How long can it go?

I made a recent twitter comment about the kookie things my natural hair was doing to me in public the other day, to the amusement of my fellow Twitter-OTers. (Mission accomplished.)  That led to more silliness and a not-unusual question for ppl who only know each other online of "how long is your hair anyway?"

This shouldn't be a hard question to answer.  I mean, it's hair.  It's this long or that long. Except...well...my hair is kinky-curly.

What does that mean? It means my hair curls so tightly more than half their length is in deep hiding. I'm telling you there are people in witness protection who wish they were hidden as well as the true length of my hair.

To illustrate, here is a picture of my hair taken a few minutes ago.  I've been wearing it in this style nearly all week (except today when I had it up in a little afro-puff).  It's pulled back about 2-3" from my hairline by a very tight headband.

And here's a picture of my hair taken a few minutes later (please excuse my computer glove).  The only difference is that I've randomly chosen a curl, and pulled it out as far as it could comfortably go.  If you could see detail, you'd see that the hair still isn't straight.  If it had been chemically relaxed or otherwise straightened, it'd be even longer!

So how long is my hair?  Eh, it depends...