As we all know, our hair is the crown of our body and it truly does contribute a lot to how we look and how people perceive us. As an African, I’ve had a lot of troubles dealing with my kinky 4c hair type, and let me tell you it’s not easy. I’ve tried so many methods to grow my hair and I’ve also made a lot of mistakes, which resulted to me doing the big chop two years ago and now I can say that, although my hair isn’t exactly where I want it to be, I’m enjoying this process and I’m learning what works for me. That’s why I’ve taken some time to compile this list of what has helped my hair grown over the past couple of months.

1. Moisture!

Type 4c hair has the most distinctive curl pattern as well as the most shrinkage. When water touches our hair it shrinks up to about 70%, making our hair length appear a lot shorter than it actually is. But this does not mean you should shy away from water, you should actually add more moisture to our hair. We should actually be washing our hair type at least once a month and spritz it with water daily, this will help keep our hair moisturized as well as reduce breakage. Usually after I wash my hair I let it air dry for a little bit before adding oil to lock in the moisture.

2. Trimming

To be honest, I actually didn’t start doing this till about 3 months ago and I’ve definitely seen some results. I do trim my hair myself using the hair scissors that I bought from my local beauty supply store. When I trim my hair I take about .5 of an inch, I’m mainly just focusing on the dead ends and I recommend doing this about twice a year. It truly does help!

3. Protective Styling

I love protective styling! The good thing about type 4c hair is that our hair responds very well to protective styling. Just be careful when doing this because you don’t want anything too tight that would irritate your scalp. The best protective styling that I’ve found to really grow our hair is crochet, braids, twist as well as stretching styles. Another tip is be mindful when you’re using heat on your hair, I actually try avoiding this at all cost unless absolutely necessary. Be sure to use heat protectant and try to stay under 180 degrees.

4. Giving Your Hair A Break

Guys, I’m so guilty of this! I recently just started loving my short natural hair on it’s own. Before, I was constantly doing protective styling after protective styling. I barely gave my hair a break for more than a couple of hours and I’m now realizing how bad this is. Make sure you guys give your hair some time to breath for at least 3 to 4 days before doing another protective styling.

5. Increase Blood Flow To The Scalp

One of the main reasons our hair doesn’t grow is because we lose a lot of blood flow to our scalp and when you’re scalp isn’t receiving, your hair growth becomes stagnant. A great way to increase hair growth is to massage your scalp daily, or at least three times a week. I usually try to do this around bed time when I take off my makeup. Drinking water helps increase the blood rush to the scalp as well as exercising weekly.