Think of your hair like a plant – it needs the right nutrients and care to grow well. So, if you want your hair to reach new lengths, consider all the tips on how to fix stunted hair growth, that we will share in this article.

Stunted hair growth can be caused by not eating enough nutritious foods, excessive hair breakage resulting from over-manipulating your hair or using harsh hair products. Sometimes, it’s simple things like not moisturizing properly.

To fix stunted hair growth consider the following:

Focus on Your Diet

Ever heard the saying “you are what you eat”? Well, turns out, it’s true for your hair too! To fix stunted growth, start by assessing your diet. Are you having the right foods that support hair growth? Are you missing essential Vitamins like Biotin and Vitamin B12?

Consuming vitamins B12and D, biotin, riboflavin and iron promotes hair growth, while lack of them leads to hair loss.

Additionally, studies suggest that essential amino acids, trace elements, and vitamins are especially important for growing healthy hair and fast. [1] These are critical for the hair follicle growth cycle and cellular turnover (the process of producing new skin cells to replace existing skin cells).  

Ensure your diet contains foods rich in these vitamins include eggs, berries, spinach, fatty fish, beans, soy beans, sweet potatoes, sweet peppers, avocadoes, nuts, seeds, oysters, soybeans, meat.

Maintain a Healthy Scalp

A healthy scalp is the foundation on which hair grows. Therefore, it pays to maintain a healthy scalp if you want your hair to grow optimally. [2]

One of the key steps in ensuring a healthy scalp is keeping it clean. Use a gentle shampoo to remove dirt, sebum, and product buildup. These are things that do serious damage to the scalp by clogging the follicles hence preventing hair growth.

Sulfate-free shampoos are especially suitable for maintaining good scalp health, for they cleanse it without removing the essential existing natural oils that nourish the scalp.

If you have dry scalp, ensure you keep it moisturized but do not over-do it. As you moisturize, stimulate the scalp with a good gentle massage. This will increases blood flow to the scalp, supplying it with more nutrients and oxygen it needs for healthy hair development.  You can use coconut or jojoba oil for such massages.

If you have a naturally oily scalp, then go light on the products you use or avoid too much products on your scalp.

Keep your Hair Moisturized

When the hair is dry, it breaks easily. Therefore, it is important to keep the hair strands moisturized to restore growth proteins back into hair follicles. Additionally, moisturizing the hair lubricates the hair fiber and diminishes surface friction while combing, for example.

Choose deep moisturizing shampoos and oils that contain hair-growth vitamins such as zinc and biotin. Pay attention to hair type and moisture before adopting a routine.

Your hair porosity will influence how often and the techniques to use to moisturize. High porosity hair absorbs moisture quickly, but it also loses this moisture quickly. Therefore, go for heavier products and ensure you seal in the moisture. Low porosity hair on the other hand takes time to absorb moisture but also retains the moisture for long. You would therefore need light-weight products that easily penetrate the hair shaft.

To get the most from your moisturizing sessions, ensure you moisturize wet/damp hair for better absorption and leave a hair mask on the hair for about 20 minutes before rinsing out strictly with cool or lukewarm water.

Deep Condition Regularly

Deep conditioning prevents your hair from experiencing the kind of breakage that results from excessive dryness.

Deep conditioning also enhances the elasticity of your hair, making it more flexible and less prone to breakage. This is essential for maintaining the strength and integrity of your strands. Further, Deep conditioning smoothens the hair cuticle, reducing frizz and making your hair more manageable. This, in turn, helps prevent knots and tangles, making the detangling process easier.

Compared to regular conditioners, deep conditioners have a higher concentration of humectants and emollients. Humectants bind to water; thus, moisturizing the hair. Emollients, on the other hand, are substances that soften the hair and create a protective film around strands to prevent moisture loss.

How often you deep condition your hair will depend on the health of your hair but to fix stunted growth, you will need to deep condition more regularly. At least every two weeks for better results.

Trim the Hair

Trimming hair may seem counter effective but in actual sense, very important in maintaining healthy hair and fixing stunted growth. Trimming the hair has several benefits such as:

• Trimming your hair helps get rid of those pesky split ends. Split-ends impede hair growth and may even cause the hair to snap. Trimming the split-ends therefore prevents them from spreading further up the strand and causing damage to the hair. 
• Encourages healthy growth: regular trims promote healthier hair growth by removing damaged ends and allowing your hair to grow strong and undisturbed.
• Regular trims give your hair a fuller appearance, as removing damaged ends prevents thinning
• Removing split ends and damaged portions reduces the likelihood of knots and tangles, making your hair easier to manage and style.

Have Regular Scalp Massages

Regular scalp massages can be highly effective in addressing stunted hair growth because of the following reasons:

1. Stimulates Hair Follicles

Massaging the scalp helps activate and stimulate the hair follicles, encouraging them to enter the active growth phase. This stimulation can contribute to faster and stronger hair growth.

2. Improves Blood Circulation

Scalp massages boost blood circulation to the hair follicles, ensuring they receive a rich supply of oxygen and nutrients. This increased blood flow promotes a healthier environment for hair growth

3. Enhances the Absorption of Hair Products

Massaging the scalp can improve the absorption of hair care products, such as oils and serums, into the skin. This ensures that the hair follicles receive the nourishment they need to thrive.

4. Reduces Stress

Scalp massages are not just good for your hair; they also provide a relaxing experience that helps reduce stress. Lower stress levels can positively impact hair growth, as high stress is often associated with stunted hair development.

Use growth stimulating oils such as Rosemary oil and Lavender oil.

Both Rosemary oil and Lavender oil contain substances which promote faster growth of hair including vitamins and antioxidants. They both increase blood flow to the scalp thus delivering the necessary oxygen and nutrients to hair follicles for faster growth of hair. There are several studies done to support the effectiveness of these oils in promoting hair growth.  

Read this article to learn more about other oils you can use for your scalp massage.

Go Slow with Heat

Go slow on blow outs. The more frequently you expose your hair to heat, the more you damage it (yes, you!). Air-dry your hair whenever possible, but if you can’t, your dryer should be on low heat and held at least 6 inches from your hair. [3]  

Flat-ironing damp hair. Heat plus water forms steam, which creates “bubble hair”—brittle locks with frizzy ends. Ensure your hair is dry before using a hot styling tool on it. Use a heat protectant spray and keep the tool on the lowest temperature possible.

Watch out! The sun! Going out hatless in summer (or winter) can leave you with dry hair that breaks. Avoid such damage by covering your hair and the skin on your scalp.

Avoid Over Manipulating the Hair

Excessive heat styling and wearing non-protective hairstyles are ways to increase manipulation on your hair and could damage the hair if not done carefully.

If your hair breaks off easily, it is not all doom—your stunted hair woes do not have to be worse than your neighbor’s. Just be careful how you handle it. For example, don’t over-wash it, wear protective hair styles and protect your hair when sleeping.

There are certain types of bedding that feel good to sleep on, but they are not as good for your hair, especially if it is fragile. Materials such as satin help you avoid the friction, frizz and breakage that your hair would suffer under cotton or linen. It is also smooth and adds a touch of luxury to your sleep.

Use Gentle Products

The journey to overcoming stunted hair growth involves not just what you eat or how you care for your scalp but also the products you use. Opt for gentle, nourishing hair care products that cater to your hair type.

Harsh chemicals in certain shampoos and conditioners can strip your hair of its natural oils, leaving it dry and prone to breakage.

Look for products that are sulfate-free and enriched with natural ingredients like aloe vera, argan oil, or coconut oil. These ingredients can provide the hydration and nutrients your hair needs to flourish. Remember, treating your hair with kindness goes a long way in promoting healthy growth.

Colour. Using bleach and other chemicals to treat your hair makes you a candidate for weak hair. Such hair stands little to no chance of growing to the desired length. Take good care of your colored hair and ensure you use the right products when coloring your hair.

Use Herbal Treatments like Rosemary, Fenugreek and Clove

A great way to fix stunted growth is to use natural herbal treatments. Rosemary, Fenugreek and Clove have an abundance of antioxidants to protect the scalp from oxidation.

Clove contains eugenol and Vitamin K, two ingredients needed to stimulate the hair follicles effectively improving blood circulation and promoting healthy hair growth.

Rosemary contains ursolic acid, which has been linked to the stimulation of hair follicles. This stimulation may lead to increased hair growth. [4]

Fenugreek has iron and protein, which ensure a healthy scalp for the growth of hair.

A 70-ft length of hair a la Brothers Grimm’s Rapunzel is not what makes your next-door neighbor look great, but we can’t fault  you for living by the saying, “Invest in your hair, it’s the crown you never take off.”—anonymous