12 Reasons Why Your Natural Hair is not Growing
Have you ever wondered why your natural hair has refused to grow? You fret about your hair growth and start using different hair products in order to promote hair growth? You sleep on DIY videos on YouTube, looking for another haircare routine that will help your hair growth, and yet, it seems the new haircare routine isn’t working too? This can really be frustrating.
The average human hair grows about ½ inch every month although this is not attributable to everyone. Factors such as genetics also play a huge role and might be the reason your hair is not growing. If it’s looking like your natural hair has completely stopped growing, then you might be doing something wrong.
Sometimes, your hair might just be in its shrinkage form because kinky, coily & afro-textured hair can easily shrink up and look as though it isn’t growing at all. If your natural hair is not growing because of your poor hair habits, then the following are things you could be doing wrong that are preventing your hair from growing well.
1. Lack of moisture:
I cannot stop stressing how important it is to trap moisture in your hair. Your hair enemy is dryness. Sis, why is your hair dry? The makeup of our hair does not allow natural oils from our scalp to easily reach our hair shaft so the only way to get oils to the hair shaft is by moisturizing. How do you want your hair and scalp to be moisturized if you aren’t? Without moisturizing your hair, you run the risk of hair loss and breakage.
Consider using hair butter, such as whipped shea butter before sealing with oil. Using this method will help your hair’s elasticity and prevent breakage. This is the easiest way to retain length and promote healthy hair growth.
2. Your water intake:
How often do you drink water on a daily basis? Drinking enough water and eating good vegetables will feed your hair follicles to promote hair growth. Most people who have issues with length retention of the natural hair do not drink enough water. This shows up as dry & brittles hair that is susceptible to breakage and split ends.
3. Too much heat on your natural hair:
Natural hair has the versatility of going from kinky afro this minute to straight hair the next minute. This is cool if you want to sleek down your natural hair with gel but too much heat on hair can make your hair to be extra dry. Before you use heat on your hair, make sure your hair is well moisturized, and be sure that the hair stretcher or hair tools you are using have adjustable settings in order to easily reduce or increase the heat. It is best to use medium heat in order to prevent the hair follicles from breaking.
4. Constant manipulation:
Sis, remove those itchy fingers of yours from your hair. If you are wondering why your hair isn’t growing, the answer could be hidden between your fingers. It is simply because you won't let the hair breathe. Over manipulation of your natural hair either with your hands or hairbrushes can cause unnecessary stress to the hair, making your hair to break. If you can’t keep your hands off your natural hair, then try protective styling. Keeping your hair in braids or twists for 2 weeks or 3 will force your hands off your hair. The more you put your hair in protective styles, the more it grows. With less hair breakage, the more your hair retains length.
5. Genetics:
Some people are naturally blessed with abundant hair. Whether they are over manipulating the hair all the time, moisturizing and taking care of it or not, their hair simply grows. The hair growth cycle also differs for every individual. It might take your hair 3 years for its hair growth cycle while another person’s hair growth cycle could be 5-7 years. It’s all genetics playing its role in your hair. All you need to do is to continue taking adequate care of your natural hair. Stop fretting about why your hair is not growing, it will grow at its own time.
6. Trimming your ends:
Regular hair trimming will help to get rid of bad and damaged ends that lead to hair breakage. There is no specific rule for trimming your hair ends but trimming your hair every 3-5 months will make your ends fresh and healthy. This means less hair breakage.
7. Using the wrong hair tools:
Using a small-toothed comb on your natural hair is simply a disaster that should be avoided. Even the wrong type of hairbrushes and fractured bobby pins can damage your natural hair. Using wrong hair tools can snag your hair and cause breakage. Small-toothed combs tangle the hair and cause split ends. Buy a wide-toothed comb, this will make it easier to comb the hair while minimizing hair breakage.
8. Products buildup on the scalp:
Some hair oils and products are too heavy on the scalp that they block the hair follicles. So instead of your hair growing, they won’t because your hair follicle is blocked. Make sure your scalp is clean by washing with peppermint black soap shampoo. This will ensure that your scalp is neat and that you don’t have extra dirt on your hair.
9. You use chemicals on your natural hair:
There is a reason why it is called natural hair, please stick to natural hair care products. Chemicals are bad news for your hair and should be avoided at all costs. You can try your hands on whipped shea butter if you are not certain what good hair product to use yet.
10. Uncertain about your hair porosity:
You don’t know about hair porosity so you put any hair product you see in your hair. Not knowing your hair porosity and using just any haircare product will prevent your hair from growing. You need to know your hair porosity in order to understand your hair needs. Doing all the DIYs on YouTube will equally not help your hair to grow. Sis, you need to take a step back and understand your hair type and porosity. Not all hair types absorb all kinds of products. For example, my hair does not absorb coconut oil, so I stay far away from products that contain coconut oil because it sits on my scalp and doesn’t penetrate. Learn if your hair is low or high porosity, this will help you to know what works for your hair type and what doesn’t.
11. Washing your hair with hot water:
This is completely wrong Sis, stop washing your natural hair with hot water. Your hair does not need hot water to be clean. Hot water dehydrates the hair and leaves the hair more prone to breakage. Instead, use warm or lukewarm water while washing your hair. If you can take it, use cold water to help seal in moisture into the hair.
12. Not wearing a hair bonnet at night:
Your hair might be experiencing stunted growth because you don’t protect it at night with a satin bonnet or scarf. Also, sleeping on a pillowcase with cotton sucks out moisture out of your hair and causes split ends. Always wrap your hair with a satin bonnet at night to prevent loss of moisture from the hair. You should also consider replacing the cotton pillowcases with satin ones.
While trying to take care of your natural hair with the above tips, check out good and trending protective hairstyles to try out.
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