Find out what works for you and what doesn’t in your journey to longer healthier hair

In this world of instant gratification, the 6 inches per year average rate of human hair growth is almost too slow to bear for some people. Some products try to fill that gap by offering us hair growth vitamins, oils and potions which claim to double the hair growth but in reality have little effect and invariably lead to disappointment. Growing your hair is a process but it doesn’t have to be long and tedious. It can be an enjoyable learning journey.

The first thing in your journey is to find a suitable hair regimen. This is a routine of how you plan to take care of your hair on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis to get the health and length you want. The regimen has to be based on your hair type as different hair types have different needs. The regimen should also accommodate the current state of your hair.

The next thing is to tweak your regimen removing processes or products that do not agree with your hair and adding anything that you have tried and loved. There is no one-size-fits-all regimen that will guarantee you success as your hair has different needs at different times of the year.

The most important step is to stick with it!! Hair and especially black hair which tends to be dry and prone to breakage is very fragile. Religiously taking care of it for a few months then forgetting your hair care can set you back months in your progress so it is important to set yourself achievable goals. There is little point saying that you will wash and deep condition your hair daily as this is impractical and difficult to keep up over the long term. A regimen that is more suited to your lifestyle and also maintains the best level of care for your hair is best.

Building a regimen simply involves you making a decision on a few things:

• How often to wash your hair – Twice a week is recommended for black hair with a sulphate free shampoo.
• How often to deep condition – This should be done after each wash for 20-30 minutes with heat for extra penetration.
• How often to have protein treatments – This is very important especially for relaxed hair to give it strength and should be done every 6-8 weeks or when excessive breakage is experienced.
• How often to clarify your hair – As a black person, hair moisturizers should be commonplace in your hair styling arsenal but build up of these products over time may harm the hair. Clarifying should be done every once in a while to get rid of build up.
• How to style it to retain the most length – e.g. no heat regimens, braid regimens etc
• How often to trim your hair – Trimming will not make your hair grow faster but damaged ends make your hair look uneven and unhealthy so should be removed. Generally only a light dusting of the ends is required (removing split ends as and when you see them) every 6 months or so.
• How often to have hot oil treatments – For added strength and lubrication to hair
• How often to rotate your shampoos and conditioners – This avoids the hair getting used to one product and not responding as well over time.
• How often to have chemical services – Colour or relaxer/texturizer services definitely require some sort of routine. For instance, if you relax or colour your hair too often you run the risk of overlapping the chemical with the previously processed hair which will weaken it and compromise the overall health of your hair.

Answer the questions above and read the articles on this website which will help you come up with your own regimen. You can then tweak and perfect it for the long term health of your hair.

With a suitable regimen you can grow your hair to lengths you didn’t know you could achieve. Aim to achieve health of your hair and the length will follow automatically. Your motto should be health before length! See the article on how to check if your hair is growing.