How long until I reach APL?

[HairQueen]

Hi All

I am very keen to get to APL and have been stuck at SL for a while now since I stopped keeping on top of my regime but I am back on it now.

From these pictures how long do you guys think it will take me to reach APL if I wear protective styles daily?

Also am I considered shoulder length or past shoulder length?

Thanks
HQ

 

[Rainbow Dash]

You look shoulder length already. I think you can make APL in 4 months or less with proper care and protective styling.

 

[I Am So Blessed]

3 months if you protective style.

 

[HairQueen]

You look shoulder length already. I think you can make APL in 4 months or less with proper care and protective styling.

Sorry were you referring to the picture in my avatar? (Which I have just removed 5 minutes ago).

I got so excited when I saw your answer but then I realised that you may have been talking about my avatar picture. I have just deleted that pic because it is soooo old. It is sad because it makes me realise that I have been stuck at shoulder length forever since I stopped taking care of my hair and may even be slightly shorter now than that previous pic

I was actually refering to the pics in the thumbnails below (where I am wearing a red top) these were taken just a week ago.

Thanks

 

[HairQueen]

3 months if you protective style.

Hi

I have the same answer/question to you that I just asked Health&Hair28where you referring to the avatar pic (that I have just deleted) or the ones in the red top which are recent pics that I took last week?

Thank you!!

 

[HairQueen]

Bump I need some more answers please I am desperate to move past SL!
Thanks.

 

[I Am So Blessed]

Hi

I have the same answer/question to you that I just asked Health&Hair28where you referring to the avatar pic (that I have just deleted) or the ones in the red top which are recent pics that I took last week?

Thank you!!

Hi, i was talking about the pics in the red shirt. protective style and moisturize the ends.

 

[Nonie]

OP, that's not a question anyone can answer unless they're psychic. It all depends on your growth rate and retention. There are threads on this topic and you will see it varies for everyone (Here's one). In fact, the consensus is it took longer to go from SL to APL for most people than any other distance their hair had traveled up to that point and the next LONG LEAP is between waist and HL. Which makes sense because if you do look at the human body, the distance from SL to APL is larger than any you have encountered thus far:

So rather than watch the clock and worry about when you will get there, just do right by your hair, enjoy the journey and let it surprise you.

 

[Rainbow Dash]

HairQueen... I was talking about the picture in the red shirt that you attached, not the picture in Avatar.

 

[lesedi]

I think the longest journey is from SL to APL. I think the most inches are between these two lengths. Many women can take up to a year to hit FULL apl.

 

[LushLox]

OP if you've been stuck at SL for a long time without progression it seems to me that you've not been retaining your growth. What is your regimen, what products are you using. If you're relaxed, how often do you relax, how often do you trim? You need to think carefully about what it is your doing (or not doing) currently which maybe hampering your progress.

 

[caltron]

I'm glad to find out that the time it takes to get from SL to APL is one of the longest. I was a full shoulder length when I got a relaxer at the end of March of this year and it seems to be taking forever to get to APL. I was thinking "wow, my hair must grow super slow!" After five months, I'm starting to graze APL in the back. For some reason, from the front, it seems I am over the APL line.

And thanks Nonie for the very helpful diagram. It really helps to put things in perspective.

 

[HairQueen]

Hi, i was talking about the pics in the red shirt. protective style and moisturize the ends.

Hi

Ok thanks that's good to hear I can go back to feeling excited again! I hate protective styling but if I can just go 3 or 4 months then I can get it out the way!

 

[HairQueen]

OP, that's not a question anyone can answer unless they're psychic. It all depends on your growth rate and retention. There are threads on this topic and you will see it varies for everyone (Here's one). In fact, the consensus is it took longer to go from SL to APL for most people than any other distance their hair had traveled up to that point and the next LONG LEAP is between waist and HL. Which makes sense because if you do look at the human body, the distance from SL to APL is larger than any you have encountered thus far:

So rather than watch the clock and worry about when you will get there, just do right by your hair, enjoy the journey and let it surprise you.

Hi I'm not looking for definite or 100% accurate answers! It's just to get an idea of people's opinions ie one month, 6 months or a year etc! Obviously there are lots of factors that influence growth but it's all about averages!

 

[HairQueen]

HairQueen... I was talking about the picture in the red shirt that you attached, not the picture in Avatar.

Hi thanks for that I am so pleased to hear that because I can't bear for it to take much longer & I hate protective styles but I will do them thanks !

 

[HairQueen]

OP if you've been stuck at SL for a long time without progression it seems to me that you've not been retaining your growth. What is your regimen, what products are you using. If you're relaxed, how often do you relax, how often do you trim? You need to think carefully about what it is your doing (or not doing) currently which maybe hampering your progress.

When I first started my lhcf journey my hair was in a mess it looked like somebody had torn it , that's the best way I can describe it then I started taking care of my hair , no heat, deep condition once per week, protective styles etc then my hair did a complete transformation and became the best condition and the longest it's ever been since I remember.

Then what happened was once I had reached a nice full and healthy shoulder length, I got absolutely sick and tired of wearing protective styles I hate them with a passion and after about two years of constantly wearing them I wanted to enjoy my new long and healthy hair . I still kept up the deep condition weekly , moisturise, wear a scarf at night, stretching relaxers etc etc but I stated using direct heat again and haven't protective styled for about two years now and my hair has become stuck at SL.

I also have fine 4a/4b relaxed hair, ( lots of it but fine strands) and I noticed that one section of my hair from the crown straight in a line down the middle to the bottom always breaks off no matter what I do so I have v recently ( one month ago ) decided to stop relaxing and start texturising / texlaxing.

So in summary I have still kept up very good condition of my hair but while it hasn't deteriorated and remains in pretty good condition, it has remained stuck and never progressed past SL so now I'm back on the protective styling as of this week even though I absolutely hate wearing my hair up.

 

[shasha8685]

Hi I'm not looking for definite or 100% accurate answers! It's just to get an idea of people's opinions ie one month, 6 months or a year etc! Obviously there are lots of factors that influence growth but it's all about averages!

Nonie is correct though. For APL, there really isn't an average time for APL. For some people it does take 3 or 4 months while for others it takes 9 months. Shoot, it may take others a year to reach APL. It really all depends on what a persons growth rate is, their regimen, and even something as trivial as how long their torso is!

Hopefully Nonie will correct me if I'm wrong, however, I think she presented the diagram she did to help you keep things in perspective. I mean, we can all hop up on here and be like "Yeah girl. It'll take you 3 or 4 months!". If 3 or 4 months pass and you don't reach your goal, you'll be wondering if you did something wrong. The advice to keep everything in perspective and enjoy the ride is definitely something to keep in mind.

Anyway, in your original post you don't indicate what your regimen is. How often do you DC? How often do you use heat? I found that to reach APL from SL, I pretty much had to protective style non stop (mainly through phony ponies) and stay away from heat. Doing all that, it took me 7 months to reach APL +another 2 months to reach full.

So given that info, I say give yourself a range of 3-9 months to reach APL. HTH!

 

[Bublin]

@Nonie...that picture you posted showing the different lengths.....

.....something that i have observed.....when you raise your arms level with your shoulders, the armpit 'level' or crease rises by about about 2 inches (this is a guesstimate).

Geeze, i hope i'm making sense.

When i stretch my hair down i am nowhere near APL but if i raise my arms up i am there.

I see some women on here taking pics with arms raised (holding a camera for example) and they are just APL - i bet if they lowered their arms they wouldn't technically be there yet - or are they/am i ?

eta - I googled for images of people with raised arms and the pics i got were not pretty

 

[lesedi]

@Nonie...that picture you posted showing the different lengths.....

.....something that i have observed.....when you raise your arms level with your shoulders, the armpit 'level' or crease rises by about about 2 inches (this is a guesstimate).

Geeze, i hope i'm making sense.

When i stretch my hair down i am nowhere near APL but if i raise my arms up i am there.

I see some women on here taking pics with arms raised (holding a camera for example) and they are just APL - i bet if they lowered their arms they wouldn't technically be there yet - or are they/am i ?

eta - I googled for images of people with raised arms and the pics i got were not pretty

Bublin

I noticed that too. Before i BC'd, i could make my hair look a whole range of lengths in pictures (apl, bsl and inbetween) dependent on if I stood with my arms up, if i did the 'gangsta lean' lol or whether my hair was wet or not....
I won't lie, seeing my clearly APL hair look bra-strap when i was wearing a sihtty bra made my day....but it wasn't representative of my reality

 

[Nonie]

@shasha8685 you're right, I posted that image to help keep things in perspective. I see people setting themselves up for failure comparing themselves with others. If anyone can have a better idea of how long it will take, it'd be the one who is growing the hair. Reason I say this is s/he has seen how long it took to go from ear length to neck and neck to shoulder. After shoulder you're faced with two obstacles:

1) a longer distance to APL than you've encountered thus far between goals;

2) you're dealing with older hair which is more worn from having endured trauma of styling and the elements and thus susceptible to splits and breakage;
​

...So chances are the journey from SL to APL is more of an uphill battle than you've experienced thus far. I think it's just fair to be honest than set you up for disappointment. I gave that link to a previous thread that asked people how long it took THEM because getting people's own experiences is more realistic than asking strangers what YOUR story will be.

Another thing I find odd is when people post a photo and ask "How many inches do I have to get to X length?" Now unless you tell us how long your ear is...or some reference in the image that we can use as a scale, how can we know? Folks will throw out numbers like 2 inches! 4 inches! Which may be good estimates or big a$$ lies. It would be easier if OP asked a friend or family member who is with her to measure the distance for her. Otherwise, take the measurement of a finger or something that is in the photo so we can see, say, you're 3 fingers away from waist. And if your finger is 3 inches long then we could guess more accurately that you are 9 inches away from waist.

@Bublin, the raised arms issue has been addressed before. In the image below the top line shows where APL is when arm is raised. The bottom line shows the true APL position:

ETA: Don't forget the angle of the camera makes a difference too. If you take the photo from above or below, you will get an inaccurate perspective.

 

[ManeStreet]

I'd say give yourself 6 months to be on the safe side.

 

[Esthi777]

lesedi I know what you mean about torso length, long waistedness(?), giraffee neck, etc. I am pretty tall and lanky and I know that my APL is some short and squatty chicks WL!

 

[Charla]

Nonie I like the lady you posted because it skips BSL -- which I think is too subjective to be a real hair length marker since some people wear their bras hi/low, wide strap/narrow strap, etc.

 

[AlwaysNatural]

Well to be full Apl with protecting styling I think 6 or 7 months. You appear to be just brushing shoulder length.

 

[choctaw]

@Nonie...that picture you posted showing the different lengths.....

.....something that i have observed.....when you raise your arms level with your shoulders, the armpit 'level' or crease rises by about about 2 inches (this is a guesstimate).

Geeze, i hope i'm making sense.

When i stretch my hair down i am nowhere near APL but if i raise my arms up i am there.

I see some women on here taking pics with arms raised (holding a camera for example) and they are just APL - i bet if they lowered their arms they wouldn't technically be there yet - or are they/am i ?

eta - I googled for images of people with raised arms and the pics i got were not pretty

dat's duh gangsta lean back ... do the rockaway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajmI1P3r1w4&ob=av3e

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie I like the lady you posted because it skips BSL -- which I think is too subjective to be a real hair length marker since some people wear their bras hi/low, wide strap/narrow strap, etc.

Yeah, Below Shoulder Bone (BSB) became the substitute for BSL because all other lengths use body parts which remain constant. You're right Charla, bra strap can change from one day to the next:

 

[Bublin]

@Esthi777 I agree, i am tall with long proportions. I can just tell there are some short people (with 'squat' proportions) on here that can go from shoulder length to apl in about 4 months. Lol. If i came in here asking the same question i'd get the same answers the OP is getting and they have no idea how tall i am (unless u remember me mentioning it).

The answers are all based on Posters' own body measurements.

 

[Bublin]

Double post

 

[I Am So Blessed]

Hi

Ok thanks that's good to hear I can go back to feeling excited again! I hate protective styling but if I can just go 3 or 4 months then I can get it out the way!

It was protective styling that got me to WL so...... you have to do it if you want your hair to get there faster.

Dont sit and watch it grow tho cuz then it will take forever.

 

[Charla]

Yeah, Below Shoulder Bone (BSB) became the substitute for BSL because all other lengths use body parts which remain constant. You're right @Charla, bra strap can change from one day to the next:

Nonie
Yes, exactly! And girl where do you be finding these pics! lol! That 2nd one is a trip!