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cat-lady
April 30th, 2014, 04:53 AM
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Rosa Harris
April 30th, 2014, 05:20 AM
biotin helps with growth and making sure you get enough dark leafy greens or broccoli and some red meat (or b vitamin complex if you are veggie). Dark leafies are very important. If you opt for a juice to get the leafies get a smoothie not something that is 'juiced' as all the good stuff you need is strained out in juicing.

Actual growth is about diet, not products. There is nothing you can put on outside to make growth faster.

The other issue is damage which you seem to be starting to address. Make sure your shampoo is sulfate-free and your conditioner cone free. The less you can put poo on it the better as poo strips the hairs sebum that protects it. Belive it or not a conditioner washes and cleans away excess oils quite well. Swave even gets oil y heavy heavy oil and butter treatments by itself.

You don't sound like you really need hair oils much. You have something better - your natural oil. Use your fingers to work that nice stuff down the hair shaft and massage your scalp gently. I don't think you need do grow if you have oils naturally. Some use a bore bristle brush but I a against brushes and combs because they cause friction damage.

If you use a comb make sure it is wide tooth and then take a nail file and gently file along the the teeth and make sure there are no sharp or rough spots that can break a hair. Just breaking off one hair a day is 365 in a year if you think about it that's quite a pile.

Oh and protective up-do especially while sleeping with either a silk scarf or satin sleep cap or satin pillow case ( or pin a scarf over your normal case). Cotten pillowcases tear and tangle the fickens out of hair.

furnival
April 30th, 2014, 05:45 AM
Three years to reach BSL isn't bad. Remember, hair grows an average of 6" per year.

Do you wear your hair up? If your hair is fine like mine, this may make all the difference. I thought my hair wouldn't grow past my shoulders until I started wearing it up all the time. Sometimes fine hair just can't cope with the constant low-level damage caused by wearing it down.
If you gave up the hair dye two months ago then you have only approximately one inch of hair that hasn't been dyed: any damage from previous dyeing will remain in your hair.
I'd caution against spending money on magic hair growth potions and pills and concentrate on making sure you're fit and healthy, eat a balanced and nutritious diet and do everything you can to minimise damage to your hair.

Funnily enough, a lot of people seem to go through a phase of believing their hair grows really slowly or not at all, often soon after joining LHC. :p I know it happened to me. What I came to realise is that hair does grow slowly, and seems to grow even slower if you're constantly measuring it and comparing it. My advice is to put it up every day and night and check its length in six months' time, when the average person will have gained three inches, and any progress ought to be visible. :)

Madora
April 30th, 2014, 07:44 AM
Diet is everything when it comes to healthy hair. How you treat it plays an important part too.

Daily scalp massage in the bent at the waist position can help stimulate your follicles. Do it in the morning, for optimum results. Be sure to detangle your hair before and after you massage.

YvetteVarie
April 30th, 2014, 07:46 AM
Another method you might try using is the inversion method. Some women have claimed growth of up to an inch in a week, It doesn't work the same for everyone, but I feel no one has anything to lose by trying it. Just read up on the information on the link and see whether you can safely try out the inversion method.

http://www.hairlista.com/group/1-inch-in-1-week-challenge

eadwine
April 30th, 2014, 07:53 AM
I have to sign in to read that link?



Ah found out elsewhere: http://hairdiary.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/the-inversion-method-for-hair-grow-an-inch-of-hair-in-7-days/

pinchbeck
April 30th, 2014, 09:10 AM
I feel your frustration. It took me two years to get from BSL to slightly passed WL and I do eat a healthy diet. My slow hair growth I blame on my age because a few years ago it grew at an average rate. It would be nice to speed the growth rate of hair that grows at a turtle's pace but to do so supposedly requires the addition of vitamins such as biotin (mentioned already) and others such as MSM and glucosamine which take six months to see results. However, I already take glucosomine for cartilage problems in my neck and it hasn't helped my hair at all. Of course we are all different and what works for some will not work for all.

PS: Coconut oil gives me the greasies too.

nakima
April 30th, 2014, 09:32 AM
I noticed a lot of new growth when I started drinking green drinks with lots of spinach and my hair got really shiney also. As Madora said diet is everything. Good Luck!

ositarosita
April 30th, 2014, 09:53 AM
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=119947

Marika
April 30th, 2014, 09:58 AM
I would also suggest keeping your hair up as much as possible to protect the ends. It makes a big difference especially if you have fine hair. I'm pretty sure your hair growth rate is average, not slow. Healthy diet didn't make my hair grow any faster. Only over-eating did but I'm not suggesting that! :p Of course you'll get other benefits eating healthy if not faster growing hair.

And there's nothing wrong with washing hair every other day. Personally, I think it's important to have a clean scalp. I've always washed my hair every other day and it grew to tailbone without any problems. This time I plan to grow even longer. I did try to stretch washes at one time but it's :bs: that everyone's scalp will adjust. Mine never did.

Budgie
April 30th, 2014, 03:53 PM
Being healthy is most important. Take a multi vitamin if you aren't already. Cardio helps too. Other important hair vitamins include zinc, fish oil (or flax oil, if you're vegetarian), iron, and B vitamins (some B multi vitamins include biotin).
Make sure you're healthy in general, like make sure you're getting enough sleep. If you have other health problems see a doctor, just because there's a rare chance that hormone problems are causing slow hair growth.
When doing the inversion method choose an essential oil that increases blood flow, and add a few drops. Some of those essential oils include peppermint, rosemary, and cinnamon.
Some herbs can increase hair growth, like bhringraj. I read about a study done on mice with a bhringraj extract, and the herb extract made the mice fur grow back faster and denser than without the herb extract.
Make sure you're less stressed. Stress slows down hair growth and can make hair fall out.

ErinLeigh
April 30th, 2014, 06:17 PM
ok this is silly but I just read on the internet that if you rub the fingernails on the left hand and right hand together fir a few minutes a day (fold fingers over,, put nails on each hand facing each other, touch together and slide back and forth) that it stimulates the scalp. Think buffing you nails with your own nails if that makes sense. If it works would be good to do when inversion method isn't an option (i.e. sitting at work)

Anyone know about pressure point to confirm or deny something like this? I saw it on youtube about preventing hair fall (and greys)

swearnsue
April 30th, 2014, 07:31 PM
When I started taking diatomaceous earth my hair grew about 3/4 inch per month for a couple of months. Then it slowed down to the normal 1/2 inch or less per month. But those two months were pretty great!

I have the Doo Go oil also, but I don't use it like the directions. I use it as a pre shampoo oil. I massage it into my scalp and leave it in for about an hour before washing it out. It doesn't make my hair grow faster but it seems to reduce shedding quite a bit.

Quahatundightu
May 1st, 2014, 02:58 AM
Some people's hair just grows slowly too. Mine doesn't seem to grow any faster than 1/4 inch a month, even though my diet is great, I exercise, take very good care of my hair and so on. Definitely look into ways you might be able to improve your hair quality and give it the best chance to grow, but some of us do just have slower growing hair. You only started 6 months ago as well, perhaps you will find your hard work paying off in a year or two when the now healthier hair grows down more. If you take good care of your hair and yourself, and keep trimming occasionally I'm sure you will see progress. Good luck!

cat-lady
May 1st, 2014, 05:32 AM
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momschicklets
May 1st, 2014, 06:05 AM
ok this is silly but I just read on the internet that if you rub the fingernails on the left hand and right hand together fir a few minutes a day (fold fingers over,, put nails on each hand facing each other, touch together and slide back and forth) that it stimulates the scalp. Think buffing you nails with your own nails if that makes sense. If it works would be good to do when inversion method isn't an option (i.e. sitting at work)

Anyone know about pressure point to confirm or deny something like this? I saw it on youtube about preventing hair fall (and greys)

LOL Well it might be silly but you know I'm going to be doing this now and see what happens! *rubbing nails together*

I can commiserate with you slow-growers. It appears that my hair grows at a rate of 1/2 inch for every 5 weeks instead of 4. I'm pretty sure that's accurate too because I color my hair so I can clearly see the outgrowth. And it grows that amount every month regardless of what I do. Bummer. No turbo-growth here.

MaryO
May 1st, 2014, 08:21 AM
Not to rain on your parade but I have tried so many things and haven't found anything that works. The only thing I do now is to put it up, treat it well and most importantly forget about it! Of course I wouldn't discourage trying any of the suggesions here because these guys know what they're talking about but I think my hair is just not into growing any faster than it wants to! :-P

furnival
May 1st, 2014, 08:54 AM
I do wear my hair up however in a pony which may still cause damage?
A ponytail is not a protective style- it leaves the vulnerable ends of your hair loose to fly about and rub across your back every time you turn your head. For fine-haired folk, this can be enough to negate any growth you get. My hair was stalled for years because of this.
Protective styles have the ends safely tucked away out of harm's reach, such as a bun. Try wearing your hair in a bun every day for a few months and keep it contained at night as well. I can't stress enough how much of a difference this can make. For me, it was the difference between having short, damaged hair that didn't grow, and having long, healthy hair.

jeanniet
May 1st, 2014, 10:13 AM
Vitamins don't make you healthy--I can't stress that enough. They have their place if there are deficiencies, but they're not a substitute for a good diet with plenty of variety, especially fruits, veggies, and greens. IMO, though, growth rate is primarily genetic. Reducing damage so you don't have breakage is important, and a healthy lifestyle (diet, sleep, exercise) is important for you anyway, so I'd focus on that more than anything else.

eadwine
May 1st, 2014, 10:46 AM
Also: DO NOT take vitamins if you are taking pills or things already. They can bite each other, and you CAN take too much. I cannot stress that enough. Too little is not good, too much isn't good either.

When in doubt if you are holding enough vitamins get a blood test at the doc's, more than what is normal is not needed but too much can be dangerous.

furnival
May 1st, 2014, 01:52 PM
Thirding the vitamins advice, and just to add- just because a deficiency of a particular vitamin can cause slow growth or hair loss, it doesn't mean that taking large doses of it will make your hair grow faster. This seems to be the rationale behind taking biotin, which is a substance produced by the body and which very few people are deficient in. Taking more vitamins than you need is pointless and can cause harm.

jacqueline101
May 1st, 2014, 06:26 PM
I've noticed extra growth when I increased my protein intake. My hair grew I also had good luck with monistat, biotin and every vitamin on the planet. I gave up the monistat for a while and started using baume hair plus conditioner mixed with water I mist it on with my mister every other day.

AmyBeth
May 1st, 2014, 10:40 PM
The only thing I really know for sure that helped me nudge my growth rate up at all was daily scalp massage. You don't have to make a second career out of it, just a few minutes a day, with your head hanging down, as suggested by Madora. I also know that my growth rate remains constant whether I trim or not, because I use hendigo and can see my root growth every month. But I do realize more length when I stick to regular trims. I don't see very many split ends or white dots at all, but there must be breakage from the chemical colors and highlighting I used to do. So if your hair still has residual damage from past mistreatment, that can really slow you down as far as keeping the length that you want to gain. So trim off any damage and protect the new growth with updos that don't depend on a hair elastic, which really is hard on strands of hair.