Natural Hair: Are you obsessed with growth?

Why won't my hair grow? She cut her hair the same time as me and her hair is longer? What can i take to make my hair grow faster? What products make my hair grow faster? Sound familiar?

Pause. Hold it right there ladies. Lets get a few facts in to help bring you back down to earth.

Hair grows at an appx length of 4th of an inch per month! Which means on average (with the correct diet and care) your hair will grow between 5-6" a year! However your genetics will play a MASSIVE role on the rate that your hair grows although most naturals will tell you different this is something you cannot avoid. If your hair grows at a slower rate, it grows at a slower rate, and vise versa. Thats the reality, thats the truth lets  just digest that.



I, like others when i did my BC i wanted my hair to grow, and i wanted it to grow fast as when i was relaxed my hair seemed to grow faster than Bolt could run. However, when i cut my hair it seemed to slow down and take forever. I looked into pills. More direct i looked into the ever popular 'Hairfinity' which claims to grow your hair as speedy rates and results seen in just a few weeks (although our hair only grows a 16th of an inch per week) So before i went ahead and spent £30-£60 pounds on a bottle of 30-60 capsules i did my research, and boy am i glad i did. Let me explain.

The thing with growth obsession is that we forget that HEALTH is more important than LENGTH. Upon my research i found many females from the Natural Hair Community (NHC) who suffered from hair thinning, acne breakouts, excessive shedding the lot. And i was thinking, "erm, why are so many people still buying this crap (to used a blog friendly term) if it is just damaging people's kinks and coils??!"
So more digging was required. I had a look at their facebook page, and asked for a list of what goes into this pill. I was given one and was on the floor laughing.
Why i hear you ask? Well, near enough ALL the ingredients found in Hairfinity are found in daily vitamins such as Well Woman and you'll save a lot more money buying a box of Well Woman than you would buying Hairfinity lol! This company is making millions from our obsession with growth that we can not control. Now if you want thinner hair, damaged hair go ahead buy you some hairfinity lol. But remember that you went natural to grow HEALTHY hair, not thinning damaged hair.

Okay, now products, the companies are also laughing at us. They know they buy saying "Aids in hair growth" we are all quick to buy it and try it. STOP! Natural hair is not grown overnight. As the old saying goes, a watched pot doesn't boil or even the classic rome wasn't built in a day! It will take time. I know it is annoying, frustrating and more killing you because your hair vloggers have long hair and you wanna try out X,Y,Z styles. Their hair did not grow over night, and nor will yours.

So what would you suggest?
Okay, how i feel i was able to grow my hair.

Diet. Exercise, Water. 
It just so happens around the time i cut my hair i chose to change my eating habits and start working out 5 days a week. In more recent days i have had to stop working out. I have seen changes in the way my hair grows. My hair isn't on the slow end of the growing scale however since i've stopped working out it has slowed down. So step one. Change your diet, what goes in will reflect on what comes out! Drink at least 2ltrs of water a day or try to drink 1.5 ltrs.

Heat.
Try really hair to keep away from heat, i know first hand its hard to do that with a TWA, so if you DO use heat use it correctly, low/cool heats, never dry your hair 100% leave it around 80% dry. Always use a heat protectant.

Avoid Dry Hair.
Dry hair breaks! So, keep those kinks and coils moisturized boo. Twice a day. I use the LOC method which i speak about in my Natural Hair Diary. I use water (Sometimes on its own, sometimes mixed with rose water for shine, or avc for clarification when i have braids) Then an oil, Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil any oil that works for you, my hair loves thick oils so CaO or JBCO works for me. Then a cream OR conditioner. I use Shea Decadence Frapp, or my own whipped shea butter mixed with oils.
Stick with products you know, the mix of random products can damage hair.

Protective Styles.
Fake it till you make it! Oh yes don't mind those naiz's moaning about protective styles. They help protect your hair from the elements, if you are anything like me and you like to play in your hair it helps you to stop doing that and breaking those ends! And don't forget a Wash n Go is a protective style! So rock them often!

Wrap It.
Wrap it up and night!

Don't Be Fooled.
These companies want to make a quick buck, don't fall victim. Is your hair really worth it?

Be Patient.
It won't happen over night, Once you get to that 12 month mark you'll feel better but for now stop watching the clock, the time won't move faster. Learn to enjoy your moments with a TWA be thankful it only takes 30mins to wash your hair from start to finish! When you tell your friends just 5mins doing my hair you literally mean 5mins!