African, Asian and Caucasian Hair Growth

[My Friend]

If in fact the following is true, than our biggest challenge is retaining 0.9 per month, correct? I know not everyone hair grows at the same rate due to diet, vitamins, illness, etc but on average due you think 0.9 is doable?

I know some people here visit OTHER hair forums, those of you that do, is this the norm for their hair? Are they able to retain it easier than curly hair can?


From Hair Science

For example, Asian hair holds the speed record for growth with 1.3 cm a month. On the other hand, it has lower density than any of the other ethnic groups. The way its follicle is implanted causes the hair to grow straight, perpendicular to the scalp.


African hair, generally black hair, is the slowest growing of all, at less than 0.9 cm a month. On the other hand it is slightly more dense than Asian hair and grows almost parallel to the scalp, twisting around itself as it grows.


As far as rate of growth is concerned, Caucasian hair comes between the other two at 1.2 cm a month, but it has the highest density of all. It grows at an oblique angle to the scalp and is slightly curved

 

[Neith]

I live with a white person.

My hair grows faster than his.

However, another white person that I'm close with has an extremely fast rate of growth. However, she is extremely healthy, very active and eats right.

I think it's always up to the individual. All whites and Aisans don't have super fast growth rates and all blacks don't have super slow growth rates.

It's a genetic toss up. With most people having average growth and some lucky people having really quick growth and some "unlucky" people who grow slower. Lifestyle and diet play a role too.

I don't care about it very much personally. As long as MY hair grows, I'm not worrying about the next race's growth rate. lol

 

[Harina]

I was under the impression that black people tend to have the densest of hairs.

 

[arosieworld]

I have the fastest growth rate of any of my friends. I have a white friend who has paid for membership here because she was jealous (yeah I am talking about you I know your lurking!) I get about and inch a month and this month something crazy is going on because I will get over an inch from 6/15-7/15. I am already at an inch and it doesn't seem to be stopping. I think our hair can grow fast but retention is more difficult IMHO.

 

[My Friend]

@Neith,

Thanks for sharing. I was really wanting to know if our hair on avg grows 0.9 per month than retention is really our biggest challenge. I also was wanting feedback on if LHCF thought these numbers are true based on their experiences.

 

[30something]

Does the article state their sources? I'm very interested on how they went about conducting the study.

 

[Sugar]

In the interest of clarity I converted cm to inches with a conversion calculator I found online.

.9 cm = 0.3543307086618 inches

1.2 cm = 0.47244094488239996 inches

1.3 cm = 0.5118110236226 inches

 

[lea86111]

honestly i am not surprised because i have lurked the longhaircommunity web site and they had a thread where they were asking how much their hair grew a month and mostly none of them said 1/4 inch a month, most of them were .75 to 1+ inches a month with some 1/2 inch, whereas when asked here on longhaircareforum its mostly 1/2 with not so few 1/4 and few with an inch and almost none with more than that so yeah, it makes sense. Plus obviously that .9 cm the research was talking about is just an average. Me, myself and i in the winter sometimes get less than 1/4 before growth aids

 

[helixhoney]

I've also heard that our hair grows at similar rates from root but the curl/coil takes longer to appear on our scalps because it travels down a curved/coiled follicle instead of straight one. This causes the curly hair beneath the root to not only be longer in length than straight hair, but also appear as if it is growing slower because of the additional time needed for it to appear on our heads.


Here's a diagram:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GkQ08Dsvo30/Sde5IKX8RRI/AAAAAAAAAEY/Wq8YNrZCHfQ/s1600-h/follicle.jpg

You can see that the curly hair beneath the surface is significantly longer than the straight one.

 

[southerncitygirl]

i disagree unless afro-textured hair is fully blow out and flat ironed how could you tell the truw growth rate.....our hair is coily and shrinkage prone....most times when i think my hair is one length from stretching out my curls it can be 3-5 inches longer and i won't know it until its blown out and flat ironed. i think rention is more our issue but growth rates are relative to several factors:
genetics
diet
exercise
health issues or a lack thereof
hair care/product usage

my hair grows faster than people of different ethniticies and slower than some others...this is bull!!!

 

[KurlyNinja]

I've been transitioning for less than 4 months and I have 2" of new growth... I refuse to believe this hype.

 

[SweetTea]

Honestly, I think white people's hair grows the slowest. Since becoming educated about growth v. retention, I've come to realize that black people's hair likely grows faster than anyone realizes. It's at least average in growth rate. Look at how many ladies here go from bald to shoulder length in a year. That in itself is at least six inches. Look how many black women see new growth a month after a touch up, enough new growth that they're running back to the salon? I believe certain Asian people clearly have the fastest growth along with American natives. My Filipino roommate got her hair cut at least twice in the past year it grew so fast. One of my supervisors, from Ecuador (a lot of Latinos have indigenous blood) cut her below waist-length hair to her chin and within a few months it was APL. But when I see white people cut their hair, to me it always seems to take at least a year before I look and can actually see it has grown. I think if black women in general had the knowledge we have on this board, a majority of us would be walking around with waist length hair and everyone would be asking us how our hair grows so fast instead of why our hair doesn't grow.

 

[andromeda]

ditto on what southerncitygirl said. I would like to know how they ascertained the rate of growth - did they measure the length of new growth or measure the starting and finishing length of whole hair? I think it's really a matter of retention for afro-textured hair. I think that although this board is atypical of the length of the black women's hair, we are probably typical distribution/cross-section of the growth rates; the length is a matter of retention due to healthy hair practices. If our average or median hair growth rate is atypical, that difference is probably negligible and is attributable to healthy lifestyle (or topical agents).


Natural Haven blog did a couple of posts on this:
http://thenaturalhaven.blogspot.com/2009/09/growing-pains-is-it-harder-to-grow.html

http://thenaturalhaven.blogspot.com/2009/09/so-in-part-1-we-explored-4-reasons-why.html

 

[Sugar]

If in fact the following is true, than our biggest challenge is retaining 0.9 per month, correct? I know not everyone hair grows at the same rate due to diet, vitamins, illness, etc but on average due you think 0.9 is doable?

I know some people here visit OTHER hair forums, those of you that do, is this the norm for their hair? Are they able to retain it easier than curly hair can?


From Hair Science

For example, Asian hair holds the speed record for growth with 1.3 cm a month. On the other hand, it has lower density than any of the other ethnic groups. The way its follicle is implanted causes the hair to grow straight, perpendicular to the scalp.


African hair, generally black hair, is the slowest growing of all, at less than 0.9 cm a month. On the other hand it is slightly more dense than Asian hair and grows almost parallel to the scalp, twisting around itself as it grows.


As far as rate of growth is concerned, Caucasian hair comes between the other two at 1.2 cm a month, but it has the highest density of all. It grows at an oblique angle to the scalp and is slightly curved

I wonder if they did a study of African hair specifically, or African American hair? I wonder if there would be a difference?

 

[My Friend]

Does the article state their sources? I'm very interested on how they went about conducting the study.

It's Loreal's site.

 

[UrbainChic]

I wonder if they did a study of African hair specifically, or African American hair? I wonder if there would be a difference?

Well considering there is not even any real genetic consensus on what constitutes "race", any outcome is possible.

Race is actually a social construct. Race in genetic terms is not real.

 

[My Friend]

I wonder if they did a study of African hair specifically, or African American hair? I wonder if there would be a difference?

Any opinions out there? I guess based on the previous post, it would studies on specific hair types.

 

[B3e]

[/B]
Any opinions out there? I guess based on the previous post, it would studies on specific hair types.

I think there are differences biologically speaking between different ethnicities. I remember in Bio we would study the same plant and its growth over time in two very different areas. They were no longer exactly the same. They adapted to their environment over time.

As for hair growth though, I don't think the rate would differ between A and AA as much as texture. Texture seems to differ depending on the environment one lives in. Moreover, diet also plays a big part.

But these are just my speculations, I'm A so I can only speak to my experience in one little part of that continent and my observation of other people and their hair that are within my race but from different ethnic groups.

 

[Sugar]

Well considering there is not even any real genetic consensus on what constitutes "race", any outcome is possible.

Race is actually a social construct. Race in genetic terms is not real.

I realize that race is a social construct. However, if someone can break hair growth down in terms of race, as L'Oreal did here, then there is quite possibly some genetic basis by which this could be studied.

That being said, I'd be interested in knowing what the difference in hair growth rates are for African Americans vs Africans. I wonder if one of the haircare manufacturers would be interested in doing such a study? I doubt L'Oreal would do it, but maybe someone else.

 

[brittanynic16]

I get about 8 1/2 inches a year, and I'm pretty Black if I do say so myself.

 

[Sugar]

I think there are differences biologically speaking between different ethnicities. I remember in Bio we would study the same plant and its growth over time in two very different areas. They were no longer exactly the same. They adapted to their environment over time.

As for hair growth though, I don't think the rate would differ between A and AA as much as texture. Texture seems to differ depending on the environment one lives in. Moreover, diet also plays a big part.

But these are just my speculations, I'm A so I can only speak to my experience in one little part of that continent and my observation of other people and their hair that are within my race but from different ethnic groups.

Thank you for sharing this info. I'm kinda wondering if you took the main classification of African as a race and then observed sub-groups of this race, African Americans vs Nigerians (for example) and studied hair growth, would there be any differences?

 

[charmtreese]

honestly i am not surprised because i have lurked the longhaircommunity web site and they had a thread where they were asking how much their hair grew a month and mostly none of them said 1/4 inch a month, most of them were .75 to 1+ inches a month with some 1/2 inch, whereas when asked here on longhaircareforum its mostly 1/2 with not so few 1/4 and few with an inch and almost none with more than that so yeah, it makes sense. Plus obviously that .9 cm the research was talking about is just an average. Me, myself and i in the winter sometimes get less than 1/4 before growth aids

Exactly, I'm a lurker on longhaircommunity, and it appears that they (type 1 and 2 hair especially) on average experience faster growth, better retention and over all longer lengths when compared to longhaircareforum.

I know that this is not a PC statement to make on LHCF, but it is what it is! Either way I'm going to continue growing MY hair to the best of MY abilities.

 

[B3e]

Thank you for sharing this info. I'm kinda wondering if you took the main classification of African as a race and then observed sub-groups of this race, African Americans vs Nigerians (for example) and studied hair growth, would there be any differences?

I'm not sure if A could be used as the race only because there are so many races within A. I say this because I have family that's African but Indian and Arab as well....I only wish my hair was like theirs just because we're both Africans Even among AA, there are various mixes of people. So with that, I assumed black would be the race and the comparison would be between two blacks with no mixed relatives: AA & N.

If that is the case then, I still think the difference is climate related. If they live in the same climate with the exact same elements effecting their hair but are on two seperate continents, I think their hair would still be more similar than not. But I dunno...I think people are just so crazy interesting, wouldn't be surprised if something else was different/same.

Any anthro people out there that actually know an answer to this quandary?

 

[Sugar]

I'm not sure if A could be used as the race only because there are so many races within A. I say this because I have family that's African but Indian and Arab as well....I only wish my hair was like theirs just because we're both Africans Even among AA, there are various mixes of people. So with that, I assumed black would be the race and the comparison would be between two blacks with no mixed relatives: AA & N.

If that is the case then, I still think the difference is climate related. If they live in the same climate with the exact same elements effecting their hair but are on two seperate continents, I think their hair would still be more similar than not. But I dunno...I think people are just so crazy interesting, wouldn't be surprised if something else was different/same.

Any anthro people out there that actually know an answer to this quandary?

Well from an anthropology perspective traditionally speaking there are only 3 races: Negroid, Mongoloid, and Caucasoid...in other words, black, asian, and white (and possibly polynesian depending on who you talk to).

So from that standpoint African would be the race and everything that falls under that is a sub-group, an ethnicity. So African American would be an ethnicity, Ethiopian would be a different ethnicity, and so on.

I don't think it would be possibly to find an African American that isn't mixed or one without non-black or bi-racial relatives. Which is why I think it would be interesting to study AA vs A (provided that there are Africans with no mixed ancestry).

I think you might be on to something with the climate thing as well. Perhaps its a combo of climate and genetics.

 

[B3e]

Well from an anthropology perspective traditionally speaking there are only 3 races: Negroid, Mongoloid, and Caucasoid...in other words, black, asian, and white (and possibly polynesian depending on who you talk to).

Perhaps its a combo of climate and genetics.

1 guess which race decided on those 3 as the definitive races lol nah, jp. I always thought there were at least 4: black, latino, anglo, asian, and the rest being mixes. *shrug* i need to sign up for an anthro course or at least read up and stop being so dumb about things.

that's pretty interesting though, i think it would be a very interesting comparison. Though i'm more than positive the diets of both groups would have to be controlled or taken into consideration. They're so strikingly different and as we all know, what you take in has a great impact on the hair that you grow.

 

[Sugar]

1 guess which race decided on those 3 as the definitive races lol nah, jp. I always thought there were at least 4: black, latino, anglo, asian, and the rest being mixes. *shrug* i need to sign up for an anthro course or at least read up and stop being so dumb about things.

that's pretty interesting though, i think it would be a very interesting comparison. Though i'm more than positive the diets of both groups would have to be controlled or taken into consideration. They're so strikingly different and as we all know, what you take in has a great impact on the hair that you grow.

Latino is not a race...its an ethnicity.

Hmmmmm....climate, genetic, diet...now I'm really curious and hope someone would be willing to do a study like this.

 

[My Friend]

I too feel climate has a lot to do with growth rate It would take a lot of $ to fund a study on hair. Yes. We could do a non scientific study of sorts here on the forum, for fun

 

[Vashti]

Ultimately I think retention and diet plays a bigger role in hair growth over biology no matter your race. Just my unscientific observation.

 

[B3e]

Latino is not a race...its an ethnicity.

Hmmmmm....climate, genetic, diet...now I'm really curious and hope someone would be willing to do a study like this.

Lol yea...I guess I've just always seen latinos and anglos as too strikingly different to be the same race (viking...incan...yea nah they must be way distant cousins) haha shows how much I know.

I'm sure someone has done the research and we are just unaware of it. In my entertainment/arts law class I've come to the conclusion that ideas aren't all that original, people just happen to think of things at different times. Lol

 

[Sugar]

Lol yea...I guess I've just always seen latinos and anglos as too strikingly different to be the same race (viking...incan...yea nah they must be way distant cousins) haha shows how much I know.

I'm sure someone has done the research and we are just unaware of it. In my entertainment/arts law class I've come to the conclusion that ideas aren't all that original, people just happen to think of things at different times. Lol

That's pretty much similar to the theory we were told about in my screenwriting class as well...LOL

With regard to Latinos it would depend on which group of "latinos" you're talking about because the term "latino" is very misleading. When I first came to L.A. people who were previously called Hispanic were wearing shirts that said "Hispanic is Not Latino" or something like that...and they made it clear they wanted to be called Latino. I believe it was to further distance themselves from Spaniards.

From the research I've seen certain groups of latinos are most closely related to Asians (with regard to race). Which helped me understand why a large number of Mexicans I come into contact with look Asian to me. It has to do with migration that happened centuries ago and how those people came to settle in what later became North America and South America. They became the Native Americans, Aztecs, Mayans, and other indigenous groups if I remember correctly.