Our resident natural hair care professional Simeko Watkins-Hartley answers…
“My hair is very healthy and I don’t have split ends, but it’s the same length for the last 6 months. What’s up with that?”
OK… so you’ve done everything to retain the length of your hair: protective styles, proper moisturization, protein treatments & regular trims and still, your hair is at the same length it was several months ago. “What’s up with that” you ask?!
If you’ve done everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) externally you possibly can to care for your hair and it still seems to be at the same length, then maybe you’ve reached your MTL (Maximum Terminal Length) or in other words… your hair growth limit. Now, let me ask you this: have you ever wondered why your eyebrow hair never grows past a certain length? Probably not, because it’s just eyebrow hair! Well, much like our eyebrow hair, the hair on our head has a pre-determined amount of time it takes to grow out before it sheds and new hair grows in. This is the Anagen stage of our hair growth cycle and usually lasts anywhere from 2-6 years. For each individual it is different and because of genetics there is pretty much nothing you can do to change it.
BUT (and that’s a BIG BUT), there still is hope! Although you may not be able to make your hair grow for a longer period of time, you may be able to get the hair to grow faster within the Anagen (hair growing) stage by changing your diet and speeding up your metabolism. Exercising and eating foods that are rich in protein, iron and zinc can aid in increasing the rate at which your hair grows. Try this for at least 3-6 months and see if it makes a difference.
For those of you who have already tried all of the above, and may still be experiencing lack of growth, then it may be time to embrace the fact that you have reached your MTL (Maximum Terminal Length) or hair growth limit. If you find this to be the case, please, please, please remember that beautiful hair is NOT LONG HAIR, IT’S HEALTHY HAIR. So continue to focus on the health of your hair no matter how long it grows!
Naturally Yours,
Simeko Watkins-Hartley
Owner & Creative Director of Meko, New York Natural Hair Care Spa & Boutique
Disclaimer: This information serves as a guide to inform, inspire and encourage women, like myself, to regain and maintain their healthiest hair possible.
Do you find this issue to be true in your case? What have you been doing to help your hair reach its fullest potential?
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