Unfortunately, the quick answer is no.
Have you seen those celebrities who seem to go from a bob to flowing, mid-back length hair in no time? Better not believe it; celebs often make use of hair extensions and wigs to change up their hairdos.
Science tells us that scalp hair can only grow at an average rate of half an inch per month. This translates to just about 6 inches of growth per year.
Sure, there are certain factors that can slow down your hair growth. Stress, malnutrition and sickness can all slow the rate your tresses grows, but for normal healthy people like you and me, most of our locks are constantly growing longer (even though you might not notice it!).
Your ethnicity or race can also affect how fast your hair grows. Asian hair seems to grow the fastest, at a rate of 6.3 inches per year. Caucasian hair grows an average of 5 inches per year. African hair grows the slowest at only 4.3 inches per year.
This could probably be because Asian women have better hair care practices than Caucasians and African women. Women in the West are always dyeing their tresses, styling it with hot styling tools or going to the salon for rebonding treatments, so it’s no wonder they have a harder time growing a long mane! Their frayed strands fall off before they can reach their maximum potential!
Retaining the length of your hair is more important than making it grow faster.
There isn’t a magic pill or formula to make your hair grow faster, but most people don’t realize that the more important thing is retaining your length in the first place! Regardless of growth rates, if you keep having to trim off your split ends, it’s going to take forever to grow your hair long.
Have you ever tried to grow your locks long, only to keep getting frustrated by frayed ends? The ends of your hair are always the hardest to keep. Since they are the oldest parts of your hair, your ends are the parts that have been through the most damage through years of styling and heat exposure.
Hair retention means preserving the health of the hair that’s already growing, so that each strand can reach its maximum length before falling off naturally. Hair retention means keeping your hair as healthy as possible to avoid that dreaded visit to the salon where your hairdresser tells you he has to take off several inches of damaged locks. If you keep your hair at its healthiest state, you won’t have to worry about getting constant trims that can slow down your hair growth.
You may not be able to grow your hair faster, but if you maintain a consistent regimen of healthy hair practices, you’ll be able to grow beautiful, strong and undamaged strands with just a bit of patience and determination.
K. Renee Price
