Healthy Strands

Growing hair long, and keeping it healthy can be a task. For women with very coarse and kinky 4a/4b hair it can be ten times harder. Here are three effective tips and guidelines to grow your hair longer and healthier.  The steps are to prevent hair breakage, get your hair the needed nutrients, and to properly care for your hair. If you follow these tips you will get great results over time. Remember that growing hair takes time, and this article is not about any overnight fixes. Anything worth having is worth waiting for and that includes long hair. All it takes is patience you’ll accomplish your goal in no time. If you follow these easy steps you will have constant growth and will avoid any setbacks. Well, let’s get started! 

1. Prevent hair breakage. This step is crucial. The key to growing your hair long is keeping the hair that has already grown strong and healthy. The longer you keep your strands healthy the longer they will last.

Split Ends

Some things to look out for are chemical treatments such as relaxers or permanent hair color. These chemicals have an adverse effect on the natural chemistry of your hair. Relaxers and hair color can cause your hair to be dry and brittle. This will make it easier for your hair to break, and we don’t want that. Our hair strands naturally appear scaly under a microscope. This is the protein called Keratin in three different layers. Some dyes can get within these layers, and it will cause the hair to dry out and break.

If your hair is relaxed you must be more gentle with your hair. The chemicals in relaxers weaken the protein bonds that cause hair to appear curly. This effect weakens hair. It is recommended that you apply a protein treatment to your hair every four weeks to add the needed protein back to your hair. These treatments are often done just before a relaxer touch up to add extra protection to the hair from the harsh chemicals. If you relax your hair, it is also recommended that you get touch ups no more than every eight weeks. This will greatly reduce overlapping, which can also lead to breakage. Overlapping is when a relaxer is reapplied to hair that has already been relaxed. This leads to hair that is over-processed.

If you both relax and color your hair, you must be sure to eliminate any other types of hair damage. Some people are able to grow their hair just fine with both, but I can assure you, with virgin hair, your hair will be so much more! Remember, just because your hair looks healthy, doesn’t mean it is healthy.

Avoid damage caused by using too much direct heat. This is what caused a lot of my hair growth problems. I used to flat iron my hair every week. Even though I used heat protectants this is just too much heat. When you continuously apply heat to your hair, it can have the same effect as any other chemical treatment. You can very easily burn your hair straight. If your hair is natural and naturally curly, be careful when you use heat. If you begin to notice parts of your hair are becoming straighter, then that hair is damaged. If you have very kinky hair, you may like this effect at first, but I assure you damage will only lead to breakage. To tell if your hair is heat damaged or close to it, watch out for split ends and hair that is loosing its natural curl pattern. I recommend only straightening the hair once a month if you have tightly coiled kinky hair, like me.  Other hair textures can be heat styled more often, but remember that 4a to 4b hair is very fragile, and needs extra TLC to get to great lengths.

Minimize breakage due to daily wear and tear. When sleeping at night, use a satin bonnet or scarf on your hair to prevent friction and breakage against the pillow. Cotton pillowcases can actually dry the hair by absorbing its oils, so I recommend getting a satin pillowcase.

Use protective styles to prevent breakage caused by styling. Some protective styles are braids, sew ins, buns, twist outs, straw sets, bantu knots, corn rolls, and wigs. Do not where braided styles too tightly for this can stress and break hair. Wearing braids is a good way to protect your hair while trying to grow it out when done correctly. The use of protective styles allows your hair to simply grow with little to no manipulation. 

Trim ends every four to six weeks. By trimming away any split or frayed ends, you are preventing that damage from spreading up the hair shaft and causing more damage. There is no shampoo or condition that can fix ends that have already split, remember this. Companies who have products that make this claim can only change the appearance of the split ends, but they cannot repair them. Once hair is damaged, it’s damage. That’s why it is so important to be proactive with the health of your hair.

2. Include the needed nutrients for hair growth in your diet. Much like anything else that can grow, your hair needs certain things to supplement its growth. You can make sure your hair is getting all the fuel it needs by eating a well balanced diet and getting the recommended eight hours of sleep every night. . This includes getting the recommended servings of fruit, vegetables, meats and grains. You should also drink the recommended 8 glasses of water everyday. If there are just some foods you do not like or you are worried that you will not be able to eat a well balanced diet, take vitamin supplements. I would recommend a multi vitamin, and also Omega-3-fatty acids (Fish oil) and Biotin.

Omega-3-fatty acids

Omega-3-fatty acids, or fish oil, are a family of unsaturated fatty acids. The three main nutrients in omega-3 are Alpha Linolenic acids (ALA), Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), and Docosahexaenioc acid (DHA).  They are good for your heart health, as well as the health of your hair.  When you do not have a sufficient amount of omega-3 in your diet, hair will be dull and not to its full potential. Omega-3 works by nourishing your strands from the inside. The fatty acids provide nutrients and proteins for the hair follicles.  This causes your hair to grow faster, healthier, and shinier.  If you don’t like taking supplements, some good sources of omega-3 are mackerel, rainbow trout, halibut, herring, lake trout, sea bass, oysters, tuna, salmon, swordfish, sardines, and anchovies.

Biotin is a B-complex vitamin, B7. Biotin is essential for cell growth and producing fatty acids.  It aids in the production of keratin, which is the protein that makes up your hair and nails. The more keratin your body makes, the more hair and nail growth you will have. Biotin is also good for your skin. It is often sold as a vitamin for your hair, skin, and nails. Many foods contain biotin, but some foods with the most concentration of the vitamin are egg yolks, liver, and many vegetables. To be sure that you are getting the necessary amount of Biotin, take a supplement. This vitamin is water soluble, so any excess will simply be flushed out of your body.

Shea Butter

3. Finally, properly shampoo and condition your hair. Avoid shampoos that contain harsh sulfates. Sulfates dry out hair by stripping the hair of its natural oils. Most shampoos containing sulfate will have ammonia lauryl sulfate or sodium lauryl sulfate listed in the ingredients label.  Follow your shampoo with a deep conditioning treatment.  Some deep conditioning treatments include hot oil, cholesterol, and Shea butter. I will include more indebt information on deep conditioning in another article. 

 By following these three easy steps, you will experience a very noticeable difference. After I begin using these practices I had three to four inches of hair growth within four months. The key is consistence and patience.  I wish you the best of luck on your hair growth journey!