My hair doesn't grow :(

[tali]

Hi. First off all im sorry about my writing errors..
I'm from israel and english is not my strong side,but we don't have forums like that here in israel and in my language. So I'm trying here.
I have a problem with my hair :( its always growing until my bra line (maximum) and then it stops.
I really dont know why and it's driving me crazy!
I stopped with tha colors abot a year ago, I'm not warming the hair.. What can it be?
By the way,my mom say that when i was little i had a vary long hair so I'm not sure what can it be.
I will be happy to hear any kind of help, especially from those that have experience.. Thank you,Tali

[Kina]

Hi Tali,

How do you wear your hair normally? Do you keep it up, or down? Do you condition it? What about oils?

[spidermom]

It could be a lot of things, including the fact that your hair doesn't stay on your head long enough to grow longer than your bra line. Hair growth has 3 distinct cycles. It grows, it stops, then it sheds out and a new hair grows in. Repeat. If your hair stops growing after only, for example, 4 years, it won't have time to grow longer than bra line. Some people have hair that grows for only a short amount of time, and other people have hair that keeps growing for a very long time before it sheds out.

However, you could be trimming off all the growth. Hair only grows about 1/2 inch per month on average, so if you get 1 inch trimmed off every other month, for example, it will never grow longer.

Do you wear your hair down all the time? The ends could be getting a lot of wear and tear from swinging around across your clothing and getting caught under straps of various kinds - purse, backpack, shopping bags. Wearing your hair up protects the ends from wear and tear and prevents them from breaking off.

[lapushka]

Are you getting regular trims, because if so the hairdresser may be taking off all of your growth.

[tali]

Thank you very much for your comments.
I always wear it down.
Is it possible that maby that is my maximum and it's just can't grow anymore like you said?
Hope noe cause if so i will need to give up about that dream :(

[tali]

no i didn't did trims for a very long time

[Panth]

The most common reasons would be:

1) Too much trimming. Hair only grows on average 0.5 inches a month and some people's hair grows more slowly than this. It's very easy to cut all of your growth away, especially if you let the hairdresser do as they like.

2) Damage from dye / bleach / heat / chemical treatments (e.g. keratin treatment, Brazilian blow-out, perms, relaxers). Just because you've stopped doing damaging things, doesn't mean that the damage you've already done magically goes away. The hair that you dyed will be less strong until all of the dyed part is worn or cut off. Same for heat damage. Same for bleach damage. Same for chemical treatment damage. You can help it to not get worse, e.g. by making sure your hair doesn't get too dried out by using moisturising treatments, but you can't fix it.

3) Damaging styling. If you do styles that involve hairspray, gel or back-combing, then your hair will become damaged. Also, if you wear extensions you will cause damage to your hair. This can make it break and prevent your hair from getting longer.

3) Wear. At about the bra-length, the hair (if worn loose) will rub on the back of your chair when you sit. It will also rub on handbag straps. This can rub the ends off the hair, preventing the hair from getting longer.

[Duchess Fuzzy Buns]

If you only stopped coloring your hair a year ago, the ends probably still have some damage from this and are fragile. They may be breaking off faster than your hair is growing. I would suggest babying your ends to prevent breakage at least until you have grown out all the hair that has damage from previous dye jobs or heat styling. After you wash and condition, use some kind of oil or salve on the ends to seal in the moisture. Personally, I like Panacea from Nightblooming on Etsy, but before I found that I would just use some coconut oil. Try wearing your hair up in protective buns as much as possible to prevent damage from your hair constantly rubbing on things when it's down. You can look around the forums here for protective style ideas. Don't give up on your dream of long hair yet. While it is possible your hair has reached it's terminal length, there is a good chance that's not the case here. :flower: Good luck!

[lapushka]

Do you have straight or wavy/curly hair? If it's wavy/curly, you might benefit from the "curly girl method". Try and google it!

[Duchess Fuzzy Buns]

I just thought of something else. You said you haven't trimmed in a long time- while you don't want to trim off all your growth if you want your hair to get longer, it might be beneficial for you to do a small trim every now and then. Or at least S&D (search and destroy- where you go through the ends of your hair and cut off any split ends). If your ends are damaged and not ever getting trimmed, the splits could travel up the length of the hair and end up causing more damage and breakage higher up.

[Madora]

Don't worry, your hair IS growing! It just isn't growing fast enough to notice any real difference.

There could be several reasons for this:

1) How do you protect your hair? If you wear it down all the time, this is not protecting it! By protecting it, I mean wearing it UP, in updos, braids/buns. Also, protecting it at night by wearing a silk cap on your head, or using silk pillow case covers to protect the delicate ends. Also wearing it up and braided or bunned at night.
2) Gentle detangling every day with a wide tooth comb is very important! Do this before you do anything else!
3) Diet...eat good, wholesome foods every day. Protein is good for your hair, as are leafy green vegetables, lots of water, milk. Eat in moderation. Not too much "junk" food, loaded with sugar or brimming with salt (sodium).
4) Do you take any medications? That can affect hair growth too!
5) Genetics - plays a major part in how long your hair will grow!
6) Do you use gentle shampoos and gentle conditioners?
7) If you dye, then for the sake of your hair, use a dye that is gentle. Dyeing is not really all that hair friendly.
8) How do you manipulate your fingers when you shampoo, condition and rinse out your hair? That can have a major effect on mechanical damage from too much "hair scrubbing: (trying to get out the shampoo
9) Stay far away from hair dryers/blowers/hot irons/straighteners! These are NOT hair friendly!
10) Air dry your hair!
11) Brush your hair every day with a pure boar bristle brush! (always, always, detangle your hair with a wide tooth comb BEFORE you begin to brush!)
12) Try and stretch your washes if you can.
Good luck!

[Panth]

Thank you very much for your comments.
I always wear it down.
Is it possible that maby that is my maximum and it's just can't grow anymore like you said?
Hope noe cause if so i will need to give up about that dream :(

If your hair is always worn down, IMO, it is almost certain that it could grow longer. And that's ignoring all the other potential reasons that it might not be getting longer.

I always wore my hair down and always thought it could not grow longer than tailbone-length (about the top of the pockets on jeans). Then, I started wearing it in hair-friendly buns every day. My hair started growing again. Now it is just past knee - and it's still growing! You never know what your maximum is until you start to treat your hair very, very, very gently and keep doing that until there is no hair left on your head that is left from when you treated it badly.

[embee]

My hair stopped at BSL when I was younger. I always wore it down and loose so it was pretty. Later I began to wear my hair up and it grew much longer. I think the ends of my hair were being damaged and made weak when I wore it loose all the time. So they broke off more easily.

ETA: Do you wear a backpack often? That could damage the ends of your hair.

[LongCurlyTress]

Hi Tali~ I see you are a new member of LHC! Welcome!

I agree with what others have already told you about wearing your hair down, and this could be limiting your growth. But... I have another question for you. :) I met an Israeli girl in a store, with long, beautiful curly hair that was at least hip length, when curly. She said she uses an Israeli product that is from the Natural line. Now I am trying to figure out exactly which product she was using and maybe you could help me with my research?? :) Thanks!! I found this Israeli product on Amazon.

Have you tried this and if so, do you like it? Which one did you use if you have tried this? Sorry for being off topic, but her hair was so gorgeous! Thanks! And welcome again!! :blossom:

http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Formula-Moisturizing-Styling-Silicon/dp/B006P2U2QY

PS Your English is fine! Not to worry! :)

[QMacrocarpa]

When I wore my hair loose all the time it wouldn't get longer than BSL. My ends were just breaking off as fast as my hair grew. For me, brushing with a boar-bristle brush made the problem worse. Now that I wear my hair up in protective styles most of the time, it's past waist length and still creeping along. I also trim my hair a small amount a couple of times per year to keep the ends in reasonable shape, so they won't start splitting and breaking. Applying a couple drops of oil to my ends helps keep them in good shape too. I use cheap olive oil from the grocery store, but there are lots of options.

[AmyBeth]

When I wore my hair loose, it would not get any longer than just shy of WL, over a period of 24 years without cutting. The damage would eat up any growth past that point. Since adopting many LHC practices such as daily updos, stretching washes, using a sleep cap, I've grown to TBL with a nice solid hemline and it's still growing. I think you just have to get a little more serious about protecting the ends. Try really throwing yourself into protecting your hair and being really gentle- treat it like antique lace, as they say. Give it 6 months and see what happens. A quick daily scalp massage may help jolt the follicles into producing hair at a faster pace, too! Do whatever you can to help your hair grow faster than the rate of breakage.

[maybeinthemtns]

My hair was at BSL for a long time when I wore it down every day, and once I started braiding it or wearing it up, it grew longer much faster. I think it was just rubbing on things all the time. You could try wearing it up more.

[furnival]

I used to think my hair didn't grow past my shoulders. What I didn't realise was that the damage incurred from wearing it down was causing it to break off at the ends as fast as it grew. Since I've worn it up in a bun it has grown down to my hips. As everyone else has said, wear it up so it doesn't get damaged!

[MiamiPineapple]

I am really not convinced wearing your hear down causes damage. Now that my hair is past waist, I have been wearing it down more after 3 years of growing it out and wearing up. I am enjoying my hair after a friend passed away from cancer suddenly and without warning. She had beautiful long hair she had to chop off a week before she passed away because she had brain cancer. My hair is still growing (about 1 inch every 6 weeks) and I still had some damage on my ends when I wore it up and now I have some damage still when I wear it down. I think chemicals, bleach and dye are the worst offenders of hair damage. I see now real difference in the damage. Obviously everyone is different..

[browneyedsusan]

Welcome to TLHC, tali!

Put your hair up, and it will grow. I'm thinking the ends are breaking off or you're in a little stall.
Putting your hair up will fix both of those things, but it takes a few months.

[MissMoppet]

Interesting thread. I am new here, and I have been wondering why people were talking about deciding to wear their hair up for a year. Makes sense now. I live in a very hot tropical climate, and wearing my hair out is almost impossible, so I guess I am already ahead of the game!

[catamonica]

I coudn't grow my hair for years. In the u.s. we have Mane & tail original horse shampoo. Someone told me it helps grow hair. I added two capfuls of olive oil to the shampoo. It grew 14 inches.to waist. I wore it up and it grew 3 inches above tailbone. The oil might have helped growth. From 09-to March 2010 it tooke 10 months to grow. If they don't sell it in your country you can order it online. It doesn't work for everyone. But it's worth a try.

[catamonica]

I coudn't grow my hair for years. In the u.s. we have Mane & tail original horse shampoo. Someone told me it helps grow hair. I added two capfuls of olive oil to the shampoo. It grew 14 inches.to waist. I wore it up and it grew 3 inches above tailbone. The oil might have helped growth. From 09-to March 2010 it tooke 10 months to grow. If they don't sell it in your country you can order it online. It doesn't work for everyone. But it's worth a try.

[Kherome]

Tali, ma nishma! :)

I agree with what most said, it's important to wear it up in a gentle way. (No ponytails!) Also perhaps it is dry or over proteined?