6 Years And My Hair Is The Same Length - What Am I Doing Wrong?

We get a ton of emails from women who feel a bit defeated with regards to their hair growth. After a few years of being at the same length, anyone with growth goals in mind would get a little frustrated.

I remember early in my journey I would have this one girl on YouTube who I would compare my hair length too. We started growing out our hair at the same time and if I noticed that her hair was longer than mine I would start to panic and question my hair’s whole existence.

Hair envy isn’t a joke yall, it is real and many of us have it. At some point, we have to grow up and once we get past the envy we have to just focus on our hair and what our own goals are.

Before we get into what you are doing wrong, let us get a few things straight.

1. Your hair is growing

Your hair is always growing because as you know growth is simply a biological process determined by your overall health. A healthy body automatically equals growing hair and by ‘healthy body’, we mean normal fucntioning organs and biological processes.

2. Hair care is solely about retaining length

Hairstyles, products, regimens and all the details that we talk about surrounding those topics serve only one purpose and that is length retention.

3. Products do not grow your hair

Refer to points one and two! Hair products do not cause your hair to grow but there are certain oils* that can potentially help with growth through scalp stimulation and speed up biological processes.

4. Hair supplements* can help

Hair supplements* that contain vitamins that help with hair growth can help but they are not 100% guaranteed. There is a lot to consider when taking a hair supplement, Are you getting enough sleep? Are you eating well? Are you caring for your hair and retaining length?

With these four points considered let’s explore what could be going wrong with your potential to see the lengths you so desire.

Diet and physical health

We have to start here because the body is a very complex thing, there are parts of it that to this day science does not understand and there are processes that doctors cannot explain.

What we do know is that in the scheme of things our hair and our nails are the lowest on the list of priorities for our body as it shuffles nutrients around to care for our vital organs.

Our blood is responsible for taking all of the nutrients broken down from our food and supplements* to the various places that need it.

If we are sick or if the body determines that we need more of something in one area that is important to our survival, our hair and nails will be affected. In other words, you might have a functioning kidney and lose your hair if your kidney needs to be healed.

This means that staying healthy and helping your body maintain its health will also essentially help your hair and nails in the long run.

Give your body an abundance of nutrients to help with all your functioning parts including the parts that are still growing ie nails and hair.

Protective styling

We have had women say, I protective style all the time and I still do not see the length I desire, but chances are the styles they choose or even the truth behind that statement is questionable.

The more prone your hair is to breakage and tangles the more you should protective style and by protective style, we mean styles that require little to no physical manipulation.

Very kinky* and very coily curl types tangle easy with excessive manipulation and for women who have this hair type to retain length, they have to style less and protect more.

Consistency is king

Regardless of your hair type if you are not consistent with your regimen you are setting yourself up for failure with regards to your goals.

If you are serious about retaining length, once you find the regimen that works for you, do it without fail for an extended period of time.

Yes, that seems boring, and it might be a lot of work because life happens but it is the only way to meet the growth obligation you have set for yourself.

Sacrifices must be made

Sometimes we forget about our goals and hop on the latest trends, we take a hiatus to experiment with color or heat or even a shaved side or two.

This isn’t a bad thing but you cannot do that and at the same time get depressed about length retention. If you want growth then sacrifices must be made. Color and heat erode the strands and make them more prone to dryness and breakage.

Shaved sides? Well you literally just restarted your growth journey with that one I am afraid. Some women get to the point where retention isn’t as important as having fun with their hair and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Just know that the two cannot exist in the same space.

Abandon your curl pattern

I debated on whether I should add this point because it is not a given then if you straighten your hair consistently that you will retain more length.

At the same time, we have seen women make the ultimate sacrifice of wearing their hair straight without the use of chemicals and retain more length doing so because hair care is easier for them.

Curly hair is not easy for everybody, so before we wag judgemental fingers we have to remember that everyone has to do what is best for them and for some that might just be straight hair.

The straighter the hair, the less likely you will have tangles and if you keep your ends in tip-top shape as well as keep a consistent regimen you can see a lot of successful with straight hair.

If you are struggling with hair growth really pick apart your lifestyle and see what you could be doing differently. After you have done that then decide where the sacrifices should be made in order to facilitate your growth goals.