You are born with all the hair follicles you’ll ever have; your head alone has about 100,000 follicles. As you age, some follicles stop producing hair, which causes baldness or hair thinning.
According to The American Academy of Dermatology Association, hair grows about six inches each year on average, but oftentimes that growth feels minimal — especially when most folks lose 50-100 hairs each day.
Check out these tips on how to make your hair grow faster:
Clean and stimulate the scalp
If you’re looking for hair growth, start at the source: the scalp. First off, an irritated scalp—caused by scalp tension, buildup, oxidative stress, and certain scalp conditions—can lead to hair loss or thinning.
The accumulation of free radicals over time contribute to the hair follicle closing off, thereby limiting growth and eventually leading to shedding.
Get frequent trims
It might sound counterproductive when you want your hair to grow longer, but regular trims get rid of dry, damaged split ends and are necessary for natural, healthy growth.
If left untreated, split ends can work their way up the shafts of your hair strands and cause even more breakage.
Keep your hair moisturized
The hair on your head is probably the driest thing on the body, and if you are trying to grow it longer, you need to keep it moisturized.
If your texture is naturally drier, it is even more essential to keep hair hydrated. Dry hair turns to brittle hair and brittle hair breaks.
Eat the right diet.
Having long, strong hair doesn’t just depend on which products you put on your hair; it also depends on what you put into your body. To promote hair growth, you need to ‘feed’ the hair from the inside.
So what foods make hair grow quicker? Those high in protein, the building blocks of hair, including meats and other sources. In addition to foods high in protein, vitamins A, C and E, minerals like zinc and iron and omega-3 fatty acids can also contribute to healthier hair.
Sleep on a silk pillowcase
A silk or satin hair cover or pillowcase is better for the health of your hair than cotton, which will absorb all the moisture from your strands and lead to tangles and breakage.
While this won’t necessarily speed up the hair growth process, sleeping on a silk pillowcase generates less friction and gives hair a softer surface to rest on. The less breakage your hair experiences, the longer your hair will be.
Avoid over-shampooing
Rumor has it that over-shampooing can lead to broken, dry, and brittle locks, due to the cleanser stripping the hair of its natural oils. Depending on your hair type, the number of times you should shampoo your hair per week varies.
Thicker, coarser hair types can get away without washing their hair for a few days, while thinner hair types may find their hair feels greasy even after one day. In such cases, dry shampoo can work wonders in soaking up excess grease as you await longer strands.
Eliminate stress
It’s true that stress affects the body in more ways than one, and it can even be the cause of hair loss for some.
Some autoimmune diseases of the hair and scalp that cause patchy hair loss, like alopecia areata, can be precipitated or aggravated by bouts of stress.
