Are you finding it difficult to get your hair to grow? If so, you are like many other Americans who are trying to transform your appearance with long, flowing tresses. It takes time, but there are a few things you can do to make sure your hair follicles are healthy to create strong, thick hair strands. So, if you are wondering how fast does hair really grow, here’s Bosley’s advice.
How Fast Does An Average Person's Hair Grow?
The average hair growth is half an inch every four weeks or about fifteen centimeters per year. Hair strands also grow faster in males than with females unless a woman is currently pregnant. While averages help determine expectations, there are many things to consider about health and lifestyle that have a greater effect on how fast hair grows when secondary factors disrupt cycles.
How Fast Does Hair Grow?
Each person’s hair pattern is different because of factors like age, race, texture, heredity, gender, and health history that affects how fast hair grows. You’re probably thinking that you know a friend or family member who grows hair much faster, but it’s important to keep in mind that some people grow as little as a centimeter while others can grow as much as an inch or more.
While heredity, hormones, illness, or form of medical treatment can’t be helped, factors that can be changed, such as hair care routines, stress levels, and diet greatly affect hair follicle health, regrowth cycles, and cell regeneration. Environmental factors, trauma, and chemical usage also have much to do with how fast hair produces and how brittleness and breakage can deter growth.
Your hair type and texture can also be problematic as finer strands can fracture and split at their ends. There are four basic classification types for hair including straight, wavy, curly, and kinky. Your hair type will also determine how fast hair grows, the texture, width, and circumference.
Straight hair tends to be a combination of fine, voluminous, or coarse. People with straight hair also experience oily textures very quickly because of the direct pathway for sebum to follow. While sebum naturally conditions the scalp, people with straight hair tend to over-produce it for scalp health that may require washing more often.
Wavy hair generally has more texture than straight hair. It also ranges from S-shaped hair strands that are fine, fragile, and wavy to frizzy, thick, and coarser quality.
Curly hair is more defined by its springy ringlets when dry. The hair texture types range from thick, tight, and curly to those that are frizzy, kinky, delicate, and soft.
Extremely curly hair has a more defined, course structure that can range from a soft and tight curl to a kinky texture. This type of hair is more likely to be fragile and more susceptible to chemicals and heat as well as cleansing and styling damage.
How Does Your Scalp Influence Hair Growth?
Your scalp is vital to hair growth, so it’s important to develop a daily hair care routine that excludes harsh chemicals, hard bristle brushes, and strong cleansing or styling products. Your scalp also protects your head, so it suffers dents and dings from time to time which causes hair thinning or loss. It’s important to maintain your scalp’s health, so self-care is vital to hair growth.
Scalp health is not about how you can buy a one-size-fits-all answer. It’s about taking a thorough look at what you are doing currently and what changes you can make to improve hair growth. One small change you can do easily is getting rid of your regular cleansing routine and introducing your scalp to defensive hair care products like Bosley shampoo and conditioner.
Cleansing the scalp will remove the dead cells and allow for healthy hair cell rejuvenation. You’ll only want to shampoo as necessary to help strands remain strong and healthy. Rotate regular shampoo with Bosley Volumizing Dry Shampoo. Brushing only once a day will also reduce excessive shedding. Use Bosley hair products like hairspray, gel, and creme for styling.
Heating styling tools can also cause hair loss and scalp scarring that will not only make hair follicles die but future hair growth impossible. If your hair is thinning or shedding, you will want to improve scalp treatments and pay close attention to the cause and where it’s located. If your hair is breaking off, it could be styling techniques. If it is at the root, your scalp is unhealthy.
Here are a few good suggestions to prevent harsh cleansing, styling techniques, or touching.
- Buy silky pillowcases instead of rough cotton products.
- Do not put your hair up in a tight bundle with a towel when drying it.
- Take a vitamin supplement to give your hair an extra hair growth boost.
- Buy a microfiber towel to dry your hair to prevent unnecessary hair loss.
- Do not use a comb when your hair is wet as it can tug and pull strands out.
- Use conditioner each time you wash your hair to make it more manageable.
- Use a hair mask for nourishment and moisture if the hair is dry, frizzy, or damaged
How Often Should I Wash My Hair?
If your hair is dry, you will want to wash it about two times a week, as needed, to prevent the loss of sebum nourishment. If your hair is oilier than normal, you will want to wash your hair every other day to control the sebum glands over-producing oils. If you have a more moderate hair type, wash your hair when needed by measuring how dry or oily the scalp and strands are.
What Is The Best Shampoo For Hair Growth?
The hair care product industry is valued at $85.5 billion dollars. In the United States alone, consumers purchase more than 548 million bottles of shampoo annually that often do not contain the right ingredients for scalp health and hair growth. So, what is the best shampoo for hair growth? It depends on whether your aim is hair growth or to defend against hair thinning or loss.
- BOSDefense Starter Pack For Treated or Non-Color-Treated Hair, at only $41.95, gives you a Bosley nourishing shampoo, volumizing conditioner, and a thickening treatment. Not only can you safely cleanse your scalp and optimize scalp health, but you condition your hair strands and repair follicle cells that are critical for voluminous new hair growth.
- Bosley Pro Defense for Color-Treated or Non-Treated Hair, at just $19.95, adds a layer of protection and hair loss prevention. Our shampoos are also sulfate-free and eco-friendly, so you get fuller, thicker hair without the harmful chemicals that other shampoos contain.
- Bosley Hair Regrowth Treatment for Men is an excellent product for hair thinning and balding. This leave-in Bosley hair regrowth treatment product contains 5% of FDA-approved Minoxidil that has been shown to reduce day-to-day excessive shedding and regenerate new hair strands.
- Hair Regrowth Treatment for Women is ideal for hair thinning along the parting line. This leave-in treatment contains 2% of Minoxidil to reduce the amount of hair thinning and help you regrow beautiful, healthier hair strands that will revitalize your appearance.
Can Certain Foods Help Hair Grow Faster?
Your diet is equally as important as your health and hair care routine, but with full-time work, school, and household chores, it’s difficult to eat three nutritious meals a day. If you want to help your hair grow faster, you should consider eating more beans, berries, fish, leafy green vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Eat carrots, eggs, dairy, and oats for hair loss.
Proper nutrition also has an entire mind and body effect, so consider taking a nutritional supplement if your diet is lacking the proper vitamins and minerals for your hair follicle, scalp, and cell health. Your body needs Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and iron, niacin, protein, and zinc. By balancing your nutritional intake, it also supports follicle, scalp, skin, cell, and strand well-being.
Does Hair Growth Slow Down With Age?
Hair loss is not a problem that is defined by age or gender as teens can experience hair loss after entering puberty. You will find that hair strands naturally tend to become thinner in time. Hair follicles also disrupt regular regeneration cycles which then slows down the regrowth patterns as the body ages past the mid to late twenties. Typically, it is due to genetics or health conditions.
How To Grow Hair Faster
In addition to our Bosley hair products and changing your styling routine, there are ways you can help your hair grow faster. The first is to rinse your scalp with cool water after you condition to seal in hydrating moisture. Make sure you trim the split, fractured, or broken ends. You should also not treat your hair with color dyes and chemicals to ensure your scalp remains healthy.
Bosley is all about hair loss solutions, so we work hard to create hair care products that help you through each change you experience, from how to grow hair faster to rejuvenating regrowth. Sign up here to learn hair care tips, styling tricks, or product recommendations from our experts.