9 Reasons Your 4c Hair Is Not Growing

How’s your natural hair doing, Sis? Have you had your natural hair for years now but are not seeing much growth?

You’ve tried all you can but your hair seems to have reached a plateau.

And now you are convinced that your hair doesn’t grow past a specific length.

Does my hair have a predetermined length?

Technically, yes/no! 

I wrote a blog post a while back that included a summary of the hair growth cycle phases. 

Basically, your hair strand grows, 

then it stops growing, 

and then it sheds. 

During the growth (anagen) phase your hair will grow for 2 to 6 years. The length of the growth period is determined by your genes. So, for 2 to 6 years your hair will just continue growing and growing.

During this time your hair may grow about 15.24cm per year (this is an average across all races, but our 4c hair grows a bit slower than the average).

Hair increases in length in this period until it reaches the stage in the hair growth cycle (catagen phase) where it stops growing.

This is then followed by the shedding phase.

So, unless there’s some underlying medical condition, your hair is growing continually during the anagen phase.

How long this phase lasts is predetermined by your genes! What I’ve noticed in general is that there’s a narrow focus on hair growth when the focus should really be on length retention.

Length retention has to do with taking care of the hair strand and the ends, the practices that help keep your hair healthy.

So, the real question then should be: “Why am I not retaining +/-15.24cm of my hair per year? Why?”

Look, I’m no expert, but I have a few ideas. So, here are some possible reasons why you may not be retaining length:

1. You are, but you don’t see it!

Okay, technically, this is not a reason but come with me.

You know how when you haven’t seen a friend in a long time and then the next time you see them they comment on your weight (gained or lost)?

You may not have noticed the gradual change in your size but they have because in their mind they have a different picture of how you looked when they last saw you to how you look now.

Same with your hair. It could be that you are not noticing the growth because you are part of the process. Also, it doesn’t help that your beautiful hair coils up and you always see it in its shrunken state.

2. Your protective hairstyle take-down approach is sabotaging you

So, you install a protective hairstyle (braids, cornrows, twists, wig, etc.) and you keep it in for a few weeks, maybe even more.

Ironically, more often than not it is during the take-down process that the hard work of “protecting” your hair gets undone.

The way your hair may be handled and the lack of moisture will break hair length you are meant to retain. So exercise patience, be extra gentle, and meticulous.

And add more conditioner, especially where matting has occurred. Take-downs see me spending days painstakingly undoing my twists and finger detangling matted hair.

The method I use takes quite some time but also saves me a lot of hair strands because #everystrandmatters

3. Manipulating dry hair

Whenever we touch or handle our hair we are manipulating it.  

Whether we’re washing, moisturising or styling, that is all manipulation. Manipulating is necessary for the care and maintenance of our hair.

However, manipulating dry hair is a bad idea. Dry hair equals brittle hair, and brittle hair breaks easily. Breaking hair sets you back from achieving your longest possible hair.

4. Over manipulation

Listen, I’m plain ol’ Jane. I hardly ever do anything to my hair.

I put it in twists and forget about it. This is mainly because between being a mother, a wife, and an employee there’s hardly ever any time to fidget with my hair.

And incidentally, this has led to my fine and fragile natural hair retaining so much length. If you like experimenting with your natural hair every other week that will go against you reaching your longest possible length because each engagement with your hair is an opportunity for breakage.

Also, things like colour and heat when not done properly and carefully can make our hair susceptible to breakage!

So you don’t have to be boring like me when it comes to hairstyles, but just be aware of the impact of certain styles on length retention. And if your goal is to have long hair, you may want to take the low manipulation route—less touching.

5. Going to salons that don’t specialize in natural hair

Eish, “traditional” salons just don’t get it, man.

How can I put it?… Uhm… they don’t “espouse the natural hair ethos”.

There’s a particular way our hair needs to be handled. It takes time, patience, and techniques such as finger detangling, etc to ensure its best possible state.

Stylists in conventional salons just don’t get it. This results is the hair breaking from too much heat, from rough combing, etc.

And if your hair strands are fine and fragile like mine, they won’t survive the rough blow-drying technique often used.

If you have one, please share your salon experience (whether natural or regular hair salon) in the comments! I DIY everything, because wow, no!

6. Genes

Genes do not determine the length of your hair but they determine the amount of time your hair is actively growing in the growth (anagen) phase.

That’s why I gave an undecided answer at the beginning of this post.

So, each individual has a certain time in which their hair can grow and how they handle their hair in that period determines the length they keep.

Basically, genes play their part too…and so do you! 

7. Not trimming damaged ends

I wrote a whole post about this. If you have split ends and don’t trim your hair, the split goes up your hair shaft further compromising your hair.

This takes you ten steps backwards on your goal for length retention.

So trim whenever you notice split ends and many knots. It will foster healthy hair growth.

8. Diet/lifestyle

This one goes without saying.

But I’ll even say it louder for the people at the back.

Drinking water, eating right, exercising contribute to the overall quality of your hair. Drinking enough water daily contributes to a healthy scalp and the strength of your hair.

Eating foods rich in vitamins, protein and essential fatty acids, contributes to healthy hair growth. With exercise comes blood flow, and blood flow to scalp promotes better hair growth.

So, check where you need to improve on these. They’re things we should be doing already for our overall health, and the benefits filter through to our hair as well.

9. Health

Lastly, I mentioned earlier that unless you have an underlying medical issue, your hair is growing (if it’s in the anagen phase).

Thus, things like prolonged illness, stress, side effects of certain medication, changes in hormonal levels, alopecia, etc. may be the reasons why your hair isn’t growing or is perhaps shedding abnormally, in which case it is impossible to even retain length.

Please seek help from a medical professional if your hair growth cycle varies from the norm.

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