17/01/2022
There’s no other way to put it, the thought of long, voluminous locks is something many of us dream about. This opens up many different opportunities as far as styling and hairstyles go, but to grow your hair in the first place and then keep it long, can often be somewhat a challenge.
So if you feel like your hair isn’t growing and you don’t know why, here is all you need to know about hair growth.
Maintaining a healthy balanced diet is imperative when it comes to growing your hair. In particular, you should ensure you are getting the specified requirements of iodine, zinc, B vitamins, omega-3s and iron. Protein foods help to rebuild strong hair cells, while good fats nourish the hair cells to keep hair looking shiny. Vitamin C should also be at the forefront of your daily diet, this vitamin boosts collagen production which will keep your hair thick and strong.
When washing your hair, the most important part of this process if the conditioning phase, especially when you are trying to grow your hair. The purpose of shampoo during a wash, is to wash away dirt and any product build up there may be such as hairspray or styling gels. Many high street shampoos are filled with harsh and damaging chemicals called sulphates, these strip away all your natural oils. When washing your hair, try shampooing on less occasions and when you do lather up at the scalp let the water rinse it through the remainder of your hair. While cutting down on shampoo, keep up the conditioning to really condition and care for your hair.
Often, when we are trying to grow our hair, we tend to forget about one of the most important factors, our scalps. Hair grow comes from the scalp, so we really must take better care of our scalps as this is just as important as looking after your ends if you want to grow your hair. Using the right shampoo for your hair type and protecting your scalp from getting sun damage are also key things we need to be thinking about. I’m sure this one will bring music to your ears, but brushing your hair will help stimulate hair growth as well as keeping your hair detangled and smooth.
Whilst we know this one if difficult at the moment, it really is essential to have frequent trims to grow and keep your hair healthy. Having split ends will only cause your hair to break further up the strand and will leave you with hair that not only looks thinner, but will stop growing past a certain point. Our best tip would be to visit your stylist every 8-10 weeks and have a trim to prevent split ends.
The time in between your next salon visit may be a little longer than 8-10 weeks due to our salons being temporarily closed, so why not try some home care treatments to keep the condition of your hair the best it can be.
We too are guilty of wrapping out hair around a cosy plush bath towel when getting out of the shower. What we didn’t know, was the woven fibres can get caught in your hair, especially when you wrap up tightly. So for a much safer option that is kinder on your hair, opt for a microfiber towel.
Styling tools such as straighteners and curling wands may be your best friend, but when trying to grow your hair, you should really limit the use of these. The healthier your hair, the faster it will grow and the longer it will be. If you are dependent on your heated styling tool, we’d advise you use a heat protectant every time you style, or if you can avoid using these tools daily, we promise you’ll love the benefits.
This may be the most difficult factor to fix and one we have no control over. Our hair grows in a four phases and largely comes down to genetics. These four phases are known as Anagen, Catagen, Telogen and Exogen.
Anagen is the growing phase and lasts between 2-7 years. Catagen takes placed once the hair has stopped growing and allows the hair to become detached from the blood supply. This phase only lasts 2-3 weeks. Telogen also known as the resting phase follows catagen and this is where the hair rests while a new hair begins to grow beneath it. This phase normally lasts up to three months. Lastly comes exogen, also referred to as the shredding phase. This is where you’ll notice hair fall but to assure you, this is completely natural and you may not realise but you will normally lose 50 to 100 hairs a day.
These four phases all take place at different rates and combined normally lasts up to 7 years. At different times within your cycle you may see some hair loss, but this is completely normal and allows for new fresh hair to come through.
As you can see there are many factors that play a part in growing your locks and unfortunately, this can’t all happen overnight. Start your hair growth journey today and follow some of our top tips above to help on your way.