What do you consider ’long’?

measuring from my hairline, my hair is 30 and a bit inches long...would you guys count thant as long? (It reaches my elbows.)

Thanks Karen and Dave, well I measured again the way they said on here and it is 23" , now to me this is Long...and gettin longer   I love the support on here it is fantastic and all the great tips.  I agree Karen to me your hair is loooooooooooong, but then when your growing it out it can never be long enuff, I say I want mid back but I know IF it will , I want it longer.  So thanks for the welcome and all the help!!!

Edited by mysty

Hi Mysty,

Welcome to HairTalk.

I often have to categorize the images in our galleries...so here is what I use as a general rule of thumb for defining hair lengths:

1.  No hair - bald
2.  Fuzz covering - fade or fuzz covering
3.  Hair that covers the head but generally above the ears - very short
4.  Hair from the ears to the chin - short hair
5.  Hair from chin to the top of the shoulders - medium length
6.  Hair from shoulders to the bra strap - bra strap length aka BSL
7.  Hair from BSL to the waist - waist length long hair
8.  Hair from Waist to the bottom of the derrierre - Classic length long hair.
9.  From derrierre to mid thigh - thigh length
10. From mid-thigh to knees - knee length
11. From knees to mid calf - calf length
12. From mid calf to ankles - ankle length
13.  From ankles to the floor - floorlength
14.  Floorlength + inches - floorlength plus

When it comes to what is considered long...it is all relative.  It is sort of like how high is up or how hot is hot? 

A lot depends on your height, your weight, your hair texture (curly and wavy hair will not stretch full length w/out help) and your attitude.

I remember when I was first growing out my hair I went to a long hair salon.  The woman making my appontment asked how long my hair was.  I proudly proclaimed that it was at the bottom of my bra clasp.  I was so excited.  She said...oh I can book you because we have time for a short hair at 11:00 am.  I almost cried.

But then I got to the salon and the walls were covered with women with floor length tresses.  Arggghhhhh.

I think when describing your own "long hair" you need to describe it how you feel comfortable.  My own hair is approximately 5" below my waist and would probably be considered "classic length" but sometimes I feel a light brush against the top of my thighs.  What a thrill.  But anyway, I usually say....x inches below my waist.  It feels the best way for me.

Again...it is all subjective. When I am talking to Dave Decker on the phone I feel like I have a crewcut because his hair is sooooo much longer than mine, he has been growing it longer AND he is taller. 

And then there is Lady Godiva (hey LG) who has awesome hair that is wayyyyyyyyyy longer than mine will probably ever be.  So to me, I have relatively short hair, but to everyone here at HB.com they talk about my super long hair.

Find your own comfort zone and chill out there.  :-)

Best wishes,
karen

Edited by Karen Shelton

I get my "personal" classes of hair length from the general population and what I see there.  Given the vast magority of women have hair bra strap or shorter I'll start with that.  Bra Strap of longer, to me is REALLY long.  Bra Strap to 2 or 3 inches below shoulders is long. From there to mid neck is medium.  Mid neck to 2 to 4 inches long is short.  Pixie is very short.  Just my thoughts.

Hi Enfys,

(1) Please don't feel badly.  I don't have terribly much (quantity of) hair beyond the point where it was 3 years ago -- because the last 12-15 inches are quite thin.

What are you gonna do with your next 3 years' growth?  Keep it, and enjoy it? 

(2) Actually, I've never had that problem.  Somehow I've managed to avoid it.  But I do occasionally get hair in odd places.  Always pulling it out of the laundry, both after the washer and the dryer.  And it does tend to pile up on the floor in places - get the toes wrapped in it and I'll hear the occasional "snap" sound 'cause I'm stepping on the other end with the other foot.

Back to the topical question, I certainly don't consider shoulder-length or a bit below (on women) as being "long."  I consider that to be "medium."  To me, "short" is chin or shorter.  Long is at least mid-back, and super-long (to me, on others) is below waist-length.  Even that is biased toward shorter lengths.  Given the extent of my strands, and similar (but opposite) bias of the styling industry, I might consider my hair as super-long, knee-length as long, "classic" length as "medium," and waist-length or less as "short."  Pretty funny, right?  Goes to show you how ridiculous the styling industry's definitions are.

What the salon industry considers long is different from what we'd consider long, that's for sure.  Now, among those of us with long hair, our definitions can even differ, too.

For me, long begins at about BSL location for women and men (if they wore 'em), which is slightly shorter than midback to my eyes.  Then, very long begins about tailbone/classic length, and super long begins about knee length.

As for which measuring system to use (body markers or measuring tape), both have value.  The former is easier to picture and provides natural goal lengths, while the latter provides a more technical system for charting growth rates and projecting goal achievements, as well as comparing lengths on different individuals for scientific purposes like calculating averages.  Body markers just can't be as accurate, because a 5' short-waisted person's hair will be noticably shorter than a 6' long-waisted person's hair, which actually will be much longer, while both are at the same body marker.  For myself, I've learned to provide the inches and immediately note where that falls on my frame, which provides the most complete answer, if someone asks (which they often do).

Jennifer Eve

Welcome back enfys!

Duke...I could almost hear you saying....DUDE....it certainly gave me a good chuckle.

I often receive photos from photographers for review and they will mark them short, medium, long.  WHOA.  The long is often just to the shoulders and I am like rubbing my eyes going.  HUH?  To the outside anyone with hair below the middle of their back is consider to have VERY long hair.  It is pretty amusing what people w/out long hair lust considers the longer lengths. :-)

Good to see you back here, enfys!

Duke, how would you categorize my calf-length hair?

Long is certainly long in relation to the individual person. Here are my (arbitrary but based on how I interpret societal standards) rules of thumb:

Men: if hair covers the ears but is still shaped all around, and is above the collar in the back, it's still, I think medium length. If it gets much longer or is in a bob, that is about the begining of long. Midway between these standards would be "longish", and a mullet is difficult to classify. Sort of half-half.

Women: hair more or less just touching the shoulders "longish". Several inches down the shoulder is the begining of long (I'd say about the tip of the shoulder blades is very clearly so) but not very long.

So few people have hair down to their waist and it is already such a length that I would call that really long already, even elbow length would satisfy this.

"Constrast to the person" for me too.  I still don't feel longhaired, but the point where I noticed the ends of my hair were further from my chin than the length of my face - was where it first started to look "long" to me.  (But maybe that's just because of my long face).