So I have really fine hair and it also seems to be thinner as of late, although I think that's just because it's getting longer and I'm used to spikey pixie cuts. (Hence the user name! :-P) That being said, I am trying to grow my hair to my shoulders and I'm fighting with myself about how often to get it trimmed and how to deal with the fact that it's so fine...I want volume but not a lot of layers right now since my main objective is for it to just get LONG first. Right now I have side-swept bangs that are getting too long, and I don't know how to deal with that either, and then the longest pieces are about down to my jaw. It pretty much covers my ears at this point. The last stylist I went to cut my hair with a razor and it looked like shit after a few weeks because the ends got all frayed. The only time it looks halfway decent, minus the ends which are totally shot, is when I haven't washed it in a few days and it hasn't quite reached that weighed-down oily stage. I hate this! I feel like a greasy, scraggly mess! Has anyone with fine hair attempted to grow it out and been successful? What were your strategies? I'm taking Biotin because I heard that helped, but I don't think it's doing anything. :-( I really want long hair. I've had short hair for over a decade!

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The biotin takes at least three months, but it might not do anything IMO. My mom has really thin hair too. She has highlights, and somehow those seem to give more volume (or the appearance of it). My hair got thinner when I was on bcp.

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Hm. That's weird because I'm not on birth control. I think it is just because my hair is longer, and last time it was this long, I was dying it black (ew!) every 4 weeks, so obviously the texture was different. I don't know, I shall google it.

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I meant for me the change in my hair was hormonal.

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Try taking pre-natal vitamins.

i have really fine hair too and it is very long. the only way i can get away with long hair is lots of layers in it to give it volume. like jenn said about her mom, i also get mine highlighted to give it more depth.

because mine is fine and also oily at the scalp - i only wash it every other day at most, and when i wash it, i shampoo at the scalp and condition at the ends. i also avoid using a hair dryer as much as possible.

inbetween washings i started using bumble & bumble's "hair powder" and i think it works great to keep it from looking too greasy.

i was told by a stylist that if someone razor cuts your hair to make sure that they only do it every other haircut because it is not good on your ends. i request that the stylists not use the razor techniques on my hair because it also wrecks my ends.

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I have really fine hair and am growing it out myself.
I have thick hair so when my stylist thins it out, she has to do it a certain way so that there isn't a lack of volume.
Don't use the razor, that does shit to your hair.
Tell your stylist to cut your ends at an angle with her scissors.
To thin my hair out, my stylist picks up my hair and snips halfway from root to end under my hair.

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I have very fine hair and not alot of it also. What I do to make it appear that I have a much fuller head of hair is to use a crimper. BUT it also takes time and patience. IMO I think thats the best way without using any products. Hope it helps.

I think I'm gonna have to bite the bullet and get it trimmed soon. For one thing, the back/bottom layer is starting to get kinda Harry Potter looking again. So I think I'll get that evened out and maybe angled slightly, not quite like a bob but just a little less shaggy than now. And then I'm gonna get subtle layers cut into the bangs so they don't fall as flat. Everyone is saying that they like my hair longer and it's finally starting to look reasonably acceptable, despite the party in the back! So that's cool. Even though it is very fine, it doesn't seem damaged and once I get the ends cleaned up, I think it'll look better. I would post examples but I'm drawing a blank here. When my new camera gets here I can take some photos.

For those of you who have grown out short hair, did you find it easier to eventually get it cut to pretty much one length, kinda like a bob, or did you keep the layers and just let them get longer? It just gets so...scraggly! But at the same time, I had a bob WAY too often as a kid!

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I did cut my fine hair really short once, and it was a pain to grow out. I remember having to go in for trims a lot, and it kept it looking decent during the grow-out stage. It may take a little longer to get to your ultimate goal, but at least you will look good in the in-between stages

QFT!! I can't say anything about growing short hair out, but I am adamantly against those buzzer things. Nothing good can come of those!!!!!

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Yeah it's frustrating. If I were still into the punk look, I'd probably just let it all grow at once and put tons of gunk in it and just call it a done deal. But it just ends up looking kinda stringy and ratty, so if anything, I've been trying to cut back on the product and go for something a little more sleek. Well I'm freelance, so at least I don't have to worry about looking presentable EVERY day! And then again, even when I am working, I STILL don't have to look presentable since I work in the film industry and we all know it's not a fashion show. I think the name of the game for me is "low maintenance" at least for now. I just feel like I don't see many women with hair like mine...the texture, I mean, longer than chin-length. I saw a photo of my mom back in her hippie days and she totally rocked the long, straight, parted-in-the-middle deal...but I don't know if that's what I want now. Oh well, at least I don't have to wrestle with a straightener every day.

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i used to grow mine long, then chop it, then grow it long, then chop it. when i was much younger i grew it straight out because i was afraid of layers.

when i got older, i never went past shoulder length without adding layers. but my hair grows like weed - it took me less than two years to go from chopped hair to below my shoulders.

but when i am growing it out, i still get it trimmed every 2-3 months and colored to add interest.

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