View Full Version : Help my wife grow her hair!
Knifegill
August 28th, 2014, 08:49 AM
For years, with minor trimming only, my wife's hair just stops at her shoulders, a little past. It naturally is tubey curls and she is prone to dandruff. She doesn't wash too much. Not sure what else to say, but she eats well. She really wants long hair and always has. Any ideas?
Madora
August 28th, 2014, 08:56 AM
Wearing the hair up is paramount if she wants to grow longer. Wearing it up helps protect the delicate ends. She might also want to investigate using a silk pillow case to protect the ends too. Or wearing a silk cap to protect her ends.
Generally speaking, she should avoid anything harmful to her hair: blow frying, bleaching/teasing/back combing. Air dry only and use a wide tooth comb to detangle. No straightening.
She might want to check out the curly thread for more pointers.
Isilme
August 28th, 2014, 09:04 AM
Curly hair is more fragile than straight hair so it is more important for her to treat it gently. I'd recommend you to show her this site, she is welcome to become a member or just lurk :)
browneyedsusan
August 28th, 2014, 09:06 AM
Stop trimming. No trims for one year.
Even if she's a slow grower, she'll see a difference in that time.
If she's perming, straightening, heat styling, bleaching, whatever, it's possible that it's breaking off. Mine was like that in college. I permed, bleached, and heat styled. It stayed at my shoulders.
Good luck to Darling Wife! :)
SkyChild
August 28th, 2014, 10:03 AM
Definitely get her to have a read of the curlies threads.
Even the difference I've noticed in mine over 6 months of cool blow-drying instead of the hot setting has made huge difference.
Good luck to her!
Panth
August 28th, 2014, 11:34 AM
1) Get her to a doctor (just a general practitioner is more than sufficient for an initial inquiry) and get a proper diagnosis for that scalp problem. If it's a scaley scalp, then it could be any number of things including eczema, dandruff or seborrheic dermatitis. Treatments for one can exacerbate others, so it is imperative that you get a proper diagnosis first. Hair growth can slow or stall if the scalp is not healthy and happy. You can also get shedding, which can make it look like it's not growing (if, e.g. you always shed out the longest hairs).
2) Go read the curly thread and/or google "Curly Girl" technique. That might be helpful for routine tips.
3) Cut out as much damaging stuff as possible. That includes: bleach, dye (except deposit-only), perms, chemical straightening, flat irons, hair dryers used on hot (cool is ok), teasing/backcombing, hairstyles that create tangles, hairstyles that use damaging tools (e.g. hairbands (especially the ones with metal joins), clips that hair catches in, etc.), being rough with detangling (or, depending on how curly - when and whether you detangle at all), using the wrong tool to detangle (boar bristle brushes are not for detangling, nor are fine-toothed combs and many people's hair won't tolerate brushes of any sort and does much better with wide-toothed comb or tangle teaser only for detangling).......etc.
4) Have a good think about how much she's trimming. The average growth rate is only about 0.5" a month. It's very, very common to accidentally trim all of your length away, especially if you go to hairdressers for trims. Remember - hairdressers are trained in hair style, not hair health. They also (in general) base their recommendations on maintaining a style not gaining hair length and so tend to trim far, far too much for someone wanting to gain length. You may want to consider Feye's self-trim method, although that would probably be quite challenging with curly hair.
...oh, another idea! Is the "stalled at shoulder-length" with the curls stretched out to show the length, or with the curls doing their thing? Curlies often find that their hair initially does not appear to grow at all (because of the curl structure) but just stays at somewhere around chin-to-shoulder length and just gets... wider. Eventually, the weight of the hair starts to pull the curls out (unless they are kinky-curly) and length starts to show. Of course, that's easily tested by just stretching out a curl and using that measurement to track growth rather than how it looks curly.
GetMeToWaist
August 28th, 2014, 12:25 PM
No brushing dry, coconut oil or olive oil treatments, lots of conditioner, maybe CO washing, leave in conditioner.
Firefox7275
August 28th, 2014, 02:11 PM
What is the medical diagnosis for her scalp condition?
animetor7
August 28th, 2014, 05:59 PM
Does she use harsh products when she does wash her hair? That can make a difference! Particularly for curly hair which tends to be drier than straight hair. She can also try scalp washes with special shampoo to help her scalp condition while preserving her length. She might also try oiling her scalp ad scalp massages before washing to help with a flaky scalp, if this doesn't help, it's not merely a dry scalp and she should be checked out by a doctor. The best of luck to her on her journey. :)
Knifegill
August 29th, 2014, 06:52 AM
The ONLY thing she does out of everything mentioned is wash with hot water. She does honey treatments to help the scalp, they work pretty well when she gets to do them (rarely).
We do not have a perfect diagnosis on her scalp. Perhaps that would be a good start.
Madora
August 29th, 2014, 07:50 AM
The ONLY thing she does out of everything mentioned is wash with hot water. She does honey treatments to help the scalp, they work pretty well when she gets to do them (rarely).
We do not have a perfect diagnosis on her scalp. Perhaps that would be a good start.
For the sake of her hair, tell your wife to use medium warm, not hot water! And if she can stand it, finish with a cool rinse (as cool as she can stand it). The warm warm opens the cuticles. The cool water closes them.
Merlin
August 29th, 2014, 07:51 AM
Suggest she joins LHC so she can ask for herself?
lapushka
August 29th, 2014, 08:23 AM
Suggest she joins LHC so she can ask for herself?
Yeah, I second that! :)
Knifegill
August 30th, 2014, 03:01 PM
Suggest she joins LHC so she can ask for herself?
Or, I can be lazy and just high-jack his account :D.
Generally speaking, she should avoid anything harmful to her hair: blow frying, bleaching/teasing/back combing. Air dry only and use a wide tooth comb to detangle. No straightening.
We don’t own a hair drier; I’ve never teased or back combed my hair, and use a wooden bristle brush to brush my hair once a day. I've never been able to find a boars bristle brush, and I can't imagine it would work well on my curly hair. I’ve never bleached, either. My mom did decide to perm my hair when I was in third grade, and then again in fourth grade. I already have curly hair. With the perm, I had a ‘fro. It was horrible and I hated it. My hair was frizzy for years after that.
Stop trimming. No trims for one year.
Even if she's a slow grower, she'll see a difference in that time.
I actually didn’t trim my hair at all for about 10 years, from the age of about 14 to 24. When I was young, my mom continually cut my hair short, so my “rebellion” was to grow it out. I was so afraid of getting it cut, because every time someone went to cut my hair, they chopped it short. The longest I had it was when I was about waist length at the age of 16. It stayed around that length until about 20, but then my ends were all splitting and my hair was getting shorter. It has stayed a little below bra strap length (when stretched out/wet) for about 6 years. So, I’ve started trimming about once every 3-6 months in attempts to get the split ends off. I still see more, but not as many. There used to be spit ends spread throughout the last eight inches of my hair o.O.
I’m also recovering from losing about 1/3 of my hair to post-partum hair loss (I got really thin, with my temples receding. It was horrible!)
I also haven’t used elastic in my hair for about 8 years, and—until this year—have worn it down with just a loose cloth headband to keep it out of my eyes. This year, because I have a baby, I’ve been wearing it up with a chopstick and braided at night. No noticeable change yet. The hair I lost post-partum is now three-four inches long, and it’s been growing for about 5 months. I have a satin pillowcase and have used it for years.
As for my dandruff scalp condition, I’m pretty sure it’s Seborrheic dermatitis. I did see my doctor about it. She didn’t diagnose it (so helpful—not!), but rather told me to use an anti-dandruff shampoo, which I wasn’t willing to do because I was pregnant at the time and didn’t want the chemicals in my baby. I’ve recently been applying hydrogen peroxide/apple cider vinegar/water in a 1/1/8 solution, and that’s cleared my scalp amazingly. I’m afraid it will damage my hair, though….
As for shampoo, I use Dr. Bronners with tea tree oil and apply it only to my scalp with the rest of my hair coated in coconut oil to protect it from being dried out while the shampoo rinses down my hair.
I will try to only put warm water on my head, but I really love the feel of hot water. It's hard to give that up!
DarleneH
August 30th, 2014, 03:25 PM
Along with handling gently, when I used these supplements I got almost an inch of growth a month:
Gair/skin/nails vitamin
Diatomaceous earth
Evening primrose oil
Essential oils massaged on scalp (there's threads about that in another area)
I was taking other general health supplements too but those were specifically for hair; increased health from the general ones could be augmenting the efficacy of the hair specific ones, though. The trick is taking them regularly. After I've been strict with a program like that for a while I always fall off the wagon eventually.
Knifegill
August 30th, 2014, 06:34 PM
High-jacking his account again, lol. Here's a picture of my hair, brushed. It's shorter/curlier if I don't brush it after it air-dries. I'll try to get a picture of it when it's wet so you guys can see how thin and long it is.
http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/Knifegill/IMGP8029_zpsf345af7c.jpg (http://s1176.photobucket.com/user/Knifegill/media/IMGP8029_zpsf345af7c.jpg.html)
Here it is with me stretching it out:
http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/Knifegill/IMGP8030_zps8513ff42.jpg (http://s1176.photobucket.com/user/Knifegill/media/IMGP8030_zps8513ff42.jpg.html)
Here's a current picture of my scalp. It used to be a lot worse: red, inflamed skin, thick scales wrapped around my cuticles. Nasty stuff!
http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x323/Knifegill/IMGP8031_zpsf94ade02.jpg (http://s1176.photobucket.com/user/Knifegill/media/IMGP8031_zpsf94ade02.jpg.html)
animetor7
August 30th, 2014, 08:58 PM
Maybe you could try bagging the rest of your hair while you rinse your scalp? This could protect your length from potential damage while keeping your scalp happy. I also know that most curlies don't brush their hair, especially when dry, but stick to combing or finger combing between washes. Some curlies never brush so that could be causing some damage. The best of luck to you!
Panth
August 31st, 2014, 05:59 AM
I definitely think you should get a proper diagnosis of that scalp. Perhaps try the anti-dandruff shampoo now that you're no longer pregnant. Doctors general recommendation for scalp conditions in my experience is "try 2% ketoconazole shampoo until you've used one bottle according to instructions, come back if that doesn't work". (That said, for me at least that did cure things.)
As far as you peroxide/ACV/water mix ... the ACV with water is (provided it's not to strong ... and tbh, 1 in 10 sounds too strong) going to be good for your scalp (helps restore optimum pH) and won't hurt your hair - it'll just make it shinier. I'd go with a teaspoon of ACV to a tumbler of water, pour it on at the end of my wash and leave it in. With your hair colour, you may prefer white wine vinegar or white vinegar as it'll have the same effect but doesn't risk causing brassiness.
The peroxide part is probably a bad idea and has potential to damage your hair. I'd cut that out.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.