ATF/CF retirement

You're expecting predictability where none exists. Dancers stop dancing for multitudes of reasons, and they come back to dancing for just as many reasons (typically driven by money, though). The best way to stay in touch with a dancer is to ask them to share a phone number or customer-facing social media account. But they can still fall off the map if they decide to leave dancing behind.

It's okay to like and even care for particular dancers. Some guys here have known dancers for 10 years or more. But even then it's not a great idea to catch feelings or "fall in love" with a dancer. I'm not sure where your "strong liking" falls on that spectrum.

If a dancer evaporates into thin air, you should not expect or try to predict when/if she's coming back. That way, you can be pleasantly surprised if she does.

There's no set time or rotation. Some dancers stay at the same club forever others jump from club to club, others only dance for a short period then move on to something else.
When I think of all the faves I had over the years that just quit or disappeared it's disappointing considering that I haven't met a dancer I'd consider a favorite for what seems to be a few years.
But hey, there's always the possibility that another fave is just around the corner.

Strippers come and go. Don't stick with one one stripper. Play the field.

A year and a half sounds about right for an average for how long regulars last. The longest one I had was six years. I 've had four that lasted 3 years. They find a guy to live with, move to another city, don't like the strip club manager, or get a better job offer. The typical stripper lifestyle is unhealthy with too much drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and junk food. This sometimes causes a fast decline in looks that leads to lower incomes and an inability to continue to make money as a stripper.

I used to develop a strong attachment to my regulars, but I've come to realize this is a temporary and pretty shallow relationship. I don't believe, though, that it is entirely a business transaction. They like it that I picked them out of all the girls in the strip club to pay attention to. Women like being noticed and like men taking care of them. Some of them come from an unstable environment where the men in their life from their father down to their boyfriends are undependable. Their male customer regular relationships may last longer than many of their non-customer male relationships last.

Sometimes there is a second act where they come back, and you can resume the regular relationship. I don't try to see them after they leave the profession. I'm too old to be a boyfriend and don't care about being a sugar daddy. I had dinner with my six-year regular after she left, and she was a different person. Not a bad person, just a different one. The friendly stripper you liked so much disappears after she leaves the profession. I don't care about being one of her fifty Facebook friends or having a rare dinner with an ex-regular. When they leave, I think of it as an opportunity to meet someone new.

Reasons I've seen that strippers who are still making good money leave:
1. They were studying for a straight job, and they got the straight job.
2. The fall in love with an SO who is not OK with them stripping. They often come back. Some will sneak into the club from time to time, when they can do it behind the SO's back.
3. They move to a different club. So you can go there and see them, if it's not in a far away location. They often come back.
4. They get assaulted and/or drugged by a PL. This fortunately is the least common reason but it happens. Sometimes 4 is what leads to 3.

Most of my favorites seem to last around 3 to 4 years, only three so far danced for more than 7 years and stayed among my favorites the whole time.

I've lost several who "retired" from dancing to enter a civvy profession they'd been studying for. Typically, I knew them for the 3-4year window of their educational program. While a bit of a cliché, some of the dancers actually are in college or a training program, and looking forward to their graduation into a more socially acceptable/enduring line of work. I've also gotten lucky to see a couple who eventually returned, but alas - some I think are gone forever.

The most important factor is if she wanted to stay in touch she would.

I've had little success in predicting if a stripper will be around for a long time or not. It's not accurate to call it random, but as others noted there are a wide range of reasons a stripper may disappear and it's basically pointless to speculate. It's safe to say it probably won't last forever though.

If you'd like to keep up with a stripper you've become fond of & a regular patron of, ask her for a way to do so. I'm not a social media guy, so I always ask for a phone number, but if you're comfortable with using social media do that. Before you go exchanging contact info though, search around some of the other threads on the site about burner numbers and stuff, as there are some potential privacy concerns that may arise depending on your situation and some pretty cheap & easy solutions.

Someone else mentioned, getting too invested or attached is probably a bad idea. Both for your well-being, but also hers. You need to think about your boundaries as well being mindful and respectful of hers. She's probably not interested in you and it's low risk she'll become a stalker. But you could piss her or maybe her friends, family, significant other off and you'll want to try to avoid that drama. She's got the same concerns, only instead of being low risk of being stalked she's actually quite high risk. Expect her to take steps to keep you at a safe distance and don't try to fight her on it. Keep the distance, its best for both of you. Don't be the jackass demanding her real name and/or real number or address or any of that shit. And if you reach out and she doesn't respond, let it go and move on. Don't hound the poor girl dozens of times. You don't want to be that thirsty or that creepy.

It's quite normal to be in the middle though. Exchange numbers, exchange texts about scheduling or location changes, maybe make arrangements to meet each other ITC or OTC. It's also quite normal for that to end abruptly, take along break, or go on that way until you get bored of each other. I've also had a number of girls give me a warning before they move on, either literally moving to another area or moving to another line of work. And as others mentioned, it's not unheard of for them to come back or to reach out to certain customers periodically while remaining mostly retired.