*In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to...

[Diva_Esq]

Do you think natural women tend to obsess too much over length checks?? Obviously, this is LONG hair care forum, so most who frequent the site are shooting for long, healthy hair, but do we take it too far? Sabotage ourselves? Develop hair anorexia without any pressure from the outside world? I'd love to hear others' thoughts.

Here is a link to the article/ blog:

http://www.naturalhairrules.com/length-check/?fb_source=pubv1

And here is a cut/ paste of the text:

Stop with the Length Checking

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Naturalhairrules — No Comments ↓
This weekend I went to Natural Resources Salon for my quarterly blow out, trim and Every day Beauty hairstyle (See photo gallery below). Usually I bring my iPhone to document the process as well as to do a length check for the world to see. This time I felt less inclined to do so. For a few different reasons.

Length Checks Make Me Impatience​

You know what I’m talking about. You’ve been looking at so and so’s hair. You’re ready for your hair to get to that length. You start obsessing about their hair length and regimen. You compare your hair to their hair. Every few months your checking how long your hair is. You start counting how long you’ve been natural. Oh Lawd what’s wrong with my hair? Why isn’t it growing? Ok maybe impatience was the wrong word. It makes me CRAZY!!!
I’m Practicing Patience

I’ve had my hair mishaps. But I’m on the right track now. I’m finally content with My Hair. My regimen is working. I know that I am retaining length. I am seeing growth. I want to be surprised by the length of my hair. I figure I’ll wait 6 months for my next length check. Maybe even longer than that. My hair is already bra strap length. I don’t really want wrist length hair. I mean I’m not going prevent my hair from getting that long but I’m ok around mid back length and retaining that length. Here’s a length check image for you.
Long Hair Doesn’t Make You More of An Expert

I know my hair is growing. I don’t have to prove it to anyone. As a natural hair blogger, I know some people rate your content and tips by how long your hair is. If your hair isn’t long or has been the same length for years they don’t want to be bother. I get it! But I know the time, research and experiments that I dedicate to this site . I no longer feel a length check is necessary to validate the validity. The information, testimonies and expert advice featured on Natural Hair Rules.com speak volumes.
Say NO to the Length Checks!!! Who’s with me?

How often do you do a length check?​

 

[Channy31]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

Yes, sometimes I find myself doing almost weekly length checks!
Crazy! Don't know what I expect.

But im attempting not to length check til my birthday on May 31st which is a big deal for me!

 

[bhndbrwneyes]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I take women's advice whether their hair is long or short (even if they just BCd to TWA). To me it is important for their hair to look healthy which is sometimes hard to tell from videos and pictures. I search for women with my same hair type (3, low po, medium density) to get product and styling advice. I agree that length checks every month might be excessive especially if you are a slow grower or you grow the average of .5 inches per month, it would be hard to see the difference from month to month. I think every 3 months is good or more if you can bare to wait. I don't obsess over length checks but since I am still experimenting with constructing a solid regimen and still searching for staple products I do like to measure if what I'm doing is working so I can stop searching.

 

[Amarilles]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

One of natural hair's so-called "promises" is healthy hair. With health comes length so it's natural that we'd focus on it. That said though, I could not agree more.

I think length checks can be such a distraction. Instead of length checking so often, checking our shed when we detangle would actually tell us how much breakage is going on. Now that I obsess about I got mesh drainers on both my bathroom sink and my tub so I can catch all the hair and observe if they have bulbs or not. I think checking our shed is the only way to know how well we are retaining by seeing how much breakage is happening.

Otherwise we'd have to be 100% sure of our growth rate per month (and I know my hair grows faster in some areas than others) and know when/how environmental and hormonal factors play into our growth. Checking the shed gives a better indication to the hair's health, IMO.

 

[Evolving78]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

i think once people make their goal, their are less inclined to worry about length. plus, having longer hair as a natural gives you more options and styling choices. some folks want more length due to the shrinkage factor.

i think it's the same thing like trying to lose weight, and get excited when you can see the that the pounds have disappeared on the scale.

 

[k_enitan]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

For me it is density I am obsessed with, I actually hate seeing the length now cos it just looks flat to me (I always wanted big hair)

 

[NIN4eva]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

lol, "*In my best movie announcer voice*" thanks for my first good chuckle of the day!

 

[Whimsy]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I see nothing wrong with length checks and do them every few months if I'm aiming for a goal. I see it as no different from checking your progress as you work toward any other goal in life.

As for taking advice, I must admit, I'm less apt to take advice from someone who's preaching healthy hair care, but their hair doesn't show results of healthy care, just as I wouldn't take relationship advice from someone who's never been in one.

I do feel that some folks go a lil overboard with length checking, and forget that it's about the daily care and the journey you're on, more than it's about the monthly photos.

If you're setting yourself up as an expert, or a person who somehow knows more than the average joe, or are putting yourself in the spot light as it relates to healthy hair care, natural hair, long hair etc.... then IMO YOU BETTER show and prove. You better validate.

Just like my personal trainer better be in kickass shape, be able to show his certifications, and be able to give me references to happy people that he's slimmed down/trained... a hair "guru" better be rockin a head full of healthy strands and be able to prove their "worth" in my opinion. And if they cannot, they should be sure to let people know that they are NOT an authority, they're just a hair junkie that felt like writing a blog.

ETA: I like your article, but even more I like the title of this thread

 

[Nonie]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I am one of the few not obsessed with length checks or even my hair. I think I might still be at BSB and only know that because someone asked me once and I checked. But I was taking better care of my hair then (read: putting a baggy on nightly; Now I go for days when I don't don't do it and I still use no products ) and lwhen I was baggying nightly (I still dust religiously) I'd steadily gone from under 3 inches to this in 4 years 8 months. Might not be huge to others but to me who doesn't moisturize, doesn't seal and doesn't PS, that was huge. And I only discovered I had gotten there because I was redoing a twist and felt as if my hair was stretching longer than usual so I went to look in the mirror and was shocked to see that the hair above my ear was at APL! Longest hair I've ever had!

And that is really how I find out length. I don't deliberately plan to check; I let the length surprise me. My hair rarely occupies my mind and I can go for days w/o putting any effort into it because I tend to style it and forget about it or wear a wrap. So thinking about length is not something that I worry about. Perhaps it's because I always viewed CBL as long hair and since I made that and then made it to APL which I always thought would be a length I'd be content with, I sorta checked out. It's kinda how I am with a lot of things. They lose their novelty once they stop being a challenge. And now that I know long hair is attainable, I'm like meh!

I suppose having my hair at a length at which I can whip my twists into an updo w/ ease does make me less fussed about my hair. I have always just wanted a length I can put into a pony in a jiffy. That was my dream length from when I was knee-high.

So yeah, I love for length to find me. I don't go looking for it.

 

[Diva_Esq]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

lol, "*In my best movie announcer voice*" thanks for my first good chuckle of the day!

LOL...you're welcome!

 

[natura87]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I dont do ~length checks~. I will occasionally grab a peice of hair to see where it lies on my T shirt...but thats about it. I havent straightened in ages.

 

[faithVA]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I length check obsessively now because my hair is twa and is time consuming to style. But once I get to APL or long enough to get this all up into an updo easily, I'm done. I'm hair lazy, so I will be happy to put it up until next wash day.

I think percentage wise, the number of women on this board focused on length and doing regular length checks is probably low. I don't know anyone irl past twa that has ever mentioned hair length. I typically hear after a year or two that they are over their hair.

I think by being on the internet, being on forums and watching yt it seems more common than it really is.

 

[nlamr2013]

I feel for anybody trying to grow longer hair length checks are necessary so that you can see how different techniques and products are affecting you hair

 

[melisandre]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I don't see anything wrong with length checking every few months, but I agree that it shouldn't be done too often / obsessively -- that's like watching grass grow . My last length check was May 2012. I plan to do my next on in a few weeks. It'll be interesting to seen how much growth and retention I've had this past year.

 

[Ogoma]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

Now my hair is easier to style, I don't really do length checks . I do have one coming up soon though. I might straighten or do a length check at my 2 year naturalversary at the end of June.

 

[cami88]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I don't do length checks other than the ones that I have planned. For instance I have a planned flat iron in July. As someone else mentioned, I go by how much hair is being shed. That way, I can tell what practices are working and which are not. Too much shed hair means I need to take action in some way. I can tell my hair is getting healthier and retaining length when there is less hair in the drain/sink/shower than there used to be.

 

[geejay]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I think it's natural to go through phases. There are times when I'm really into my hair, and times when I'm doing the minimum. I tend to take pictures of my hair and when I'm really paying attention, I've got daily pics...but there are times whole months go by undocumented.

Different levels of excitement are natural at different stages of the journey.

 

[daae]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I want to prove people wrong in real life, thats why i want my hair to hurry up lol!

 

[ChristmasCarol]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I check my length when I flatiron - every 6 to 8 weeks. Other than that, I don't think about it. HOWEVER, when I was around APL/BSL I checked every week Once I got to MBL/Waist Length, it wasn't that serious.

I don't see the harm in it, though. I say check it every day if it tickles your fancy...

 

[kupenda]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I got a TWA and dont have the desire go check inches. I just lay a section against my hand while detangling and guess how long my hand is so I have a number to post in the TWA thread. I plan to have an official length check in March on my 2 year nappyversary...if im still nappy

 

[ckisland]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I length check way less than I used to. I'm down to once every few weeks now .

I think people judging or being critical of naturals length checking are unfair. I think it seems weird or obsessive because it's something the straight-haired majority bothers with. If I had straight, wavy or loosely curly hair I probably wouldn't be going out of my way to length check either. Why? Because I'd get to see my real length all the time. With high levels of shrinkage, it's hard to tell that your hair is growing especially if you're like me and wear your hair shrunken a lot of the time. If I didn't length check and I didn't know that my day to day length is the result of serious shrinkage, I would have given up on growing out my hair 2.5 years ago, because my hair looks like it's almost the exact same length it was then .

When it comes to hair, I'll talk about it with anyone, but I'm not seeking advice from just any ole body . It's the same way I feel about hairstylist, makeup artists, and health gurus. If your hair is still to your ears or "hiding" beneath that plastic lacefront, your face resembles a painted dragon, or you look like you need to either eat or put down a sandwich, I don't want nothing you're selling . If I don't want to have something you've got, I really don't need your advice. Also I don't want short hair, so how is a short haired person who's never had long hair going to help me get to or maintain my goals .

Would you take advice on becoming a doctor from someone who dropped out the week before graduating with their bachelor's or from someone who's actually a doctor?

 

[Vintagecoilylocks]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

Obsessive long hair lover here. I 've been doing length checks since I was alittle girl so i probably won't stop now. I came on this web site to talk long hair and see long hair and grow long hair and enjoy all of this. I believe you cannot have long hair with out some above average level of good hair health practise.

So I am just the opposite. Talking healthy is fine but seeing and talking long hair is great. Healthy 2year old hair is nice but 5- 6 + year old long hair is amazing. There are plenty of web sites and commercials with short or average length long hair as their focus. The entire media is full of that. But long hair especially women of color is rare. So ladies please show your long hair.

 

[whiteoleander91]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I don't really see a problem, but then again, I don't make a big production out of length checks.

As I do my hair, I might tug on a couple of curls here and there. Just got done cowashing and getting ready to apply serum? Quick little tug on the curls at my nape. About to hop in the shower to shampoo? Quick little tug at the hair above my ear. It doesn't have to be something epic and documentary worthy. Sometimes out of boredom I will stretch a curl (not specifically checking for progress) with no thought process behind it. I don't know if I am articulating this well...I'm just saying...you don't really have to make length checks into some big thing.

 

[ms.blue]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I did my first length check in November 2012 after cutting my hair early that yr and while I was suprised, I didn't find it enjoyable like I first went natural. I hadn't even had the urge to straighten my hair either...I'm over documenting my growth. The obsession is more stressful than beneficial imo.

 

[Mahogony7]

Re: *In my best movie announcer voice* In a world of length checkers, 1 dares not to.

I wish I had done a better job of documenting my first year. I did take a fe pictures here and there. I also wish I'd wrote down the ingredients to my concoctions as well. I admire people who have those nice side by side photos showing growth over 3 month periods. I adore my hair and I am happy with my growth, but I should've took more pictures. I have no desire to flat iron my hair and I have not done so in 18 months. I know a watched pot boils, but it is so much fun to see progress.