Tips to Make Hair Grow Faster – Natural Hair Growth Tips
If I could discover the secret ingredient to make hair grow faster and turn it into some sort of pill or goo, I would be the richest and most loved woman on the planet. Unfortunately, the science behind healthy and rapid hair growth is much more complicated than that, so let’s delve into some light hair science!
There are many variables that contribute to healthy and rapid cell division, also known as mitosis. During mitosis, a cell splits and forms two new cells, regenerating over and over again. Those regenerating cells are the building blocks of the proteins that make up our hair. To ensure rapid and healthy mitosis, the first necessary ingredient is healthy circulation.
For the regularities of your body to run smoothly, you need a steady circulation of blood. Your blood distributes oxygen to all of your organs, allowing the “breath of life” to infuse every part of your body. Cells, like every living organism, need oxygen to generate.
On the most basic level, the best ways to ensure healthy circulation throughout the body is to get plenty of exercises and maintain a healthy diet. Once you have this part down, you are ready for the second ingredient in optimizing healthy and rapid hair growth.
Fact: cells divide faster when they are heated and/or stimulated. This is valuable information, especially when discussing hair growth! You can’t get your hair to grow inches overnight by putting a hot water bottle under your pillow while you sleep, but you can help stimulate mitosis on your own head by using both the magic of heat and friction. What are the best ways to stimulate your hair with heat and friction? Keep reading to find out!
1. Brushing
It’s proven that tension stimulates cell regeneration. In the same way that cross fibrous massage helps to heal torn ligaments, brushing your hair creates stimulation and stress in your hair follicles anywhere mitosis appears. You will see your hair grow faster if you brush your hair daily. Just another reason why brushing your hair daily is incredibly beneficial! Check out this article for more information about brushing and a review of my favorite hairbrush ever made, the Mason Pearson brush.
2. Heat & Scalp Massage
Want to know the most effective hair growth equation? Heat plus a scalp massage equals optimal conditions for healthy hair growth. When you combine the stimulation of massage with the warmth of hot oil, you get a powerful punch of growth support. Here’s how to do it:
Heat a teaspoon of coconut oil in the microwave or double boiler until fully melted. Let it cool until it is warm to the touch, then add a couple of drops of organic rosemary essential oil.
Give your scalp a vigorous hot oil massage with your fingers for five minutes. Then, soak a medium sized towel in hot water, wring it out and wrap it around your head. Keep it there for 10 minutes for optimal results.
Finally, remove the towel and finish with a thorough brushing to pull the oil down into the ends of your hair. Then, ShamPHree the remaining oil using nice, warm water. Do this once a week, and I promise you will see results. And, you will feel like the queen of self-love.
3. Diet
Circulation-inducing foods and remedies are incredibly vital to healthy hair. Oranges, ginger, dark chocolate, cayenne pepper, and sunflower seeds all promote circulation throughout the entire body. Don’t believe me? Check out here to find out more.
There are more powerful herbs that increase circulation when applied topically. The best herbs to increase blood flow are cayenne pepper, rosemary, ginger, and cinnamon. Check out this list of my all-time favorite herbs for hair and beauty. In case you are not willing to spend the big bucks on fancy tinctures, you can easily make herbal infusions to use on your scalp in your own kitchen. My favorite way to infuse herbs for my hair and scalp is to make hair tea and use it as a rinse.
Another great way to use herbs to stimulate hair growth is to make infused scalp oil. To do this, get a small dropper bottle and fill it halfway with your chosen herbs and top it off with your favorite light oil. Personally, I prefer to use olive oil for these types of infusions. Put the top on the bottle, then let the mixture set in a warm place for a couple of days. Then, use it in your next hot oil scalp massage!
Along with circulation stimulating foods and remedies, it is very important to make sure you’re getting plenty of antioxidants in your diet. Antioxidants increase general efficiency within the various systems of your body and ensure that everything is running smoothly. Horsetail is a plant that is literally packed full of silica, nature’s most powerful antioxidant. Horsetail tea has been used for thousands of years as an antioxidant and hair growth stimulant, so drink up!
4. Hydration
This one’s a no-brainer! Drink plenty of water not only for the sake of your hair but for your overall health. Staying hydrated optimizes your body’s performance on all levels. Filtered water is better, but alkalized water is better. If I could afford a Kangan water machine I would go for it; the water it churns out is amazing. Until then, I drink my filtered water with a splash of apple cider vinegar to help alkalize my body and increase absorption.
5. Regular Trims
If you want long, healthy hair, it’s important to protect it and treat it nicely. This means protecting your hair while you sleep, adopting a less-is-more hair care routine like ShamPHree, and getting regular trims. Does your hair grow faster if you trim it? No. But, your ends will split and break at the same rate your hair grows after it reaches a certain length, and if you don’t trim the split ends off regularly, your hair won’t be as healthy. Who wants long hair if it’s splitting and breaking anyway? Your hair will grow longer and healthier with regular trims, so go in to see your stylist every eight weeks. Or, do it yourself at home!
Part of protecting your hair is avoiding certain ingredients in the products you use in your hair care routine. The most significant ingredient to avoid is silicone. Once upon a time, silicone was the golden child of hair product ingredients. When processed into a nano-particle, silicone coats the hair and fills in gaps where the hair shaft is damaged, rendering a perfectly smooth and shiny hair strand. This is a nice short-term fix, but in the long term, silicone seals out moisture, making hair brittle, dry and dull. Look for silicone on the back of all product bottles and ditch them if you see it on the ingredients list. While on the subject of harmful ingredients, avoid Dimethicone and anything ending in the suffix “icone” while you’re at it.
If you crave the silicone effect, my favorite natural alternative is the lovely Argan Skin and Hair Oil from Maijan.
This wraps up my advice for making your hair grow faster. If these tips don’t work, well I’ll be darned. Do you have any tips or ingredients to add to my list? I’d love to hear them! Now grow hair, Grow!
