For naturalistas and hair enthusiasts, nothing is more annoying than being stuck in a phase. If you notice your hair has stopped growing at a point, you wonder “why is my hair not growing?” Several factors can prevent hair growth, including poor hair maintenance.
Delay or a total pause in hair growth can prevent you from growing your natural strands into a lustrous mane. The best way to prevent this is to identify the reason why your hair remains at a particular length. After identifying the cause, you can now look for ways to boost hair growth.
This article provides every possible reason why your hair has stopped growing and how to prevent it from happening. Read ahead to get all the information you need.
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Why Has Your Hair Stopped Growing?
Your hair can stop growing due to several reasons. It could be genetics shedding aging or even improper hair care routine and styling. Below are the possible reasons why your hair is no longer growing.
1. Genetics
You, like every other individual, have a hair growth circle that allows your hair to experience maximal growth at some point in time. Your hair has a limited length it can reach before it begins to break or cut.
Your hair may continue to grow even after reaching the maximum length. However, once the cycle of your hair growth passes, your hair may stop growing. What often determines this growth phase is genetics.
Depending on your genetics, this phase lasts between two and six years. After which your hair may stop growing until the next growth phase.
2. Unhealthy Hair and Scalp
Dry hair and scalp are signs that you are not taking proper care of your hair. An unhealthy scalp can leave your scalp and hair dry and brittle. Leaving your scalp dry for a long while can cause the development of scalp infections. These infections can restrict hair growth and trigger patchy hair loss.
3. Age
Another reason why your hair may stop growing is age. This is because your hair growth cycle becomes shorter as you age. Additionally, your hair tends to become weaker as you age due to what it has experienced so far.
The original growth phase can span up to 6 years but as you age, it reduces to the barest minimum of two years. This makes your hair thinner and may be unable to grow past a certain length.
4. Stress
Another factor that affects hair growth is stress. Your stress level affects pretty much everything that concerns you. The two common types of stress that are linked to hair loss are emotional and physical stress.
When you become stressed emotionally and physically, the quality of your hair begins to decrease. A high-stress level can restrict your hair growth cycle, which may be why your hair is not growing.
5. Hair Breakage
Naturally, your hair is meant to grow about 6 inches each year. However, improper hair care routines and other factors can cause your hair to break off. If your hair breaks more than it regrows, your hair will be stuck at the same length.
Heat styling and chemical use on the hair are the most common cause of breakage. Heat affects the hair by causing it to become brittle. Chemicals in hair dyes, relaxers, and similar products can strip off your hair’s natural oils, causing your hair to break as well.
Styling your hair aggressively can also lead to hair breakage. Styling natural hair can be frustrating especially if your hair falls under the 4c type. Detangling your hair with so much force can cause your hair to break.
6. Split Ends
Split ends can cause your hair to become stuck at a certain length. Even though your hair appears to be growing from the root, the ends are breaking, thereby keeping your hair stuck or even lower than the usual length.
Ensure that you get a trim regularly to cut off the split end. Allowing split ends to exist will affect your hair shaft and cause your hair to stop growing altogether.
7. Hair Miniaturization
Aside from aging, hair miniaturization is another restricting factor for hair growth. It causes the hair to thin out due to heredity. This process occurs naturally if you have a predisposition or androgenetic hair thinning problem. This causes your hair follicles to shrink and stop growing hair.
In the worst-case scenario, your follicles may begin to produce weak, dull hair that is prone to breakage.
8. Poor Hair Care Routine
Improper hair care is another way to restrict your hair growth. A poor hair care routine can stop your hair from growing past a certain length.
Habits like towel drying the hair, using too little or too much hair care products, aggressive styling, too much heat, and others, can stop your hair from growing. These factors are responsible for hair breakage and can restrict growth.
Be sure to understand your hair and introduce a good hair care routine that keeps your hair happy and healthy.
SEE: Is Serum Good for Hair? Facts You Didn’t Know Before
9. Alopecia Areata
This is an autoimmune disorder that causes the immune system to harm vital cells in your hair follicles. This damage causes your hair to fall out and prevents growth in just one spot. You may also develop this disorder if you have vitiligo, asthma, or even hay fever.
While this disorder is inherited genetically, your doctor can provide the best treatment plan for you.
10. Shedding
Shedding is a completely normal and natural part of the human hair growth experience. It happens to everyone. Old hair needs to be shed for new strands to grow.
If you think that your hair sheds because your scalp is not well taken care of, you are wrong. No matter the health condition of your scalp, your hair can shed up to 150 strands a day.
When your hair sheds faster than it grows back, you may begin to think your hair is not growing. Your hair may not grow back as much as it sheds, which might leave your hair stuck at a particular length. It may even become shorter.
11. Hormonal Imbalance
When you start developing hormonal problems like thyroid disease, you will begin to experience hair loss. However, it may not be prominent if it is just developing.
The hair loss can stop your hair from growing beyond a certain length because as your hair regrows, it replaces the ones lost due to the hormonal problem.
12. Diet & Exercise
Your diet can affect your health as much as your exercise habits. Refusing to eat good food can restrict your hair growth. Vitamin-rich foods help to nourish the blook that circulates to your follicles to trigger growth.
13. Lack of Moisture
Lack of moisture in the hair can cause the scalp to become dry and that leaves your hair to start breaking. The importance of moisture to natural hair strands cannot be overemphasized. You need to moisturize your strands as often as possible to ensure growth.
Drinking an adequate amount of water daily along with the intake of fruits and veggies can help to replenish your hair follicles to promote growth.
14. Vitamin or Mineral Deficiency
Good nutrition is important to growing long, lustrous mane. You need to ensure that your diet includes a good source of iodine, zinc, vitamin B, omega-3, and iron.
A lack of vitamins and necessary minerals in the body can affect your hair as well. It will not only stop your hair from growing, but it will also cause your strands to fall out.
15. Resting Phase
There are three phases to the hair’s growth cycle. The first phase, the anagen phase, lasts between 3 to 7 years. Then, there is the catagen phase that starts at the end of your anagen phase. This is a short transitional period that only lasts about 10 days.
The resting phase, which is known as the telogen phase is the period the hair falls out and the follicle becomes inactive till the beginning of another anagen phase. This period lasts for about three months and your hair won’t grow during this period.
16. Health Concerns
If the previously mentioned reasons are not the cause of your delayed or restricted hair growth problem, you may be experiencing some underlying health concerns.
Check with a doctor if:
- You feel ill as you experience hair loss
- If your scalp feels painful and irritated
- None of the previously mentioned reasons is the cause of hair growth problem
Don’t self-medicate, it is important to check in with a physician or dermatologist.
What Can You Do to Promote Hair Growth?
You can promote hair growth by taking proper care of your hair and scalp. Incorporating foods like eggs and fish that are rich in vitamins and good fat in your diet can also help to promote hair growth.
There are several home remedies you can try to help you maintain your hair and nourish your strands. Below are home remedies you can try.
Scalp massage
This can help to increase blood flow to the scalp and hair follicles. Increased blood circulation in the scalp will help to stimulate hair growth. Additionally, it will help your hair to become thicker and less prone to breakage.
Oils
Rosemary and geranium oils can help to stimulate new hair growth. These oils are rich in vitamins and nutrients that can help revitalize hair follicles.
Aloe vera
Using aloe vera as hair gel can help to condition your hair and scalp. Aloe vera contains anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties that can help to protect and repair the hair. It may also help to prevent breakage by strengthening the strands.
SEE: Benefits of Aloe Vera to the Hair – 11 Amazing Advantages That Will Excite You
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is your nose hair not growing?
Aging is the possible reason why your nose hair is no longer growing. It limits the growth cycle of the hair that grows in your follicles.
Another possible cause is Alopecia Universalis, which is a condition that causes complete hair loss in the body, including the nose and eyelash hairs.
Why is your hair not growing on one side?
Your hair may not grow on one side of your hair due to blood flow to the follicles on that particular side. Each hair follicle has its blood supply unit and one side may not be receiving enough circulation of blood.
Likewise, hair can grow faster on one side of your hair if it gets the most circulation. Avoid sleeping on the same side of your head as that can also slow down growth on that side.
Why is your pubic hair not growing fast?
Aging is the most common reason why pubic hair stops growing quickly. Just like your head, the hair on your pubic area can start thinning out as you age. Aging can slow down the rate at which your pubic hair grows.
Loss of pubic hair can be due to underlying health conditions, you may need to see a doctor if that is why your pubic hair is not growing.
Bottom Line
Your hair can stop growing or grow slowly due to several reasons ranging from hormonal imbalance, age, genetics, stress, and lack of moisture to poor hair care routine. It is also possible that your hair has stopped growing on a spot on just one side.
There are natural remedies and diet tweaks that you can try to promote hair growth. It is also important to consult a doctor if you are going through pain or irritation on your scalp, as your hair may not be growing due to an underlying medical condition.
Thanks for reading.
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