My hair was long when I was younger but I just had to have my hair cut before I entered the 7th grade (that was my adolscent crisis as I like to call it). I've always wanted to grow my hair back since then. Right before I entered college I decided to grow out my hair via braids while I'm school. I didnt want to deal with relaxing, trimming, and i knew i would become a slave to the curling iron. So to prevent that, my hair is braided. I am about to enter my sophomore year of college and the braids have helped me retain so much growth. I should be bra-strap by February or March of next year.