From the days of Cher’s ultra-long hair to modern day Kim Kardashian’s hip-grazing platinum locks, long hair has always been something most women yearn for. While some women are blessed with hair that grows quickly and easily, others may find that their hair tends to take months, or even years just to grow a couple of inches. While hair extensions are always an option for those who desire long hair immediately, it’s always best to learn good hair habits to make your hair grow faster. We're going to answer all your questions about why your hair won't grow, provide tips on how to make your hair grow faster, as well as share our secrets to get long hair fast. Read on.
Why won’t my hair grow?
First things first: let’s talk about the reasons why your hair isn’t growing before we get into hair growth tips. Did you know that hair grows at an average rate of half an inch every month? That means the average person's hair grows about 6 inches every year. If, however, your hair is not receiving the TLC it deserves or you’ve picked up some bad hair habits, it may be breaking off at the ends while simultaneously growing from the roots. This means that the hair is stuck at the same length and is unable to grow longer until you change your hair habits.
Hair damage from over-processing
Dyeing, perming, relaxing, and highlighting your hair are all chemical processes that can lead to damaged hair, contributing to breakage and slowing down hair growth. Exposing your hair to chemicals strips it of its natural oils, while synthetic dyes lift up the outer cuticle causing damage to the hair strands. To put it simply, a healthy hair cuticle lays flat making hair look smooth and shiny, while a lifted, damaged cuticle causes hair to become dull, brittle, and frizzy. Ultimately, over-processing leads to split ends and breakage making it impossible for hair to grow longer.
Curling or straightening wet hair
There’s a reason why your hair stylist at the salon blows out your hair before curling or straightening. That’s because wet hair is more prone to damage than dry hair. Have you ever straightened damp hair only to hear a “pop” and “sizzle?” That’s the sound of water and heat coming into contact, literally frying your precious hair!
Over washing your hair
Washing your hair every day removes dirt and buildup, leaving a clean canvas to work on and style, right? Wrong! In fact, over washing your hair is a major culprit that leads to dry, damaged hair. In reality, your scalp produces natural oils that are vital to your hair and scalp health. By washing your hair every day, you are stripping your hair of these natural oils, drying your hair out.
Over-brushing your hair
Are you beginning to notice a pattern? Too much of a good thing leads to damage and breakage. Just like over washing your hair, the constant friction from brushing your hair too much can lead to breakage and weakened hair strands, preventing the hair from growing faster.
Brushing your hair from top to bottom
When brushing your hair, you may naturally start brushing at the root downward, however, if your hair is prone to tangles, this simply makes tangles worse. Instead, start brushing your hair from the bottom, slowly working through knots as you work your way up. Brush your hair extensions the same way, to avoid excessive shedding or ripping out hairs.
Excessive heat styling
Extreme heat applied to your hair is a major culprit for drying out hair strands, leading to damaged hair that doesn’t grow. Consistent heat styling can lead to split ends forming, accelerating breakage. Before your pick up your curler, straightener or even hair dryer, keep in mind that all these tools can affect hair growth in the long run. Give your strands a little vacation from all hot tools to help them regain their strength and help your hair grow faster.
Handling your hair aggressively
From towel drying to sleeping with a tight ponytail, how you handle your hair on the regular can have positive or negative effect on how much your hair grows. Breakage can occur when using rough cotton towels on fragile wet hair, or even using uncovered elastics instead of soft scrunchies.
How to grow hair faster
Now that you know the reasons why your hair may not be growing, let’s talk about how to make your hair grow faster.
1. Get regular trims
A lot of people are surprised when they hear this because getting trims often seems counterproductive to growing long hair faster, however, if your hair is damaged or has many split ends, this is a necessity. Split ends stunt the hair's growth as the ends are constantly splitting and breaking higher and higher, leaving hair strands stuck at the same length. Trimming those wispy, split, dead ends off not only leads to less breakage and faster hair growth, but also makes your hair appear fuller, and by association, longer. Be sure to get your hair trimmed every three months, and just have your stylist “dust” the bottom of your hair to trim off any brittle ends or dead ends. As a rule of thumb, your stylist should only cut off about half an inch to an inch when trimming your hair.
2. Avoid Heat Styling
As mentioned earlier, constantly styling your hair with heat dries it out, making it much harder to grow. We suggest either letting your hair air-dry and go au naturel when you can, or turn your heat styling products down to medium heat (about 250℉) to minimize the risk of damage and overheating. Make sure to use a heat protectant whenever heat styling your hair as well for that added protection. Check out our top three natural heat protectant here. Ready to go heatless? Check out this tutorial to achieve five easy hairstyles using zero heat, all in one minute.
3. Wash your hair as little as possible
As we also previously mentioned, washing your hair too often can strip your hair of its natural oils, stunting hair growth and causing dry, dull hair. So, how often should you wash your hair? If you currently wash your hair every day, try washing it every other day, consistently adding a day in between washes until you’re washing it only once or twice a week. This will allow those natural oils to moisturize your scalp, as well as travel down the hair strands, improving hair texture, and leading to healthier hair overall. Use dry shampoo in between washes to keep greasy roots at bay and experiment with braids, buns, and hats for second and third-day hair.
4. Hair oils for hair growth
Certain hair oils work wonders to promote hair growth and help hair grow faster. Castor oil, for example, contains vital properties like vitamin E, fatty acids, proteins, and antioxidants, which support the keratin in hair, making it grow faster, stronger, smoother, and healthier. If you get this oil, we recommend getting the cold-pressed variety (meaning there was no heat involved during the extraction process). 100% pure virgin castor oil offers many other great benefits such as controlling hair loss, cleansing the scalp, fighting infections, warding off dandruff (due to its anti-fungal properties), conditioning and moisturizing the hair, and preventing split ends. To use castor oil for hair growth, mix a few drops with olive oil, then apply directly to the scalp and massage it in. Wear a shower cap and sleep with the treatment overnight, then wash your hair as normal in the morning.
5. Use A Silk Pillowcase
Have you ever gone to bed with perfect curls only to wake up with a frizzy mess on your head? Cotton has larger, rougher fibers than silk, which causes hair strands to get caught in the fabric as you toss and turn overnight. This ends up lifting the outer cuticle layer of your hair, making it prone to frizz, breakage, and damage. Silk fabric has smaller fibers, which keep the cuticle layer of the hair intact, and doesn’t cause the friction that traditional pillowcases do. This leads to smoother hair in the morning and leads to healthier, longer hair in the future. If you don’t feel like investing in a new pillowcase, another option is to tie your hair in a loose bun with a scrunchie at the top of your head, to avoid tangles and friction on your pillowcase through the night.
6. Use Hair Masks Weekly
Just as you treat yourself to a weekly face mask, it is important to give your hair the same love and attention. Hair masks pack a potent punch of vital nutrients that will help nourish and strengthen your hair almost immediately and help it grow much faster. Focus on hair masks that moisturize deep into the hair shaft, or give your hair an extra boost of strengthening protein, to help with hair growth. The best part? Some of our most recommended hair masks are recipes from all natural products which you can make right at home, like these five DIY hair masks.
7. End Your Shower With A Cold Water Rinse
Hear us out. While most of us don’t like to be blasted with cold water after a nice hot shower, this major hair hack helps smoothen the outer layer of the hair, preventing heat from penetrating through the strand, creating healthier hair in the long term. Even if it's only for a couple of seconds, a quick blast of cold water will do wonders for your hair, making it stronger and grow much faster.
8. Fix your diet
As the old sayings go, "you are what you eat" and "beauty comes from within." Have you noticed that beautiful glow your face takes on when you're well hydrated and have been eating well? Your hair is the same way! Drinking more water will lead to healthier hair from the inside out. As well, a healthy, vitamin-rich diet means extra nourishment for your scalp, which leads to strong, long hair that grows fast.
Iron, Vitamin D, B-complex, and zinc is optimal for healthy hair. Iron can be found naturally in eggs, spinach, and chicken, while salmon, mushrooms, and natural sunshine are great, natural sources of Vitamin D. B-Complex includes biotin, niacin, and cobalamin, which all give the hair thickness and shine—avocados, legumes, eggs, and whole grains are a great source for these. Finally, load up on lamb, turkey, and pumpkin seeds for an extra dose of zinc.
If you wish, you can also take additional supplements to help your hair grow faster. These supplements include ingredients like Omega-3, vitamin B, biotin, and iron—all natural vitamins and minerals to help your hair grow longer, thicker, and faster in a healthy way.
9. Brush Your Hair With More Care
As mentioned earlier, brushing your hair too much can actually cause physical damage to your hair and prevent it from growing as quickly. Similar to how you brush your Luxy Hair extensions, start by brushing your hair at ends and work your way up to your scalp to work any knots out with ease. After washing your hair, brush your hair from bottom to top with a wide tooth comb and with utmost care, as the hair is its more fragile state when it is wet, and prone to breakage if brushed too aggressively.
10. Switch To A Microfiber Towel
Similar to traditional pillowcases, bath towels also contain large fibers which your hair to pull and break due to the friction of the towel. Since we tend to wrap our hair tightly in a towel after showering, this can cause those fragile strands of hair around your face to break and damage without you even knowing it. Microfiber is a synthetic fiber that is extremely fine, and towels made from this material are much more absorbent than traditional towels. While microfiber towels are not as fluffy as the towels you may be used to, they absorb moisture quickly from your hair without rubbing harshly, and allow the hair to glide easily over the towel with no damage—just a few pats over your head is all you need. This leads to less frizz, hair that dries faster, all around healthier hair, and faster hair growth.
Stay Realistic With Your Goals
As you can see, there are many ways to help grow your hair faster, but it may take some time for you to see the fruits of your labor. Don’t get discouraged! Focussing on putting more love into your hair and the way you take care of it on a daily basis will go a long way. As hair typically only grows about a 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch every month, patience is key. If you're experiencing difficulties growing out your hair after giving our recommendations a try, be sure to check out this article for more reasons why your hair may not be growing and how to tackle these issues.
Hair extensions for length
Of course, the above are all solutions that work in the long term. If you want your hair to grow faster, hair extensions are the perfect way to achieve long hair instantly. When wearing your Luxy Hair extensions with shorter hair, it is important for them to blend seamlessly with those shorter layers, so we recommend to choose our heaviest set (220g), as well as to take your extensions to your hairstylist and have them layer the extensions into your hair for that seamless blend as your hair grows out.
Of course, the above are all solutions that work in the long term. If you want your hair to grow faster, hair extensions are the perfect way to achieve long hair instantly. When wearing your Luxy Hair extensions with shorter hair, it is important for them to blend seamlessly with those shorter layers, so we recommend to choose our heaviest set (220g), as well as to take your extensions to your hairstylist and have them layer the extensions into your hair for that seamless blend as your hair grows out.
Do you have long or short hair? Are you trying to grow your hair out? What are your hair growth tips? Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments below.
