As a Licensed Natural Hair Stylist at Lavish Beauty Salon & Spa, I have received many of the same questions from my clients and decided to create a blog page geared to aid on their natural hair journey. One of the most common concerns for naturalistas is length retention for natural hair.
The truth is that all hair grow approximately .5 to 1 inch a month. Then why are you seeing results? One word answer "Breakage". So the question to ask is why is my hair breaking? Some of the reasons can be any of the following:
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Lack of care, not treating your hair or having a hair care regimen.
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Lack of nutrition, gotta take care of the body because it's all connected
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Using the wrong hair care products for your hair type
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Single strand knots and split ends
To start, it is important to have a hair care regimen. Just like everything else in life, you have to find the balance. This can mean doing treatments monthly, trims every 3-4 months and proper hydration (natural hair loves water). Your nutrition also plays a vital role in your hair health, be conscious of the food you eat and drink plenty of water. Stay away from food with artificial ingredients and eat your vegetables.
Using the wrong products or improper use of products can cause breakage. When dealing with hair that is dry or brittle stay away from products containing a high level of alcohol, such as gels and styling products. These products can cause excessive breakage to already dry hair. Knowing and understanding your hair means knowing whether to use a moisturizing or hydrating products on your hair, or even better when to use them. Check out "When to Use Moisturizing or Hydrating Products" blog.
Single strand knots and split ends are another enemy of length retention. Single strand knots are actual knots that form on the ends of your hair for several reasons, most common being leaving hair loose at bedtime, lack of combing or not trimming really bad split ends. More for information on this check out "How to Combat Single Strand Knots" blog post.
Knowledge is power!
Product Recommendation: Intense Hydrating Shampoo, Intense Hydrating Conditioner, Hydrating Leave-in Conditioner, Daily Moisture Hair Milk, Hair & Body Butter and Moisturizing Scalp Oil.