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View Full Version : Hair Growth: What Works, What Doesn’t.



chrissy-b
August 26th, 2008, 05:45 PM
I know, I know…there are conflicting viewpoints as to whether you can maximize hair growth. Some people, no matter what they try cannot increase their growth rate, while others have had success with supplements and various routines.

I thought it would be nice to have a thread where we could all post what works and what doesn’t work for each of us individually so the info could be found all in one place, and anyone looking to try something to improve their growth rate could find it here.

Please tell us your experiences during your long hair journey, and the things you’ve tried to maximize your growth to reach your dream length. Any info or advice would be much appreciated!

Below are some helpful links on supplements, essential oils, and Monistat (please let me know if there are others to add).

Supplements and Hair Growth (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=8927&highlight=Growth)
Essential Oils (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2001&highlight=Essential+Oil)
Monistat (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=156&highlight=Monistat)
Jojo’s Kelp Experiment (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=4382&highlight=kelp)

chrissy-b
August 26th, 2008, 05:48 PM
I’ve had great luck with Monistat. I used it for approx. seven months and my hair grew very fast and my thinning sections filled in. However, since I’ve stopped using it, my hair has been shedding like crazy (something to think about as a potential after-effect for those currently using it).

I’ve also had luck with exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet, regular scalp massages and scalp brushing all of which has helped me grow my hair at an average rate of .75in per month (I was getting less than .5in when I wasn’t eating right and smoking a pack a day, so) and increase my thickness (my hair was 1.5in in diameter when I joined and now I’m over 2in). I’ve been having an on-again off-again love affair with my supplements (read: I can’t remember to take them regularly) so I don’t know if they help or not.

jojo
August 26th, 2008, 05:58 PM
I agree a lot of factors play a part in healthy hair growth. Monistat has really helped me too, as have vitamins, especially ones with iron as I am nearly always slightly anaemic (please seek your GP's advice before going on a vitamin regime though, too much can be harmful) A good diet with plenty of variety and fluid intake is good too and not just for hair growth.

Buddaphlyy
August 26th, 2008, 06:13 PM
I didn't know it was multiple choice, but I picked patience and would have picked dietary enhancement. All of the other stuff is practically null and void if one doesn't take the time to eat and cook healthy.

Phalaenopsis
August 27th, 2008, 04:21 AM
Exercise and supplements did the trick for me. :)
But I think it is different for each person. With me, exercise helped because my bloodcirculation isn't that great, so with supplements, gingko helped because it enhances bloodflow to the brains.

pariate
August 27th, 2008, 04:26 AM
Patience is my biggest failing :lol: If I can forget about my length for a few months I feel much happier about it - especially when I look at the length again and see that it's grown ;)

granitbaby
August 27th, 2008, 04:36 AM
Patience is what works for me, but I have also had positive effect from rosemary EO. I used it in my last rinse for about 6 months and I got some extra growth (or at least I tell my self so...)

laurachiplock
August 27th, 2008, 06:03 AM
Benign Neglect has been most successful for me.

When I don't think about it, don't come to the forum all the time & don't try all these crazy things, it grows much faster.

DecafJane
August 27th, 2008, 06:05 AM
For me, not cutting it and not playing with it help it to grow and stop me from damaging it with my fingers. :D

sipnsun
August 27th, 2008, 06:36 AM
Patience is the only thing that has worked for me. I take supplements, do scalp massages, brush my scalp, eat healthy and exercise, but I'm lucky to get .25"-.50" per month. The only thing on your list I haven't tried is the monostat. I bought it with the intention of using it, but decided to do a little more research first. Thanks so much for adding that you had additional shedding once you stopped using it! I can't afford to loose anymore hair.:)

Nightshade
August 27th, 2008, 07:25 AM
I've never tried monostat, but I voted for all the others.

One that's missing is scalp oils. I make my own blend of carrier oils and EOs, as do several members. You can read more about it in this thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2001):)

I've used now two different oil blends, one mine, one another member's, and I've seen reduced shedding and perhaps increased growth with both of them.

CaityBear
August 27th, 2008, 08:09 AM
I think patience for me. I do scalp massages when I CO and I've done overnight oiling, but so far I'm growing on average 1in every month so I can't tell if everything else is making it grow faster; my hair has always grown fast.

Oh, and I'm taking a multivitamin to try and not be deficient in anything because I know I'm probably not getting them all in foods.

Nightshade
August 27th, 2008, 08:38 AM
The thing with hair growth rates is that everyone has a genetically predetermined max. You cannot exceed that, however, using these methods can help you attain that if you haven't yet. So if you're getting an inch of growth a month and add in oils, monistat, scalp massages and unicorn kisses and nothing happens, no biggie, you may have already been at your max. It is great to experiment, though.

chrissy-b
August 27th, 2008, 10:23 AM
One that's missing is scalp oils. I make my own blend of carrier oils and EOs, as do several members. You can read more about it in this thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2001):)

Awh man! I was thinking that scalp massage would be done with or w/o EO's and those that use specific oils would note which ones they use. I should have been more specific.

Is there anyway to add that now?

pdy2kn6
August 27th, 2008, 10:34 AM
I find that eating lots of Tofu (soya beancurd) does help alot. I went to China a while ago and I ate Tofu a very lot for about one month. I noticed a significant, yet temporary boost.

Nightshade
August 27th, 2008, 10:41 AM
Awh man! I was thinking that scalp massage would be done with or w/o EO's and those that use specific oils would note which ones they use. I should have been more specific.

Is there anyway to add that now?

A mod can fix it for you. :flowers:

rhysiana
August 27th, 2008, 03:02 PM
I voted for patience and benign neglect because I know those work (for me). However, I've more or less been in the process of growing my hair all my life, and joining here was the first time I ever actually measured it. I can only guess at my actual growth rate, and since I've never tried any of the other things, I'm not sure if they'd improve it or not.

My "benign neglect" routine involves S&C every 3 days or so, air drying, night braiding, and mostly wearing hair up, although that does include ponytails, so I'm not exactly going out of my way to protect the ends/length (though I've been more vigilant lately.)

I made my nearly-DH start scalp brushing to see if it'd help slow/reverse his hair loss, so I suppose I can report back as to whether that helps him, at least!

RedElephant
August 27th, 2008, 04:03 PM
I also voted for patience and benign neglect. This past year my hair is the best it has ever been and I'm noticing a lot more length. I attribute this to my daily style of throwing my hair into a bun and cowashing daily for moisture. Being busy with classes helped because I wasn't fussing with my hair or stressing about it.

k_hepburn
August 28th, 2008, 08:41 AM
I'm missing the most obvious option here: Staying away from hairdressers!

:D:D:D

katharine

Nightshade
August 28th, 2008, 08:47 AM
I'm missing the most obvious option here: Staying away from hairdressers!

:D:D:D

katharine

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=1142&pictureid=15374

/not a quality post

chrissy-b
August 28th, 2008, 03:23 PM
/not a quality post

I think anything that makes me laugh my arse off is a quality post.

p.s.
flaxen fixed the poll and added EO's to the list. Vote away!!

Nightshade
August 29th, 2008, 07:38 AM
I think anything that makes me laugh my arse off is a quality post.

p.s.
flaxen fixed the poll and added EO's to the list. Vote away!!

:lol: Fair enough.

Damn, I can't vote for EOs because I voted already, but here's my vote for them :D

pinkprincess
September 2nd, 2008, 06:55 AM
I voted patience, I'm sure it does work but I don't seem to have any!

happymommy
September 3rd, 2008, 12:00 PM
I swear half the hair on my head is 2 inch long new growth. Prior to discovering LHC I grew an average .25 to .5 inches a month and lost almost half of my hair due to heavy year round shedding. Now I'm a monistat/scalp brusher with an average 1 in/month growth. And since I discovered CO my shedding has almost completely stopped.

:D I'm so grateful :cheese:

chrissy-b
September 3rd, 2008, 12:04 PM
I swear half the hair on my head is 2 inch long new growth. Prior to discovering LHC I grew an average .25 to .5 inches a month and lost almost half of my hair due to heavy year round shedding. Now I'm a monistat/scalp brusher with an average 1 in/month growth. And since I discovered CO my shedding has almost completely stopped.

:D I'm so grateful :cheese:

Congrats happymommy on the growth spurt. I had good growth on monistat too and am forever grateful to the people here that led me in that direction.

vindo
September 3rd, 2008, 01:03 PM
I also voted other, since trims can do wonders in your hair growths quality for some. I know it takes longer, so add "patience" :p but thats the way I have to grow.

C_Bookworm
September 3rd, 2008, 04:41 PM
I really feel like when i am willling to massage my head for at least 15 minutes every day, it makes a difference. up to 1/2 inch a month more

thankyousir74
September 3rd, 2008, 04:53 PM
I voted Patience because sometimes, that's all I can do. I don't think there's is one day where i look in mirror at the back of my head (double mirrors guys), and think yay it's growing. I don't think I can do "Benign Neglect" as I think about it every day. I've been using coconut oil but i think that just helps the condition, not the growth rate. And I wish I could do scalp massages, I always forget :(

LadyLongLocks
September 3rd, 2008, 05:09 PM
Patience. Not only does it take time to reach our goal, but it takes patience to be careful with our hair. The longer it gets, the longer I spend washing, combing, conditioning and just taking more time treating my hair with the care it needs.

lilalong
September 4th, 2008, 01:51 PM
I voted patience, because, at least for me, nothing seems to have an influence on my growth.

Cinnamon.locks
September 6th, 2008, 01:42 AM
Patience has been the only thing that has worked for me, and i am not the most patient person. my hair gets a whim and grows, then stalls, then grows like crazy again then stops growing. i have tried vitamins, bening neglect, oils and even going vegetarian and nothing seemed to help my hair grow faster. so for the last 2 years i've been simply patient and allow it to grow as it wishes. but i do take extreme care of my hair since it is so fine and fragile.

chrissy-b
October 1st, 2008, 01:58 PM
Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who voted on this poll. :)

LisaS.
March 19th, 2009, 05:28 AM
Gentle treatment of my hair and scalp, healthy diet and exercise, patience, and especially the avoidance of scissors. I'm amazed at how much better my hair looks since I only see a hairdresser every 6 months to 1 year. (for end shaping only)

Naava
March 19th, 2009, 06:13 AM
I believe in being patient and eating healthy :)

Loviatar
March 19th, 2009, 06:28 AM
I voted patience, beningn neglect, and other. The other standing for henna. I get increased growth when I use it monthly.

I havent done vitamins or Eos/massage long enough to say if it works for me or not.

Nanni
March 19th, 2009, 07:43 AM
I think the best trick is good oldfashioned patience, but supplements and scalpmassage and exercise helps as well. I also believe that my hair has gotten so much healthier and thicker after I quit using cemical products as haircolor and cones.

chickpea
March 22nd, 2009, 11:15 AM
I chose patience and benign neglect, but what has also helped is to stop abusing my hair with harsh chemicals. I've had to trim off a lot of damage from too frequent use of hair dye. Switching to henna a few years ago helped me get from BSL to past waist length.

Gutterfayrie
March 22nd, 2009, 12:28 PM
Here's another vote for patience and benign neglect.

I'm sure that switching from bleach to red dye, to Henna helped also :)

Silverlox
March 22nd, 2009, 12:46 PM
I voted for patience, benign neglect and other, the other being time..! :D

Perhaps the reason some people are not getting any results as to faster growing with different methods is simply that they're already at their maximal growth rate? Or perhaps they haven't yet found that elusive component missing to achieve that? I believe we all have an upper limit, probably defined by genetics, as to how fast/long our hair can grow.

If for some reason you're not growing at your ultimate speed, different methods might be just the factor/s you're missing to achieve that. But, if you're already at top speed, there's probably nothing that can "do" anything for you to achieve a faster rate.

For me, so far nothing has increased my growth rate in any noticeable way, not even monistat. On the other side, my hair seems to grow rather quickly all by itself, no matter what I do. However, monistat has had a tremendous effect on minimising my shedding, which is why I still use it once a week, approximately.
To me, it's not so much a growth enhancer, mainly a cheap and easy method to make house cleaning a lot easier, especially when it comes to the bathroom and drains! It's also nice to not get that furry look on the back of all my clothes. :D

curls2grow
March 22nd, 2009, 01:22 PM
I've tried a lot of the things listed. By process of elimination, patience seems to be my best option, and I really like the price tag. :D

janeytilllie
March 22nd, 2009, 01:44 PM
I choose
Patience, supplements and scalp massges. I think all three are improving my hair health and condition. My hair use to grow very slow but I have noticed faster hair growth since starting these :D

SmellyJelly
March 22nd, 2009, 01:48 PM
I voted supplements and patience. A while back I took both Biotin and MSM, I found they worked pretty well. Patience is pretty important as Im sure it's impossible to grow hair 5 inches a month, which Im sure we would all love!

Could somebody please explain to me what monistat is, I googled it but it came up with yeast infections and stuff :confused:

Sophie x

neon-dream
March 22nd, 2009, 02:03 PM
Lots and lots of patience :)!

spidermom
March 22nd, 2009, 02:05 PM
As long as your general diet and health habits are good, give your hair time to grow long. That's all it takes, really. The rest (imo) is just hype.

eresh
March 22nd, 2009, 02:21 PM
I voted Patience and scalpmassages (the last one I do knoew if it really works but it just feels gooooooooooooood :-) )
I use essential oils too, but that doesn't make it grow faster it just adds a nice fragrance and my ends like it.
On the rest I agree with Spidermom ;-)

Debra83
March 22nd, 2009, 02:23 PM
Supplements, scalp massages, and patience for me!!!

MysticWings
April 15th, 2011, 06:28 AM
I'm a little late to this thread but I thought I'd share what's been working for me! I've lately been taking Magnesium pills and my fringe seems to have grown an inch in three weeks. That's pretty impressive if you ask me!

I read somewhere too that magnesium aids hair growth, so I definitely suggest looking into it.

RitaPG
April 15th, 2011, 08:57 AM
I voted for them all except for Monistat, because I have not tried that method.
I'm sorry if we were supposed to answer to just one, but for me, all of them are important :o

One thing you forgot to mention, though: Oils and/or moiturizers.
Because maintaining the ends in good condition was the MAJOR factor on my growth progress. The one thing that truly improved my growing.
Seriously, so many people complain all the time their hair never grows, but truly, they have to cut it all the time because of dry, ratty or damaged ends.

Dietary enhancement and/or Supplements are also vital, especially for people with a poor diet, or anemia (like myself)

And while I cannot really prove how effective this is, but a nice Scalp massage with some good Essential Oils is always a pleasure for me to do :)

CarpeDM
April 15th, 2011, 09:01 AM
Good old fashioned patience and time...

pepperminttea
April 17th, 2011, 03:27 AM
I voted Patience, Benign Neglect, and Dietary Enhancement. In terms of the latter, I mean eating 'right' rather than especially eating something specifically. Everything seems to work better with me when I eat enough fruit and veg, including hair growth. :)

saera
April 18th, 2011, 02:00 PM
Patience, scalp massage & enriched coconut hair oil helped me.

charalito
May 17th, 2011, 10:06 PM
For me, the only thing useful for hair growth has been patience.

However, healthy eating, oiling and scalp massages have made my hair healthier and it's now in it's best condition EVER!

christine1989
May 17th, 2011, 10:31 PM
I went with suppliments and other (the suppliments being biotin and the other being castor oil).

bte
May 18th, 2011, 02:38 AM
I don't think there's any magic formula for extra growth. I think trying to keep healthy, reducing stress, being patient, and only trimming the minimum necessary to keep your hair looking OK are the best things.

Kumiko033
May 18th, 2011, 02:56 AM
healthy eating is it for me mostly, never paid attention if my hair gew faster with oiling, only saw more baby hairs while using castor oil for a while.
I do scalp massages once in a while but that's for my migraine.
for some reason I'm still really intrested in Monitstat though :p

CoilyCurlyME
May 19th, 2011, 03:31 AM
patience, nutrition, exercise and protective styling works great for me. my hair is not very long but it's longer than i ever have been able to grow it before.

GALISH
May 19th, 2011, 05:04 AM
Patience is the main thing but you forgot the mental factor. I think my mind helped me a lot in my journey

CrystalStar
May 19th, 2011, 05:24 AM
I genuinely believe that all those methods work!

Anything that improved the blood flow to your scalp, or overall health should aid with hair growth! :)

Colourful
May 19th, 2011, 06:10 AM
Standing on head works since it livens up the blood stream in your head and makes hair grow faster. :)

celebriangel
May 19th, 2011, 07:36 AM
For me, eating a nutritious, varied diet does wonders for evey part of my body, as does some light exercise (even walking 20 minutes every day will make a big difference). I used to chemically dye every 8 weeks, and had a huge shed (maybe 3 times a normal wash) whenever I did. I know there's extra manipulation when you dye, but I have since done lots of dye-free manipulation on wash-day and still didn't see that much shedding.

Giginv up SLS and coney conditioners slowed down my shedding a little bit (I think the coney buildup was upsetting my scalp, and my scalp has always preferred the gentlest shampoos possible, so I think staying away from SLS was a good move), but in the 3 days since I henna'd it's practically down to nothing! :joy: (by which I mean that When I have done my morningly and nightly brush, I have seen perhaps one hair lost each time, when the normal amount - well, I haven't counted because it would make me too paranoid, but there was usually enough to make a little hairball - maybe 10 or so, maybe more).

I am going to start the Essential oil idea, because I already use castor oil but it's a bit thick so I'll be doing a 50/50 mix with Nightshade's triple moon oil (which smells fantastic). Even if it doesn't do anything for my growth or shed in the end, I do love me a scalp massage :D

BeamingBrunette
May 28th, 2011, 10:58 PM
Definitely patience :) I do use prenatal vitamins as well which might help ;)

elbow chic
May 29th, 2011, 02:29 PM
I vote patience, and choosing "good" parents: ie, your genes.

Dietary supplementation would probably help someone who is extremely underfed but I doubt that's a serious problem for most people on LHC.

Callque
December 18th, 2011, 06:13 AM
Biotin, scalp massages, and Castor Oil completely increased my hair growth.

Amber_Maiden
December 18th, 2011, 08:48 AM
Patience and benign neglect. Only ways.

RitaPG
December 18th, 2011, 08:49 AM
I had great success with biotin and castor oil.

Orangerthanred
December 18th, 2011, 10:57 AM
Supplements and all the crazy products claiming to grow your hair faster never work for me.

Massages do.

almond
December 18th, 2011, 01:11 PM
Patience and benign neglect definitely works. I take care of my hair, wear it up, don't measure, and when people tell me that my hair has grown a lot, then I'm convinced it really did. :o
I found that scalp massages with oils help too. It doesn't seem to speed the growth up, but I notice more new hairs when I do it.

Nannanej
December 18th, 2011, 01:43 PM
I voted patience and dietary enhancement .. I understood that as "better diet", hope that is correct. I chose that one to represent "healthy lifestyle" in general, including exercise.

catamonica
December 23rd, 2011, 03:29 PM
Horse shampoo helped my hair grow fourteen inches just past my waist. Im bunning it six days
a week.. Hopefully it will promete hair growth. And just have to be patient.

GoatLady
November 1st, 2022, 09:30 PM
I'm pretty sure patience and benign neglect are the biggies. I think we all know the main ways to care for our hair. Eat right, plenty of water, take care of our health, infrequent trims, don't wash our hair so much, don't handle it/cause mechanical damage, wear protective styles, keep it oiled/conditioned.... BUT most of all, don't worry about it so much. Just let it grow and enjoy it at the length it is.