When I was a kid, my mother had raised three boys before she had me.  She was so happy to have a girl to dress up in pink ruffles, who would have long hair for her to play with.  That was until she discovered that my hair knotted something horrible and that I was a *huge* wuss when they were being combed out (still am).  So, she decided that her daughter was going to be the next Twiggy (if you have to ask, you're too young) and tried her best to convince me that the "pixie cut" was a good thing.  Needless to say, I did a lot of sobbing when I was a child.  What was even worse, one of my brothers dated a girl named Liz who had hair almost to her knees (who later went on to become Billy Joel's first wife... I like to think because of the gorgeous hair ;) and all I wanted when I wasn't dreaming of having Marlo Thomas' hair was to have Liz's hair.  Instead, my mother was trying to convince me I looked "just like Twiggy."  Twiggy (whom by the way now has long blonde hair and has obviously seen the light) is someone I have never resembled in *any* form except mother-imposed hair length.

So, when I grew up I was very determined to have long hair to die for.  I *tried* to have long gorgeous hair by doing horrible things like perming it and spending ten long years as a blonde.  Eventually I figured out that the reason it wasn't growing was because of the horrible things I was doing to it.  In my late 20's I dyed it to my best guess at my natural color, stopped perming, cut off everything that was in bad shape, and started taking really good care of it.  It grew like a weed and by the time I was 30 it was close to my waist, the longest it had ever been after almost two decades of trying, and it's been growing ever since.  In fact, I sometimes think it's getting too long and will cut off a couple inches, but it always seems to be even longer before the mood strikes me again.  I often muse about having a grey braid to my knees, but at 42 without a grey hair on my head, it's beginning to look hopeless.  Still, one can always hope... and I DO!

I'm a girl. I swear. But tell your average person that -- I have an androgynous body a la a supermodel, and an androgynous face to match. I've been called 'sir' a lot, even when I'm not dressing in guy's clothing -- apparently, thin guys walk around wearing babydoll tees allll the time.

Having long hair makes me feel more feminine, and it translates into how I carry myself, which reduces the amount of 'sir's I get. I've also found that it makes me feel a lot more attractive and confident, as well, especially because the area where I live... not many women who are naturally curly wear their hair that way, let alone to mid-back and dyed red with henna!

I wish it was longer, though. I measured recently, and I have 23" of hair -- but when you're 5'9", and your curls shrink your hair by half a foot... it doesn't seem long at all! I plan on growing my hair out until it's at least to my hips when it's curly. And maybe beyond that...

Curls run in our family - and the "prefered" family hair style is *short* - no more than 2" for girls, 1" or less for guys.  All my friends had long hair when I was a kid, and I desperately wanted to have long hair like everyone else.

Eventually, my mom let me grow out my hair (I was about 10 at the time) and my dad complained the whole time.  A year and a half later, he insisted I had to have it cut short for the summer....and instead of the soft curls I'd had as a little kid, I developed cork-screw curls that stood straight out from my head and were completely uncontrollable.  This was *not* good for my self esteem, because everyone made fun of me - and the trauma of having it cut so short made me decide I never wanted short hair again.

That's the shortest it's been since.  A couple of times I've had it cut to shoulder length (which for most stylists meant "shoulder length when wet and pulled straight" - so really chin length).  And I tried coloring it in college (early gray hair also runs in the family). But in the last 3 or 4 years, I've really started taking good care of it and letting it grow - I only cut a little off the ends at any given time, and  I've almost finished growing out the last time I colored it - I've got about 6" left to go.

I'm to the point now where, when pulled straight, my hair is waist length, but when dry and curly, it's down to about the bottom of my shoulder blades.

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My hubby has the same problem... he's got very curly hair and he's been growing it "forever" but it curls up so much you'd never know it.  I think that's the *only* aspect about curly hair that I see as a drawback, but I can certainly find plenty to complain about having very straight locks!

I became tired of bad hair cuts, so I just quit having it cut!  Long hair is so much easier to manage.

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This image is going to stay with me all day now!  Hee!  Been there, done that - it's a perfect way to describe it. 

~ Hasani

If you can remember the curley perms of the late 70's and early 80's you can start to understand why my hair is just above my knees now!  The word straight does not even begin to describe my hair....I will not curl on a bet...............

I begged my Mom to take me to get one of those perms and being a good Mom she did...In those days you had to wait 3 days after the perm to wash your hair...I waited the three days and when I washed my hair all of those curls washed away!!!!!!  I was left with a head full of awful layers and fried hair.  There was no way to even try to reperm my hair because the origional perm damaged my hair so badly.

I started to make a game out of growing my hair out (nice suggestion from my Mom trying to handle damage control) every time I grew another layer out Mom would take me on a small shopping trip.  Well after the final layers grew out I was off to college and there I started the game of grow it to the middle of my back, my waist, and then it was grow it to the back of my knees or until I turned 30.  Thirty has come and gone (I'm 39 now) and my hair is about 2" from my knees....My ankles next?   ???

I too am looking forward to the long grey braid.  Right now however I am starting to get the Bride of Frankenstein look...all of my greys are coming in at my temples and seem to be forming communities there...My husband teases me that they are silver racing stripes!

If I ever do decide to cut it though I am going to donate it to charity

I couldn't afford haircuts.

No, really! I decided to quit work and go back to college full-time. A private college at that. So, my funds were super limited, add in the fact that I owned a horse made it that much worse.

I had super long hair as a very young child - then my mom had it cut off when she decided she didn't have the time to take care of it any longer. (4 hours to blow dry - I have super thick hair) It didn't bother me, and I had short hair from that point till now. I even had a crew cut for a while.  Which (gasp) I liked.

So, I couldn't get it cut - and it grew. And kept growing. Then I made the decision to cut it, and my mother bought me a $100 hair comb. I felt guilty, so I didn't cut it. Then I bought some hairsticks for my wedding, and liked them. So, I bought more. And now, I can't imagine cutting my hair.

It's grown from a super short cut (about 1") to between my shoulderblades in about a year. It's crazy! I can see my hair without looking in a mirror!