6 Reasons Your Natural Hair is Not Growing

If you feel like you have been in an uphill battle with your natural hair, fear not.

You might be thinking that no matter what you do your hair just won’t grow.

I get you, I’ve been there myself.

For many years I thought I just didn’t have the “type” of hair that grew.

After all, some people’s hair grows and others do not. (Not true)

I had come to the conclusion that my hair was the type that did not grow past my shoulders.

Boy was I wrong!

The more my interest grew in natural hair care the more I wanted to learn.

What I soon discovered was that my hair did actually grow but I simply was not maintaining the growth that I was getting.

This is probably the same thing that you are experiencing too.

If it really is true that your hair does continually grow then all we need to do is to figure out how to keep the growth that we are already getting.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways we can do that.

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6 Reasons Your Natural Hair Is Not Growing

1. You Play Too Much

As you start on your journey to grow your natural hair, you will probably be tempted to play about with it, imagine what certain hairstyles will look like the more it grows or just flat out experiment.

Stop right there.

Natural hair is extremely delicate and the more you play around with it the more likely it is to break.

You need to quit with the hands in hair syndrome.

I’m not saying you can’t touch your hair at all but I am saying that you should keep it to a minimum.

7 years ago I decided to go for the big chop.

I cut off all the relaxer from my hair and started again from the very beginning.

In those first few days, I felt I looked really different so I used to play with my hair all the time. I allowed myself a few days and then I stopped playing with it.

Playing with your hair only causes your strands to break and get tangled.

The more tightly coiled your hair is the more likely your hairs will twist around each other and get tangled.

Stop playing with it.

2. You Are Abusing Your Tools

One of the first things you need to do is to quit using styling tools that are not right for your hair.

Remember your hair is not straight. It has kinks and curls therefore if you try to use combs where the teeth are too close together then you will experience hair breakage. There are no two ways about that.

Alternatively, you can choose to finger detangle your hair which is much more gentle as you can feel when a hair is about to snap.

In saying all of this not all combs and brushes are bad for your hair you just need to make sure that you get the right one.

Look for wide-tooth combs and brushes that are not too aggressive for your hair type.

3. You Need A Trim

Just because your hair is curly does not mean that you don’t need a trim.

Everyone has to trim their hair no matter if it is curly or straight.

Trimming is something I never did before until I started looking into growing my hair out to waist length.

You might feel that you are losing out by trimming your hair but I can assure you that the opposite is true.

If you trim your hair you keep it in good health and therefore it will grow in much better shape.

Don’t forget if you are going to trim your own hair always do it using professional scissors like these otherwise you will cause split ends.

Related post: Why you should deep condition your hair

4. You Lack Moisture

MOISTURE, I can’t stress how much your hair needs to have moisture.

Your hair needs water if you want it to grow and that means water internally and externally.

By internally I mean you need to drink water. Not fizzy pop, real water. The clear stuff. Make sure you are drinking enough every day.

Externally means that you need to wash your hair and keep it hydrated throughout the week as part of your natural hair regimen.

Using hair grease is not moisturising your hair. Moisture means water.

I like to spray my hair a little each time I style it then I use a leave-in conditioner to help it stay moisturised for the rest of the day but you should do what works for you.

5. Excessive Heat

Many of us have a lot of bad habits that we need to cut out from now on. Using heat is one of those things.

Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I used heat on my hair and it has made a huge difference.

In fact, I tried it once a few years ago on a small section of my hair because I wanted to see the full length of my hair whilst it was stretched out.

I did a tiny little bit and my hair felt so dry after straightening that section that I just stopped.

Heat dries out your hair but that’s not to say you can’t use it.

If you want to use heat by blow-drying your hair for example then use the blow dryer on the lowest setting and only do it once in a while. You also need to use a heat protectant like this one.

Whilst I know that some people do blowdry their hair regularly you need to tread very gently to begin with to see what works best for you.

6. Diet

Your diet can also play a part in how your hair grows or does not grow.

Keep your eating as clean as possible. Lots of vegetables and good food and cut back on the junk.

If you want to see good things come out of you put good things inside you.

Final Thoughts On Your Natural Hair Not Growing

Growing your natural hair takes time. It is a process you can’t rush but I can assure you that if you put the above tips into place then you will see a difference in the growth of your hair.

My hair now sits almost at my waist. Its been like that for about 2 years now, so there has definitely been a slow down in growth but part of that is due to the growth cycle of my hair.

There is nothing super special about my hair from yours.

If I can do it so can you too!

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