African American Hair...How can I strengthen my hair and get it to grow?

Recently, I saw a pic of a girl I used to go to high school with (about 5 yrs ago). Her hair used to be pretty short, maybe right at the shoulders. NOW...her hair has grown to the middle of her back and it's quite thick and has so much body. What on earth am I doing wrong? My hair is a bit long (about 3 inches past my shoulders), but it's thin at the ends and on the sides of my head. I'm thinking about chopping off a couple of inches and starting over. I've heard sooooo many techniques, but I'm confused as to what may really work on my damaged hair. When I was growing up, my mother said that the reason my scalp would become dry was b/c I didn't use enough grease on it. But now, I'm reading everywhere that we should use oils instead of heavy hair grease.

Some also suggest deep conditioning, but to be quite honest, I've never done that before.

My hair has never been permed before, only pressed with a hot comb. Does anyone have any suggestions??

African American Hair...How can I strengthen my hair and get it to grow?

Hi Ashley. Don't be discouraged about your hair. I press my hair too, and I didn't see a real difference in hair growth until I changed my hair products and my hair care techniques. Visit my blog at http://ofranklin.wordpress.com and read the posts about hair pressing. To get your hair to grow longer you need to use products that don't dry your hair out and make it brittle. Products made from natural, gentle ingredients are best. Avoid products made with mineral oil, petrolatum, and sodium lauryl sulfate. These will dry out your hair. Instead of using a petrolatum or mineral oil based grease, use a pomade or a hair oil made from natural ingredients. You need to also make sure that you are not using too much heat on your hair. Pressing is fine in moderation, but too much of it (either doing it too frequently or at too high of a temperature) can cause hair damage.

African American Hair...How can I strengthen my hair and get it to grow?

You're already ahead of the game because you don't have any chemicals in your hair will could lead to damage.

I would suggest going to a qualified technician and getting your ends trimmed. Keeping the damaged ends only leads to them splitting further and your hair will never grow.

Because of the texture of African American hair, you have to be extremely careful with it.

Here's a basic regime to follow:

Once a week, wash your hair. Only use a small amount of shampoo and wash just your scalp and your roots. Using shampoo on the ends of your hair tends to dry them out.

After rinsing, gently blot your hair dry with a towel. DO NOT rub the towel all over your head. This leads to breakage. Wrap parts of your hair in the towel and squeeze the water out.

Pick a nice, salon quality conditioner (one used for deep conditioning) and apply it to your hair section by section. Be sure to condition the ends well. The ends of your hair are the oldest parts so they need the most care. Take a WIDE TOOTH COMB and gently comb your hair out. Your hair is most vulnerable when it's wet so please BE CAREFUL. Cover your hair with a plastic shower cap and sit under a hooded dryer for 15-20 minutes. If you don't have a hooded dryer, you can take a warm towel and wrap your plastic capped head in it. Your body heat will help the conditioner penetrate the hair shaft.

After deep conditioning, rinse the conditioner from your hair.

Since you are trying to grow your hair, you should try to use as little heat as possible. I suggest doing roller sets and wrapping your hair.

To do a roller set, you want to use plastic rollers. Use water and setting lotion to saturate your hair (sopping wet) and gently roll your entire head. You'll look crazy, so be warned! LOL Once all your hair is in rollers, you should sit under a hooded dryer for about an hour or so, depending on the length of your hair. Don't take the rollers out until your hair is fully dry.

Once dry, you should have a head full of soft curls.

At this point, you can wrap your hair. Using a paddle brush wrap your hair around your head in sections. Front right section, back right section, back left section, front left section. Use can use bobby pins or clips to secure any sections that aren't quite secure.

Use a silk scarf or headwrap and wrap it around your head. To protect your hair, you will want to wrap it every night or AT THE VERY LEAST buy silk or satin pillowcases to sleep on. I would really suggest wrapping it every night though. Not only does it protect your hair but it saves time and effort on styling the next day.

When you are ready to unwrap your hair, simply remove the scarf and the pins or clips. Use the paddle brush to gently brush your hair down. You should have shiny, bouncy hair.

Continue to wrap your hair every night and wear your hair up a few days a week to protect it from rubbing against your clothing and/or jewelry. That can also damage your hair.

I hope all this helps! Good luck!

P.S. Try using Google to find some A.A. hair care forums. There are tons out there.