Growing Out Layers- A place to complain

[Pear Martini]

I don't know how my layers were cut, but now, almost 6 months since my last haircut, I STILL have layers as short as mid-ear! Unless they are new growth on my canopy that have reached ear length, I can only assume that they are that short due to breakage, since I have lots of roots showing which means they ARE growing. And I have BSL hair, so imagine how drastic the layers are. My buns forever have spikes sticking out of them and my braids disintegrate easily. GAH!

My hair is exactly like yours. Weird ear length pieces on the canopy that appear to be short due to breakage but meanwhile my bottom layer is flawless

[mattt]

In the awkward stage so i get your pain, my bangs are down to my nose about. last time i grew it out it was just as painful. cant wait for a ponytail

[Kirsty]

*raises hand*

I've been a victim of random layers for many years. My hair used to be shorter and would go bulky if I had none. But as my hair gets longer, it's not as bulky but I still have these random short layers that are so frustrating. It seems like the shortest layer has just stopped growing all together. The worst part is the mullet stage, but once you get past that it gets better : )

Luckily, I am past the mullet stage, it's still really annoying, though.

[MOOBUG]

So THATS why my braids have sticky out bits and my buns dont hold. I must be an utter moron not to have seen this before. I have had layers cut into my hair for years because i was told it was the only way to manage wavy hair but I so long for the smooth line that a blunt end gives you. Stupid layers!! I finally understand.
Never letting anyone cut my hair again. ever!

[LadyMydnytMoon]

Gah! Layers! For years it seems to be the only way to manage my hair when it was around shoulder length. It always get annoying whenever I let my hair grow so I had to keep it at my shoulders. But now I know that I have to get rid of them if I really want long hair. My hair's now nearing BSL and my shortest layer is around shoulder length. It looks a bit weird from the back but not too much

[hmmm]

I hate that I can't wear twin braids, even at past shoulder length, because they look so thin and untidy! It's very sad. I'm never getting layers cut into my hair again.

[Maverick494]

This picture was from about 2 years ago. I dyed it blonde-ish and the hairdresser had cut it into this jagged, sharp V shape. It looked horrible. I also had fringe to grow out.



Anyway, I got a new hairdresser and she understood my desire to grow long hair. She said it was best to start from scratch, cut off all the dead and split ends and get a blunt cut. Then I had it to my shoulders.

Anyway, I've been growing it ever since, colored it a couple of times until I had my natural color back and now it looks like this:


So it does pay off.

[Dreams_in_Pink]

well, i actually don't have layers. But my hair was thinned A LOT when i had extensions installed (otherwise my own hair looked like a fuzzy cap over extension hair :/ ) Now my hair looks VERY THIN. Besides, i have very short and vastly thinned front layers which doesn't even fit into my ponytail (and i have lie 6 inches-long ponytail!)

I'm not trimming my hair till i reach my goal; but at the same time i'm worried that by the time i hit TB, i'll have only a strand or two touching my tailbone >: /

[Arctic]

I've been typing and erasing my thoughts so many times, trying to get them into reasonably small space and not sounding like poster child of negativity and self-pity

I'm with all of you, I have layers and I don't like them on me that much. But unlike all of you, mine were not originally cut, they "happened" when I had tons of breakage last year, due to various reasons (I also had other hair related misfortunes last year which I'm not going into in here, I just say I had originally healthy one-length hair).

The breakage and damage were worst on my canopy. It was so bad I decided to cut from almost upper BSL back to APL and little later to shoulder length. Even these cuts left me with lot of breakage/damage. I tried to remove gradually the damage with S&D and by cutting the shorter broken layers to look more like intentional layering. This also helped the breakage (which were several, almost horizontal, straight lines) to blend with the rest of my hair better.

Well I am not a hair dresser, but I've cut my own hair for years now. I think I got my hair to look ok. I recently noticed that my canopy layer has been practically stalling about six months for some reason, while my other hairs have been growing relatively quickly (for me). This makes this all even more frustrating. My hair has, to my knowledge, always grown evenly everywhere. Now, I'll have no idea when if ever my hair will get back to being one length.

I ignored my hair the best I could during last winter, which worked pretty well. I took care of it well but didn't look at it/ touch it other than wash/condition/DT/combing/putting it up. At the end of last month (April) I trimmed it dusted the layers and also S&Ded really throughly, which was first time in months, I took a closer look at it. I was disappointed to see how much I still have damage left. Or is it new damage? I don't know. In addition to the stalling canopy, I have been feeling very down about my hair ever since. I desided I'd get rid of as much damage as possible, in hopes that it would have a positive effect on the appearance and tangling, and in case the damage traveled upwards, to prevent that. Ofcourse this meant the canopy layer became even shorter than it had been (because it hasn't really grown).

Now, while I am pretty pleased how I have cut it, I see similar styles a lot these days, I don't like this style on me. I LOVE updos and braids, and those are difficult these days. Braids are almost impossible, even french type braids.

My plan is to grow to ~BSL and start maintaining there, I'm now at APL (with longest bits of U hem). I might decide one or two bigger trims at some point, knowing myself. But right now I feel I wouldn't want to get shorter than shoulderblade length, which I am not yet at. On the other hand I have startedto dream about short pixies and bobs. If I'd like to cut to where my shortest layer is, that would be very short bob. I have also been thinking of getting bangs. That would help me to get some new look and style, to get rid of any rest of damage I have on those front canopy hairs... This wouldn't cause any loss in thickness as the hairs are already short, about chin length.

Anyway, the worst thing is that I had one length hair and then things went wrong and I lost it. And I still am not 100% why this happened. I assume it was the dreaded protein disaster. I also seem to have minerally, alkaline water that my hair doesn't like much.


Question: I have seen in this and other threads people saying their layers get more damage than their other hair. I wonder why this is, and is it the same with everybody? Those of you who do notice they getting more damaged, more quickly, do you dust the layers? My theory is that many do not dust them, only trim the longest hairs at the hemline.

[LilyLu]

My layers are the bane of my existence. hairdressers ALWAYS cut a V-shaped hemline into my curls..even if I don't want them! I'm trying to grow out my layers into a very soft U-shaped hemline. to thicken up my ends. It's been about a 9 months and I'm only now starting to see a U shape, though I'm nowhere near where I want to be. My front pieces are barely APL while my back reach mid-back. it's so so so frustrating!!! grrr
I figure it's at least another 6-8 months before my hair is evened out.