Hair grew faster with sulfates...?

[bunnylake]

I was thinking... back when I knew nothing about taking care if my hair, it seemed to grow like a weed. The main thing I did differently then was use sulfate shampoo. Every single day. Sometimes twice. Since I stopped using sulfates my hair seems to grow slower. I wonder if there is something to that or if its my imagination.
Anyone else experience anything like this?

[furnival]

Maybe since you started paying more attention to your hair it has just seemed to grow slower- a watched pot never boils and all that! ;)
Using sulphates twice a day sounds pretty harsh, in my opinion.

[Idjit]

I feel this way too but in my case I think it may be that I washed my hair everyday and now since I stretch to about 4 or 5 days and don't do anything to my scalp at all in between, the blood just may not be flowing to my scalp or it's not stimulated enough? Or something? I have no idea.

It could also be that I wasn't paying as much attention before but I know it used to take me a year to get from chin to around APL and it took waaaaay longer than that last time I cut, which was after I grew smart.:p

[bunnylake]

I wondered if maybe keeping the follicles super clean allowed the hairs to grow faster.
It kinda makes sense...?
Anyway, I probably only feel this way because like you said, I'm watching a pot waiting for it to boil.

[DancingQueen]

I second the one about keeping your follicles clean. It would make a lot of sense, I have thought about it before.

[DinaAG]

mmmm if thats the reason we can still make it clean without sulfates, may be daily hair massage can help? you changed something in your diet?

[Dark Rapunzel]

That makes sense - I've thought about it before too...I just don't want to go back to washing my hair daily! You'd need a really gentle suplphate shampoo...

[Fantak]

There are, an albeit small, group on LHC who wash with sulfates and can't CO because they found doing so was better for their scalp, maybe yours is similar.

I know Kirin is the founder of the group/thread if you can contact her or maybe try to find it.

If I remember right te key was to dilute the sulfte shampoo and condition only from the ears down. It's worth a try :)

On a different note stress and nutrition play a large role in hair growth maybe you've changed something in your diet?

HTH :)

[Vampyria]

I wouldn't know about growth, but my hair was so thick before and now it keeps getting thinner and sheds like crazy since I started using SLS and SLES free shampoo. I'm not sure if changing the shampoo is the problem though.

[bunnylake]

Well, when I was using sulfates I was also stressed a lot more than I am now, and was eating crappy food all the time! So it wasn't either of those things.

[Avital88]

maybe try scaplmassages, it probably has something to do with blood flow like someone else mentioned.

[gthlvrmx]

im thinking its the massaging you did, you said sometimes you washed twice a day! i too noticed when i washed my hair every 2 days or so my hair grew faster but i really think its the massaging because when i tried massaging everyday for a while, my hair did start speeding up in growth a little bit. im not sure about the follicles being unclean causing slow growth...sounds like you're thinking of when they are clogged up with sebum and dirt and product but im not sure about that with the growth. as an experiment, you could keep your hair routine as is and just massage everyday or even twice a day sometimes for a while and see where that gets you
:) it might get you that faster hair growth for a while. you can see if that was the cause, its simple. :)

personally i wouldnt go back to using shampoo so much, its really drying to my hair. exercise, scalp massages, COing, oiling, and daily bunning seems to do the trick to keep everything good. not drying at all :) thats my only concern. plus for some reason my hair smells bad faster with shampoo than it does with CO washing.

[gonzobird]

I feel too that a clean scalp equals more growth and a healthy scalp. Maybe you could do this....

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=85

Looks like its way easier with uber long hair.... I'm gonna try it i think. Every other day maybe. I don't know. Washing my hair is an hour long process. And expensive. Grrrrr. I still may do it though.

[akilina]

I feel too that a clean scalp equals more growth and a healthy scalp. Maybe you could do this....

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=85

Looks like ours way easier with uber long hair.... I'm gonna try it i think. Every other day maybe. I don't know. Washing my hair is an hour long process. And expensive. Grrrrr. I still
l may do it though.

I would never discount anyones feelings and reports on how great WO works for them or that their scalp is infact, clean...but I feel the exact same way about a clean scalp. At least for me personally.
I have tried everything..just to find that the ONLY thing that works best for me is daily washing. S+C. I don't mind it either anymore now.
That method actually looks great. My hair is soooo not long enough yet though whatsoever for that to really work out well. I always feel like my length is clean, but my scalp is the greasy nasty one.

[spidermom]

I think it's a case of paying too much attention to your hair. When you're actively waiting for something you want, it seems to take forever, like when a child is waiting for Santa Claus to come.

Christmas comes around way to quickly for me these days!

[Miss Catrina]

I agree that it could be true. I haven't been able to settle on a shampoo since I started growing. The month I used strong sulfates, I swear it grew a LOT. It makes sense to me that sebum blocking the follicles could cause slower growth.

[missannie]

I have loved leaving harsh shampoo behind! I love the CO wash and wished i had always known about it, my hair loves it plus its so much easier and quicker. It seems as if my hair is growing faster than it was. If it was true that sebum or dirty scalp was suffocating your hair follicles and not making your hair grow very fast, then you would think that my whiskers on my chin y chin chin would not grow very quick either from coconut oil and foundation??? lol

[Mesmerise]

I think it's probably partly psychological. When you're not thinking (or obsessing) about the length of your hair, it just does its thing and grows! When you're trying to grow it long it seems to take FOREVER!!

Also, though, I think hair seems to grow faster when it's shorter... this doesn't mean it DOES grow faster, just that the difference between lengths is sort of more pronounced, so a couple of inches can make a huge amount of difference to your appearance, or what you can do with your hair... but once it's past a certain length a couple of inches don't really seem to change the overall appearance much at all.

As for having a cleaner scalp...this MAY have some bearing on the hair's ability to grow, but you don't need sulphate based shampoos to get a clean scalp. There are other cleansers that aren't as harsh, and will give you equally clean hair!

[hairhair]

Maybe it's the scalp stimulation of washing. I'd try scalp massage (be careful with the "turn your head upside down" one though -- that made me shed). :)

[Rhoward]

Take MSM, it helps your hair grow and it has Sulfur in it, I've been taking 1500 MSM (take it with Vit C tablets - helps it absorb better) for a while now and even my hairdresser noticed my hair is growing faster:cheer:

[PandorasBox89]

I feel the same.. when I was just using S+C and sometimes a leave in my hair just grew and grew.. Now that I am actually taking notice and babying my hair, mostly CO only, always use oils and etc, its like watching grass grow lol! I really do think its because you are paying attention to your hair now.

[Simone_Fatale]

Maybe sulfates get rid of buildup more efficiently - buildup causes clogged follicles and hence slower growth. That's what I noticed on my hair.

[bunnylake]

That could be it because my pores clog very easily. I never thought of it before now but with all the oil scalp massages I do, without sulfates, I could have clogged follicles and not even know it. Problem is I can't stretch washes. I don't know how using sulfates daily would be. I read a lot of conflicting information about sulfates... in particular that the SLS-free craze is simply for marketing and has no real benefit to those aren't allergic or sensitive to sulfates. In other words, its just to sell more products.

[hufflepug]

I think it's just that everyone's hair is different. Just like some people's hair reacts well to protein and some don't. My hair seems to love sulfates and cones.

[koala]

I felt like my hair was growing faster with sulfates, but it actually wasn't.

For one, I wasn't paying attention back then and didn't want my hair long, so it grew an inch a month and was more of an annoyance than anything else.

My hair was also more straight without sulfates so the growth was more noticeable. It doesn't show now because I lose length from shrinkage. Plus there's now a distinct difference between the healthy hair and the damaged ends, so it tends to feel shorter.

When I go to measure it though, it's still growing an inch per month.