increasing circumference

[princess]

Is there anyone here who has increased the circumference/thickness of their hair by any haircare method/diet?

[Aisha25]

Well it depends really if you have experienced hair loss or breakage then you can increase thickness I did. Or if you want just for hairs to feel thicker then there are some recipes to help with that as well:)

[princess]

Circumference has become less. It is not like I have lost it recently or anything. Over a period of time.

The thing is after the first few inches the circumference reduces drastically and though my hair is long the hair becomes very thin towards the end.

Just want to know if any haircare method will help increase the thickness at the lower end

[Aisha25]

Well the only thing I can say is be gentle when combing and washing eat good make sure your iron is good and that you have enough protien. Do nice hair packs coconut milk,yoghurt is good for growth and so is henna,oils just basic things you probably already know.:)

[SpecialKitty]

Cassia obovata treatments temporarily increase my circumference by about .25" - but a couple of weeks after each treatment the effects diminish for me. I also shed a lot of hair when rinsing out the cassia, so I stopped doing the treatments. I really liked the shine from cassia, so I may do the treatments again for that reason......

[Rebelkat]

:meditate: My advice to you, make sure it's not a health problem that is causing your hair to thin. If there's an untreated health problem, no hair care method will help significantly. It doesn't matter whether it's hormonal, thyroid related, Diabetes related, malnutrition related, etc. I can tell you this from experience.

If there is no health problem, the best thing that you can do is be gentle with the hair you have. Find the protein/moisture balance that makes your hair happiest and take multivitamins. Make sure that you're not under an undue amount of stress, and that if you are, you find an effective way to calm down. Stress is a major killer for hair. You can wear your hair up more often to prevent damage, and use hair-friendly elastics, too.

There is also the possibility that it is genetic, which there isn't a whole lot you can do about. In that case, you'll just have to learn to love your hair the way it is. The good news is: whatever is bothering you about your hair, you can always find advice and emotional support here. :meditate:

[princess]

:meditate: My advice to you, make sure it's not a health problem that is causing your hair to thin. If there's an untreated health problem, no hair care method will help significantly. It doesn't matter whether it's hormonal, thyroid related, Diabetes related, malnutrition related, etc. I can tell you this from experience.

If there is no health problem, the best thing that you can do is be gentle with the hair you have. Find the protein/moisture balance that makes your hair happiest and take multivitamins. Make sure that you're not under an undue amount of stress, and that if you are, you find an effective way to calm down. Stress is a major killer for hair. You can wear your hair up more often to prevent damage, and use hair-friendly elastics, too.

There is also the possibility that it is genetic, which there isn't a whole lot you can do about. In that case, you'll just have to learn to love your hair the way it is. The good news is: whatever is bothering you about your hair, you can always find advice and emotional support here. :meditate:

I know. I recently went for a health check up and found iron and b12 to be really low. Now I am taking supplements.

I have to also watch my weight so when I eat I make sure I get enough protein.

But it is staying the way it is. May be stress is there. I will try to be calm and see if it works.

Thanks everybody for the kind help and advice.

[Anje]

Definitely make sure you're healthy, and be gentle with your hair. As I observed in a poll on what increases hair thickness, the most consistent thing I've observed is that simply spending time on LHC correlates to increased thickness. (I suspect that much of it has to do with careful handling, and if you're on here a lot, you have a constant reminder to be gentle.)

[Rebelkat]

I know. I recently went for a health check up and found iron and b12 to be really low. Now I am taking supplements.

Anemia can definitely cause hair loss! Even "sub-clinical" anemia, where your iron and b12 are within the "normal" range but still lower than your body needs, it's still a possibility. My father lost BIG chunks of hair because of that. Once he got his iron and b12 levels back within the normal range, his hair started growing back.

[Presto]

When I switched over to conditioner only I got a lot of new growth. I suspect it was mainly a reaction to the SLS, and quitting it allowed my natural growth to stop being literally washed away.
It takes a long time for new growth to grow out, but I don't know any way to thicken existing ends.
I would recommend maintenance trimming until more thickness catches up to the end.

[DragonLady]

My circumferance has been slowly increasing since I got here. I measured this evening, and my ponytail was 3 3/4" at the base! That's a huge improvement, and I think I owe it to gelatin. It's been slowly making my new growth come in as slightly thicker hairs, and that's adding up now to make me a solid ii.

Mind you, those hairs are still short, and are only just now fitting into the ponytail, so the length of my hair is still finer. But I'm amazed and delighted with the increase so far, and plan to keep taking gelatin everyday for as long as I can.

[Yedda]

My circumferance has been slowly increasing since I got here. I measured this evening, and my ponytail was 3 3/4" at the base! That's a huge improvement, and I think I owe it to gelatin. It's been slowly making my new growth come in as slightly thicker hairs, and that's adding up now to make me a solid ii.

Mind you, those hairs are still short, and are only just now fitting into the ponytail, so the length of my hair is still finer. But I'm amazed and delighted with the increase so far, and plan to keep taking gelatin everyday for as long as I can.

How have you been taking the gelatin? The powder?

[princess]

I have not measured circumference lately but I think I am somewhere in medium according to the hairtyping guides here in this site. I measured a while ago. Since I have not shed lately I am assuming that I am still medium.

My health has improved a lot since I started taking supplements for iron and injections for B12.

I think my hair has improved a bit since I started taking the iron supplement.

I do not want to eat gelatin though I know it makes hair and nails grow.

The CO only method causes a lot of build up in my hair. So I use shikakai and aritha to remove oil and then use a conditioner.

Let me see if my circumference improves in the coming days with increased protein in my diet.

And I am off to measuring the circumference now.

[Melisande]

It will take a while until you see the new growth.

I have had good success with the recipe for essential oils (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2001)that I found on this site. I cannot praise it highly enough. It really made my hair grow back. You take supplements already, so I guess you know this (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=8927) thread. I'm very happy with MSM for health and hair reasons, and I also take fish oil, evening primrose oil and vitamins.

The trivial and yet so not-trivial things: nutrition, water, sleep, relaxation, love and happiness (I see from your siggy that you may lack sleep but have love and happiness in abundance...). Be good to yourself.

And you need patience. I increased my circumference, and I'm sure gentler handling, gentler products and the above-mentioned methods helped.

[UP Lisa]

Years ago I took gelatin for a long time in the hopes of thickening my hair. It did not work. Hope you have better luck.

[princess]

It will take a while until you see the new growth.

I have had good success with the recipe for essential oils (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=2001)that I found on this site. I cannot praise it highly enough. It really made my hair grow back. You take supplements already, so I guess you know this (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=8927) thread. I'm very happy with MSM for health and hair reasons, and I also take fish oil, evening primrose oil and vitamins.

The trivial and yet so not-trivial things: nutrition, water, sleep, relaxation, love and happiness (I see from your siggy that you may lack sleep but have love and happiness in abundance...). Be good to yourself.

And you need patience. I increased my circumference, and I'm sure gentler handling, gentler products and the above-mentioned methods helped.

Thank you so much for your warm reply. The siggy is my little niece and she does represent love and happiness in abundance for us after my daughters have grown up.

The rest of the things mentioned by you I am taking care to see I have them. I am trying my best to handle my hair as gentle as possible. I am going to try the essential oils I have a sampler pack.

Thanks once again.

[ChloeDharma]

From what you describe i'd say the iron + B12 will help, but unfortunately it does take time. The other advice you have been given is great, i would add that for me, when i consistently used herb only washing (shikakai, amla, methi, brahmi) and kept oiling and massaging my scalp with good oils (bhringraj, dabur vatika coconut etc) my circumference increased by 150% and my growth became faster.
Keeping the hair contained all the time also helped by reducing breakage.
Oh, my intuition tells me that sea vegetables are good for hair growth and as they are very rich in minerals i would think it worth trying to eat them

I shall be keeping my fingers crossed that your thickness increases :flower:

[princess]

From what you describe i'd say the iron + B12 will help, but unfortunately it does take time. The other advice you have been given is great, i would add that for me, when i consistently used herb only washing (shikakai, amla, methi, brahmi) and kept oiling and massaging my scalp with good oils (bhringraj, dabur vatika coconut etc) my circumference increased by 150% and my growth became faster.
Keeping the hair contained all the time also helped by reducing breakage.
Oh, my intuition tells me that sea vegetables are good for hair growth and as they are very rich in minerals i would think it worth trying to eat them

I shall be keeping my fingers crossed that your thickness increases :flower:


Thank you. Since I have waited this long to go to the doctor for check up(my iron level was 8 where it had to be a 100)
I have the patience to wait and see results.

The sea vegetables are I think sea weed. I really do not know how to cook and eat them. Are they vegetarian and are they available in capsule forms?

[mira-chan]

Thank you. Since I have waited this long to go to the doctor for check up(my iron level was 8 where it had to be a 100)
I have the patience to wait and see results.

The sea vegetables are I think sea weed. I really do not know how to cook and eat them. Are they vegetarian and are they available in capsule forms?
Sea weeds are vegetarian as they are algae. Some are available in capsule form. I usually eat mine in food or drink it as a powdered tea (kelp/konbu aka. Laminaria sp. ). They are not hard to cook. If you have any asian stores in your area you can get some dried shredded kelp. Just rehydrate it in water for 30 minutes, boil it for a couple of minutes and add it to anything you like such as salads or rice. It's salty due to the salt water it grows in.

There are also nori (Porphyra sp.) that fried into sheets.This is the dark sushi wrapping. You can use the big sheets, or the small flakes with just about anything. No cooking mecessary for this.

Harder to get is canned kelp. It's quite good and eaten as a salad as is, or mixed with salad vegetables. My cousin loves this with garlic and grated beets for example.

[princess]

Sea weeds are vegetarian as they are algae. Some are available in capsule form. I usually eat mine in food or drink it as a powdered tea (kelp/konbu aka. Laminaria sp. ). They are not hard to cook. If you have any asian stores in your area you can get some dried shredded kelp. Just rehydrate it in water for 30 minutes, boil it for a couple of minutes and add it to anything you like such as salads or rice. It's salty due to the salt water it grows in.

There are also nori (Porphyra sp.) that fried into sheets.This is the dark sushi wrapping. You can use the big sheets, or the small flakes with just about anything. No cooking mecessary for this.

Harder to get is canned kelp. It's quite good and eaten as a salad as is, or mixed with salad vegetables. My cousin loves this with garlic and grated beets for example.

I will try my hand at making vegetarian sushi. Have been wanting to for a long time. The rest of them I will try to eat like the way mentioned by you.

I will also look for the capsule because it is easier to eat in a condensed form.

Thank you so much for the information.