Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hey, I know I ask a lot of random questions xD
Basically I'm just curious how long it took everyone to grow out their hair (mtf, and by no means am I saying you have to do this to be a woman, I personally just want long hair)
My hair grows quite quickly but then seems to dramatically slow down in growth when it starts looking like The Beatles' haircuts(no better explanation xD) and so I'm also curious if there is anything I can do to make it grow out quicker?

It depends on what you mean by out.  I started by not cutting my hair for a year, after which I had a gnarly mop that needed to be cut back to a style.  I wouldn't recommend this approach. ::)

It's math, really.  How long is your hair?  How long do you want it?  How much do you grow per month?  The last one will take you a month to figure out, but these are all answerable questions. 

As far as speeding it up, eat a balanced diet, drink plenty of water and save your money rather than going after products making  promises that they can speed up nature.. 

2 years ago I had 1cm buzz cut and as you can see it is a bit longer now...It takes times but certain things will help

A good diet
Hydration
Don't wash it every day
Don't rip a hair brush through it to untangle start at the bottom
Cut your hair when it needs it regardless of length to keep it healthy (remove split ends)
Don't blow dry or flat iron (Damages hair)
Don't put in a  colour (I personally do put a colour in because grey is not my favourite colour)
Detangle by running your own fingers through your hair


Biontin is supposed to help which is a herb but I only ever found this good for my nails...personally a good diet and looking after it properly is the key...since my avatar photo my hair has grown another 2-3 inches

Hope this helps

Mine took about 2 years to get to where it is now in my avatar pic.  It started from about 1/8 inch and I've cut it three times to get rid of fraying ends. 

I have to at least rinse it in the shower daily and use shampoo once or twice a week.  I use leave in conditioner every day.


Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

Expect about a half inch a month. As far as making it faster, try sleeping through the awkward hair phase. I wish I had!  :laugh:

Hugs, Devlyn

Me too. 2 years buzz cut to shoulder+. They say 1/2 per month as a rule of thumb. I *love* my long hair. It's the one thing that when the light is low and my lenses aren't in that when I look in the mirror, I see ... her.

Quote from: ElizabethK on May 04, 2017, 06:25:39 PM
Don't wash it every day
Don't rip a hair brush through it to untangle start at the bottom
Cut your hair when it needs it regardless of length to keep it healthy (remove split ends)
Don't blow dry or flat iron (Damages hair)
Don't put colour v                                                                                                                            (I personally do put a colour in because grey is not my favourite colour)
Detangle by running your own fingers through your hair

Yes, I wash my hair twice or even once weekly. I rarely, if ever, use a brush to untangle. I very rarely cut my hair, maybe once every 1-2 yrs. I blow dry and flat iron my hair regularly. I've been coloring my hair for years. I untangle my hair with my own fingers, slowly.

How long is my hair? VERY, down to my butt. Does it grow quickly? Yes!

My hair has made it to between 3 and 4 inches since I began growing it about 7 months ago.  Much better than I thought it would considering I kept a buzz cut due to the giant bald spot.  The Bald spot is almost completely gone, and by that I mean it is a thin patch of hair but no actual spot.

Why do you not wash your hair every day?  Mine gets pretty gritty, and greasy if I don't.  However it has been a lot better than before I buzzed/lost most of it, I use to have oil spots left on pillows that I put the back of my head on, at least that is no longer the case.

My hair takes DAYS to get greasy/dirty. No need to wash often. Since I added testosterone (I'm post-op, take a high dose of estrogen and some progesterone), my hair gets dirty/greasy quicker. :(

I started growing mine out from a 1/4 inch buzz about 7 months ago.  I'm just over 4" long in most areas.  I know what you mean about how it seems like it slows down.  I think that's just an illusion.  When you start from a short cut,  the half inch you get each month is a significant proportion of the total length so it looks like it grew a lot.  As your hair starts to get longer, the proportion of the full length represented by that half inch is reduced and therefore is less noticeable.

In other words, if your hair is 1/2 inch long and you grow it for a month, it's now doubled in length so that's a 100% increase and that's noticeable.  If your hair is 4 inches long however, and now it grows a 1/2 inch in a month, that's only a 12.5% increase and so much less noticeable.

Took me a year and it's still awkward, near shoulder length, but not possible to put it all in a pony tail or bun yet. I wash and condition every other day, detangle gently with a wide tooth comb. And yeah, it helps me a lot dysphoria wise.

Some just let it go and don't think about it through the awkward stages, however, I'm not one of those girls :). ....I found this guide (there are many of them) helpful:

http://www.howtohairgirl.com/2013/02/the-10-step-program-for-growing-out-short-hair/

Took me 2 years from  normal length to shoulder length. If I wash it everyday, it seems to be harder on the hair, but I do brush it as it get tangled something awful if I don't. I wash and condition 2x a week now. I've only had the split ends trimmed once. The hair cutter was real funky with me as I felt he knew I am trans.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Took about 22 months to go from 1/2 inch to shoulder length. Granted I have extremely curtly hair. If straightened it's a couple inches below the neck.

For those of you who only cut your hair every year or two, how do you prevent split end?

I already wash only 1-2x/week. Use leave in conditioner daily. No heat. Combed out every couple weeks. Good diet etc.

Yet it seems after a couple months I'm back to split ends again.


~Brooke~

I cant remember how long it took as I started growing my hair out long before my transition as I wanted a change and liked the idea of it being long, but I use to wash it 2-3 times a week from working in a dust work place and cycling everyday and when ever it rained,
But these day Im lucky if I wash it every 2 weeks depending on the weather, but brush it daily to get the nots out ( the joys of having long hair ) and get it trimed 3 times a years, when I went through a major depressive time i colored it as it made me feel good and now its taken about 2 years for my hair to grow the color out back to its natural color,
I do miss short hair sometimes as it was a 5 minut job unlike these days where it takes about an hour and why Id rather go to the hair dressers to get it done...........

Cheers Tracy

Quote from: Lily_james1 on May 04, 2017, 05:14:01 PM
Hey, I know I ask a lot of random questions xD
Basically I'm just curious how long it took everyone to grow out their hair (mtf, and by no means am I saying you have to do this to be a woman, I personally just want long hair)
My hair grows quite quickly but then seems to dramatically slow down in growth when it starts looking like The Beatles' haircuts(no better explanation xD) and so I'm also curious if there is anything I can do to make it grow out quicker?

Okay...yes...that's it...I couldn't place the style my real hair was taking on, but that's definitely it....well if you mixed a Beatles haircut with a receding hairline...then you've got what I see every morning.   

Started at less than a half inch, that will be 3 years ago in June. My avatar picture was only a couple of weeks ago. I want to let it go about another 6 inches so about one more year. I condition and blow dry every day, wash it once a week and the color comes from my favorite salon. I get the ends trimmed just enough to remove the splits about every 4 months.

 Hi folks,

   I am really having difficulties with growing my hair  longer. The sides and back are doing okay. But the front of the sides tends to grow real curly, almost kinky and sticks out when brushed back. This may resolve as it has more time to grow (it's only been a few months)
  Where I am really having trouble is on top. No matter how hard I try the 100-200 hairs just isn't covering my bald spots. I guess I'll have to go buy some more.  LOL

  Just trying a little levity folks. Smile and laugh and your life seems brighter,

  Hugs,
   Laurie

Quote from: Brooke on May 04, 2017, 11:40:56 PM
Yet it seems after a couple months I'm back to split ends again.

That's pretty normal. This is why a trim every couple of months is a good idea.  Regular trims double the time it takes to grow your hair out, but it will look a lot more healthy during the in between stages.

Quote from: Laurie on May 05, 2017, 09:39:10 AM
   I am really having difficulties with growing my hair  longer.

Well, since you brought it up, I'll add this. I started growing my hair out about six years ago. After a while, it got very long but never would get any longer than about chest length. I'd trim the ends every now and then, also even it up, but it just didn't really get any longer. I'd lose a lot of hair while washing it. I suppose it just got old and fell out, I don't know.

I noticed the other day after about five and a half months on HT, my hair has grown an inch to an inch and a half longer. It doesn't seem to fall out nearly as much as it pre-HT. I can't say that hair has regrown, though. I still have some MPB.

All the best,
--AshleyP

staciM, thanks for that site.  Oh to be stuck at stage 2-3...awkardness :(

About a half to 3/4 inch a month for me. I heard an interesting factoid that people's hair in warm climates tends to grow faster than cold ones. Not sure if that is accurate.

Last year at this time my hair was a bob with most of it not reaching past my chin and i could only do very short pony's and tails etc. This year its on my upper back and definitely long. I can clip it, style it, braid it etc and i still was getting the ends trimmed off about every 8 weeks.

 myself and Laurie share the same hair do , my daughter is a hairdresser and she cut mine before Christmas, that's before I came out and I wish she had left it as its still not as long. The wispy bits on top don't look like they will cover either :(

My hair grows relatively fast at about 3/4 of an inch a month however I had difficulty growing it out after I stopped the perm. My hair dresser and mother would get together and when I wasn't looking, I would end up with a pixy cut which makes my face look long.  :icon_punch: I finally got the language worked out and I ask for a Dorthy Hamill or a wedge cut and while it often ends up a little short, I can grow the difference out in a few weeks. I guess the lesson is communication is the key to getting what you want.

Quote from: Lily_james1 on May 04, 2017, 05:14:01 PM
...so I'm also curious if there is anything I can do to make it grow out quicker?

Yes. Here's the secret. Leave it alone. Mess with your hair as little as possible. Put your mind on other things. Before you know it will be long and beautiful. Your issue is entirely psychological, not physiological. You can't substantially change the rate your hair grows and in spite of how it may seem it always grows at about the same rate. Stop worrying about it and get on with your life. Your hair will be fine.

It took me a couple years to get shoulder length from a couple inches long. I had trimmed after 26 months. The look the hair cutter gave me was priceless. He said I guess you won't be getting a #5...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

When my mother finally saw my hair that I had been hiding for over a year she was stunned and told me about over washing and conditioning. Washing your hair takes out all the natural oils that your hair produces to keep it strong and healthy. Many cis women whom I have spoken to about this have said that washing your hair every day is bad for it and I must admit that with nothing more than this antidotetal evidence I tried it and it works. My hair is so much more manageable....It is still growing like crazy...I do colour it (also not supposed to) and I can see the 2-3 inches grey hair (at the roots) where it has grown since my last colour.

It does sometimes feel a little dirty (especially if I have used product in it) by the end of the third day but the overall the improvement has been huge...I never thought I could love my hair the way I do...

I saturate my hair with sweat two to three times a day.  Even with that, I don't need shampoo but about every three to four days.  In between I just rinse with water and sometimes use conditioner in the shower.  I also use leave in conditioner every morning since I have to use a blow dryer because of time.  My hair is doing fine with that regimen.

Last year I went six months without shampoo, LOL.  My hair did ok but as it got longer I felt that occasional shampoo became a better option.

I do use sulfate free products that seem to leave my hair in better shape.


Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

Quote from: Lily_james1 on May 04, 2017, 05:14:01 PM
Hey, I know I ask a lot of random questions xD
Basically I'm just curious how long it took everyone to grow out their hair (mtf, and by no means am I saying you have to do this to be a woman, I personally just want long hair)
My hair grows quite quickly but then seems to dramatically slow down in growth when it starts looking like The Beatles' haircuts(no better explanation xD) and so I'm also curious if there is anything I can do to make it grow out quicker?

I'm working on three years of transitioning, and I'm just now starting to feel like my hair is of an average length---and mine grows really quickly. By around 1.5 years of transitioning, my hair was out of the "Beatle's" stage lol.

Nothing you can do will noticeably increase its rate of growth. The good news is: even whenever you don't want it to, it will grow, sure as day. Just don't be like a local trans friend of mine and buzz it off because it's not growing quickly enough for you. She regrets it every single day.

From buzz cut to clavicle in two years 3 months. Although  wash too much hair is healthy  but due to aging process , hair is fine leaving me fewer options to style ..... I  find oil treatments help.

To be entirely honest, after all the effort growing it out, I might do a pixie cut if/when I think I look feminine enough to pull it off. Don't get me wrong, long hair is amazing, just the feel of it on my back in the shower, or like a second pillow in bed, but there's just something about a girl who can rock a pixie cut. But I'll be crutching on my long hair to look feminine (for a while at least) about as hard as I crutch on my beard to look masculine now.

I find it interesting that so many advocate not washing their hair often.

I end up showering about 5 times a week and I wash my hair with shampoo and conditioner every time.

I thought I might be doing damage to may hair, but I finally saw my hair dresser for a trim as my last trim was 7 months ago... she was elated about my hair and how healthy and full it looked now.
I even told her I use a straight iron now and then to add a little bit of curl to it. She said she didn't see any signs of heat damage.

I have very fine hair, so when I don't wash it, it ends up getting poofy and I don't particularly like the way it lies.

I'm a firm believer that the products you use really make the difference.


I use Organic Argan Oil shampoo and a Biotin and Collagen thickening conditioner.

At the end of my showering I turn the water down to a much cooler temperature (barely tolerable) to rinse my hair as hot water will dry things out faster.

I always air dry my hair, since it is so fine, it dries pretty quickly. Once it is dry enough I put less than a pea sized amount of coconut oil in it to weight it down a bit and keep it from getting frizzy.

Also, when I use the flat iron, I spray heat spray on both the inside and outside of the hair that I'm going to curl.

It has taken 2 years for my hair to grow a little past shoulder length from being bald. I lost all my hair from chemo. Before I lost it it was almost to my waist. I still miss that length but I am just glad to have hair and eyebrows again. I sympathize with everyone who has had to grow out their hair. I've had long hair pretty much all my life so I had not realized all the awkward and funky looking phases you go through growing it out.  And to you ladies who wear wigs regularly,  I applaud you. I went out and bought an expensive wig. That thing was hot, itchy and aggravating as hell. I only wore it twice. I just started using scarves and do rags.

As much as it might seem like your hair will never grow out, it will get there.

It's interesting the speed that hair grows. For some reason i always thought that it grew faster probably because i was always trying to maintain a short hair cut for the better part of a decade.  In my avatar my hair is up in back so the length does not really show but it is finally past the bottom of my neck and on to my upper back and shoulders.

I think that pretty much took two years with only periodic thinning and cutting off of the ends.