How to Grow Natural Hair in Natural way

Looking for tips on how to grow natural hair? You’ve come to the right place. At Viviscal, we are all about promoting healthy hair growth*, and we recognize that not all hair is the same! Natural black hair requires some extra special care to grow it to long lengths, but with a little know-how and patience, anyone can grow long natural hair. The key is to prevent breakage so that you can retain your lengths! Keep reading to get our natural hair growth tips.

Natural Hair Growth Tips

Practice Protective Styling

Heat tools aren’t the only danger for natural hair. Any time your hair brushes against a jacket, shirt, or even your shoulder, you risk fraying and breaking the ends. This is why protective styling is so important for growing natural hair! Wearing your hair in braids, twists, or updos can help to protect your ends so you can grow long natural hair.

" Protective styles like braids and twists prevent damage to natural hair "

Nourish Your Hair From Within

Even though we may care about our hair a lot, the body actually considers hair a non-essential. Thus, if you’re not eating a balanced diet, your body will reroute the nutrients you do eat to your vital organs and away from your hair follicles. The result? The hair that grows is thinner and has less strength.

To make sure that you’re consuming the proper nutrients for hair growth, take Viviscal. Viviscal supplements are formulated to support hair growth and promote thicker, fuller hair with a proprietary blend of hair-healthy vitamins and minerals, including a unique marine protein complex called AminoMar™ that you can only find in Viviscal supplements. Taken twice daily, Viviscal can improve hair thickness and reduce shedding in three to six months.*

Moisturize the Ends

The ends are the driest part of our hair, and the most prone to damage and breakage. After all, the ends are the oldest parts of the hair on our head, and need extra moisture to keep from fraying!

In between washes, keep ends hydrated with coconut oil to prevent breakage. Take a small amount of coconut oil, warm it up between your palms, and then apply to the bottom inch of your hair.

Cut Back On Heat Styling

Heat dries out all hair types, but it’s particularly damaging for dry natural hair. Dry hair equals brittle hair, so the less you can style hair with heat tools, the better.

Instead, try heat-free styling techniques like sleeping with your hair in curlers or twists. This will allow you to achieve the look of heat styled hair without the damaging heat! Plus, you’ll save time in the morning and who doesn’t love that?

Try Co-Washing

Natural hair tends to be drier and so it doesn’t need to be washed with shampoo as much as other hair types with less curl or that are more prone to greasiness.

However, that doesn’t mean you should skip the conditioner. In fact, we recommend co-washing, which just means washing hair with conditioner instead of shampoo.

To co-wash, just wet hair in the shower and apply a liberal amount of moisturizing conditioner like Viviscal Gorgeous Growth Densifying Conditioner. Gently scrub and massage your scalp with the conditioner. Co-washing will help to remove dirt and debris from hair without stripping it of its natural oils.

Stimulate Your Scalp

Daily scalp massage is another easy way to grow natural hair, plus it just feels great! Scalp massages increase circulation, which helps bring the healthy nutrients you’re consuming to the hair follicles so they can work their magic, growing stronger, healthier hair.

Gently massage your scalp with your fingertips for 10 minutes every day to invigorate and boost circulation. If your scalp feels dry, use a little bit of coconut oil to add extra moisture.

Lack of Moisture

The need for moisture in naturally textured hair cannot be stressed enough. Since the makeup of our hair doesn’t allow the natural oils from our scalp to easily reach the ends, we need alternative ways of getting that moisture. Without it, we run the risk of breakage.

Try this: on wash day, while your hair is damp, apply another layer of moisture with an organic hair care product like Mielle’s White Peony Leave-In Conditioner. Follow up with something to seal the ends – the oldest and driest part of the hair – like our Mongongo Oil Pomade-to-Oil Treatment. Afterwards, style as usual with any one of our amazing stylers. Some naturalistas may need a styler and then an oil to seal. Tailoring this method to your hair’s needs will boost elasticity and help prevent breakage. And BINGO! You’re retaining your length.

You Don’t Drink Enough Water

It’s also important to moisturize from the inside out. I’ve found that those who have issues retaining the length of their natural hair are often not drinking enough water. This tends to show up as dry, brittle hair that’s more prone to split and break. Drinking lots of water, plus making sure you eat plenty of fruit and veggies, will feed your follicles to promote growth and reduce the chance of breakage.

You Use Too Much Heat

We love the versatility of natural hair — curly fro one day, straight the next. But too much heat too often, especially if not done safely, can also cause hair to be extra dry and brittle. In addition to making sure your hair is well moisturized before heat styling, a layer of protection created with a product like our Thermal & Heat Protectant Spray can give your hair a smooth finish without the damage. You should also be sure to use hair tools with adjustable settings, and choose the cool to medium heat setting as much as possible.

Your Hand Is Always in It

Over-manipulation of your hair – whether it’s with your hands or combs and brushes – can cause unnecessary stress, breaking off your fragile ends. If you find that you’re always touching your hair, try wearing protective styles. Keeping your hair braided, twisted, or in a bun for a week or two will force you to keep your hands and hair tools out of it. No touchy, no breaky! The less your hair breaks, the more length you retain!

Genetics

Hair growth cycles differ from person to person mainly due to genetics. One person’s cycle can have a growth phase of three years, while another has a growth phase of five years before it’s time for the hair to shed. So it may simply be that your growth stage is shorter than others, which makes it seem like your hair isn’t growing at all. But as long as you use the hair care tips above, your hair should grow fine at its own peak rate.

You Need a Trim

Trimming your hair to help with growth may seem like a backwards process, but it’s one of the best things you can do for your hair. Regular trims get rid of nasty split ends and damage that lead to breakage. There’s no one rule of how often you should trim your hair, but doing so at least once every season – or every three to four months – will refresh your ends and keep them healthy. The more you keep up with trims, the less you’ll see damage, and the less hair you’ll need to cut. You may even be able to stretch the time between trims as it gets healthier.

Health Issues

If you’re doing all of the above, but you still feel like your hair isn’t growing, then there could be some underlying health issues that need to be addressed. It can be anything from a vitamin or hormone deficiency to scalp issues. To know for sure, by all means, seek the help of a medical professional!

Do you feel like your natural hair isn’t growing? Take a look at your current regimen and compare it with these hair care tips. What can you do better to retain length?

Do you have any tips for growing natural hair? Let us know in the comments!