Growth Vs. Length Retention

What's the difference?  Your hair is always growing at an average rate of about .5''/month.  This is an average, that is to say that some will get more growth per month and some will get less. Stress, diet, excercise, hormones, and genetics all play a role in how your hair grows.  Length retention is the most overlooked part of growing long hair.  The ends of your hair are the oldest and get worn out through, chemicals, heat, dryness, evironmental factors, etc.  So how can you hold on to the oldest part of your hair?

Protective styling is usually the first suggestion, but if you are just starting out, that may not be as feasible.  Protective styling is basically keeping the ends of your hair tucked away.  If your hair is long enough, buns and french rolls are easy to do and they look neat and show off your features.  Don't get caught up in the "granny bun", try side buns, double buns, cinnabuns, triple buns, etc to keep things interesting.  If your hair is not long enough to try any of these styles, you could keep your hair in two strand twists or plaits as a protective style.  Yes, we all want big, badass hair, but wearing it loose all the time, will lead to tangles, single strand knots, and the like which lead to breaking.  A major friend of protective styles are bobby pins or hair pins, the wavy kind like your gramma used to have.  They disappear into your style, they are really sturdy and non-damaging.  They can rescue any style on it's last leg.

power of Hydrogen (aka pH)

What does this have to do with hair?  Well, everything!  Knowing the importance of pH is crucial to retaining length, if that is your goal.  The basics...The pH of hair is 5, whereas the pH of water is 7.  My thoughts on this matter are as follows.  I know that water has a pH of 7, so when I wet my hair with water, I am raising the normal pH of my hair.  Applying shampoo is also important because this is a chance to begin to bring the pH back to normal, but once you rinse with water, it goes back up to 7.  How do you find out the pH of your shampoos without getting a kit, well you can't, but no worries.  You can add a little bit of aloe vera juice to your shampoo to increase the acidity and decrease it's stripping capabilities.  No matter how moisturising a shampoo says it is, the primary function is to remove dirt and oil, good and bad.  So now your hair is clean and nakey after the rinse.  How does it feel? Soft and detangled or stripped.  Most will probably say stripped because you have thrown your hair out of balance.  Conditioner alone will not fix the issue, but it will help but only temporarily.  Addings oils at the end, may seal in some water (moisture) but if the cuticle is open (because of a raised pH) you will not have the smooth results you want.  What can you do to balance your hair? The safest thing to do is mix aloe vera juice with a water based leave-in conditioner with a little oil added and apply to your hair while it is soaking wet.   Most commercial shampoos are pH balanced, but just a bit of trivia: Jheri Redding was the first to introduce low pH shampoos on the market in the 1960s, his companies include Nexus and Redken.  All of this information is readily available all over the internet. Just google "pH and hair" and 22 million results show up, so I guess it's a pretty well researched topic...:)  I must say that I have used apple cider vinegar in the past diluted equally with water and my hair detangled like a breeze.  I must also mention that I have coarse hair, so this option my be a bit strong if you have medium or fine hair. The smell lingered a bit too long for my liking so I switched to the aloe vera method instead.  How do you feel about pH balancing and hair growth?

Throwback Shot

We all know babies' hair changes, but this is ridiculous..lol  Yes, that was me. There is no trace of this hair texture left anywhere on my head. 

Why am I blogging?

I started this blog because as much as I love the hair forums, there seems to be an obsession with certain hairtypes, typically ones that clump together.  I don't have the type of hair that clumps.  My hair is unique (IMO) in that it doesn't really fit any one or two types.  I have a mixture of spiral curls, coils, s-waves, bone straight, random frizz, and anything else you can imagine, all on one head.  It laughs at those classification systems. Welcome to the Unclassified Hair Files!!!