Only 1" in 15 weeks / Advice?

[wantinglonghair]

I decided to measure my hair today and the roots are only 1" long. It has been 15 weeks since I dyed my hair. Im on track to get a whopping 3.5" in 1 year.

I have tried a bunch of vitamins. Had an allergic reaction to a few. So right now Im taking Flaxseed Oil, Vitamin C, Natures Bounty Hair Skin & Nails with Collagen.

I have also been working out over an hour every day and eating 60g of protein a day (this is a lot for me)

Is there anything else I can try to do to speed up growth?

[jane_marie]

Do you take anything with Biotin? I have heard that Biotin supplements can actually be detrimental to hair growth if you don't need them.

Eating a generally balanced diet with lots of fruits and veggies and a spectrum of micronutrients is about all you can do imho.

[0xalis]

Not everyone gets the average .5'' a month. It may be possible that your hair truly does only grow 3.5'' a year. Genetics play a huge role.
If that does happen to be the case, I'd say be grateful it grows at all, and treat what growth you get well. Some people have alopecia and literally can't grow hair!
However, that's not necessarily the case, growth can also fluctuate. I've gotten an inch in a month before, and less than .5'' in a month before.
Since you're already working out and trying to eat healthy, I assume you're keeping hydrated? If not, up that.
Take care of your ends and baby them, so that you will maintain the growth you do get.

[wishy]

Have you tried measuring your hair with a tape measure instead of only looking at the roots? It sounds weird but it seems like the hair on the back of my head and underneath grows quite a bit faster than the stuff on top. Not sure if that's normal, but going by my roots hasn't been the most reliable way to track hair growth for me.

[SnowDancer]

Make sure you're hydrating properly. Especially if you're exercising so much.

But genetics does play a huge role.

[Joules]

I'd suggest having your blood tested for possible mineral deficiencies (iron, zink, copper, calcium, magnesium). Also, make sure you sleep enough.

In terms of treatments maybe try scalp massages.

But yeah, there's a possibility that it's just the way your hair grows :shrug: genetics do play a major role here.

[SleepyTangles]

I decided to measure my hair today and the roots are only 1" long. It has been 15 weeks since I dyed my hair. Im on track to get a whopping 3.5" in 1 year.

I have tried a bunch of vitamins. Had an allergic reaction to a few. So right now Im taking Flaxseed Oil, Vitamin C, Natures Bounty Hair Skin & Nails with Collagen.

I have also been working out over an hour every day and eating 60g of protein a day (this is a lot for me)

Is there anything else I can try to do to speed up growth?

Well, 60gr of proteins may not be as much as we think, expecially if it's through legumes and foods full of fibers, that prevent your body from absorbing. Do you have medical issues that require keeping protein intake in check?

[lapushka]

What are you doing now? Eating well? Drinking your water? Taking your multivitamins? That should be enough.

Having your blood tested is no luxury, especially if it's been a long time, just from a health perspective that's not a bad option. But that is totally up to you, it is going maybe a bit far if you don't have major issues.

Well, slow growth can happen to some. There is another member here who doesn't get to 1/2 inch a month, and with a lot of patience she gained a lot of length!!!

1/2 inch a month is just "average", which means some can grow faster, and some can grow slower than this.

Maybe do what wishy said, and measure on a different spot on the head.

Good luck! :)

[wantinglonghair]

Biotin usually gives me acne so I only take Natures Bounty Hair skin & nails which I believe has 2500. Anything more breaks me out.

Yes I stay hydrated! I go through 4-5 bottles of water a day.

I get blood tests done regularly. Im on iron pills for anemia and my doctor said Im in the normal range now.

I do take and have always taken mental health medications though which I wonder if they effect hair growth? (Seroquel, Depakote, clonodine)

I eat 1200-1400 calories a day, so getting more than 60 g protein is rather hard.. I eat protein bars, shakes, chicken, eggs

Sleep is maybe another reason? I have restless legs and insomnia.. I can sleep with sleeping pills but still wake up 3 + times a night. I rarely get what I would call a good nights sleep.

Also stress maybe? Im under constant stress & anxiety from emotional abuse, I think it takes quite a toll on me

[cjk]

[QUOTE=wantinglonghair;3747387]I decided to measure my hair today and the roots are only 1" long. It has been 15 weeks since I dyed my hair. Im on track to get a whopping 3.5" in 1 year. ]/QUOTE]

While it will always very individually, the average growth rate for hair on the head is between 1/4 and 1/2 inch per month. 4 weeks.

You grew one inch in 15 weeks.

Admittedly I'm rounding but that's 1/4 inch per month.

You are right on schedule, though on the lower end of it.

Vitamins are not magical grow pills. But when deficits are present, nutritional deficits in particular, they can fill in the gaps. They don't actually make your hair grow faster, but they remove the roadblock that's making your hair grow slow.

Biotin is the most common.

Hair is protein. I've seen people commented that a protein-rich diet, taking the extreme either carnivore or keto, promotes growth of hair and nails. Most of my life I've heard the same thing about gelatin, thinking about it it is an animal protein.

By any chance are you vegetarian? That's usually the fastest route to problems like you described. It has to be done perfectly, or minor issues like hair growth rate start popping up.

[SleepyTangles]

Biotin usually gives me acne so I only take Natures Bounty Hair skin & nails which I believe has 2500. Anything more breaks me out.

Yes I stay hydrated! I go through 4-5 bottles of water a day.

I get blood tests done regularly. Im on iron pills for anemia and my doctor said Im in the normal range now.

I do take and have always taken mental health medications though which I wonder if they effect hair growth? (Seroquel, Depakote, clonodine)

I eat 1200-1400 calories a day, so getting more than 60 g protein is rather hard.. I eat protein bars, shakes, chicken, eggs

Sleep is maybe another reason? I have restless legs and insomnia.. I can sleep with sleeping pills but still wake up 3 + times a night. I rarely get what I would call a good nights sleep.

Also stress maybe? Im under constant stress & anxiety from emotional abuse, I think it takes quite a toll on me

Can I ask if it´s only the hair, or your nails/body hair tend to grow very slowly too?

[LongHairCalif]

I am aiming to be vegan and somewhat more on the plant based side, and my hair has been growing quite well since I stopped eating meat in November 2013. I do take a b12 supplement and eat a higher protein vegan diet, but the whole vegetarian/vegan limiting hair growth is just not true. Getting all the appropriate micronutrietns on any diet is what promotes hair growth.

[lapushka]

Biotin usually gives me acne so I only take Natures Bounty Hair skin & nails which I believe has 2500. Anything more breaks me out.

Yes I stay hydrated! I go through 4-5 bottles of water a day.

I get blood tests done regularly. Im on iron pills for anemia and my doctor said Im in the normal range now.

I do take and have always taken mental health medications though which I wonder if they effect hair growth? (Seroquel, Depakote, clonodine)

I eat 1200-1400 calories a day, so getting more than 60 g protein is rather hard.. I eat protein bars, shakes, chicken, eggs

Sleep is maybe another reason? I have restless legs and insomnia.. I can sleep with sleeping pills but still wake up 3 + times a night. I rarely get what I would call a good nights sleep.

Also stress maybe? Im under constant stress & anxiety from emotional abuse, I think it takes quite a toll on me

Isn't 1200-1400 calories on the low side? Especially with the medication and such, you need to eat really well (whatever diet). And I think that is quite the low calorie intake, or am I wrong on this?

[wantinglonghair]

Thank you for all the responses! I am not vegetarian or vegan.

My eyebrow/other body hair grows fast. Nails were growing fast, except this past month Ive gotten almost no growth and theyre very brittle. :/ i havent changed anything

Yes 1200 is on the low end but the only time I am active is when Im exercising. Im also trying to maintain (though would like to lose) weight. Anything over 1200 calories and I gain weight. Before I was exercising I was eating 1000. Now I actually feel full during the day. So eating more would actually be hard


Yes I'm guessing my default growth is just 1/4" and not much else will change it :/

[lapushka]

Thank you for all the responses! I am not vegetarian or vegan.

My eyebrow/other body hair grows fast. Nails were growing fast, except this past month Ive gotten almost no growth and theyre very brittle. :/ i havent changed anything

Yes 1200 is on the low end but the only time I am active is when Im exercising. Im also trying to maintain (though would like to lose) weight. Anything over 1200 calories and I gain weight. Before I was exercising I was eating 1000. Now I actually feel full during the day. So eating more would actually be hard


Yes I'm guessing my default growth is just 1/4" and not much else will change it :/

I know when I restricted my calories as a teen, my hair slowed down quite a bit, I lost hair (circumference). I even lost my period for 3 months.

Losing weight is not easy. I hope you can find a happy medium. Have you ever tried eating a little more, and seeing what it does to the growth? I'm not gonna lie, diet is *majorly* important in hair growth. Hair is the last on the list to get nutrients and if there is barely enough to keep the "system" functioning, the hair is... just not important.

[Spikey]

I am aiming to be vegan and somewhat more on the plant based side, and my hair has been growing quite well since I stopped eating meat in November 2013. I do take a b12 supplement and eat a higher protein vegan diet, but the whole vegetarian/vegan limiting hair growth is just not true. Getting all the appropriate micronutrietns on any diet is what promotes hair growth.

Exactly. The whole thing about veggie diets being dangerous is such bull :rolleyes:. If anything, it's improving your circulation, and thus hair growth, because your cardiovascular system is healthier.

As per the growth question: it's winter. LHC goes through a massive, collective stall in the colder months. I bet if you measure again in summer it will be much faster. Measuring roots is also very imprecise, and they can be especially tricky to gauge at such short lengths. Rather than assuming there's some external problem, I would wait and make sure this is a year-round, consistent issue. I know you've got data from several months, but growth rates change so much it's likely to speed up on its own. If you're otherwise healthy, I wouldn't worry until you've got a whole year's worth of stall. :)

[Joules]

Yes 1200 is on the low end but the only time I am active is when Im exercising. Im also trying to maintain (though would like to lose) weight. Anything over 1200 calories and I gain weight. Before I was exercising I was eating 1000. Now I actually feel full during the day. So eating more would actually be hard

1200 calories is borderline starvation for an average adult. Considering the fact that you're exercising for an hour every day, it's probably in the starvation zone. When you're restricting calories to such degree your body slows down your calorie expenditure, which includes slowing down the most unnecessary functions like hair and nail growth.

I can't imagine a healthy adult gaining weight on anything over 1200 calories a day. My tiny Mom's resting metabolic rate is higher than that. I think it wouldn't be a long shot to think that your diet might be the culprit here.

[Ylva]

If you're eating 1200 calories a day and gaining weight with it, there's a big issue there. That is not normal, although I don't know what size you are (height). It sounds to me like you're eating the wrong things, because calories are totally secondary when it comes to weight. WHAT you eat matters a whole lot more than how much you eat. Personally, I eat my fill and don't even look at calories, and I've carefully tweaked my diet according to how the human body works and what works best for me. But I'll try not to talk about that over here because my views are not popular. Calorie counting and "everything in moderation" are still the ruling ideologies, unfortunately.

There's no underestimating sleep, either. Sleep and nutrition are literally the two things required to keep us alive, so they are of utmost importance. Start from the bottom, from the most essential things, which are these two. If they are not in order, nothing you do will have little to no effect because the basis is whack.

[SleepyTangles]

Anyway, dear OP, don't let your growth rate stress you out. Just focus on feeling good and your health :flowers:
Stalled growth during Winter Is not uncommon. Give yourself time to assess and see if the problem continues before taking drastic measures.
As it's cheap and enjoyable, taking small walks in the warmest/brightest hours of the day often help me balance my mood and body during Winter time.

[SpottedBackson]

I eat 1200-1400 calories a day, so getting more than 60 g protein is rather hard.. I eat protein bars, shakes, chicken, eggs

Sleep is maybe another reason? I have restless legs and insomnia.. I can sleep with sleeping pills but still wake up 3 + times a night. I rarely get what I would call a good nights sleep.

Also stress maybe? Im under constant stress & anxiety from emotional abuse, I think it takes quite a toll on me


Unless you are a child 1200-1400 calories is a worrying low calorie count for your daily intake especially if your exercising every day. 1200-1400 is generally not enough to meet you body's requirements if you lie on the couch all day and that will definitely effect your hair growth. You need enough resources for your vital functions before your body will start wasting them on growing hair. Take it from a recovered anorexic. The sleep issue will likely effect hair growth too but they may also be related to your calorie count.

And yes, stress and anxiety can effect hair growth as well, maybe you should work on building a healthier emotional environment for yourself and the hair growth may come on its own.

[MusicalSpoons]

If you're having trouble eating more calories due to feeling full, smoothies/shakes can be a good way of consuming more calories without necessarily taking up too much stomach room. I'd recommend it as an interim measure whilst you seek medical advice because not being able to eat more is definitely an issue that needs investigating.

Edit: thinking about it, stress or anxiety can suppress appetite, so that could be a factor, but I don't know if it's usual to suppress it quite *that* much.

[SpottedBackson]

I've just read some of the other posts responding to the information you gave about your diet and I agree with them. It's not a healthy number for an adult. If you find that anything over 1000 calories a day makes you put on weight that could be for two reasons. First, your body is medically starving so it's trying to store any food it gets as fat. Second, your maintenance goal might simply be to low a weight for what is healthy for you, and I emphasise the for you.

[lapushka]

If OP is a healthy weight, there really is no need to worry at all, and I do hope that is the case. :flower: We didn't mean to spook you, OP, as I notice there hasn't been an answer anymore lately.

But if looking for a reason for low growth rate, low(er) calorie intake is a matter of concern. That's just a fact, I'm sad to say. :(

I was nearly an anorexic (borderline), thank goodness my mom and threatening to see the doctor after 3 months of no period helped. So I do understand where SpottedBackson is coming from. If we weren't concerned, or didn't express concern, we simply wouldn't care and that is no way to go. :flower:

[wantinglonghair]

Sorry for no responses lately! I have other health issues so besides the workout I am mainly in bed. My doctor says the calorie amount is safe for my activity level.

I used to suffer from binge eating and was overweight my whole life except for the past 2 years. My hair never grew faster than 1/4" a month so Im not sure it would change if I eat more.
I will take it into consideration though!

[wantinglonghair]

I did suffer from anorexia when I was younger, I was barely eating. I am def not that anymore lol! I actually eat quite a bit but its mostly low calorie stuff. I do drink protein shakes but they are low calorie as well. I have just started eating protein bars that are double the calories of my other ones. So ill be staying at 1400 a day .

[SleepyTangles]

The doctor definitively can make the best assessment about your current situation and medical history. Enjoy the journey with us :D

[Kalamazoo]

OK, I'll start with the disclaimers: I'm no doctor, & I'm not personally acquainted with you nor your medical history. In fact, I'm not even a scientist. And I'm not currently a skinny person.

I think the reasons that I'm not currently skinny are that I exercise too little, combined with I eat too little. I want to make it one of my New Year's Resolutions to change both those things.

Bear in mind that I'm 63, & have gone through The Change. That hormonal shift does things.

But the time when I did the best job of losing weight was my last year of college, when I was 21-22. Over the course of a year, I dropped 30 or 40 pounds, winding up at 131#. Bear in mind that I'm nearly 5'8", so 100# for the first 5', plus 5# per inch above that = 140#. Yes, I felt my healthiest at 140#. I want to get back to 140#.

At my thinnest, my college friends were confusing me from a distance with another of our friends who was into ballet, whom I once lectured on anorexia over the dinner table, because I thought she was eating too little at the dorm cafeteria.

But me, was I anorexic? No. By my calculations, I was eating at least 2,100 calories per day, & exercising around 8 or 10 hours per day. On days when I ate less than 2,100 calories, I gained weight, because I didn't have the energy to exercise as much. I had frequent chocolate binges, because I needed, honestly needed to put that much "fuel" in my "tank" to drive my "car" that many miles.

Eventually, after college, I caved in to social pressures to eat less, lost energy to exercise, and over 10 years, the weight came back. And I'm older now. It's normal for a woman to gain 10# or so with menopause. But I never yo-yoed, because I never tried any fad diets long enough for them to hurt me.

My opinion of diet foods, low-fat foods, artificially sweetened foods, etc. is that they lack essential nutrients that are present in normal foods.

So my opinion, since you asked, is that you are eating too little quantity, and that the quality of what you do eat, is less than optimal. My personal opinion is that protein shakes & protein bars are junk food. The packages I studied contained ingredients like "isolated soya protein" or "soy protein isolates". According to Debby Anglesey's book, Battling the MSG Myth: A Survival Guide and Cookbook, those ingredients are both MSG, which can cause insomnia, chronic fatigue, restless leg syndrome, and several more severe symptoms, including life-threatening things. (page 20 in the hard copy of the book)

I am a hard-line health food nut. I consider everything with "added nutrients" to be junk food, from vitamin pills to fortified breakfast cereals. I don't think synthetic vitamins digest properly, unlike their natural cousins in unadulterated foods fresh from the farmers market. (I do eat such things from time to time, but I remember that I think they're junk food, and try to eat real food as much as possible.) Personally, I drive 20 miles out to the farm to buy raw milk, because I believe pasteurized, homogenized milk is bad for you. I eat butter and avoid margarine, because hydrogenated vegetable oil can give me asthma attacks.

My personal opinion is that you should read the book (available on Kindle, Amazon, and eBay, and probably a few other places besides) and make up your own mind. Also ask your doctor and see what he/she says about this. (But historically, doctors have not been trained in nutrition. They kind of tend to prescribe medicine & surgery to fix everything, because that's what they've been trained to do. Maybe you should talk to a nutritionist as well as a doctor, to get a second opinion.)

So I'm saying that I think you're suffering from malnutrition, due to eating too little quantity, and due to eating artificial foods, and that the malnutrition is stunting your hair growth.

My opinion is that your binge-eating was coming out of your desire to be slender, and thinking you had to restrict calories to do so. So I assume that you were usually eating too little, and that your body was trying to keep you from starving yourself to death (literally), and so your body absolutely demanded food for survival. But it made you feel guilty, because you were firmly convinced that you ought not to eat that much.

There have been studies showing that anorexics have warped self-images of their own bodies. They think themselves to be "fat", but if they see a picture of someone else with an identical body, they'll guess the other person to be 10 or 20 pounds lighter than reality. So maybe a psychologist could help you? (But psychiatrists prescribe drugs, so I'd stay away from them.) (But then again, perhaps just reading my opinion is all the psychological help you need. I mean, if you change what you believe to be the truth, and then act upon it, that will change everything. So no, I do NOT think you're crazy. I just think you've believed a lie or two.)

Really, I think just reading the book could help you so much! https://www.amazon.com/Battling-MSG-Myth-Debby-Anglesey-ebook/dp/B00BSGQHOI/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=debby+anglesey&qid=1578924603&sr=8-1

I think MSG is your main problem, causing everything else, including slow hair growth.

And again, I'm just a health food nut, not any kind of doctor. These are probably things you should talk to your doctor about. But I think you should read the book first.

ETA: Maybe you'd like some mashed potatoes & gravy? There's a great, fantastic, marvelously yummy mashed potatoes recipe in Dr. Will Clower's book, The Fat Fallacy. https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Fallacy-French-Secrets-Permanent/dp/1400049199/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=will+clower+fat+fallacy&qid=1578928023&sr=8-4 (The whole book is excellent. Reading it caused me to adopt a high-fat diet. I didn't gain an ounce! Seriously! And growing hair requires a lot of healthy fat, both in the diet & applied as oils externally.)

[ZoeZ]

OK, I'll start with the disclaimers: I'm no doctor, & I'm not personally acquainted with you nor your medical history. In fact, I'm not even a scientist. And I'm not currently a skinny person.

I think the reasons that I'm not currently skinny are that I exercise too little, combined with I eat too little. I want to make it one of my New Year's Resolutions to change both those things.

Bear in mind that I'm 63, & have gone through The Change. That hormonal shift does things.

But the time when I did the best job of losing weight was my last year of college, when I was 21-22. Over the course of a year, I dropped 30 or 40 pounds, winding up at 131#. Bear in mind that I'm nearly 5'8", so 100# for the first 5', plus 5# per inch above that = 140#. Yes, I felt my healthiest at 140#. I want to get back to 140#.

At my thinnest, my college friends were confusing me from a distance with another of our friends who was into ballet, whom I once lectured on anorexia over the dinner table, because I thought she was eating too little at the dorm cafeteria.

But me, was I anorexic? No. By my calculations, I was eating at least 2,100 calories per day, & exercising around 8 or 10 hours per day. On days when I ate less than 2,100 calories, I gained weight, because I didn't have the energy to exercise as much. I had frequent chocolate binges, because I needed, honestly needed to put that much "fuel" in my "tank" to drive my "car" that many miles.

Eventually, after college, I caved in to social pressures to eat less, lost energy to exercise, and over 10 years, the weight came back. And I'm older now. It's normal for a woman to gain 10# or so with menopause. But I never yo-yoed, because I never tried any fad diets long enough for them to hurt me.

My opinion of diet foods, low-fat foods, artificially sweetened foods, etc. is that they lack essential nutrients that are present in normal foods.

So my opinion, since you asked, is that you are eating too little quantity, and that the quality of what you do eat, is less than optimal. My personal opinion is that protein shakes & protein bars are junk food. The packages I studied contained ingredients like "isolated soya protein" or "soy protein isolates". According to Debby Anglesey's book, Battling the MSG Myth: A Survival Guide and Cookbook, those ingredients are both MSG, which can cause insomnia, chronic fatigue, restless leg syndrome, and several more severe symptoms, including life-threatening things. (page 20 in the hard copy of the book)

I am a hard-line health food nut. I consider everything with "added nutrients" to be junk food, from vitamin pills to fortified breakfast cereals. I don't think synthetic vitamins digest properly, unlike their natural cousins in unadulterated foods fresh from the farmers market. (I do eat such things from time to time, but I remember that I think they're junk food, and try to eat real food as much as possible.) Personally, I drive 20 miles out to the farm to buy raw milk, because I believe pasteurized, homogenized milk is bad for you. I eat butter and avoid margarine, because hydrogenated vegetable oil can give me asthma attacks.

My personal opinion is that you should read the book (available on Kindle, Amazon, and eBay, and probably a few other places besides) and make up your own mind. Also ask your doctor and see what he/she says about this. (But historically, doctors have not been trained in nutrition. They kind of tend to prescribe medicine & surgery to fix everything, because that's what they've been trained to do. Maybe you should talk to a nutritionist as well as a doctor, to get a second opinion.)

So I'm saying that I think you're suffering from malnutrition, due to eating too little quantity, and due to eating artificial foods, and that the malnutrition is stunting your hair growth.

My opinion is that your binge-eating was coming out of your desire to be slender, and thinking you had to restrict calories to do so. So I assume that you were usually eating too little, and that your body was trying to keep you from starving yourself to death (literally), and so your body absolutely demanded food for survival. But it made you feel guilty, because you were firmly convinced that you ought not to eat that much.

There have been studies showing that anorexics have warped self-images of their own bodies. They think themselves to be "fat", but if they see a picture of someone else with an identical body, they'll guess the other person to be 10 or 20 pounds lighter than reality. So maybe a psychologist could help you? (But psychiatrists prescribe drugs, so I'd stay away from them.) (But then again, perhaps just reading my opinion is all the psychological help you need. I mean, if you change what you believe to be the truth, and then act upon it, that will change everything. So no, I do NOT think you're crazy. I just think you've believed a lie or two.)

Really, I think just reading the book could help you so much! https://www.amazon.com/Battling-MSG-Myth-Debby-Anglesey-ebook/dp/B00BSGQHOI/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=debby+anglesey&qid=1578924603&sr=8-1

I think MSG is your main problem, causing everything else, including slow hair growth.

And again, I'm just a health food nut, not any kind of doctor. These are probably things you should talk to your doctor about. But I think you should read the book first.

ETA: Maybe you'd like some mashed potatoes & gravy? There's a great, fantastic, marvelously yummy mashed potatoes recipe in Dr. Will Clower's book, The Fat Fallacy. https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Fallacy-French-Secrets-Permanent/dp/1400049199/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=will+clower+fat+fallacy&qid=1578928023&sr=8-4 (The whole book is excellent. Reading it caused me to adopt a high-fat diet. I didn't gain an ounce! Seriously! And growing hair requires a lot of healthy fat, both in the diet & applied as oils externally.)

I agree with this totally: so many of the processed foods and so-called diet aids are lacking in micronutrients due to cloning of vegetable varieties and overworked deficient soils that have artificial fertilisers added. And so many of us are in a food 'rut' not having enough variety in our menus, eating the same menu rotation on a weekly basis. I actually go looking for wild edibles in the different seasons just for fun and to add different flavors to my food. You don't have to go that far, obviously, but you may be lacking in some important nutrients that are stunting your hair growth.

This may or may not be your problem, of course, but adding a variety of nutrient dense foods to your diet - avocados, nuts, etc may help, and please forgive me if I'm covering ground you have already tried. I hope you find a solution.

[Kalamazoo]

I typed "food hair growth" into the little "Search" box in the upper right-hand corner of this page, and found a gold mine of other threads with gobs of recommendations on what to eat to make your hair grow faster. Trying out all of those other long-haired people's favorite foods could be a lot of fun!

Here are some of the threads I found:

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=19355

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=121809

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=10447

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=141559

[lapushka]

Eventually, after college, I caved in to social pressures to eat less, lost energy to exercise, and over 10 years, the weight came back. And I'm older now. It's normal for a woman to gain 10# or so with menopause. But I never yo-yoed, because I never tried any fad diets long enough for them to hurt me.

FWIW, my mom stayed the same through menopause. She actually lost weight, from a size 42 to a size 38. And she is a 36 on the shoulders, up top sometimes even. She is a lot like her great grandma. Very skinny. So it's not the same for everyone. But my mom has a fast metabolism and has never had an eating disorder.

Just wanted to react to that bit.


OK, back OT. ;)

[Kalamazoo]

FWIW, my mom stayed the same through menopause. She actually lost weight, from a size 42 to a size 38. And she is a 36 on the shoulders, up top sometimes even. She is a lot like her great grandma. Very skinny. So it's not the same for everyone. But my mom has a fast metabolism and has never had an eating disorder.

Just wanted to react to that bit.


OK, back OT. ;)

Thanks, lapushka! I frequently wonder what's normal. I saw that tidbit of misinformation elsewhere. I'm revising my thinking now. Yes, I've also seen older ladies who retained their girlish figures past age 90. Thank you. It makes a difference!