i ran into a woman the other day with beautiful waist length dark hair. each side of her head had a half french braid which hung down past her waist (maybe hip length-she was sitting down playing an instrument so it was hard to tell.) i complimented her hair and her music, both were really beautiful. she said she didn't know how long she's been growing it out-because its always been that long. it was very thick and wavy the whole way down, but she said that was her terminal length. very beautiful and inspiring (it was my hair texture, so it was really cool to see it that long). she encouraged me to do "nothing" with my hair if i'm growing it out...just let it grow, as she said, don't bother it with too much fuss. (she meant, no coloring, perms, heat styling...) all good advice....oh and her number one tip was to eat well. i'm all about that.