Determining Hair Length And Landmarks On Your Body

Where does your hair fall on the chart?

People have different body types, long and short torsos too. I have a shorter torso than the length of my legs and I am 5'4. Although I am mid back length (MBL) at the fullest part of my hair, I am almost grazing waist length (WL) at the same time.

Waist Length example:

For some one who is 6 feet tall, it may take longer for him/her to reach WL if we both started with bald heads and our hair grew at the same exact rate.

While we're on WL, not many people know where their waist is, and it is around the navel area all the way around. Because everyone is shaped differently, determining where the waist can be challenging. For example, I do have curves and there is about a 15 inch difference between my waist and hip area.  Before starting my hair journey, I always thought my waist was right above my hips...meaning it was around the bikini line.  I was totally wrong because it was actually higher.

Are You Really Bra Strap Length:

Being Bra Strap Length (BSL) seems to be an important landmark on your body. It's almost a mid point and a point where people feel if their hair is long or not. Either you're almost there or past it.

I know many of us vary in size when it comes to our lovely lady lumps (breasts). I have seen where women who are or claim bra strap length claim it improperly (in my opinion). Are you wearing the right bra? Is the bra fitting you properly?

• A person may have their bra sitting too low for their body and they are really BSL.
• A person may have their bra sitting too high for their body and they are not BSL.
• A person may ALSO have their bra on all wrong on their body and may be MBL...go figure?

See the difference?

Looking at People's Personalized Hair Journies:

Many of us on hair journies document our lengths by putting a chart together as we go along to see and share our personal progress. But that is relative to the person who put it together and so is mine:

• Don't look at someone else's hair length and expect to be at certain points they've reached at certain time lengths. (You will most likely disappoint yourself).

• Do you know where the different land marks fall on YOUR OWN body?  Consider your body shape and size; hair length landmarks will be relative to you.

• The average hair growth rate per month is about half an inch. This is AVERAGE. But some people will have a faster rate and others a slower rate like I do.

• What is your level of patience when it comes to meeting your own length goals?

Here's a video that my "boo thang" Traycee did on determing hair lengths which we also discussed recently and agreed on so many points: The Big Debate About Hair Lengths

What would you like to add?

Happy Growing and we'll chat soon!

Side note:
For health reasons first, get fitted for the right bra for the right support. And if you're length conscious, it will make a difference as to what you really are with your hair too.

What A Hair Journey! 2013 Update

It's been 6 long years - 3 bad set backs and all, but I'm here now.

I have been on my hair journey since late October 2007.

By now, you would have thought that I should have been waist length, or even hip length.  I thought so myself too when I first started my journey.  But I was so wrong!

I can not say that my hair journey was horrible.  It could have been worse than horrible.  I will say that my hair journey was normal except for the set backs I experienced.  And those set backs did set me back where I had to let go of the idea of having long hair for a while.

Let us remind ourselves again that it happens and we must learn to accept it, understand it and learn from it.

Here are the bad set backs I had during my hair journey.

I colored my hair (slightly bleached it and then put on a rinse). My hair started to slowly break off and it was so dry and brittle. Will I color my hair again? No, I will only do color rinses. I don't even want to think about doing henna....at least not yet.

• What did I do: I decided to focus on the health of my hair, clip my ends and while staying at bra strap length. This has been over the course of three years of being bra strap length, trying to get rid of the bleached/dyed hair completely.

I suffered from post partum hair shedding. I lost all of my edges and had a bad widow's peak. My shedded hair looked like tumble weeds on my bathroom floor. 

• What did I do: I did more cowashes, protein treatments, rubbed castor oil on my scalp and styled my hair that would last a whole week.  I was also afraid to comb or even touch my hair, but mostly used my fingers to comb and conditioner to detangle before a wash.  And of course, I kept taking my prenatal vitamins.

After I stopped taking contraceptives (birth control), I went through hair shedding again, this time it was all throughout my head, I did not lose much of my edges...this was just early this year.  It has stopped shedding excessively and is pretty much back to normal again. (Side note: Contraceptive alters your hormones, so when you stop taking them, your body is trying to readjust to it's normal natural state. No baby plans here, I'm getting older and contraceptives does not agree with my body anymore.)

• What did I do: I deep conditioned, cowashed, protein treatments and massaged my scalp with castor oil at times.  And since I do not like my hair down during the summer, I had it in a bun most of the season.

Patience was been key during this whole hair journey. I would have loved to stick to getting my hair long. But you know what...health is even better.  Does not make sense for me to have long unhealthy hair.

For those of you who have been on a real long hair journey, it's okay. I am on one and look where I am now. Instead of giving up and being upset about never have long hair, I decided to shift my focus to wanting healthy hair.  And yes, I had moments of frustrations, moments where I wanted to chop my hair off and moments where I said that I did not care about this whole hair journey thing....those thoughts occupied my mind after I saw how damaging my hair started to become after the hair color. Right now, my focus is still the same to this day...HEALTHY HAIR.  Of course, a healthy diet, vitamins and water too.

I always say this, "A healthy head of hair will always turn heads no matter at what length."

Before Trim & After Trim
(My hair was not colored, the photos were taken at two different times of the day with flash.
The picture on the left is my natural hair color in the sun.)

Thanks for reading, enjoy the pics and we'll chat soon!