Why Does It Seem Like My Hair Isn't Growing?

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Have you been trying and trying to grow your hair and still are not seeing the results you want? Well, you are not alone. There are many women, with relaxed hair and natural hair, who try and try to grow their hair out and it seems like for whatever reason that it just isn't happening. For others it seems like their hair will grow to a certain length and then stop. Today I'm going to help you push past that point to help you get on the track you need to be on to help your hair grow.

Make sure you wrap your hair to help protect your ends

Believe it or not, our hair is constantly growing, despite the fact that is seems like it is not. It does however, grow at a slow rate of only half of an inch per month on average. This means that it would take the average person an entire year to grow only six inches of hair. And, on top of that, you more than likely will not see all six of those inches if you get your trims regularly. I would say that on average, you can expect to see a maximum of four of those six inches. But don't let that discourage you! I also have average-growing hair but to others it seems like my hair grows fast.

                           

The issue is not that your hair is not growing. The issue is that many women are not able to retain their length. As your hair grows it is imperative that you take care of it in order to retain all of the length you get. Anytime the hair gets damaged, the ends become split, etc. that requires you to cut your hair.  This negates any growth that you would have had simply because you had to cut it. Simple things like wrapping your hair every night and getting trims on a regular basis will help you keep all the length you waited so long for. As you get into the habit of wrapping your hair every night and moisturizing and sealing your ends, they will not become split as often because you are protecting them from the friction of rubbing agains the pillowcase every night and you are also protecting them from becoming dry and breaking.

                       

To break it down even further, I recommend getting your trims at each relaxer service or every ten to twelve weeks. This means you would be getting a trim every two and a half to three months. If hair grows half an inch per month, most people would have about one to one and a half inches of new growth at that point. If you trim your ends right as they begin to split, you may only have to cut 1/4 to 1/8 of an inch meaning you would still have .75 to 1.25 inches of new growth. This equates to you still getting about 4-5 inches of new growth per year.  If you are not getting at least 3-4 inches of new growth every year, here are a few things that can keep you from retaining your all of your length.

• Not wrapping every night- As I said before, wrapping is one of the most important things you can do to help your ends not split as often.  When you don't wrap your hair your ends begin to split faster due to the friction of your hair rubbing against the pillow night after night. Even if you are not necessarily sleeping but just lounging around make sure you wrap your hair to protect your ends (if you need a satin scarf, get one here). If for whatever reason wrapping your hair is not an option for you at least get a satin pillowcase (like these) and it will protect your hair more than a cotton pillowcase would. 
• Getting relaxers too soon- Getting your relaxer too soon (less than 16 weeks) does not help when you are trying to grow your hair. Stretching them out allows you to get and retain more length because you are maximizing the amount of new growth which helps to ensure that no overlapping will occur. Overlapping of relaxer causes your hair to grow slower than it normally would and can often cause damage that leads to you having to cut more of your hair than you prefer.
• Too much heat- Putting too much heat on your hair causes your hair to break, especially towards the ends.  I would suggest only putting heat on it once per week or less.

Getting a consistent schedule of having healthy hair habits will help you be able to retain more length and see your hair get longer.

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