Do you think I can purposefully grow it longer?

I think you certainly can.  There used to be a lady online who also had fine hair, and she got hers longer than that - I think it made classic length.  Just be really careful with it, and get small trims if you see any splits (or search and destroy the splits individually), because splits can climb the hair, so that can hinder your goal.  If you do the trim yourself, you don't have to worry about the salon taking off too much, (you have to be wary of them, sometimes they cut off inches).  A small trim only needs to be one fourth of an inch, not very much at all. 

That said, your hair does not look split to me, I was not advocating you to get a trim by saying that, you will have to decide when or if you see any splits.

Classic length is fingertip length. I think if you check the directory page it has a lot of the different ways to explain how long your hair is. It also explains the abbreviations like BSL for Bra Strap Length. (Wow I just got back from an english class and I mispelled the world badly!!)

Really? I'd always heard it being fingertip since there isn't a good place to say between waist and knee and Hip. ALthough I guess you could go with mid thigh. But I like classic length. It sounds.....classy!!

To be exact (at least, using the definition the way I learned it way back), classic length is at the crease right below your rear end.  This is pretty close to fingertip length on some people, but its past waist length.

If you only have one or two splits here and there, search and destroy may work best for you.  You just sift through your hair and trim off each individual hair right above the split with very sharp scissors, straight across, not at an angle (these are tips for preventing more splits).  Its up the individual, really though, how often or how much they cut when they go about their trims.

Some people swear by hair vitamins, but they never did a thing for my hair, so I'm sure you'll be fine without them as long as you eat a balanced diet, making sure you eat foods in each day that have all the nutrients you need.

I don't know if there's a list of foods that are better than others for hair.  You just want to be sure you get enough of each vitamin, and enough protein. 

I personally don't take vitamins, but I try to get some of each of the following every day if I can get it:  Orange food (oranges or carrots) citrus; leafy vegetables like spinach; nuts, beans, cheese, eggs or coconut for protein; milk or ice cream for calcium; butter or olive oil for fat and cholesterol (yes, a small amount of fat and cholesterol is actually good for you); and avocado if I can get it.  I don't eat meat, but people can get protein and fat from that too.  If you can get a little of each of those in each day, you should be set for your vitamins. 

Also if you eat fortified breakfast cereal, that usually is packed full of iron and other vitamins (so much iron I don't eat that stuff, it tends to build up in my blood, but its good if you tend toward having low iron).

Looking at your hair was like looking at mine in the mirror. Before I started growing my hair, I got a lot of my taper cut off in May of this year (without my permission may I add). My hair is very fine as well but I have layers in my hair. I am hoping it will thicken up once the layers have grown out.

My long term length plan is to do microtrims myself and cut off 0.25" to 0.5" off my hair every three to four months and when my hair is waist curly which I estimate to be in May 09. From that point on, I am going to maintain my hair at waist curly until the layers catch up slightly (I still want layers but longer layers). My hair always seems to get a kickstart when I trim my hair.

Edited by 30isthenewblack - August 29 2008 at 9:21pm

Hip dreams.  Your hair reminds me of mine when I was growing out a bad layered cut.  I did not want to trim the ends, but I wanted fullness.  What I did was create a clip-on hair extension to wear just on the bottom of my head.  I wore this extension for a few years and it really helped my hair grow nice.

 

 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v714/Kimbearly/IMG_0712_1.jpg?t=1220747427

 

 

Edited by Kimbearly - September 06 2008 at 7:35pm

30, I love your hair!  Girls pay big $$$$$ to have a weave done like that, and yours is all natural.  Best of luck getting to your goal length.  Don't give up because it will look amazing.

You have beautiful long hair. Congrats :) You can definately grow it longer Id try to go to waist length if i were you :) What do you think?