¨Help! my hair is not growing¨ | Facts about Hair growth

Hello Naturalistas,

How are you doing? How are you protecting your hair? My hair is in a protective style now. Anyways on to the business of today. Alot of my new natural friends always complain that their hair is not growing and this is a very very common thing I hear alot. I decided to address it today.

1 Year 8 months

First to burst your bubble, Your hair is actually growing. On average a person grows about 1/2 inch or 1.25cm of hair each month. There are 3 phases to hair growth; 

Anagen Phase- new hair grows, this phase usually last from 3-5 years but can be longer for some people. When you see individuals with extremely long hair they probably have a longer than average anagen phase. About 90% of hair is in this phase at one time.

Catagen phase-the hair begins to transition into a rest phase, it is the end of the growth phase. About 1% of hair is in this phase at one time. This is the shortest phase and usually only last a couple of weeks.

Telogen phase the hair is no longer growing and eventually sheds. About 10% of hair is in this phase at a time; it typically lasts 3-6 months. So, shedding isn't entirely a bad thing. 

However, We have some bad habits that doesn't help this growth process. 

Dirty Scalp; We forget that our scalp is an extension of our skin, imagine what happens when you don't wash your face for 2 weeks -___- Yet, we have product build up and still don't wash and condition our hair sometimes for over 2 weeks. Yikes! I think our hair needs to be washed atleast every week. 

Dry hair; Lack of moisture cause hair to be brittle and its prone to breakage and when your hair is breaking at a faster rate then its growing? 

Lack of Exercise & Malnutrition; I know you are not skinny and your bones are not showing (Well atleast that is the image in my head when I hear that) but not eating the right kind of nutrients is making you malnourished. Drinking alot of water helps your hair and engaging in exercise also. 

Let. it. Breathe; Not every time protective style or hand-in-hair, sometimes just let the hair be.

Over processing; Dying, applying heat... the whole works. Do your research and find out what works for your hair so you are not doing trial and error that will damage your hair. 

I really hope this answers your hair growth questions and will help us to better take care of our hair so that we can be like 'Long hair don't care' in the next year :D