Growing your natural hair can become obsessive.
We are constantly looking for new ways to try and get our hair to grow long and healthy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Your hair is your crown after all.
It’s so easy to concentrate on your hair as a whole that you forget about other aspects of it. Did you know that you can actually grow the nape of your hair too?
Yep, nape hair growth is a real thing. Its often overlooked because we automatically think that the nape area of our hair just doesn’t grow.
I thought that way too until very recently when I learned about people taking part in nape hair growth challenges.
Let’s take a look at why the nape of your hair can be difficult to grow and what things we can do to help nurture it along.
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Where is the nape of the head?
There’s no point in talking about nape hair growth if we don’t even know where it is to begin with.
The nape of your hair is the lowest part of your hair at the back of your neck. Apart from your edges, it is usually the shortest part of your hair.
What causes nape breakage?
1. Friction
Friction certainly has a lot to answer for. In fact, if you have been struggling to get your hair to grow in any aspect look at friction first.
For a very long time I thought that my hair didn’t grow past my shoulders, you might think that too.
In fact, it’s not true at all. Usually, friction causes our hair to break particularly when the weather is cold.
When its cold outside the first thing you do is to put on a woolly jumper
If your hair is down the chance are that the ends of your hair will be rubbing against your jumper causing friction and therefore breakage.
You can avoid this by being extra careful during this time.
Putting your hair up a little more during this period can certainly help. Unfortunately, the nape of your hair is a little bit more difficult to protect.
2. Tight hairstyles
If you are a lover of tight hairstyles to try and make your hair look at sleek as possible you are probably pulling on the edges of your hair as well as the nape of your hair to make sure each strand of hair is carefully placed.
This will definitely result in both the edges and the nape of your hair breaking off and you having to find ways to grow them back again.
3. Misuse of tools
Using harsh styling tools such as brushes and combs can also cause your hair to break.
The nape area of your hair is very delicate and it’s a good idea to treat it differently to the rest of your hair.
How to grow the nape of your hair
1. Be gentle
Being gentle is imperative to growing the nape of your hair.
If you just touch the nape of your hair you can feel how soft the hairs are. It means that you have to be gentle with it.
You wouldn’t take a hard brush to your newborn baby’s head and that’s the same way you need to think about the nape of your hair too.
It’s much too delicate for you to be aggressive with it.
2. Cover your hair the right way
You should already be covering your hair at night time and if you are not I would HIGHLY recommend that you start doing that straight away.
Make sure to cover your hair with a silk or satin headscarf at night time.
Avoid using anything else as it will be much too hard and will rub your hair too much causing friction and dryness
Make sure to not tie the headscarf too tight.
Another thing I have found helpful is to not always tie my hair in the same way.
Keeping the knot of the headscarf in the same place every day will not be helpful.
Doing the pineapple method every once in a while can be helpful in giving the nape of your hair a break.
You can also try using a satin pillowcase like this one if you really don’t want to have any friction at all.
3. Avoid aggressive use of hair tools
I’ve already touched on this above but try to use very soft hair brushes if you have too on the nape of your hair.
I like to use my fingers to get rid of any tangles in my nape hair first before ever trying to brush it.
Brushing your hair can pull on your strands causing breakage.
4. Massage the area
Massaging not only feels good but it is great for hair growth too.
You should be periodically massing your whole head as part of your hair regime but you should be paying particular attention to the nape of your hair.
Massaging your hair increases blood flow which in encourages your hair to grow.
Just be sure to be gentle as you do it and never use your nails only the tips of your fingers to massage.
5. Apply castor oil
Castor oil is great for stimulating hair growth. You can try using this Jamaican castor oil to massage with.
You can also use it as part of a hot oil treatment every couple of weeks to encourage the growth process.
6. Don’t include the nape area in protective styling
Adding nape hairs to your protective styling is asking for trouble.
I know people like to add every single strand of hair when braiding but this is really bad practice and will likely cause you to get bumps from braids and breakage in the very areas of your hair that you are trying to grow.
Leave out your edges and the nape of your hair as much and possible when doing protective styling.
7. Keep it moisturised
As you already know moisture is the key to successfully growing your hair.
Always make sure you keep the nape of your hair well moistured as well as as the rest of your hair.
My favourite leave-in conditioners for moisture:
Final thoughts on nape hair growth
If you have been suffering from damage to the nape of your hair or if you never thought about trying to grow the nape of your hair before these tips will certainly help you to turn the corner on it.
Remember it will take a little time for the results to start showing so make sure you give it enough time.
Hard work always pays off.
Related posts:
Can you change your hair type?
How to tell if your hair is damaged
6 Reasons your natural hair is not growing
