How long did it REALLY take you to reach brastrap length?

[rai]

Okay, I know we have all seen the classic picture of the lady with the ruler against by the side of her head, but I need to hear this information from actual people. I have searched through the boards and I couldn't find a thread with this information in one thread so I figured that it would be good to start one...I'm trying to get a realistic idea on how long it may actually take.

So ladies who have reached BSL can you list:

How long did it take you:
Your initial starting condition: (ex. if you started from shoulder length hair or from a big chop)
Hair type:

 

[Victorian]

I'm not at brastrap, but I just wanted to throw something in here.
As long as we're talking about the lady with the ruler next to her head, I need to say something about that picture. Those numbers correspond to retaining 6 inches per year of growth. So when she hits the 2 year mark, that's 12 inches of hair. That means an individual strand of hair from the TOP of her head will reach down to that 2-year mark.

Most of us, when giving the qualitative length of our hair (shoulder, armpit, whatever) are talking about the overall length that it looks, not literally the length in inches.
I don't know, I just thought I should say that for newbies or whomever that have been led to think it will take them x number of years to reach their goal when it probably won't take them that long unless they specifically want the all-even look of the girl in the picture. (of course this depends on your growth rate and retention and all that too)

 

[brazenxvirtue]

Ok, so I suspected as much before but I decided to check out some medical journals this summer and find out for sure.

6 inches a year (just grown, not retained) is the average rate for Caucasians. Asian (Mongoloid) hair grows faster. Black (Negroid) hair grows slower.

*BUT*

There are plenty of black women just on this site who have grown 6 inches and more in a year. So much depends on your individual genetics, not to mention variables like diet, climate, hair care, etc. Even if 75% of the BSLers here grew their hair out slowly, yours might grow quickly and vice versa. But I'm sure that within a year, if you protect your ends, you'll see significant results.

 

[CarLiTa]

I actually thought that blacks (Negroids) got the 6" per year growth. Hmm if it can make u guys a little happier, if your hair grows at 1/2" every four weeks, then you'll actually get 6.5" of newgrowth, lol.

a year = 52 weeks
every 4 weeks = 0.5" of new growth
52/4 = 13
13 * 0.5 = 6.5 inches

anyway, lol, back on topic.... I hit brastrap this month. I've been on LHCF since March 2005, and at the time, I was 3" past shoulder length, and it took me 5 months to get 3 more inches to reach brastrap. I think my hair grows at 0.6" per month instead of 0.5" ... i even have had a few trims here and there... maybe 2, 1/2" off each time. I need to post pix by the way.

What i think u should do is just measure from where you are to your brastrap, see how many inches it is away, divide that by your growthrate and set a REALISTIC goal as to when you should get there, and develop a regimen that's going to help you retain all u growth. It's important to set a realistic goal and even include "trim" times, so you're not disappointed. Good luck!

 

[CarLiTa]

oh i forgot to add that i believe that i'm a 3b in most areas, and 3c at the crown.

 

[beyondcute]

When I was relaxing it took me about 9 monts to go from neck length to brastrap length. I was wrapping my hair and relaxing every 10-16 weeks (kinda sparadic...)

 

[lovechic]

]I actually thought that blacks (Negroids) got the 6" per year growth.

I thought we did too.
It took me 14 months. I had to do a few trims, My hair was in bad shape, my problems were dryness/breakage. My hair was also over processed, and brittle in a few patches!
My hair is fragile and the texture is kinky, wavy on top.

 

[Brownie]

I actually thought that blacks (Negroids) got the 6" per year growth.

We do---some of us even get more. Our hair may just not seem like it's growing as fast because of dryness, excessive manipulation, heat and chemical processes, rough handling, and just bad hair care. Also other hair types APPEAR to grow faster because of straightness. It's harder to measure growth with textured hair. Having said all that, I get more than 6 inches a year, so I think that chart is realistic. As for me, I have reached bra strap in a texturized state, and I have reached it in a natural state (after cutting my texturized hair) since I have joined this board.

 

[eboniwoman]

Very interesting thread...sorry had to type that. After I read this thread I was like, "interesting" LOL


I am like 3 or four inches from brastrap. My whole life my hair has always been an inch past my shoulders now...it seems like it is actually growing longer. My aunt used to always cut my hair in the summer when I would visit her...not really knowing any better when I was younger I never paid any attention to the length of my hair until I decided to go natural in late 1999.

 

[DatJerseyDyme]

It took me about 2 years to go from shoulder length to bs.

 

[Nefertiti0906]

It took me about 2 years and my hair was in between ear and chin lenght when i started attempting to grow my hair. I was natural at the time and my hair is 3c/4a. I'm not really sure because at times I trimmed off 1 - 2 inches off my hair.

I just cut my hair recently, it's now a bit past shoulder lenght.

 

[Lucia]

It took about 2 years from neck length to bra strap stretched-shoulder length natural.

 

[Blossssom]

From my shoulders, when I was CO'ing every day, six months...

 

[rai]

I'm not at brastrap, but I just wanted to throw something in here.
As long as we're talking about the lady with the ruler next to her head, I need to say something about that picture. Those numbers correspond to retaining 6 inches per year of growth. So when she hits the 2 year mark, that's 12 inches of hair. That means an individual strand of hair from the TOP of her head will reach down to that 2-year mark.

Most of us, when giving the qualitative length of our hair (shoulder, armpit, whatever) are talking about the overall length that it looks, not literally the length in inches.
I don't know, I just thought I should say that for newbies or whomever that have been led to think it will take them x number of years to reach their goal when it probably won't take them that long unless they specifically want the all-even look of the girl in the picture. (of course this depends on your growth rate and retention and all that too)

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[rai]

Ok, so I suspected as much before but I decided to check out some medical journals this summer and find out for sure.

6 inches a year (just grown, not retained) is the average rate for Caucasians. Asian (Mongoloid) hair grows faster. Black (Negroid) hair grows slower.

*BUT*

There are plenty of black women just on this site who have grown 6 inches and more in a year. So much depends on your individual genetics, not to mention variables like diet, climate, hair care, etc. Even if 75% of the BSLers here grew their hair out slowly, yours might grow quickly and vice versa. But I'm sure that within a year, if you protect your ends, you'll see significant results.

I've never tried to track my monthly growth. Maybe I should for this month. I think it may take me 2 years or a little longer. Right now the back of my hair is at the shoulders....

I will track my progress in 6 month intervals, but I think I'm going to measure my hair this month so I will have a good idea how much progress I made when march comes around.

 

[WaterMoccasin]

In October 2003 my hair was 2-3 inches past my shoulders. 8 months later, in June 2004, I had reached bra-strap in my highest bra (21" hairline to ends, about 6" past shoulders) and brastrap in my lowest bra (23" hairline to ends, about 8" past shoulders) by Sept/Oct 2004 (I grew another inch in July, but it went back to normal growth rate after that [about 1/2" a month] then slowed down a LOT the rest of the year. I don't think it moved again til Jan/Feb 05! haha).

HTH!

*avatar is me in Jan '05.