair will get during that fixed period of time and that places a natural limit on how long your hair grows overall. If you have an anagen (growth) phase of 2 years and a growth rate of 1/2 inch per month, even if you retain every bit of growth, that would cap your length at 12 inches before the hair sheds and that follicle starts over. If your anagen is 4 years with the same growth rate, you can get up to 24 inches. I don't even see it as a point of debate honestly as it is just plain ole' math.

It IS true, however, that it is difficult to determine just what this terminal length is in a given person. Especially for Black folks with hair that is prone to breakage or subject to chemical and styling abuse, breakage at the ends means that we rarely retain all that we grow. Better hair care can lead to more retention and overall length leading some of us to believe that terminal length is a myth because our hair is now longer than we previously thought it would grow when our potential was being masked by bad hair care.

Rest assured though, that terminal length is still there though it is probably longer than you may have thought possible. One day each hair on your head will inevitably shed and the cycle will repeat placing an overall limit on your total length prospects.
 
I don't know anymore. I never thought my hair would grow this long, so I don't want to put any limits on it. :)
 
I do believe in terminal hair length because as stated so eloquently by previous posters it's proven that hair sheds and starts over once it's reached it's peak. However, even with that being the case, I still believe that most people can achieve at least shoulder length, if not a little beyond that.

From reading articles on the net, even one that was cited in someone's post mentioning it takes about 3 years to grow shoulder length hair, I'm inclined to say that most people could probably grow beyond shoulder. I was dang near bald this time last year because I'd BC'd in June to less than an inch of hair, and I'm a tad past shoulder length stretched now. I've seen many ladies on this site and others that achieve SL well before three years, so to me that seems to be a very "generous" estimate for SL.

Then again, I guess they're saying it would take someone three years to reach shoulder length even all around. That makes a little more sense, but I'm not sure if that's what they were trying to say.
 
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I don't believe we have a terminal length. My oldest aunt is currently 86 and everytime I see her, her hair is longer! Her hair is currently waist length and she does those beautiful wrap around your head buns.I can't wait to be able to do that!
 
Polyesterdiva said:
I take it from everyone's comments that people may not understand what "terminal length" actually means.

It doesn't mean that the hair grows to a length, and then stops shooting out from the root. It means that the hair grows for a certain length of time before ending it's life cycle and falling out (to be replaced with a new hair). Noir sums it up well.

It's already been scientifically proven that all hair on our bodies does this, and each type of hair has a different length for their cycle. The hairs on our bodies that remain the shortest have very short life cycles (eyebrows).

So sadly, we can't grow (even the hair on our heads) for miles. I think the Guiness World BoR has the longest human hair ever at 12 feet on a woman who'd lived a very long time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insight...Does this mean Polyesterdiva, that not all BW can have bsl plus hair even with growth aids etc. ​
 
Noir said:
Yes most definitely. Although I think the word terminal length is misleading.

I believe that our hair grows for a certain period of time. At the end of the growth period the hair starts to shed. So if your growth period is 5 years.. you will grow hair until the end of the 5 year mark and then your hair will fall and will be replaced with new hair. Because of this it may seem as if your hair is growing a certain length when in truth it is growing for a certain amount of time... and then it starts to shed.

It has already been proven that we have growth and resting phases.

If there was no such thing as terminal length our eye lashes/brows and body hair would be out of this world LOL. It doesn't make sense that we have terminal length on every other inch of our bodies but not our heads.

I think this theory applies to animals also. Animals with hair and/or fur only grow hair to a certain length.

However I think that for the average person, terminal length is at least MBL/WL. I believe that the vast majority (with the correct hair care) can surpass BL.

Hope this made sense. I drank waay too much redbull so I'm feeling a lil' :drunk:
Click to expand...

I totally agree this is it exactly..... you can extend your growth pahse with things like MSM and Caffeine but eventually it will still shed it's mre like a TERMINAL LIFE SPAn for that particular hair follicle not a terminal length for the hair how long your hair grows within this lifespan depends on how you care for the hair and how much of that hair you retain.
 
No, I do not feel their is a "terminal Lenght" I truly feel like everything else in life their is a growth season and a taking care of season with our hair. You as the hair grower has to be in tuned with which phase of growth or rest that your hair is in!
 
I agree with Noir and amara.

I feel that if we keep focusing on our terminal length, we're setting ourselves up for failure. I try not to even let that get in my mind and I'll just continue to take care of my hair the best way I can and it will flourish.
 
To simplify it...

Why doesn't the hair on your arms and legs get really long even though it always grows back if you shave it? It's always growing, but doesn't get long at all. It stays a certain length no matter what you do.

Same concept, except that scalp hair has a way longer growth cycle.
 
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