I don't think hair type makes a difference. I know I've said this ad nauseum but looking at some black men who have 4b hair, and no mix in sight their hair grows pretty fast.
Here's what I think contributes to "other races" hair growth seemingly growing faster, and even to the more "loosly curled" type hair....
HANDELING!! Plain and simple.
Here's what I mean, for the most part, white girls that I've known:
1. Wash their hair DAILY
2. Usually already know to SOAK their hair with conditioner prior to combing
3. Aren't getting harsh chemicals on the regular, and if so certainly not from roots to ends constantly.
4.Usually comb hair from bottom to top
5. Usually aren't "style" queens when it comes to their hair. No french rolls one day, braids the next, and finger waves the following week. It's pretty much left alone
And all my loosly curled friends also already knew to do all of the above.
Now, since joining the hair boards, I'm JUST learning all the things that are so common place to other people of "looser or straight" hair textures. Growing up I was taught:
1. Don't wash your hair but once every two weeks, daily washing is for white people (*don't get mad at me, that's what I would hear)
2. Grease your scalp. Now, grease + infrequent washing = buildup
3. I was NEVER given instructions on how to properly comb my hair. I never knew I could come it while WET with conditioner. Again, I was told that was for "others"
4. I used to do WAAAAY to much styling to my hair back in the day. Remember that "brown gel" that stuff was WAAAAAY to hard and I was wondering why I'd get breakage.
The bad advice for so-called "black hair" goes on and on. All of which we are now learning, thanks to boards like this, are untrue.
So I think that other people handle their hair better, and thus keep their hair longer. Also I usually see, "other folks" not really "styling" thier hair to much. It's either worn up or down. That's probably why they used to trip on me so hard at work everytime I came in with something different. Now that I think of it, I didn't peep them changing their hair too much.
No Freeze curls, finger waves, or "hard" styles, or constant daily curling with irons.
*again, I UNDERSTAND that we don't ALL get hard styles, and that relaxers don't have to take out your hair, and yada, yada, yada...I'm simply speaking of what many of us have normally been taught is bad hair habits.
Now on a flip side, I have seen people with loosley curled hair or straight hair have hair that looks RAGGADY when they start to do some of the things we've done:
1. Blow dry daily
2. Straighten with flat irons, DAILY
3. Over process their hair
And yes, I've heard them complain about how their hair JUST won't grow past a certain point too.
So in my experience it's all in handeling, not race.
In fact we have many mixed ladies on this board who are JUST learning to care for our hair, and who complain about slow growth. So I don't think being mixed has anything to do with it. /images/graemlins/wink.gif