Why Do Some Peoples Hair Grow Faster Than Others?

[Ellethwyn]

Why do some peoples hair grow faster than others? I've been growing my hair out from chin length for six years now and it's to the end of my ribs/ the top of my lower back now. My friend cut his hair to chin length around the same time I started to grow my hair and his hair was to his tail bone in 3 years!!! I think guys hair grows faster.

How can I get my hair to grow faster?

[Ellethwyn]

Is it even possible to get your hair to grow faster? lol:)

[Sharysa]

Some people's hair just grows faster, but there's a lot of factors involved. Height helped me get my hair from a couple inches past shoulder to past waist-length in two years, but it was also because I didn't trim for a year aside from getting rid of split ends.

A lot of people are fed the belief that trimming your hair makes it grow faster, but logic means that the very idea is flawed; hair is dead and cutting it sends no biological signals to your scalp that it needs to make more hair. It's mostly just a money-making scheme for hair-dressers.

Your guy friend probably got more growth because men don't put as much emphasis on hair in general, so he wouldn't have been unwittingly trimming off half his growth every month.

Then some people just have fragile hair that needs constant babying even when virgin and at peak health, while others like me have hair that grows like a weed with only protective styling, a good natural shampoo and oiling twice a week.

Edit: The thing that helps most people is protective styling, like braids or buns. It keeps your hair from tangling too much and getting damaged from rubbing on your clothes or chairs.

Then there's making sure you exercise regularly and eat right, because if you don't get enough vitamins or if you sit around all week, you're probably not getting as much hair growth as someone with at least moderate exercise and a good diet.

[lazuliblue]

It depends how you treat your hair as well. If you dye, straighten and treat it roughly, it is likely to just keep breaking off at the ends and either appear as if it isn't growing at all or just grow really slowly. (Then again some people do have resilient hair that can withstand a lot!)

[Ellethwyn]

Thanks for your thoughts ladies. My hair is thin/fine hair and I notice it breaks a lot. I have not trimmed my hair is 4 years. I have a theory that fine hair grows slower. I don't know if that is true. I've heard of a supplement that makes hair and nails grow faster, but I can't remember the name and I don't know if it's true or not.

[Lindenare]

The main factors, as far as I'm aware, are genetics, diet, and how you treat your hair. Genetics (among other things, but that's too complicated to get into here) dictate the maximum rate of growth, along with the general resilience of your hair. Environmental factors, such as diet, affect hair within the constraints set by your genes. For example, if you're not eating well, your hair will not grow as fast as it could under better conditions. Mechanical damage doesn't actually affect growth, but it can make your hair appear to grow more slowly if the ends break off too fast. To gain length, try to use protective styles and minimize wear on the ends. To promote actual growth, keep yourself as healthy as possible, eat a balanced diet, and make sure you are consuming enough protein. (Hair is made of protein, so if you're not eating enough of it, your growth rate will be slow.)

[Lindenare]

I've heard of a supplement that makes hair and nails grow faster, but I can't remember the name and I don't know if it's true or not.

It's not universally true. Supplements only work if they provide something that you're not getting through your diet, so it may or may not work for you.

[Rosa Harris]

Don't use rubber bands/hair ties especially on braid tails as they will consistently break fine fragile hair off. Cause me lots of trouble!

[chen bao jun]

Protect your ends. Especially if you have thin, fine hair. It's not how fast it grows, its how much of it you manage to keep on your head. Seriously.

[Ellethwyn]

Protect your ends. Especially if you have thin, fine hair. It's not how fast it grows, its how much of it you manage to keep on your head. Seriously.

Good point :)

[lazuliblue]

Thanks for your thoughts ladies. My hair is thin/fine hair and I notice it breaks a lot. I have not trimmed my hair is 4 years. I have a theory that fine hair grows slower. I don't know if that is true. I've heard of a supplement that makes hair and nails grow faster, but I can't remember the name and I don't know if it's true or not.

Perhaps you could trim more often which will reduce split ends and the chance that the hair will break? (Just be sure not to trim off all of your growth each time!). Also protective updos like buns will help to protect your ends.

[Vrindi]

Genetics + diet + good hair care. You can only control two of those things. Diet plays a huge role. If your diet is well-balanced and healthy, and you get plenty of water, your hair will grow better, since it's a non-essential body function. If you take great care of your hair and protect it from damage, and don't go nuts with trims (and don't let your stylist get scissor-happy), then you keep more of the hair you grow.

[Ellethwyn]

Perhaps you could trim more often which will reduce split ends and the chance that the hair will break? (Just be sure not to trim off all of your growth each time!). Also protective updos like buns will help to protect your ends.

I've been thinking about trimmimg it because some of my split ends are over an inch long. I've been waiting to trim it till it gets to my tailbone, then I will take a couple inches off to get all the dead/split ends and even out my hair.

[meteor]

Apart from genetics + diet + hair care, I'd also add hormones. I remember reading that hormones are the biggest reason why male hair grows thicker and faster than female, and male scalps tend to produce more oil, too. So you shouldn't expect to get the same kind of hair growth as your male friend.

[aprilfool]

I keep mine pulled up most of the time and I also don't wash but once or twice a week. My hair is fine and thin.

[LauraLongLocks]

If I don't eat enough protein, my hair growth slows. Mine is fine, too. It took me 6 years to get from a pixie to where I am now, but I had a lot of trims along the way.

[LongHairLesbian]

My hair is quite fine, and while it grows fairly quickly, it also splits and tangles very easily, which makes the temptation to trim greater. :/ Wearing my hair in braids and buns, as well as cutting out heat and being careful when I'm detangling, have helped my hair grow faster and more nicely than my pre-LHC days. :) In my personal opinion, I think that the formula to successful hair growth is 10% genetics, 10% diet, 5% products, and 75% proper handling. While genetics, diet, and products can be crap shoots and we often have little control over them, careful, gentle handling will always yield better results than rougher handling.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

A good trick to proper handling is sleeping with your hair on a satin pillowcase or confined in a satin sleeping cap, this prevents a lot of tangling.

Wear your hair up as much as you can (not using elastics preferably, use hair sticks or forks)

Always detangle your hair with a seamless wide toothed comb and never use a hairbrush to detangle.

Always comb or brush from the ends and work upwards towards your scalp.

Use conditioner on your hair after you wash it.

Preferably allow your hair to dry naturally after you wash it (ie, don't use any heat on it, allow it to air dry).

Preferably don't use heated appliances on your hair - anything which is too hot to put on your hand is too hot for your hair and will cause damage/dryness/split ends and breakage.

Hope this helps! :)

[Maverick494]

Hun, it took me about five years to get my bleach blonde shoulderlength hair to my now back to natural brown hiplength hair.

This was what it looked like in 2009:
http://s24.postimg.org/qrepw08h1/blonde.jpg
(and no it did not actually look that good, in real life lighting it had an almost yellow cast).

This is what it looks like now, pre-trim:
http://s22.postimg.org/hhdcy91xt/Schermafbeelding_2014_04_25_om_00_20_22.png

It depends on growth rate, yes, which is mostly genetically determined. But how you take care of your hair definitely plays a big part.

I trimmed regularly, especially at first. My hair was so damaged from all the bleaching, I had to get a good trim every 3 months to thicken up the hemline, get rid of the damage and just grow a little bit. I kept dyeing it for 2 more years until I got it very close to my natural color, so I could grow it out without a terrible looking demarcation line. Then I started dusting and doing sessions of "search and destroy" (this basically means seeking out and cutting split ends you won't catch with a regular trim) and trimming every 6 months. It took me a long, long time to get where I am now (and yes I realize my ends need a trim; I'll get it done soon lol) but it's been worth it. Also, I'm 5'10" and it takes tall people longer to hit certain milestones than short people. Such is life.

Anyway, for tips:
- try to watch your nutrition. Get your vitamins and supplements where needed (D,E, the whole B family, Iron, Copper). Just make sure you don't overdo it because there's such a thing as too much when it comes to these things.
- Wear your hair up a lot to prevent it from rubbing against your clothing too much.
- Trim regularly if you find you're prone to split ends. The no trim policy works great for some people, but that's usually the kind of people
who just don't experience a lot of damage or shedding. If you're prone to both trimming will prevent damage from traveling up (which causes the kind of breakage that prevents the hair from every getting long) and it'll also help you thicken up your hemline while you wait for the rest of the hairs to catch up to the already long ones.
- comb with wide tooth combs and brush with a boar bristle brush. To each their own of course, but these work well for me.

Good luck and be patient! :P

[arielágua]

Hi.
I think a lot of people underestimate the power of diet/food.
Eating well and many varied foods does really help your body, hair included, receiving all the right amount of nutrients. Just eat those vegetables, fruits and all that jazz.
Trimming is just to keep your hair healthy without split ends, but I don't think it does really play a big role on the hair growth speed.
Now that you mention, guys growing hair faster...it could be that guys are really big eaters? All the guys I know, tend to eat a lot of food! lol!
:)

[alishaxmarie]

I'm just going to drop some helpful links since you have plenty of basic info above on natural growth rate and very little on how to tentatively increase your rate of growth. I would also suggest you run a few searches before asking more questions since they've probably been asked before and it would be much quicker than waiting for other users to respond to a new thread (but by all means, please ask questions whenever you need to!). :)
Caffeine rinse thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=121903) (decrease shed rate and possibly increase growth rate)
Growth rate experiments thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=119947) (info on multiple methods to increase/improve one's growth rate and quality)
Catnip rinse thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=476) (to prevent split ends)

[Ellethwyn]

I'm just going to drop some helpful links since you have plenty of basic info above on natural growth rate and very little on how to tentatively increase your rate of growth. I would also suggest you run a few searches before asking more questions since they've probably been asked before and it would be much quicker than waiting for other users to respond to a new thread (but by all means, please ask questions whenever you need to!). :)
Caffeine rinse thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=121903) (decrease shed rate and possibly increase growth rate)
Growth rate experiments thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=119947) (info on multiple methods to increase/improve one's growth rate and quality)
Catnip rinse thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=476) (to prevent split ends)


Thank you and I am sorry for asking questions that have been asked before.

[alishaxmarie]

Thank you and I am sorry for asking questions that have been asked before.

Oh, don't apologize! I just meant that it's likely you might have a question based off of other users' suggestions (such as brushing/combing, self-trimming, and pre-wash treatments) and there's usually a lot of archived information and "official" threads that explain the basics and are chock full of links for more detailed information. Plus, who wants to wait for hair-altering advice once they begin their hair journey!? Certainly not me! :wink: :lol:

[KittyBird]

If you haven't trimmed your hair for that long, it could be that the ends are breaking off and making it seem like your hair grows slowly. Especially since you said that your hair is fine and that some of your splits are 1" long. :shrug: If you wait any longer with trimming your hair, you're probably going to have to cut off a lot more than you'd want to. At least do some S&D (search and destroy) to get rid of the splits.

Other than that, I just want to say that some of us are slow-growers and that it's better to just come to terms with it. ;) It has been almost 2 months since last time I hennaed my hair, and I can barely see the roots. Sometimes it grows faster, but most of the time, it feels like it barely grows at all. Experiment with methods to make your hair grow faster if that makes you happy, but personally, I don't think they will make much of a difference. Your scalp will probably appreciate the massages and rinses though :)