7 Things to Do Every Day for Healthy Natural Hair Growth
I just love the number seven because it’s God’s number of completion. You can find so many good and thorough tips that end in seven, such as in this article where I’m sharing 7 ways you can experience healthy natural hair growth.
In a nutshell, the seven things to do every day that will promote healthy natural hair growth are reflected in the table of contents:
Now, let’s dig into each of these individually
Be Gentle
No matter what you do to your hair, if you want to experience seeing the growth of your hair, you’ll need to handle it with care.
That means being gentle with your strands from the time you wake up in the morning to style it for the day to when you lay down at night to protect it from drying out.
Scalp Massage
Doing scalp massages every day helps to keep a constant state of blood flow in your scalp. Increased blood flow? No brainer. Hair growth is stimulated.
So, if you want to see healthy hair growth flowing regularly, massage your scalp. Add a non-comedogenic (won’t clog your pores) oil to your scalp a couple nights a week and you’ll nearly double your efforts.
Plus, scalp massages are really good for lifting dead skin cells when you use a tool like this one.
Protect Your Ends
It goes without saying. Hair growth happens naturally regardless of if you never do anything to your hair. Unless you have health issues that interfere, hair grows.
Yet, to see the reality of that hair growth, you need to retain what you grow and that happens when you protect your ends.
You’ve probably heard it a thousand times but, “The ends are the oldest parts of your hair.” So, because they have been around the longest, you need to protect them – baby them even.
Hydrate Your Body
Healthy natural hair growth also starts from within – making sure you hydrate your body.
Your cells are made predominantly of water. Just like a plant would wither up and die from lack of hydration, so would your body, and that includes your hair.
Make sure you get adequate water intake. This comes from drinking enough water but also from consuming fruits and vegetables that have a high water content. For example, melons and cucumbers.
Want to discover more foods that have a high water content?
Check out this article from Women’s Health.
Eat Nutrient-Dense Foods
Prioritize consuming foods rich in biotin, iron, omega-3s, and protein for stronger, healthier strands. Plus, these types of foods are really good for your body in general. Here are some great food choices that are rich in these nutrients:
- egg yolks (eggs are not the demon they were made out to be; They are actually a superfood)
- organ meats
- sweet potatoes
- fatty fish (herring, salmon, mackerel)
- nuts & seeds
- yogurt
Related: Check your diet for healthy hair
Check for dryness and balance with moisture
Moisturized hair is hair that doesn’t break. When your hair doesn’t break, it can grow longer in peace!
While hydration starts on wash day and extends deeper when you deep condition, sometimes moisturizing more frequently is necessary (high porosity hair ladies, this is for you).
For a long time, I believed that spritzing the hair with water (the ultimate moisturizer) and then sealing with an oil or hair butter was the best way to moisturize the hair daily.
But, I was recently educated by a master stylist that wetting your hair daily weakens the hair. I’m not sure how I feel about that because others have reported that wetting their hair daily helped it to grow.
However, my stylist informed me that the best way to moisturize dry hair is to use a moisturizing product (not just water). Because moisturizers (products) have conditioning agents in them, they moisturize the hair without weakening it.
Then, you can go in and seal with a light oil – something that won’t create a heavy wax on your strands.
Resist the urge to detangle daily
Your hair is a fiber. It needs to be preserved.
This is one of those natural ways for healthy growth that may be difficult. However, if you want to see healthy natural hair growth, you need to do less handling. And detangling every day is way too much handling!
It’s ok if your hair isn’t fully detangled. It will be alright, I promise.
Reserve detangling for wash day when you can load your hair up with a slippery conditioner and slide those tangles out with far less breakage than you would when your hair is in a dry state.
The Moisture Conundrum
Notice that moisturizing daily isn’t on the list. The reason is that how often you moisturize is dependent on your hair.
Those of us with natural hair experience what can be called the moisture conundrum, which is the struggle faced when trying to keep our hair properly hydrated.
It’s a delicate balance between getting enough moisture into our hair while also keeping it locked in.
For someone with fine, low-porosity hair like mine, the moisture conundrum means I struggle to get moisture into my strands because those tight cuticles repel moisture instead of readily absorbing it.
If you have high-porosity hair, you may need to moisturize more frequently than someone with low-porosity or normal-porosity hair because your hair cuticle is loose and, therefore, moisture is easily lost.
Bringing It Altogether for Healthy Natural Hair Growth
Growing healthy natural hair doesn’t have to be complicated. It just takes a little love and consistency with your routines.
Treat your hair with care, feed your body the good stuff, and keep your strands hydrated and protected. Listen to what your hair needs, tweak your routine when necessary, and, most of all, enjoy the process.
Healthy hair growth is a long journey, not a sprint or even a race. So, celebrate every moment along the way – even the setbacks because they are just opportunities to learn.
