How To Grow Black Ethnic Hair?

How to grow African American hair an inch per month?

• I want to grow my hair faster!! Im African American with AA hair. Im a junior in highschool. My freashmen year i decided to wear braids. I wore them until the middle of my sophmore year. When i finally decided to take them out for good my hair had grown from my ears to my shoulders. Then i went to the salon and my hairdresser told me it was all damaged hair and she cut it back off. Now im trying to grow my hair about 6 inches by my senior pictures (in about 6 or 7 months). Once again its about ear lenght. Is that possible??? I just started using hair vitamins, doo groo mega thick growth oil na dthere shampoo and profectiv daily moisturizer. Is there anything else I should do. I also just started back with the braids and its grown about an inch in 3 months but I need it to grow faster!! HELP!!! please an advice please let me know.

• Answer:

  Hey I hope my advice helps. I think you want to focus on getting healthy hair and retaining ends. I have yet to hear of a magic growth solution that makes hair grow faster. First, what is healthy hair? Healthy hair has the right amount of protein and moisture in it and the outer layer of the cuticle "shingles" lies down which, in turn, protects the inner layers of hair strands from damage, like say straightening or relaxing. When the outer cuticles are not moisturized and coated with conditioner the outer "shingles" stand out and and hair is dry, dull, and rough. To find out if your hair is healthy there are 3 easy tests. 1. Hold a strand between your hands and pull. The perfect balance is a hair strand that stretches a little and breaks with a loud pop. does anything else you need protein or deep conditioning treatments. curlynikki.com 2. You can also tell if your hair is not getting enough moisture. Put a strand in a bowl of water. If it floats, your good, if it sinks right away that means it's too porous and absorbs water too quickly becuase it's dry. Of course "dry" hair is not really "dry" it just means the outer layer is standing up and the water can fill into the inner layer of the strand (like a sponge) pulling the hair down into the water. 3. Simple: split ends. End of the hair strand looks like a Y. If you do not get these trimmed immediately they can move up the shaft. Visible sign of damaged hair and simplest test. It may be that your hair is growing slowly in addition to breakage. This is something you can see addressed at longhaircareforum.com. If it is breakage, here is my advice: BIG 10: 1. Cut any split ends right away before they move up hair shaft. Investigate why you are getting split ends. 2. Stop using heat, it may seem hard to do but you need to nurse your hair back to health. When you feel you can straighten again heat protection, heat protection, heat protection. 3. Learn about natural and relaxed hair. You don't specify if your hair is relaxed or natural. If it relaxed sites like longhaircareforum.com are good. If it is natural, naturalhairgrows.com is good. I gotta recommend if your hair is relaxed and it isn't growing maybe it is trying to tell you something. Going natural is the obvious choice 4. Find products with good ingredients. I no longer use products whose first ingredients are petroleum and mineral oil. Hair grease is not moisturizing. These just coat hair like plastic and clog pores. Unfortunately thay are in a lot of african american hair products. Biracialhair.org has a great ingredient dictionary. 5. Wear protective hair styles. Buns, two-strand twists, and braids are good examples of these. Anything that covers your ends or where hair isn't loose is a protective style. These are good because you can do them and let your hair rest for a few days/weeks. I don't understaand how your hair got damaged in braids? 6. Moisture, moisture, moisture. This includes regular conditioner, leave in conditioner, and a deep conditioner. Relaxed and napptural hair eats up moisture. NEVER detangle without conditioner in hair. I like Pantene Relaxed and Natural conditioner. 7. Protein treatments. I can't attest for these since my hair isn't damaged but I've heard Aphogee 2-Step is good. The protein coats cracks in hair to stop breakage. 8. Sleep in a satin cap or on a satin pillowcase. Rough cotton is not good for hair. Braid hair down at night. Whatever treatments you do to protect hair, focus on your ends. These are the oldest part of your hair and usually the weakest. This should decrease breakage. Basically just treat your hair like delicate silk. 9. Educate yourself. I have only included the tips I know. But there are a ton of great Black hair care sites out there. Use them, whether you choose to go natural or not, you still need to take care of the hair you have. 10. Live healthy. This has nothing to do with breakage but hair usually grows in faster and stronger when you eat right, take vitamins and exercise. You want to eat a diet rich in protein and other nutrients. Healthy hair=healthy body. IF you follow the BIG 10 I promise you will have longer and stronger hair. In the end is will probably not grow as fast as you want it to, so a weave is your best bet.