Argh little or no growth

[Borgessa]

I am getting frustrating I been babying this hair like you wouldn't believe yet seeing no progress it feels like. I despair any time i have to touch it, it seems just looking at it, the weight of my gaze causes hair to fall. I use a tangle teaser it falls, other day i was coming through it, i have to occassionally and when i looked down at my chest seemed like a million hairs laying on my shirt. I counted them, there was 48, just from one very short gentle brush. I do try to only tangle tease the canopy of my head and not the length as my hair gets damaged very easily, on this particulary brush i did the lenght too but from bottom up, as is always suggested. I do not understand since i see many of you ladies and gentlemen mention crazy bad knots, tangles and even matting. I couldn't get a knot in my hair if I TRIED... It never tangles, so why does it break and fall out so easily if its never snagging on the comb, or tangle teaser? Even if i avoid brushes alltogether and just use fingers thats as bad, maybe worse, i just put conditioner in my hair (hello hydration) and the amount of hair that come out in my hands doing that, just looked crazy. Maybe its normal i dunno but wash day is scary since it needs the pre conditoner, lots of hair loss in my hands, then the shampoo, more loss, then the big loss putting in conditioner again... then a certain amount of loss doing my LOC. Not to mention the loss in the pre-poo oiling i do the night before.... My hair just hates to be handled at all it seems... But its not nearly pretty enough to let it go wild.. I needs some attention and to be neatly up off my face.. Growth rate is appalling, i've tried to do a side by side hair, but to me seems like no growth at all.

http://i68.tinypic.com/xcov0i.jpg
Thats 3 Months growth, 3 months of protective buns, and major pampering. It feels better, i know i need patience but this is ridic. Btw, i've done a henna treatment to cover my greys, and two micro trims, but not enough to be noticeable. I sleep with a silk cap, mainly to protect my hair from the mask i have to wear at night.

I want to grow that inch a month i've heard about, or even an inch IN 3 months lol

[likelikepenny]

First off, your hair growth is definitely noticeable. Your taper has gone down significantly.

Also, 50 shed hairs isn't out of the ordinary. If you're very concerned, you should check with your doctor and make sure everything is well on that front.

Other than that, I don't see anything wrong with what you're doing. Just be patient and you'll get there :)

[Borgessa]

First off, your hair growth is definitely noticeable. Your taper has gone down significantly.

What do you mean by taper has gone down, sorry, and thanks for reply, i'm so frustrated. Am I getting thin on the ends do you mean? Argh thats why i had to chop it, it looks so stupid it had gotten so thin.

The Nov pic was my hair type test, so not combed after towel dry.

[likelikepenny]

What do you mean by taper has gone down, sorry, and thanks for reply, i'm so frustrated. Am I getting thin on the ends do you mean? Argh thats why i had to chop it, it looks so stupid it had gotten so thin.

The Nov pic was my hair type test, so not combed after towel dry.

It still seems to me that your hair has grown (post chop) also causing the taper to go down. I think you hair is growing at a decent rate, but that's just my opinion.

[pili]

What do you mean by taper has gone down, sorry, and thanks for reply, i'm so frustrated. Am I getting thin on the ends do you mean? Argh thats why i had to chop it, it looks so stupid it had gotten so thin.

The Nov pic was my hair type test, so not combed after towel dry.
I think she meant the thickness is moving down towards the ends.

I have a question for you, do you use conditioner or oil on your scalp? My scalp cannot take a lot of oil or conditioner , especially for any length of time. It took a long time for me to find this out. I thought losing cat size wads of hair in the shower every day was normal. Once I stopped letting Conditioner touch my scalp and only allow oil on my scalp for less than ten minutes before showering, my hair has stopped shedding massive. I even have new growth sprouting up all over.

[Borgessa]

Thanks Penny, guess I just need some reassurance, I can't see the growth myself, but i look at it everyday, not at the back of my head thou lol.

Pili, not since doing research and joining the community here do I let oil or conditioner on my scalp, just the shampoo, which i don't put on the length, i just let the suds rinse down, i run my hands down the length once with shampoo once its been well worked into the scalp.. Oil i keep on the length also Its only the ends of my hair that get dry and brittle, when i oil the ends I have recently been spraying water on them first, a mini LOC with out the c lol, my pre poo.

Pre this community, i did all the wrong things.. Not anymore, my hair should be growing strands of gold the way i look after it lol. As ours all should.

And LOL Pili about the cat sized hair loss in the shower that gave me a giggle. I feel somewhat similar :)

[Moonfall]

I agree with what's been said above, it seems that the thickness is travelling down! You're doing a great job, I bet your hair will look magical when it grows even longer :)

[Kiiruna]

Remember that three months is a blink of an eye when talking about hair growth :)

[ephemeri]

Remember that three months is a blink of an eye when talking about hair growth :)

Agreed! Three months is practically nothing. If you're average, you could have 1.5 inches of growth in that time. But that's just an average, across the entire human race. And your hair is wavy, so it's not going to look like it's gained any length if it's only 1.5 inches. If you just recently started caring for your hair and wanting it to grow, that can make it seem like it's just not growing. It actually is, you hemline has thickened significantly. But if you're looking at it too much and worrying about it, well, you know what they say about a watched pot (it never boils).

As for the shedding -- This also happens to me. My hair seems like it doesn't like to be handled, especially not wet. I've had my thyroid checked, so it's not that. And every other time I've grown my hair past shoulder, the major shedding has started. What I recommend is modifying your routine so that you're handling it as little as possible.

Also, try counting your sheds for several days in a row, maybe a week. I did that for awhile and it opened my eyes because I realized that even if I was losing 100 hairs on wash days, I was only losing anywhere from 10-50 on non-wash days. So it sort of averages out over an entire week to really not be as bad as it seems.

[Arctic]

Echoing others, your hemline shows progress and the sides are longer. It still looks like your curls aren't bounces up to their full potential (is it the brushing?), so when they do you can expect that eating some length, which will show as "not growing" even when it is.

The quantity of hair you describe loosing sounds rather large though. Are they shed hairs or broken hairs or both? I would keep an eye on it, and if it continues go see a doctor. Some people naturally loose more hair, some hair types tend to hold onto the sheds and seemingly loose lot of hair when washed, some people go through temporary shedding when seasons change (now it the height of the seasonal shedding time!) so don't get panicy, but keep an eye on things. (For example pony circ, whether your part widens and scalp becomes more visible at some places...)

[spidermom]

I think your hair looks a little thicker, too. Hair growth can range dramatically from month to month. Back when I kept measurements at the beginning of each season, I noticed that between December and March, my hair only grew 3/4 of an inch. Between June and September, it grew 2 inches.

So don't despair (yet); keep doing what you're doing.

[lapushka]

I would start detangling wet, instead of dry. Your texture might call for different treatment than you're giving it.

Second, losing quite a bit of hair over wash day (more than usual) is very normal. I get that too.

Maybe you're taking off more than you think micro-trimming. I'd stick to microtrimming maybe every "other" month.

[Borgessa]

Thanks for all your replies, its much appreciated. There must be growth it does feel better in my hands (the ones that stay on my head at least) I think all the hair that comes out seems to be fall and not breakage, I do look for the little bulbs at the end, my hair is so fine its hard to see anything.
I just hope that tappering doesn't get too thin on the ends, i had to to a biggish chop to improve the look since it was soooooo thin on the ends. As for the curls Arctic I may have rushed the drying process by hanging my head upside down in the sun and using my hands to get the sun on the particularly wet sections.. Sunbaked and windswept :) No brushing at all in those pics, as i say, the first image is my hair typing, i just used it to show the length it was at the time. I tend to not brush at all for the first two days after my wash, I put in a Loreal ELVIVE intensive shine serum every morn, feed the ends with it, and comb the canopy with my fingers then a flexi 8 lazy wrap for the day.

[lapushka]

I tend to not brush at all for the first two days after my wash, I put in a Loreal ELVIVE intensive shine serum every morn, feed the ends with it, and comb the canopy with my fingers then a flexi 8 lazy wrap for the day.

Maybe try the "finger detangling", which is what you're doing for the rest of the time in between washes and see if it makes a difference?