Looking for a way to make your hair grow longer faster? While there may not be a magic pill, or specific hair regimen that can help increase the speed in which your hair grows, there are some things you can do to ensure that your hair remains healthy enough to continue to grow to the lengths you desire.

On average, a person’s hair grows about ½” per month, which equates to about 6” per year. And while there are some factors like age, health, and hair type that can affect the rate in which your hair grows, there’s no magic shampoo or pill that will help your hair grow faster.

Unfortunately, scientists haven’t discovered a way to speed up the hair growth process, but if you’re looking to grow your hair out longer the best thing to do is to keep your hair healthy to ensure that it’s not breaking off or falling out before it can reach the length you want.

Here are a few tips to help your hair stay healthy and strong as it grows to the length you desire.

Tips for Growing Long, Healthy Hair

1. Live a Healthy Lifestyle

What you put into your body affects all aspects of your health, which includes your hair follicles. If you’re eating too much fatty foods, not enough carbs, or not enough protein, it could be affecting the way your hair grows, or the strength of your hair.

Hair follicles need energy in order to grow and carbohydrates are an essential form of energy that our bodies require.

There are a lot of diet programs out there that talk about cutting carbs, but the truth is, our body needs carbs to function properly. This is why it’s important to find the proper balance in your food intake that can help regulate all the different aspects of your body.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, if you’re doing things like smoking and drinking alcohol, those could also be affecting your hair health. Smoking and drinking can affect the vitamin levels in your body, which can reduce the amount of iron your body can absorb. Iron is another essential element to health hair growth.

So before you focus on your hair health specifically, make sure that you’re taking your overall health into consideration. You may find that simple changes in your diet or behavior could have an impact on your hair health.

2. Trim The Ends of Your Hair

This may sound counterintuitive to growing longer, healthy hair, but this could be the reason your hair isn’t reaching the lengths you want.

As your hair grows it can become brittle and damaged. This could be because of your overall health, the weather, how often you’re drying/heating your hair, or the products you’re using on your hair. There are a number of reasons why your hair can become damaged.

The part of the hair that gets the most damaged is the ends. This damage is commonly referred to as “split ends” and can prevent your hair from growing as long as you’d like.

By leaving split ends you’re inviting your hair to break further up on the strand which can cause thinner looking hair, as well as stunted growth. By having more frequent trims, you can help keep your hair healthy and continue to let that healthy hair grow to the lengths you’re after.

As we said, cutting your hair to make it grow longer doesn’t really sound like it would work, but we’re not talking about a lot of hair here. Taking about 1/8” off every 10-12 weeks will help prevent your hair from splitting and will allow it to continue to grow long and healthy.

3. Rethink Your Shampoos and Conditioners

Climate and environment can play a huge role hair health. It’s important to ensure that your hair is maintaining the right amount of moisture. Dry, brittle hair is more likely to split or break-off, so ensuring that your hair is getting the right amount of moisture, and keeping that moisture locked in, is extremely important to hair growth.

Using shampoo less frequently if you live in a dry climate, in conjunction with a moisture locking conditioner, will help trap the moisture in your hair and reduce the effects that the dry air will have on your hair.

If you’re finding yourself fighting with static in your hair, or less volume in your hair than you’re used to, you may not have enough moisture in your hair. This is extremely helpful in maintaining healthy hair in the winter months as the air becomes cold and dry.

4. Vitamins

Vitamins are an essential part of keeping our body healthy, and while vitamins are found in the foods we eat, sometimes we’re not getting enough of those vitamins. Vitamin supplements can be vital in helping to maintain hair health as it grows.

If you’re finding that your hair is shedding, thinning, or falling out at an unsettling pace, we recommend that you first talk to your doctor before trying to solve the problem with supplements. Sometimes there is an underlying health issue that is messing with your hair and extra vitamins and supplements may not have the affect you’re looking for if the underlying condition is not addressed first.

The vitamins that your body needs to function properly are the same vitamins that will help keep your hair strong and healthy. Maintaining proper levels of vitamin C, D, A and E, as well as biotin, zinc, and iron, will help promote hair health and help your hair to grow longer and stronger.

While there is no magic way to make your hair grow faster, these tips will help you maintain healthier hair that will have a chance to grow longer.

If you have noticed hair shedding more than usual and you’re concerned about your hair loss, please contact us today to setup a consultation. At the Limmer Hair Transplant Center in San Antonio, we’re here to ensure that you look and feel good about your hair. We can help determine if there’s an underlying cause for your hair loss, or if simple treatments might help mitigate your shedding.