Posts Tagged ‘how to grow hair’

So a friend asked me to recommend products that can both grow hair and make it thicker. This seems to be a very common question for people with both natural and chemically treated hair. My answer to this question is that there is no one product that can miraculously grow or thicken hair. It’s more of a regimen and ensuring that you properly care for your hair.

Let’s begin with hair growth. Hair growth is all about taking care of the ends of the hair so that they don’t split and break off. This can be done by:

• Staying away from heat
• Wearing protective styles that hide the ends
• Ensuring that the hair is properly moisturized at all times
• Staying away from harsh shampoos that can be drying to the hair (I like Castile Soap mixed with water as an alternative)

Hair grows about 1/4-1/2 inch per month. Anyone who has had their hair chemically treated can attest to this. It’s the reason why we need a touch up every 6-8 weeks. We may not see this growth as expected because the ends break off as fast as we can grow it. This is usually due to lack of moisture.

I suffer from extremely dry hair. I also like natural, chemical free products. I find that bi-weekly mayonnaise and egg treatments help me retain moisture. I use avocado oil after every wash in order to seal in the moisture. I also like oils like jojoba (for moisture), rosemary (for growth), and lavender (for the scent). I use grapeseed oil whenever I do use heat as a protector (best heat protectant I’ve ever used!)

As for thickness, the same thing that works for moisture works for making the hair nice and thick! Mayonnaise and egg treatments contain lots of protein. You may want to try the treatments weekly until you feel your hair is stronger. However, be careful and pay close attention to your hair. There is a such thing as too much protein and you want to maintain the proper balance for your hair.

Another important thing to note is that our diet and fitness regimen impacts our hair as well. Getting in 8 glasses of water a day will help with keeping the hair moisturized. A healthy, well-balanced diet and regular exercise also contribute greatly to your overall health, including hair health. Lack of protein in a diet can lead to limp, dull, thinning hair.

Well I haven’t posted in a while. I didn’t post an update to my self challenge. I didn’t quite keep up with every rule, but I did grow 3 inches of hair in 6 months time. That is 1/2 inch a month! I think that is darn good.

I couldn’t maintain protective styles everyday, however, I have learned to keep them in for 2 weeks and then give myself a break for 2 weeks. This works since I love love love my hair and can’t keep it up for more than 2 weeks at a time 🙂 I have been drinking more water (not 8 glasses but more than before) and I keep my hair moisturized by wetting it daily and using my new shea butter concoction (more on that later). I have not trimmed my hair, but I am careful with my ends…especially when detangling. I am noticing less single knot strands now which I think helped with my growth. I haven’t been doing many deep treatments, but I do perform weekly shampoos and I haven’t used much heat (aside from the occasional blow dry).

Right now, I am sporting twists. Not the really tiny ones because I hate detangling those and although I love the look, I think I loose a lot of hair that way. I have medium size ones, that I think gives the best twist out ever. Below is a pic of my twist along with two of my favorite twist outs from previous twists done the same size.