What To Do When Your Hair Does Not Grow At The Rate You Think It Should

Alright y’all , so I personally have a beef with stagnant growth. I mean I don’t know about y’all but when I feel that I have my stuff in order (which sometimes I don’t but who’s judging hehe) I expect to have my growth and retention to takeoff like a rocket.

But it does not happen that way all the time and it seems as if everything that I was doing did nothing to help me reach my goal.

If you have been in this same situation, then you might be going through a “slow growth” phase. Oh no! So my hair will be this [shoulder, bra strap, etc.] length forever? Ah, of course not!

Well if my hair does not grow at the rate I think it should what can I do about it?

There are actually a few things that you can do. We have listed four major solutions below for you. Keep on reading!

1. Reduce manipulation drastically

Okay, so as I’ve stated above low –manipulation is one of the top reasons why your hair growth can appear to be at a standstill. Why?

Every time you manipulate your strands you (depending on what you are doing to your hair) you can cause mechanical damage which means that you are probably breaking off more strands than you are saving (sounds like the situation that 99.9 percent of us have when it comes to first of the month bills hahaha). But yes, in all seriousness this is a major cause of stand still retention.

How to reduce manipulation?

There are 3 major ways to reduce manipulation. We’ve listed them below:

a. Wear a long lasting hairstyle – Okay so I know that you want your braid out to have those defined mermaid waves or that you want your roller set to have that bounce that it had on the first day, but if you keep re-braiding and re-rolling daily that can hurt your length retention efforts.

Try to wear a style that can last 1-4 weeks to avoid constant manipulation. So for example, if you want a braid out you can keep your hair in braids for about a week, then on the weekend you can remove your braids and wear the resulting braid out for 4-6 days and then maybe wear a puff or bun for a few more days. If you can do this, you can make a single hairstyle stretch for two weeks without much manipulation.

b. Reduce detangling and detangle gently – So this is an important one guys. Detangling is another make or break technique (literally) depending on how you go about detangling your hair and guess what? Did you know that every time you comb your hair, according to a study you are essentially giving yourself a micro trim? So if you are a more than-once-a-week detangler then this could be your culprit.

But if using a comb or brush can cause damage to my strands how do I get out those tangles that plague my hair? Through finger detangling my friend, through finger detangling.

Finger detangling is essentially just taking your fingers and running it through a small sections of your hair at a time, feeling out the tangles and gently pulling them apart.

 c. Don’t do more than you need to do with your hair – Yes, I said it.  While we do have our product junkies out there (I can be one occasionally.. I ain’t gonna lie), we also have technique- aholics.

You know those of us who have to oil rinse, caramel treat and tea rinse all in one wash session? Yea, you will definitely have a problem especially when it comes to retaining length.

Most of the time all we really need is a wash, deep condition, moisture, sealing, and styling, with a co-wash added every now and then.

If that routine doesn’t work then maybe try new products in your regimen, such as a different DC or shampoo, and if that does not work then you can bring in new techniques to aid with your hair regimen.

2. Step up your protective styling

While there are some exceptions to this rule, most of us can agree that protective styling is extremely important to get us over many plateaus. No I know what some of y’all are saying “I did not need to protective style to get to my length goals”.

And this is probably true, but your hair type might be different from someone who may absolutely need to use protective styling. For example, you might have thick strands that can handle “out”styles forever while someone else needs to wear buns most of the time to retain. So with that said…

What are good protective styles to wear to retain length?

► Wigs*

► Weaves*

► Buns

►Braid/Twists Extensions*

► Tucked in Cornrows

3. Look at your diet

Before I get into this point I can just hear some of you saying something along the lines of this: Diet?? I know this girl [insert name here] who drinks soda and eat chips 10 times a day but still have long healthy hair! 

This may be true, but she may also have the proper nutrients in her body to allow for her hair to still grow and retain at a healthy rate. The same way some people can eat junk food daily and still remain skinny, it may be true for some but not for everyone.

For those of us who have stagnant growth and have done everything technique and product wise, the culprit maybe lying within (literally!).

If you are guilty for eating more candy than carrots then you may need to evaluate your eating habits. By incorporating more veggies and fruits in your diet you will improve your health in general and in turn get gorgeous locks.

So, what about my ladies who are fairly good eaters? You might need to start incorporating a multivitamin* to enhance your nutrient intake. This can make up for the nutrients and vitamins* that you might not be receiving from your daily diet even though you are may be a top notch healthy eater.

4. Use hair growth boosters – pills, and topical hair growth aids

If you are doing all of the above and still aren’t satisfied with your growth, you can try one of the many topical growth aides that have been tested by a handful of the ladies in the hair care world. We have listed two popular ones below for you guys:

a. Inversion Method – Now this one has been one of the most successful hair growth accelerators out there. With the inversion method all you have to do I give yourself a 1 minute head massage and bend your head over for four minutes while sitting up. You do this for one week only, no more no less. A lot of women have reported a 1 inch growth spurt when doing this. Read the full article here.

b. Sulfur* Mixes– Sulfur oils are also a major player in increasing the growth rate for many women. A lot of women have reported a double increase in their regular growth rate per month.

You can either buy sulfur oils through companies such as Liquid gold or you can make your own. To make your own sulfur* mix, add 1 tsp of sublimed sulfur to 8 oz of oil or oils of your choice (coconut oil*, olive oil*, castor oil*, etc) then let sit overnight. The next day shake that bottle and begin applying at least once a day.

Alright guys! I hope that we have pinpointed any issues or curiosities that you all may have had about slow growth. Please let us know your experience below!