7 Must Do Steps to Cleansing Your Hair

Hello Lovelies!

When it comes to cleansing our hair, I know that everyone uses different products, cleansing schedules, techniques, and so forth, but there are certain things every lady should do, or in some instances not do, when it comes to washing your hair. Cleansing the hair is perhaps the number one time when hair growth setbacks occur. If you want to make sure your hair washing sessions go smoothly and do not interfere with your long hair goals, follow my seven must do tips to cleansing your hair.

1. Detangle Your Hair Prior to Cleansing

No matter your hair type, shampooing your hair without detangling first can spell disaster. Even minor tangles can turn into matting and knots when you saturate your hair with water and add shampoo to the mix. The more controlled your hair is prior to cleansing, the fewer problems you’ll have when you style your hair after you cleanse it.

Bonus Tip: Wash Your Hair in Sections
If you have curly or coily, highly textured hair, washing your hair in sections, such as braids or twists, is a great way to cut down on tangles, and prevent knots and matting during your cleansing sessions.

hair cleansing

2. Massage Shampoo/Cleanser Only Into Your Scalp

Applying shampoo the entire length of your hair is unnecessary. Most of the buildup and excess oils that need to be shampooed rest on the scalp. It’s your scalp that needs the majority of the cleansing action during washing sessions. So only apply shampoo to your scalp and focus most of your attention there.

Additionally, applying shampoo to the length of your hair dries out the portion of your hair that needs moisture the most, the ends. And don’t worry, this technique will get all of your hair clean. Most shampoos are strong enough to cleanse the length of your hair as the suds slides down your strands when you rinse your scalp. It’s also okay to gently squeeze and massage the suds down the length of your hair as you rinse the shampoo from your scalp.

Never use your nails to shampoo your scalp. Avoid massaging shampoo into your scalp with your nails. You could scratch your delicate scalp and cause scabs and sores to form. Instead, massage shampoo into your scalp with the pads of your fingertips. This makes for a much more gentler wash session that is easier on the scalp.

Bonus Tip:
To really protect your ends as you shampoo your scalp, apply a little conditioner on the last 2 to 3 inches of your hair. This way your ends are getting the extra touch of moisture they need while you cleanse your scalp.

3. Never Pile Your Hair On Top Of Your Head

Piling shampoo-filled hair on top of your head will create the worst kind of tangles. At least when your hair tangles while it’s hanging down, you can pull the tangles out in a downward motion, but when your hair tangles in one big pile, you have no idea which way pull to remove the tangles, and each pull can create even more tangles. I’ve had the unfortunate experience of having to cut a friends hair after she washed it this way, so moral of the story, just don’t pile your hair on top of your head while you’re shampooing.

4. Shampooing Once is Sufficient, Twice Only If Your Hair Needs It

Unless you’ve been rolling around in mud, you only need to shampoo your hair once during most wash sessions. Now if you have tons of build-up, it’s okay to shampoo twice, but shampooing more than that will completely strip your hair of all oils. If you have an oily scalp, shampooing more times could actually make your oily scalp worse.

5. Always Follow Up Shampoo/Cleansing Sessions with a Conditioner

Whenever you shampoo your hair, you should, always, I mean always, follow-up with conditioner. It doesn’t have to be a deep conditioner, but it should be a conditioner with good ingredients that puts moisture back into your hair. If nothing else, following up with conditioner after you shampoo will detangle your hair. Only apply conditioner to the ends of your hair, never the scalp, because that will just create unnecessary buildup and clog your scalp’s pores. Start about an inch or two away from the scalp, and apply conditioner down the length of your hair.

6. Gently Detangle Your Hair While It’s Saturated With Conditioner

Conditioner saturated hair is the opportunity to gently finger detangle your hair, especially if your hair is curly or coily and highly textured. The slippery feeling conditioner gives your hair helps melt away tangles and knots that may have formed while you shampooed. Slip also gives a thin protective coating to your hair that makes the strands easier to separate as opposed to when they are dry.

7. Never Use a Towel to Dry Your Hair

I’ve always wondered, who thought of drying something so delicate as hair with a rugged towel because it‘s a silly idea. Even the softest Egyptian cotton towel in the world will shred through your hair and give you split ends when you vigorously rub it against your hair. Simply squeezing water out of your hair is a great way to remove excess water from your strands. Now it’s okay to use something like a turbie twist if you’re just placing it on your hair to let it absorb water. Or better yet, use one of these to dry your hair. It also functions as a great way to set your curls.

How to Build a Hair Care Regimen

By Renee Price

Hello Lovelies

If you want longer hair it won‘t come by happenstance, you need a plan; and in the beauty world, that plan is known as a hair care regimen. A hair care regimen is nothing more than a structured routine in which you perform basic and some specialized hair care practices. Building a hair care regimen requires a bit of trial and error, mostly in regard to finding the proper hair care products and practices to address your specific hair care needs. In the beginning, forming your hair care plan may be a bit overwhelming, but I have laid out a few steps to make the task easier and help you develop a solid basis to build your hair care regimen.

1. Know Your Hair Type

Figuring out your hair type should be the very first step in building a hair care regimen. Some people think that hair type is irrelevant and should not factor in to how your care for your hair, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Different hair types require different manners of care. For instance, someone with type 4 hair may need to moisturize their hair with heavy moisturizing products to prevent their hair from becoming dry. This would be a bad idea for someone who has type 1 hair that is known for being oily all on it’s own. So you see, what works for one hair type may not work for another, and finding your texture will enable you to further determine your hair’s unique ins and outs and needs.

Know your hair type

2. Determining the Condition of Your Hair

Know the condition of your hair Knowing your hair’s current condition is the most important step in building a hair care regimen. Your hair’s condition tells you exactly what your hair needs for optimal health, and it also can clue you in on the hair care practices that are keeping your locks from being in their best shape. For example, if you suffer from extensive breakage, you need to pin point exactly what hair care practices caused the breakage. Once you find out what caused your hair to break, you can stop these practices immediately and work on a remedy to nurse your hair back to health. Breakage is just one condition you should check for when assessing the health of your hair. You should also determine your hair’s porosity, moisture level, strength and the health of your scalp when building your hair care regimen.

3. Cleansing & Conditioning Schedule

A healthy scalp is the foundation of healthy hair. Keeping your hair and scalp clean is essential to growing long hair. The thing is, the old adage of washing your hair everyday doesn’t work for everyone. In fact, washing your hair everyday, especially with harsh shampoos, can be quite harmful.

You should follow up each cleansing with a moisturizing conditioner. Moisturizing conditioners will replenish the moisture in your hair that shampooing took out. If you cleanse your hair more than once a week, you skip the shampoo and cleanse your hair with conditioner. Conditioner washing, also known as co-washing, is so much more healthy for the hair than frequent shampoos. Most conditioners have all the ingredients you need to cleanse the scalp. In fact, in my humble opinion, the only time you really need to shampoo the hair is when you’re experiencing lots of build-up.

4. Deep Conditioning Schedule

Deep conditioning is in my opinion the most important step to growing long hair. Every lady I know who has long, healthy hair has made a lifestyle out of deep conditioning. No matter your hair type or your hair’s current condition, you should be deep conditioning at least once a week. Your deep conditioning schedule may be more frequent, but this is a good base line to start with. What you deep condition your hair with is important as well because all conditioners are not created equal. Some conditioners only serve the purpose of making your hair more manageable, such as moisturizing conditioners, and then there are conditioners, namely deep conditioners, that serve the purpose of nourishing your hair.

5. Protein Strengthening Schedule

It’s amazing how important protein is to growing all sorts of things on our body. If you want to grow large muscles, you need an adequate amount of protein. If you want to grow long healthy nails, you need to consume lots of protein. If you want long healthy hair, guess what! Yep, you need protein, inside and out.

Now let’s infuse a little science here and go back to biology/chemistry class. The main structural element of human hair is keratin, a protein. Like any protein, heat and chemicals can denature or breakdown the keratin bonds in your hair overtime. This is why constant use of heat and harsh hair dyes damages your hair. Normal wear and tear breaks down the keratin bonds in your overtime as well.

Protein strengthening is the best way to repair the breaks and tears in your hair. A protein strengthener is simply a conditioner that contains proteins. As far as how often you should apply a protein strengthener to your hair, well that depends on your hair’s condition and what you do to your hair. If your hair is unprocessed and in fairly good health, meaning no split ends and no breakage, then it’s okay to use a mild strengthener every 6 to 8 weeks to prevent damage and fix any minor damage before it becomes a major problem. If you straighten or blow dry your hair often, you should strengthen your hair just as often. Go for a protein treatment that is moderate in strength and treat your hair every four to six weeks. If your hair is chemically straightened, dyed, or processed any other way, you should use a hard protein strengtheners more frequently, possibly every two to four weeks to repair the damage that these processes do to your hair.

6. Styling Schedule

Now I know most of us gals get inspired by our favorite celebrities when they unveil a new hairstyle and we want to mimic that style immediately, but ladies, you shouldn’t do that. Aside from the fact that celebrities are often the worst people to mimic our hair care after, frequently styling and handling your hair increases the risk of knots, tangles, damage and split ends. If you want to grow long hair, you should become really comfortable with something called low-manipulation protective hairstyles.

Low-manipulation protective styles are hairstyles that you can wear for several days at a time without restyling. The benefit of low-manipulation protective styles is that your hair gets a break from frequent combing and general handling and you increase your chances of retaining length. A low manipulation protective style can be as simple as a messy bun that you do not restyle for two to three days, to as efficient as a braided up-do that you do not restyle for several weeks. Less fuss and longer hair? Sounds like a win-win to me, girls!

Now how long you keep a low-manipulation protective style largely depends on your hair type and cleansing schedule. You lovelies with straighter hair that needs to be cleansed more frequently will probably keep your low-manipulation protective styles in for no more than a few days. You lovelies with curlier more textured hair that doesn’t need to be cleansed as often can keep your low-manipulation protective styles in for a number of weeks!

7. Sticking to your Hair Care Regimen

Once you find a hair care regimen that works for you, it’s important to stay the course. This is where many ladies will start to veer off course and experiment with all sorts of things, trust me, it happens. So many ladies veer off track of their hair care regimen because once the journey in figuring out what your hair needs, you’re pretty much just doing the same things to your hair until you reach your goal. Sounds pretty boring right? It’s just like losing weight. Once we find out what we need to do to get there, the challenge in losing the weight is sticking to it. So ladies, once you figure out what your hair needs to thrive, you must be disciplined and determined to reach your long hair goals.

8. Reevaluating your Hair Care Regimen

As your hair becomes healthier and grows longer, your hair’s needs will change. Those changes may be slight for some of you and considerable for others because certain hair care practices and hair products will no longer serve your needs. For instance, if you suffer from shedding and you’ve included a special product or practice in your hair care regimen to alleviate it, once you resolve your shedding problem, you no longer need those products or practices.

Every few months, you should reassess your hair care regimen. As you reassess your regimen, look for areas in which you have improved, areas where you need more work and new problems that may not have existed at a prior time. The best way to keep track of your hair care regimen and long hair goals is by keeping a hair journal. You can include pictures and notes or practically anything you want in your journal that will help you reach your goals. A long hair journal also has the added benefit of helping you see how far you’ve come in your long hair journey. For many of you ladies, this will provide the motivation you need to keep stick to your long hair goals!

In conclusion, building a long hair care regimen requires honesty about some current hair care practices that may be harming your hair, and the adaptation of certain hair care practices you may have thought were unnecessary. Additionally, no hair care regimen will be the same because no two heads of hair are the same. However, if you develop a plan that is tailored specifically to your hair care needs and you consistently stick to this plan, you are virtually guaranteed to yield results and see more hair growth than you’ve ever experienced.

Cleansing Relaxed Hair

By Renee Price

Hello Lovelies!

For those of you with relaxed hair, cleansing and washing your hair will involve a bit of a trial and error. Washing relaxed hair is rather tricky. Relaxed hair is often porous and extremely susceptible to outside aggravators, such as wind. Relaxed hair is most fragile when it is wet, so it is important to wash relaxed hair with the proper products and manual manipulation to improve your hair’s health and length retention.

Use the Right Shampoo for Relaxed Hair

Because relaxed hair tends to be porous and susceptible to raised cuticles, it is important to use shampoos with the proper pH to cleanse your relaxed hair. Relaxed hair ladies should also avoid harsh shampoos that contain detergents, such as sodium laureth sulfate, which tend to be drying to relaxed hair. Mixing a bit of baking soda with your shampoo can make build-up and heavy oils easier to remove from your relaxed hair.
cleansing relaxed hair

Wash Relaxed Hair in Sections

If you have a bit of length to your relaxed hair, consider washing it in sections. Similar to type 4 hair, relaxed hair can tangle and mat during washing sessions, even though the hair is chemically straightened. Braid the hair in two or more sections, and focus on cleansing the scalp only. Don’t worry about shampooing the length of the braids, the run off from the shampoo will glide down your tresses and clean build-up. If your relaxed hair isn’t long enough to wash in sections, just focus on cleansing your scalp with diluted shampoo to cut down on tangles and matting.

To Co-Wash Relaxed Hair or Not to Co-Wash Relaxed Hair

Co-washing is a great way to keep relaxed hair moist; co-washing is also a great way to keep your new-growth manageable in between relaxers. Co-washing isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but since relaxed hair typically needs more protein than moisture, it’s easy to over moisturize relaxed hair if you co-wash too often. If you decide to co-wash, it’ll take a bit of trial and error to find the proper frequency. If your hair’s protein/moisture balance is in check, it’s okay to co-wash up to a few times a week. However, if your hair’s protein/moisture balance is out of whack or completely nonexistent, it is best to skip co-washing until you get your protein/moisture balance under control.

Cleansing Type 4 Hair

By Renee Price

Hello Lovelies!

For those of you ladies with type 4 hair, cleansing is perhaps the simplest part of your hair care regimen. If I had to think of one word to describe how I feel about hair cleansing for your type 4 ladies, it would have to be, “jealous!” Yes, jealous! I say this because you ladies on average don’t have to cleanse your hair nearly as often as any other hair types. Why? Well, type 4 hair tends to be the driest of all hair types; simply because the oils from the scalp rarely, if ever, travel down the hair strands. This also means that type 4 hair doesn’t get as dirty as often as other hair types, so washing your hair every week just isn’t necessary. Additionally, washing your hair often could cause more harm than good for type four hair.

Type four hair is the most fragile hair type. Because hair in general is most fragile while it is wet, frequently wetting type 4 hair places highly textured strands at a significant risk of breakage and damage. So my word of advice, only, and I mean only wash your hair when it’s absolutely dirty.

Don’t be Afraid of Shampoo

cleansing type 4 hair

Unlike other hair types, I think shampoo should be the main cleanser type 4 ladies use. Type 4 ladies probably benefit the least from most than any other hair type from conditioner washing. Now don’t get me wrong, if you have short type 4 hair, co-washing is fine and actually a great way to keep your hair moist as it grows longer. However, as you retain more length to your type 4 hair, the benefits are sort of negligible.

If you have type 4 hair, chances are you’ll be using heavier hair products to keep your hair moist and manageable in between washes. Those products can cause buildup that only shampoo can remove, and adding co-washing on top of heavy products can add more buildup to the hair. It’s okay to use shampoo as your main cleanser if you have type 4 hair because you won’t be shampooing as often as other hair types. However, I would recommend that you dilute your shampoos with water, or use natural or DIY homemade shampoos to mitigate the drying effect on your hair.

Mechanics of Hair Cleansing for Type 4 Hair

Unlike other hair types that can wash their hair while it’s lose and free, for many type 4 ladies, this spells for tangles, matting and an all around disaster. Prior to washing highly textured hair, I’d recommend pre-pooing with oil and lightly detangling the hair to prevent tangling during washing. Additionally, if you have enough length, braid or twist your hair into sections before washing, and cleanse your hair while it’s in braids. Don’t worry about the length of your hair, the run off from the water and cleanser as your rinse your scalp is more than enough to cleans the strands of your hair.

Cleansing Type 3 Hair

By Renee Price

Hello Lovelies,

If you have type 3 curly hair, you’ve probably heard that you don’t need to wash it often, and while technically that is true, you may benefit from washing it more frequently, especially during the dry, cold weather months.

Curly Hair Needs Moisture

Type 3 hair tends to be dry and frizzy, and this usually stems from a lack of moisture. In order for your curly hair to thrive and grow long, it needs moisture. Washing your hair at least once a week will provide the majority of the moisture that your hair needs to prevent dryness. However, washing your hair frequently with the wrong products can cause more harm than good for your curls.

Additionally, I would recommend that you only wash your hair when it feels dirty. How will you know it’s dirty? Well it may begin to look dull, exhibit a lack of shine or just generally feel dry. You may also notice some buildup or your hair may begin to feel oily, it truly depends on the thickness of your hair. You may have to experiment with this step and go through some trial and error before you arrive at the proper frequency for cleansing your hair.

Limit Shampoo Usage

In my opinion, no other hair type benefit’s the most from letting go or mitigating the use of shampoo. Of course, this practice is more commonly known as co-washing. Co-washing will work very well to cleanse your scalp and give your type 3 hair the moisture it needs. Now, if you plan to co-wash frequently, it is important that you use conditioners that are made for co-washing. This means that the conditioner will not leave behind residue or buildup that can only be removed with the use of a clarifying shampoo.

Curly Hair Cleansing Through the Seasons

No other hair textures are more affected by the changing of the seasons than curlier hair textures. Because the natural oils produced by the scalp rarely travel down the strands of curly hair textures, curly hair is naturally dry, no matter the time of year. When you throw dry, cold weather into the equation, curly hair can feel like a desert during the winter months. To combat dryness during the winter, you may need to wash your hair more frequently. Simply washing your hair one more day each week or every other week will work well at keeping your hair moist during the cold weather months.

Cleansing Type 2 Hair

By Renee Price

Hello lovelies!

Similar to type 1 hair, if you have wavy hair, you don’t have to wash it everyday. The natural oils that your scalp produces can travel quite a ways down the length of your, so wavy hair still tends to be quite moisturized on it’s own. However, type 2 hair is still susceptible to dryness, especially the ends of the hair. Additionally, unlike type 1 hair, type 2 wavy hair is prone to product buildup and frizz. So lovelies, certain products are an absolute no-no when it comes to cleansing wavy hair, especially if you plan to cleanse your hair more than once a week.

Detangle Your Hair

Always begin each cleansing session by detangling your hair. Hair that is prone to frizzing up is also prone to tangles. Washing your hair without detangling can lead to even more tangles and a complete mess when you wash your hair. Use a wide tooth comb to gently detangle your waves prior to washing, or simply detangle your hair with your hands before cleansing your waves.

Be Mindful of Your Shampoo and Keep Usage to a Minimum

cleansing type 2 wavy hair Like most people, wavy haired girls are accustomed to using shampoo to cleanse their hair and scalp. However, the harsh detergents that are in most shampoos can wreck havoc on wavy hair if used too often. Now because wavy hair girls tend to use heavier hair products than someone with type 1 hair, wavy hair ladies have to use shampoo at some time to prevent product buildup. However, you don’t have to use shampoo as often as you think. It’s okay to only shampoo your hair once or maybe twice a month to remove oils and products from your hair. A clarifying shampoo is the best type of shampoo to use for product buildup. However, I only recommend that you use a natural clarifying shampoo to preserve as much moisture in your hair as possible.

Co-Washing Wavy Hair

You wavy hair gals will benefit greatly from conditioner washes or co-washes. Co-washing simply means washing your hair with conditioner instead of shampoo. Co-washing type 2 wavy hair keeps the hair moisturized and prevents dryness that often begets frizz. How often you co-wash your hair depends on the products you use and your lifestyle. For instance, if you workout frequently, you may want to co-wash after each workout to remove sweat from your scalp and hair and to keep your waves refreshed. If you use styling products such as gel or products that contain alcohol (which I don’t recommend for you wavy hair or curly hair ladies) you may need to co-wash a few times a week as well to keep your hair moist. As a bare minimum, I’d say co-washing two to three times a week is sufficient for most curly hair girls.

Hair Rinses

In between wash days, if you need to refresh your hair and scalp. You can simply rinse your hair with a stream of warm water under a strong shower head. Or you could try a DIY hair rinse to give your hair a quick boost if you’re short on time.

Cleansing Type 1 Hair

By Renee Price

Hello Lovelies

Contrary to popular belief, if you have naturally straight hair, you don’t necessarily have to wash it everyday, and if you want to grow your hair to longer lengths, washing your hair every other day or every few days may be beneficial to your long hair journey. There are two primary reasons for this:

1. Not washing your hair as frequently allows the natural oils, or sebum, that your scalp produces to sit on the hair longer. This provides more natural moisture and nutrients for the length of your hair.

2. Washing your hair with commercial shampoos that contain harsh sulfates and detergents can strip your hair of it’s natural oils and cause extreme dryness and brittleness overtime and delay your long hair goals.

cleansing type 1 hair If you must wash your hair everyday, avoid commercial shampoos that contain any of these harmful ingredients or skip shampoo all together! Co-washing is a great alternative to shampooing your hair, but you straight hair gals have to be careful not to overdo it. I say this because straighter hair is already naturally oily, and you don’t need any additional build-up that can only be removed with commercial shampoos, which I just suggested you avoid. The most you need anyway to cleanse your scalp is warm water. Also, if you only want to cleanse your scalp, consider a dry shampoo or a natural scalp cleansing method.

If you are between washes, or you are trying to extend your washes and you need to refresh your hair, simply apply a light moisturizing conditioner. You only need to apply about a dime size amount throughout the length of your hair, apply a quarter size amount for longer lengths. Then gently comb through your hair with a wide tooth comb and allow to air dry. Dry shampoos are also a great way to refresh your hair in between wash days.

The Truth About Long Hair – This Site’s Big Fat Confession

By Renee Price

Hello Lovelies!

So, I have something to tell you, and it’s the hard, absolute truth. There’s no other way around it, so here it is:

There is no way that you can scientifically make your hair grow faster!

Yes, lovelies, it just isn’t possible, and if anyone tells you that it is, run fast! I know most of you have arrived here for tips to grow your hair faster, but the truth is there is nothing out there that has been proven to accelerate hair growth faster than the average rate. That means, there is no way your hair will grow 2 inches in one month. Granted some people, by some freak of nature, have grown two inches in one month, I can guarantee you it isn’t the norm, and most likely no one has ever consistently grown their hair 2 inches every month.

Throwing Light On Some Common “Hair Growth Aids”

Will Vitamins Make My Hair Grow Faster?

Nope. Not if your diet already gives you all of the vitamins and minerals you need. If you are not getting all of your vitamins and minerals from your food, then yes, vitamins will make your hair grow faster than it has in the past, but not faster than the average growth rate. If vitamins and minerals appear to make your hair grow faster, that just means your body was starving for nutrition in the past.

So don’t load up on excess amounts of vitamins that claim to grow your hair faster. There is proof that too much vitamin E can slow your hair growth and too much vitamin A can actually make you lose your hair. Yikes!

Will Monistat Make My Hair Grow Faster?

I’ve been hearing about some women using Monistat as a growth aid. Will it make your hair grow faster? Umm, no. There has been no scientific study proving that miconazole nitrate, the active ingredient in Monistant (yes the yeast infection cream), can make your hair grow faster. I think some women have reached the conclusion that Monistat will make their hair grow because it has the same active ingredient as MSM, another common “growth aid.” MSM is next.

So I’m Guessing MSM doesn’t Increase Hair Growth Either?

You betcha it doesn’t. Yes, there are studies that have shown that horses and sheep that are treated with topical MSM experience increased hair growth, but guess what ladies…You are a human! There is no peer reviewed study on humans that shows that MSM works to grow our hair at a faster rate than normal.

What About Natural Oils and Supplements Like Garlic?

Certain natural oils like emu oil and supplements like garlic can treat alopecia-related hair loss and induce regrowth in previously damaged follicles. However, the new hair in previous damaged follicles will still grow at the average rate of hair growth. Many people who experience regrowth after periods of damage and hair loss mistakenly think their hair is going into some super growth mode, but it’s not. It’s just growing again because you’re treating it with tender love and care.

So why am I even here?

You’re here to learn how to care for and preserve your hair. You’re here to un-learn the bad hair habits of your past and learn new habits that are conducive to growing long hair. I always tell you ladies that growing long hair takes patience and discipline. This is precisely why; it takes time to grow long hair. Time is going to pass whether you grow long hair or not. So ladies, we have to get out of the fantasy mode of thinking that we have to grow 5 inches of hair in two months and do what we know is necessary to have long, healthy hair.

How Fast Does Hair Grow?

By Renee Price

Hello lovelies!

How fast does hair grow? This is a question that is likely to cross your mind if you are desperate for longer hair. Well, for some the answer may be not fast enough, for others it may seem as if their hair doesn’t grow at all. However, the truth is, as long as you’re alive, your hair is always growing! In fact, hair has a specific rate at which it grows.

Can You Really Grow Hair Faster?

Growth Rates

While our hair may seem like it grows when it wants to, human hair actually has a specific rate at which it grows, this is called a growth rate. According to the U.S Center for Disease Control (CDC), scalp hair grows at an average rate of 0.50 inches (1.25 cm) per month, or one-eighth of an inch every week. This means the average person grows 6 inches of hair per year. Of course stress, diet and certain illnesses can slow or stop the rate of your hair growth, but under normal circumstances, your hair is always growing. Primarily, genetics determines natural growth rates, which differs from person to person, and in some cases, no two people within the same family will have the same growth rate. Here is a bit of science for you all about how hair grows.

Growth Cycles

Hair grows in a series of phases, also known as cycles, the first being the Anagen phase. The Anagen phase is the period in which your hair actively grows. At any given time, 90 percent or more of your hair is in the Anagen phase, meaning 90 percent or more of your hair is always growing. This phase varies in length anywhere from 2 years all the way up to 8 years. Every hair on your head will not grow at the same pace, nor will they have the same Anagen phase. Factors such as ethnicity and age affects the length of this phase or the terminal or longest length your hair can reach. This is the most important stage in the hair growth cycle in regards to making your hair grow faster.

Lengthening the anagen phase, or the amount your hair grows in your set anagen phase, is the key to obtain longer hair at a faster rate (not necessarily increase the growth rate). There are a couple of things that supposedly increase the anagen phase of the growth cycle.

Lengthening the Anagen Phase

If you want to grow longer hair, longer than what even your genetics determines you can grow, the anagen phase is the phase in the hair growth cycle that you absolutely need to target. Now, it may seem impossible to lengthen something that’s already genetically predetermined, but once again, science proves to us that it is possible.

There are 3 scientifically proven ways that we know of thus far that can lengthen the anagen phase and allow humans to grow longer hair than what was previously thought possible. I wrote about those three hair growth methods in another article. You can check it out here!

The second phase of hair growth, the Catagen phase, is a two week transitional phase in which the hair follicle renews itself. During this phase, the hair loses it’s blood supply and doesn’t grow. In fact, the hair follicle shrinks to about 16 percent of it’s original length during this growth phase.

The last growth phase, the telogen phase, is a one to four month resting phase where the hair lays dormant. At any given moment, about 10 percent of your hair is at rest in this phase. When the telogen phase is complete, a new growing strand pushes the telogen strand out of the follicle and the anagen phase starts again for that particular follicle.

How Fast Does Hair Grow By Ethnicity

Ultimately, scientists claim certain factors such as ethnicity, age and other factors determines how fast your hair grows. I found a study that purports that Asian hair has the fastest growth rate, with an average growth rate of 6.3 inches per year. The study found that Caucasian hair has the second fastest growth rate, with an average growth rate of 5 inches per year. African hair had the slowest growth rate with an average growth rate of 4.3 inches per year.

The difference in growth rates is supposedly attributed to the difference in the shape and thickness of individual hair strands. If you take a cross section of a strand of Asian hair, the hair strand will have a round, cylindrical shape. If you take a cross section of a Caucasian hair strand, the hair strand will have a flatter, more oval shape. If you take a cross section of a African hair strand, the hair strand will have a flatter, more oval shape than any other hair type.

While the studies results appear valid, I think growth rates for all ethnicities tend to be fairly the same, in contrast to this study. Here is why:

1. The study only followed about 30 women, and the study only followed these women for one point in time during the year as opposed to multiple times during the year.

2. All hair types have the same number of cuticle layers, hair protein complex and hair strength, which are all things that factor into how our hair grows.

3. The study doesn’t say what condition the women’s hair was in at the time of the study; this would greatly affect how much length each woman retained. When trying to grow long hair, it is the condition of your hair and how much growth you retain that matters most, not necessarily how fast your hair grows.

As a whole, Asian women, especially women who follow Indian hair care practices, traditionally have more hair practices that are conducive to growing long hair. Caucasian women and African women typically have hair practices that aren’t as conducive to growing longer hair (we tend to dye, relax, style and just outright abuse our hair more than other women), hence the assumed shorter growth rates in the study. The truth is there is a standard growth rate, but it’s how you handle and care for your hair that greatly affects how much length you retain; certain hair practices can cause damage to the hair and give the appearance of a slower growth rate when in fact the hair may be breaking as a result of damage.

Retention More Important than Growth Rate

No matter how fast your hair grows, if you don’t retain much of your hair growth, your hair won’t reach longer lengths. So exactly what is retention? Retention is simply preserving as much hair that grows out of your scalp and keeping it as healthy as possible.

For instance, if your hair grows a 0.5 inches per month, but you are trimming 0.25 inches from your hair each month, or if you get a 1 inch hair cut three times a year, within a years time you will only retain 3 inches of hair. However, if your hair grows at a rate of 0.4 inches a month (a hypothetical figure) and you adopt healthy hair care practices, and you preserve each inch of hair, within a years time you will retain 4.8 inches of hair.

The ends of the hair are the most important portion of the hair to retain. That is because the ends of the hair are the oldest part of the hair, so they are typically more exposed to damage. Several things can bring about damage to the hair, from everyday wear and tear to styling the hair with flat irons. The bottom line is that the ends of the hair will eventually become weathered, but with healthy hair care practices it is possible to give the ends of your hair the utmost care and maximize how much hair you retain.

« Previous Page