Self-talk as Growth Enhancer?

[piffyanne]

I've always wanted classic-or-longer hair, but, for some reason, my hair seemed to grow really slowly, and capped out just around BSL.:(

In sophomore year of college, a girl in my Japanese class had waist-length hair, and I decided again that I was going to have long hair (hadn't had a serious cut since 7th grade, when it was cut to BSL again, but I only lost like 3 inches. Hadn't gotten very far, had I?)

I started a routine that went like this: the same benign neglect I'd previously done, but, remembering how my little brother once had to do something called "tapping" every night (it's a way to calm down), I added a little chant to convince myself that it COULD grow. My chant went like this:

MY hair will grow longer (repeat that 10 times). My HAIR will grow longer (repeat that 10 times). My hair WILL grow longer (repeat that 10 times). My hair will GROW longer (repeat that 10 times). My hair will grow LONGER (repeat that 10 times).

I just mumbled it fast, changing the emphasis as I've shown after 10 repetitions of the phrase, and counted it off on my fingers to keep track of where I was while I was in the shower. It's a fast thing if you race through it, it only took me about a minute to do the whole thing, and just saying it, not thinking about it really, does the trick. (When I felt like getting elaborate, I'd do another set of 100 for "My hair will grow faster," and "my hair will be shiny" and whatever else I felt like throwing in.)

Crazily, my hair, which seemed to be just about terminal at BSL (I still can't figure out why it wouldn't grow!) just TOOK OFF and grew like a weeeed! It raced down to waist, then tbl, and I'm at classic now. I'm thrilled!

Hair growth takes a while even with this, but it makes you feel like you're DOING something to help, and it couldn't hurt, right? Does anyone do this, or feel like trying it out? Let me know your results! :D

(By the way, I don't think it was just growth spurt doing its thing, because when I stopped doing it once in a while [whenever you think of it works, although nightly got better results for me], my hair growth slowed back to a crawl. When I saw it inching along, I started again, and my hair took off once more.)

[MungoMania]

I've tried affirmations before for better health with mixed results. I'll have to try yours for my hair. We'll see what happens. :)

[Rockferry]

I am going to try this out immediately. Will let you know how it works!

[Fairlight63]

I was wondering do you "tap" your scalp when you say it also?

Sounds interesting!

[akilina]

i believe in this. it can be used with anything really. Ive experienced it with weight loss and seeing yourself as being thinner than you really are. eventually i physically appeared how i imagined. i think this would work with hair growth too :]...something to try...

[Avital88]

its all about positive thinking!! i always visualize that my hair is growing! :)

[piffyanne]

Actually, I squeeze the tip of my finger. With the "tapping" method my mom used on my little brother, there were various pressure points on the forehead, chest, and hand that she tapped or squeezed while he repeated an affirming statement.

The front/back of his fingers at the last joint (squeeze nail and pad of finger) was one of the stops in the process, so that's what I squeezed as I counted. It's like ticking it off on your fingers, but with a slight squeeze (not hard, just gently, so you can feel it).

I imagine it's something related to the brain's learning of something when you do it two ways at once, such as writing and saying aloud something you're trying to learn.

Does that explain it better?

[blondie9912]

Hmm, that's interesting. Something to think about. My friends and I were talking about obsessively tracking your hair growth and thinking about hair. I said "That's probably no good for hair growth. It won't grow if all you do is think about it! Just like a watched phone never rings."
My friend countered, saying that "If you concentrate hard enough on something, it will probably happen. A lot of things are psychological"

Definitely something to try!

[jacqueline101]

I think of my self as a long haired person but I don't chant about it.

[Helene]

Interesting. I've never heard of this before. I'll shall give this a try and see if I get any noticeable results.

[A. Correira]

This almost to me sounds a little crazy... but I want to try something like this! I like it. It seems like it would calm you down and relieve some stress, maybe that is how it helps with growth. I'm not too sure that is the reason it helps, but it sounds like a form of meditation in a way and stress can block hair growth (so I hear) and I know that I am always stressed about one thing or another. Thank you for sharing this! I know that I will try this!

[piffyanne]

This almost to me sounds a little crazy... but I want to try something like this!
Yeah, I really think it sounds crazy, too. :rolleyes: Took me a while to work myself up enough bravery to post about it. On the other hand, it just might be one of those crazy, but useful, things, right?

[hanne jensen]

I'll try anything! Does it matter if it's in the morning, afternoon or evening? (Promptly dashes off to chant).

[Rilig]

I think I'll try it. It sounds interesting, and mind can do wonderful things.

[Chetanlaiho]

I've been trying something similar to stop my shedding but it doesn't seem to be helping a whole lot =( should try it more often though, I'm quite desperate by now >_<

[piffyanne]

I think I've got proof now: my hair grows slowly until about 2010 (when I started the self-talk) and then takes off. I did a photographic retrospective to document what my hair did since 2002, and it's pretty obvious to me something changed growth-wise. :D http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=84086

[uptosomeone]

Hmm, that's interesting. Something to think about. My friends and I were talking about obsessively tracking your hair growth and thinking about hair. I said "That's probably no good for hair growth. It won't grow if all you do is think about it! Just like a watched phone never rings."
My friend countered, saying that "If you concentrate hard enough on something, it will probably happen. A lot of things are psychological"

Definitely something to try!

My view on this is that if you think about your hair negatively, ie "It's growing so slowly" or "I wish it would grow faster" the thinking won't do anything. Positive thinking, like "it's growing so fast" or "I just know it'll grow so much faster now that I'm taking care of it" will promote growth.

[blondie9912]

My view on this is that if you think about your hair negatively, ie "It's growing so slowly" or "I wish it would grow faster" the thinking won't do anything. Positive thinking, like "it's growing so fast" or "I just know it'll grow so much faster now that I'm taking care of it" will promote growth.

That's a good point. I'm sure it won't do any harm to think about hair a lot, but it has to be positive thinking. I like that idea :)

[ArienEllariel]

Hmm sounds promising. :) A lot of how your body reacts has to do with how you think of the situation. Dunno if that makes sense... Kinda the whole, if you believe you won't recover from something, you won't and vice versa. So I'm guessing that thinking positively can only have a positive effect on hair growth.

[misspurdy06]

Your cerebellum or "little brain" controls all of your bodies functions. Like heartbeat, breathing, etc. I think affirmations are a way of communicating with this part of the brain. By repeating it, it's like telling you body to grow your hair faster much like you tell your body to move a limb or tell your eyes to look left or right.

Since growing your hair out faster takes longer to see results you have to keep telling it over and over. Just like if you want to keep moving your arm you have to keep telling it to move.

You wouldn't expect your arm to keep moving on it's own if you just tell it to move once. Unless you have a condition of some sort.

I think if you are clear on what you want your body to do it can be done this way. With in reason of course.

For instance I can voluntarily tell my heart to beat slower or quicker. I can also control my blood pressure. I can stop myself from shivering if I am cold and somewhat control my body temperature.

I am working on sneezing and itching right now.

If you can understand the mechanics of how something works; like trying to make your hair grow faster then I think you and your "little brain" can make it happen.

I think a more effective way to to try to make you hair grow faster would be to imagine more blood flow to your scalp. As you know blood carries the necessary nutrients to your scalp. So if you continually tell your body to kick it up a notch to your scalp, it will do it.

I realize I lack ethos here but if what I have said sounds logical to you, try it.

[LittleB]

I like it!
The mind is incredibly powerful.

[sazzie88]

I think this is very good its very positive

[OakTreeGirl]

I definitely believe that affirmations can work! My preference is to keep it in present tense rather than in future tense and to mention a concrete goal rather than a comparison. (I have waist length hair, instead of I will have longer hair.) But those are just details. I think the most important thing is to be in either a neutral or positive mindspace while doing the affirmations.

For example, suppose I have a lot of stress and nervousness about my tennis skills. It's not enough to repeat "I'm an excellent tennis player" if I feel anxiety while saying it. The message does not necessarily get through to the subconscious mind. At least, that's been my own personal experience.

But if I can be relaxed and neutral (or, even better, happy and excited) on a subject, affirmations have worked great for me. :-) It had not occured to me to use this for my hair! I'm really glad for the reminder. Thank you, piffyanne, for starting this thread.

[Renate]

I'm so doing this. I dont think it's nonsense.

[whiterabbitz]

Thanks for starting this thread and reminding me!

I've used affirmations and creative visualisation with varying levels of success before. My hair is currently only APL and has never been much longer. But I've been picturing long, healthy waves down past my waist for a month or so now and feel confident I'll get there sooner or later. I think I'll take your idea and throw in some affirmations about the speed my hair grows too. Certainly can't hurt.

[summergreen]

I'm going to try this too!

Does anyone think this could also work to make your hair thicker, if you substituted 'thicker' for 'longer' - or is that just too determined by genetics to be affected by the power of the mind?

[piffyanne]

Hey, it can't hurt to try, right? The great thing about this was I dislike not having control in a situation, and growing hair left me feeling helpless--too much of a spectator sport, if you know what I mean? With the self-talk, you at least feel you're doing something constructive to help out. The same thing might help you, although I haven't yet tried to increase thickness.

On the other hand, I have affirmed toe strength of my hair, and have less breakage on the floor, and fewer shed hairs (I used to wonder if I would go bald at the rate I lost hair!shudder:) and my hair definitely looks thicker!

Give it a try, remember it might take a while to see results, and play around with the system until you've made it your own.

By the way, I've started imagining increased bloodflow to my scalp and I guess my Imagination is so strong I can feel my scalp doing something that feels like what I suppose increased bloodflow feels like! It's kinda creepy...!

[Nae]

I like it. So many times people get focused on bad hair days and how short it is, ect. The list of complains just go on and on. I can't think of encouraging positivity around the hair growth journey as anything but positive, so good on ya!

I think I will try it. Why the heck not?

[KwaveT]

There is something to this actually. Your words don't come back void. Everything you say sets something off in the spirit realm. Most people don't even realize that there is spiritual battle going on for your hearts and mind. There is both a natural realm and a spirit realm. Natural realm are those things we can see with our eyes. Spirit realm is invisible to our eyes. On this realm the angels of the lord and evil demon spirits exist. God wants you to believe him so he can bless you and devil wants you to believe him so he can curse you. Most people live under the curse rather than the blessing. If you are interested in knowing more about the blessing and the curse then find you a bible and read Deuternomy 28. If you say you have terrible hair then you open the door for the devil to deliver on that. If you keep saying that you have fast growing hair then you are releasing your faith in God then and it will eventually become reality. If you say that you are healed of some illness even something like cancer it will happen because you are releasing words of faith into the spirit realm. That is what faith is which is calling things that are not as though they actually are. Eventually they will become reality. Most people don't realize these are actual biblical truths. Are you putting your faith in God or in the devil? Your words and attitudes in life will determine just that.

[KwaveT]

Like I explained in my above post, that is how FAITH works. It goes up the Trinity (Holy Spirit, Jesus, God the father). Holy Spirit hears the prayer or words of faith (if you are saved the Holy Spirit lives inside you), then Jesus pleads your case before the father. God the father answer the prayer from his prayer pot for the lack of a better word. It goes back down the Trinity. Jesus administrates the prayer. The Holy Spirit executes/manifests the prayer by slowing it down so that it can move below the light line (dividing line of light between heaven and earth) and manifests itself in the natural realm so that your natural eyes can see it. The last step takes the longest time if it seems you aren't getting answers. Keep believing it will happen. Nobody can doubt you then. God promised Abraham he would be the father of many nations. He was 100 years old when Isaac was born. He kept believing God even when natural circumstances said there is no way he was going to have a child. I know these concepts and I don't use them enough myself. I am going to start by saying daily that I am totally healed of my epilepsy that I have had since I was eleven months old. Once my healing manifests and I have no need of medication anymore. My entire family is going to have to believe in the power of faith then. I will do it with my hair growth too. You don't have to say it 100 times a day for faith to work. Just simply say it every time you think about it. Enough teaching but this is serious subject matter. Even many Christians are clueless about the spirit realm and faith. I am only giving you biblical truth. It is yours to do with it what you want.

[Nae]

There is something to this actually. Your words don't come back void. Everything you say sets something off in the spirit realm. Most people don't even realize that there is spiritual battle going on for your hearts and mind. There is both a natural realm and a spirit realm. Natural realm are those things we can see with our eyes. Spirit realm is invisible to our eyes. On this realm the angels of the lord and evil demon spirits exist. God wants you to believe him so he can bless you and devil wants you to believe him so he can curse you. Most people live under the curse rather than the blessing. If you are interested in knowing more about the blessing and the curse then find you a bible and read Deuternomy 28. If you say you have terrible hair then you open the door for the devil to deliver on that. If you keep saying that you have fast growing hair then you are releasing your faith in God then and it will eventually become reality. If you say that you are healed of some illness even something like cancer it will happen because you are releasing words of faith into the spirit realm. That is what faith is which is calling things that are not as though they actually are. Eventually they will become reality. Most people don't realize these are actual biblical truths. Are you putting your faith in God or in the devil? Your words and attitudes in life will determine just that.

Not to be argumentative but there are plenty of non-Christians on this board who might disagree with the fact that if they affirm to themselves that they want their hair to grow that they are tapping into a Christian view of God or "releasing their faith in God.":confused:

I fully understand that this might be a great thing for Christians to look at it this way and more power to them. If it works it works but I can't help take exception to the claim that everyone who does this is glorifying the Christian God in some way.

I just seems pretty exclusionary on a very diverse board.:flower:

[KwaveT]

Not to be argumentative but there are plenty of non-Christians on this board who might disagree with the fact that if they affirm to themselves that they want their hair to grow that they are tapping into a Christian view of God or "releasing their faith in God.":confused:

I fully understand that this might be a great thing for Christians to look at it this way and more power to them. If it works it works but I can't help take exception to the claim that everyone who does this is glorifying the Christian God in some way.

I just seems pretty exclusionary on a very diverse board.:flower:

I mention at the end of my second post that I only give biblical truth and it is your to do with it what you want. I am not going to force my beliefs on others. I am not going to take on the weight of making people believe that don't. That is all I can to do as a Christian. If I made an impression on even one person then it is worth to educate others on biblical concepts. This is the second topic I have done such on with this forum.

[Delila]

Doing a meditation with the emphasis on a different word with each iteration does seem similar to a kind of therapeutic work I did some years ago, especially with the physical/finger work grounding things. The idea is to see multiple meanings and different kinds of emphasis in the same sentence. Basically, you're forcing your subconscious to let go of beliefs that may not be doing you any good, and finding new meanings that might expand your understanding.

For me, it's not spiritual, though I do see value in prayer and in letting go of my expectations.

[gthlvrmx]

Im trying it now!! :) :D jajaaja oh yeah. Cannot wait for this.

[hyettf16]

Sounds just crazy enough to work.

[PixxieStix]

Well, it can't hurt! I'll add it into my nightly scalp massage and see how it goes. :D

[aisha.christine]

I've been doing this since mid-December just to relieve stress, and I think it's actually working.
Even if it's not, it's really therapeutic and it has been helping me relieve my stress.
So thank you piffyanne for posting this :D

[nightwish90]

well when i was little i had straight hair. when i was about 12 yo i saw a girl who had natural waves at the ends of her hair, and i also wished to have the hair like her, so i used to take my hair in a tail and rotate it so that it becomes curly, and i always imagined i have a hair just like that. after a year or so i got a layered haircut and surprise: my hair was exactly just like hers, it had little waves/was curly at the ends. that took about 2 years and after that i started to dye my hair and because of the unhealthy hairs it got back to merely straight. now i have since a month shoulder length healthy virgin hair again, it's a little bit waved but not that much. should i try to curl it with my hands again and think that it's curly? :D

similar when i was teenage about 15 i wished i had a bigger breasts because i was obsessed with thin waist and victorian corsets. one of my aquantances had such a thin and feminine waist and i also wished that and i somehow imagined i had it. well donno if it was just puberty but after one year or so my breasts got much bigger so that i catched up some of my friends and my waist was more beautiful in comparison to before, the proportion made my waist much thinner. and the other thing is, my breasts were much bigger at 16yo then my mother ever had before having kids, and i was very skinny and have inherited almost exactely the body and breasts form from my mother. that time i used to get compliments for my body and for my bust though all i was interested of was to have thin waist, it made me feel like a princess :D . now my breasts became in the last year again little in comparison to before(have no idea why). maybe i should think again about it :D

i think it's definitely something worth trying

usually i'm not a believer but i think it's very possible the psyche is powerful when it comes to our own body.

[Achtland]

I once tried singing "flower gleam & glow" (from disney's Tangled) to my hair. hehe.

[catamonica]

That is a great idea. Im going to try it.

[Dark Rapunzel]

I like these psychological things, and I do believe they work. It's like a placebo effect. Deffinitely trying this as of right now!

[HairFaerie]

I am definitely on this bandwagon!

Last month I had several dreams in which I was combing/brushing my hair or just running my fingers through it. Each time I did, my hair grew! I was then brushing waist length hair! It was so cool!

After reading this thread about a week and a half ago, I got an idea....What if in waking life, as I brushed my hair or ran my fingers through it, I could "feel" it getting longer? I do this during daily scalp massages too. I "feel" the hair growing from my scalp as I massage it. I have been doing this and I must say, I think it is working!!!!

I saw a friend the other day and then I saw her again a few days later. She actually said to me "OMG! Wow! Does you hair grow every single day? I swear it's longer than when I saw you the other day!" I just smiled and said "I think it does, actually!"

So, I do really think this is working for me! :)

[piffyanne]

>snip<I saw a friend the other day and then I saw her again a few days later. She actually said to me "OMG! Wow! Does you hair grow every single day? I swear it's longer than when I saw you the other day!" I just smiled and said "I think it does, actually!"

So, I do really think this is working for me! :)
This. It looks visibly longer in mirrors, and when I measure it against landmarks on my body, it just confirms. I've had people say that to me, too! It's so cool I had to spread the word. Glad you're noticing a difference, isn't it fun?!:cheese:

[HairFaerie]

Yes! It is very cool & fun! Not quite like in my dreams....but I will take it! :)

[uptosomeone]

I have a problem. Each night I lay down in bed, curl up, and shut my eyes to better visualize my hair growing longer. For some reason though, before I can even start saying My Hair Grows Fast (the phrase I chose to repeat), I'm out like a light! It's nice for when I want to sleep right away, but it sure would be nice to be able to stay conscious for just thirty more seconds. ;)

[Qadupae]

Popping in at this thread because it was brought up in the Daily Appreciation thread also ^_^

I might have to start trying this to see if it helps for falling asleep. Kind of like counting sheep ^_^

[same_as]

Just read through all the pages, and tried it. I repeated the phrase like in the first post, while massaging my scalp. I'll do some more tonight, while in the shower.

Sure it sounds crazy but I believe people should be more open to things, and I'm happy that most people here seem to be. If I mentioned it to my friends they'd tell me I was insane hahaha.

[piffyanne]

By the way, I tried this today with something other than hair growth. If you consider this a sidetrack, skip. If you're interested in the potential effectiveness of the method as evidenced by other applications, read on:

I did the same repeat ten times, change word emphasis, continue, etc., but with "I will remember that memory." My DBF and his family are trying to find a set of architectural plans his grandmother paid $1,000 to get drafted and never followed through with. Now they NEED to do the repairs on that house before it falls in, and they can't find the plans! I'm the only person with any slight memory of when the plans were last in circulation in the house, but my memory sucks.:(

The strange thing is, I could FEEEEL my mind clearing as I worked through the set of 100 repetitions. My memory of what happened was sharpened (!), and I was able to remember more of the beginning of it than trying to remember it "cold," but the floorplan wasn't where he put it down when my memory ended (he put it on the table beside his bed where things only tend to rest temporarily.:rolleyes:)

They need it in less than a week, and I hope they don't have to spend another thousand to get the same piece of paper made! shudder: Maybe it'll come to me in a dream? >crosses fingers<

>Places thread squarely back on its tracks again<

[Hairitic]

I have a problem. Each night I lay down in bed, curl up, and shut my eyes to better visualize my hair growing longer. For some reason though, before I can even start saying My Hair Grows Fast (the phrase I chose to repeat), I'm out like a light! It's nice for when I want to sleep right away, but it sure would be nice to be able to stay conscious for just thirty more seconds. ;)

My new sleeping potion:p!

[Hairitic]

LOL, I did go to sleep last night to the mantra " My hair is classic length and silky, shiny, healthy."

Grow, Hair, Grow :whip:

[Of the Fae]

I do believe in self affirmation in health issues. One can actually give oneself a headache by thinking one has it and so forth.
I don't know how it works on hair but I'll definitely try it! It would be nice to have better ends and finally cross this annoying APL border (I'd like to have ALL of my hair to flow below my armpits, not just the strands on my back.. it feels like I'm stuck at this length...)
I'm trying it as of today and I'll see about the results!

[Tsopana]

I believe positive thinking can do wonders to one's psychology and self-esteem, and therefore help them achieve things that are up to them. Our hair growth, though is not up to us! Have you maybe considered that the faster length-gain might have come from your curls loosening-up? Because at your photos I noticed that from the moment you claim that your hair started growing faster, your curls where looser as well.. I don't think that's a coincidence! :)

[piffyanne]

I believe positive thinking can do wonders to one's psychology and self-esteem, and therefore help them achieve things that are up to them. Our hair growth, though is not up to us! Have you maybe considered that the faster length-gain might have come from your curls loosening-up? Because at your photos I noticed that from the moment you claim that your hair started growing faster, your curls where looser as well.. I don't think that's a coincidence! :)

That may be a part, but it's not the whole, I know. Back then, though I didn't LHC-measure with a measuring tape, I always measured where it reached on my back when WET, so I had a fairly good idea of how long it actually was, curls or not. I think it was the weight of my longer hair that relaxed the curls. In fact, I know that to be the case. I tried plopping several times and it was an unqualified failure. Sick of failure, I decided to see if it was the length doing it; I showered and then, while it was still wet, and knotted it the way you do when you're trying to disguise length in a ponytail. The length of the remaining hair came to shoulderblade or so, it airdryed as curly as it used to be. Oh well. I'm stuck being a straight-hair, but I've learned more about my own head.

[BrightEyes]

I'm going to try this. I believe in the power of affirmations and the power of believing you can do something. I am at the length now where I've always chopped in the past out of frustration. If daily positive self-talk can help me believe I can get past this awkward length and on to longer lengths....then I'll chant affirmations to myself all day long:)