My hair has only grown 4cm in 7 months

[Chioniso]

@Chioniso The SAS conditioner has very little protein, but perhaps you can try the Tresseme Naturals that many women have been raving about.

I meant to type 'baby' your strands. Sorry for the typo!

Aloe Vera JUICE is different from Aloe Vera GEL; AVJ is moisturizing and heavy in glycerin content while AVG is a natural, but protein based gel that like Ecostyler. Coconut oil is great if you are not protein sensitive, however, its molecules penetrate the strand and strengthen the follicle; if one uses it too much, and without a moisturizing base, it will lead to brittle hair.

All this hair stuff is like taking a new subject at school!

Thanks for the advice. I've got both the gel and the juice, but the juice is all the way downstairs in the fridge and I thought they were interchangeable.

 

[lushcoils]

Chioniso

Have you gotten your blood tested lately? How's your iron? Ferritin?

 

[PinkSunshine77]

View attachment 147995I am really upsetView attachment 147993

Are you sure it's not maybe a medical issue? I can't see how that is normal. Even when my hair wasn't retaining much length, I did notice a lot of new growth.

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie

I don't know how I can dust my hair - it is so tightly coiled - I would have to just cut it all off again, wouldn't I? @Nonie please don't tell me I'm going to have to shave it off again :-(

Chioniso, my hair is tightly coiled too. My APL hair would shrink to about 2 inches so being tightly coiled doesn't mean you can't dust. You just need to have it in many small braids or twists and then slide your fingers along the twist/braid till you're holding just a tiny bit at the end and snip it off. You do that to all of them and try to take out the same amount and there's your dusting.

You don't have to shave it off. It's been a while since I read this thread...so unless you've been using heat and brushing your hair whereby you may have damage along the entire strands, I think you just need to snip off the ends of your hair and then do it regularly. The sooner you do it, the less you will need to take off and you will see your hair appear to retain better and therefore grow.

 

[greenandchic]

@Chioniso

Have you gotten your blood tested lately? How's your iron? Ferritin?

Are you sure it's not maybe a medical issue? I can't see how that is normal. Even when my hair wasn't retaining much length, I did notice a lot of new growth.

This is very important. I have low ferritin and was wondering why I wasn't retaining much hair and losing so much of it to boot. When I had my ferritin levels checked back in February, (numbrs were very low) I started taking an iron supplement and noticed a huge improvement in just a few months.

It didn't matter how much greens and green smoothies I was consuming, my body wasn't absorbing it.

 

[Chioniso]

@Chioniso

Have you gotten your blood tested lately? How's your iron? Ferritin?

& @TracieBLovely

I did think of that but the results came out and I am healthy as horse...

 

[Lilmama1011]

Maybe you have a long telogen phase. Even though it's suppose to last no longer than four months. Thats the phase where your hair growth is at a stand still and the cause of a long telogen phase is stress, menopause, chronic illness etc

 

[PinkSunshine77]

& @TracieBLovely

I did think of that but the results came out and I am healthy as horse...

Ok, then the only thing that makes sense is that you have Protein overload. Aphoghee is known to have protein in majority of their products. Natural hair does not need as much protein as say, someone whose hair is chemically treated. You need a Non-Protein daily Moisturizer and drop the Protein one for a while. When you start back, use the Protein leave in 3 days..and 4 days non-Protein or figure out what your Hair likes. Your hair has dried out and this is the cause for the breakage. You need to correct your Protein overload. Once you do, you should start to retain length. I do not believe that you are a slow grower, I believe you overdosed on the Protein. I think we all did that in the beginning of our Journey. I had a setback for this same reason. You need to check all of the ingredients in all of your Products. I did that and realized almost every item I used at one point had Protein. Some people are Protein sensitive. Even if you aren't protein sensitive, you can still have Protein overload and it will give you a major setback depending on how long you've been using Protein in your Regimen.

Also, you have to rid your ends of damage. Some people say trimming isn't important to retain,but oh yes it is. I had splits and damage and I was stuck for a long time at the same length wondering why. Damaged ends will eventually break off leaving you with no retained length.

 

[Lilmama1011]

I went to high school with someone who hdir grew do slow

 

[Lilmama1011]

* I went to high school with a dude who hair grew really slow. From freshman year to eleventh his hair was the same length. Only senior year we saw a difference. It's like out of nowhere he had a growth spurt and now his hair all down his back, I would think so after 6 years lol

 

[PinkSunshine77]

I used to think "dang my hair grows slow" as well, but in all honesty it's about retaining the length you get, as well as growth. I hope you find out the problem soon

 

[HappilyLiberal]

I must admit my diet is not great and I have been under quite a bit of stress... Buuut
My skin is quite good and I am not overweight (probably underweight though) so I am kinda like meh, my diet's OK. I don't drink loads of water but I don't really like it that much.

Is my breakage level abnormal maybe? If I rub my head when I am over the sink it will sprinkle down like black snow...

OK, I've probably answered my own question with the poor diet and not enough water but I know people with MUCH worse diets than me who have great hair AND re the breakage, I do moisturise & condition and DC but it does not seem to have helped.

Thin is not necessarily equal to healthy.

Plus, stress and poor diet may not show up all in one place at a time. When I was under extreme stress it always showed on my head.

 

[Chioniso]

I used to think "dang my hair grows slow" as well, but in all honesty it's about retaining the length you get, as well as growth. I hope you find out the problem soon

TracieBLovely and anyone else who can answer - how can you tell if your hair is not retaining? (apart from the trick of dying your hair in a certain place, mentioned by another poster.)

 

[Lilmama1011]

TracieBLovely and anyone else who can answer - how can you tell if your hair is not retaining? (apart from the trick of dying your hair in a certain place, mentioned by another poster.)

If you compare lengths and from time to time and you don't see a difference or it's getting shorter than you doing something wrong

 

[Chioniso]

UPDATAE:

On friday night I soaked my hair in Aloe vera juice and sealed with castor oil as a pre-poo. I slept with this on my hair.

In the morning I shampooed with Kera Care moisturising shampoo - the reason I shampooed was to make sure my hair was free of things like the coconut oil, which someone suggested was acting as a protein and making the overload worse.

I deep condidtioned for 30 minutes under a heating cap with Kera Care humetic conditioner.

then I sprayed it with aloe juice and sealed with shae butter. (never used it before - the smell is ... interesting)

It felt quite soft but by sunday it was dry as autumn leaves again

 

[Lilmama1011]

UPDATAE:

On friday night I soaked my hair in Aloe vera juice and sealed with castor oil as a pre-poo. I slept with this on my hair.

In the morning I shampooed with Kera Care moisturising shampoo - the reason I shampooed was to make sure my hair was free of things like the coconut oil, which someone suggested was acting as a protein and making the overload worse.

I deep condidtioned for 30 minutes under a heating cap with Kera Care humetic conditioner.

then I sprayed it with aloe juice and sealed with shae butter. (never used it before - the smell is ... interesting)

It felt quite soft but by sunday it was dry as autumn leaves again

Yeah, that's how you be fooled sometimes, you leave the salon hair be soft when you go home it gets dryer and dryer and you have to moisturizer ASAP ! That's why when I go I bring my own, I believe they use cheap stuff in bulk anyways, but some people hair respond well and some don't

 

[Chioniso]

If you compare lengths and from time to time and you don't see a difference or it's getting shorter than you doing something wrong

Thanks, but what I meant is how do you tell the difference between hair just not growing, and hair that is growing and breaking off?

 

[Chioniso]

UPDATAE:

On friday night I soaked my hair in Aloe vera juice and sealed with castor oil as a pre-poo. I slept with this on my hair.

In the morning I shampooed with Kera Care moisturising shampoo - the reason I shampooed was to make sure my hair was free of things like the coconut oil, which someone suggested was acting as a protein and making the overload worse.

I deep condidtioned for 30 minutes under a heating cap with Kera Care humetic conditioner.

then I sprayed it with aloe juice and sealed with shae butter. (never used it before - the smell is ... interesting)

It felt quite soft but by sunday it was dry as autumn leaves again

I forgot to add that I cut about 1cm off from the ends.

 

[Lilmama1011]

Thanks, but what I meant is how do you tell the difference between hair just not growing, and hair that is growing and breaking off?

If you have a lot of flyaways there is breakage

 

[HanaKuroi]

I really think you need to leave shampoo alone until you get the dryness under control. Dc every other day and then alternate with cowashing. Moisturize and seal every day.

 

[Mjon912]

I must admit my diet is not great and I have been under quite a bit of stress... Buuut
My skin is quite good and I am not overweight (probably underweight though) so I am kinda like meh, my diet's OK. I don't drink loads of water but I don't really like it that much.

Is my breakage level abnormal maybe? If I rub my head when I am over the sink it will sprinkle down like black snow...

OK, I've probably answered my own question with the poor diet and not enough water but I know people with MUCH worse diets than me who have great hair AND re the breakage, I do moisturise & condition and DC but it does not seem to have helped.

What one does for their hair/body may not work for others...there is definitely a problem...are you trimming your hair? Seal? Maybe if you up your trimming and then seal you'll see less breakage...and I used to hate water also but for overall health I sucked it up and began slowly drinking more water, now I drink almost a gallon jug a day if not a full gallon, I don't even buy anything but water for myself and when I feel like I can't drink anymore I mix a little ginger ale or cranberry juice with it for a different taste...good luck

 

[Chioniso]

What one does for their hair/body may not work for others...there is definitely a problem...are you trimming your hair? Seal? Maybe if you up your trimming and then seal you'll see less breakage...and I used to hate water also but for overall health I sucked it up and began slowly drinking more water, now I drink almost a gallon jug a day if not a full gallon, I don't even buy anything but water for myself and when I feel like I can't drink anymore I mix a little ginger ale or cranberry juice with it for a different taste...good luck

Thanks. I am trying to drink more water... I wish I could just have a drip attached or something Be careful you do not drink too much though - you know the 8 glasses of water thing is a myth http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

I trimmed the ends off just the other day & am sealing with shae butter.

 

[NappyNelle]

Chioniso Your hair may not like shea butter alone. (My hair certainly doesn't.) I'd stick with the aloe vera juice, then seal with castor as your moisturizer. Hopefully your hair will remain soft the next day; if not, you have to keep trying until you find something that your hair likes!

 

[PinkSunshine77]

TracieBLovely and anyone else who can answer - how can you tell if your hair is not retaining? (apart from the trick of dying your hair in a certain place, mentioned by another poster.)

Hi It's in your pics. I take a lot of pics so I was able to compare from the time I started my HJ to now and I see a lot of progress. If it looked the same length from 1 year, i'd know that something was going on with my Hair.