How to Make Your Hair Grow Faster

Everyone’s had bad haircuts, and they eventually “grow out,” we know. But it never gets any less painful, especially because our hair grows slower than an elderly snail, and that’s very, very slow. Yet this suffering hasn’t come without benefits: we’re now super knowledgeable of all the ways (proven or not) to make your hair grow faster, scoured from the depths of the Internet. We can’t make any promises, but our advice is deduced from the things that you should do to get healthy hair, and healthy hair is growing hair. So if you’ve ever found yourself wondering what you did to deserve such an awful haircut and how, save a weave, you can remedy the situation, look no further: we’ve got some tips.

1. Healthy Diet

If you just want to cover all your bases or would rather not go down the vitamin road, try incorporating more protein into your diet. Most lean meats, dairy and whey have enough protein to give you your fill, at least a serving per day. Make sure to add in some sources of Vitamin C and A as well; Vitamin C is found in most citrus-y foods, while Vitamin A is in eggs, carrot and kale, among other things.

2. Minimize Stress

Stress is a known cause of hair loss, in extreme cases even leading to alopecia. So it follows that with less hair loss, you’ll notice more hair growth—it’s an “ipso facto” situation. Either way, no one likes stress; worst-case scenario, your hair will grow at its normal rate.

3. Cut Back on Heat Styling

Similar to stress, frequent heat styling weakens and damages hair, and can lead to breakage, which definitely doesn’t help growth. Healthy hair is the goal—and less breakage means more hair, which is the end game that the goal is for.

4. Don’t Put Unnecessary Stress on Hair

Although we don’t know who’s still getting cornrows these days, if there’s anyone left, try to lay off. Same goes for super-tight ponytails, because both put stress on the follicle, which needs to be healthy to grow.

5. Frequent Trims

Ah yes, the old standby. While it may feel counterintuitive to return to the place that’s caused you such pain, frequent trims do have some merit: by getting rid of split ends as soon as they form, hair growth is kept beneficial instead of dead-end. Pun intended.