The Science of Hair

Can women of color grow long hair?

Yes, we can!  The rate of growth rate is dependent on genetics, and environment. There was a respected article a few years back that stated that African American’s hair grow at a slow rate in comparison to Caucasians. Nevertheless there are women of color with long beautiful hair. There are thousands of images of women online with waist length hair and hair that reaches their tailbone.

In fact it is important to understand that we need to take of our inner self to grow long healthy hair. Do you still not believe me?

Normal hair growth is about half an inch to an inch per month. Therefore it is possible to grow 6 inches of hair in a year!  A lot of the time women of color will not see this growth if they believe “trimming contributes to faster growth”. Trimming does not do this it only helps remove damage ends thus allowing to attain longer length. The day I decided to stop trimming was one of the best things I could do for my hair. In fact I did not trim my hair for over a year. My hair was healthy and did not need  frequent trimming. One thing that I do is dusting. I dust my ends, which means when I have the time I will look through my hair for split end and snip them.  This is a tedious process and I do not finish this in one sitting. I look through one section of hair for split ends then will look at another section the next day. This maintains your healthy ends but allows you to hold on to your growth.

Diet can also contribute to hair growth or it can turn hair brittle thus an imbalanced diet will reflect in your hair. Please keep this in mind.

One plant that works well for inside your body and on your hair is Aloe Vera.  I purchase a liter of Aloe Vera juice from iherb.com. I also grow an Aloe Vera plant just in case money is a little tight that month.

 Aloe Vera can do the following for your hair

• Promote hair growth
• Reduce dandruff
• Reduces Frizz 

Aloe Vera and the body

• Can be used to treat acne
• Help with burns
• Can be used as a laxative
• Helps with heartburn & indigestion
• Supports your immune system.

  Written by Cynthia Kavanagh