Your hair is always growing: fact. 

On average, hair grows  1/3 to 1/2 an inch per month so you should get 4 to 6 inches of growth every year. 

Protective styling involves using styles that protect and hide your ends from damage so that you retain more length. 

How long can you expect your hair to continue growing for?

On average 4 to 7 years. Everyone has a different growth cycle. This means that if your growth cycle is 4 years and your hair grows at 4 inches a year your maximum potential is 16 inches. This means that you cannot aspire to have more than 16 inches of growth ever. With trims this should be about 13 to 14 inches.

Now, some people have a really short growth cycle of 1 year, 4 to 7 years is just average and the lucky few have a growth cycle of upto 10 years. Those long-haired people that make it to the Guinness book of world records probably fall into the latter category. Even with 4 inches per year, 10 years of growth is 40 inches of hair - wowza!

If you feel like your hair is not growing it simply means your hair is not retaining length, that is, it is breaking off at the ends or you have reached your maximum possible.

So if you have a 1 year cycle at 4 inches per annum then 4 inches is your maximum potential growth, genetically. This is very rare, you probably have a longer cycle.

Will your hair grow longer if you use protective styling rather than if you don't?

Yes and no.

If you use protective styles and all your other hair care practices are poor then your hair won't grow to its maximum potential. For instance if you keep braids in for far too long and forget to wash and moisturise them regularly. Or if you use excessive amounts of heat and have an atrocious diet then your hair will suffer.

However, if you take care of hair and make smart use of protective styles then you will retain more length

Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.

You might also like:

• What Is Protective Styling? What Are Examples Of Protective Styles For Natural Hair?
• How To Take Care Of Natural Hair In The The Winter: Protective Styling

Heat! This is one of the top contentious issues regarding natural hair, everyone has their own opinion and that is A-okay as long you know what is fact and what is opinion. I'ma lay it to you straight:

FACTS

Heat can damage hair in one of two ways:

1. Heat dries hair out so much that it becomes brittle and very prone to breakage.
2. Heat can destroy the bonds in hair such that the curl pattern is completely removed and the hair no longer curls. As the structure has been broken, this hair will be weaker than the rest of your hair.

• Heat damage is cumulative - that is, the impact on hair gets worse and worse with each successive use.

OPINIONS

One or two blow dries per month is enough

I think one or two blow dries per month is enough for my type of 4C hair. My hair is quite strong but I think anymore than this would just lead to a dry, brittle mess. In fact, this is my max and I use blow driers even less than this.

No, thanks to straighteners

Since I went natural straighteners have only been used once, on my wedding day (11.11.11). Because they apply such direct heat to hair I think they're not worth the risk. 

HALF FACT, HALF OPINION

Avoid heat, air dry as often as possible

Yes, less heat is better than more heat but how much less depends on your particular hair. Course hair can take more heat without damage than thin hair.

If you going to use heat use these 9 Tips to blow dry your natural hair gently - no more breakage!

Get your FREE ebook on How To Grow Long, Healthy Natural Kinky or Curly Hair.

You might also like:

• 4 Alternative Methods for blow drying natural hair
• What is a CHI Flatiron? Why is it better than other types of flatiron?

Lucky are those that big chop on impulse. In a moment of frustration they either pick up a pair of scissor or walk into a barber’s shop and chop their hair off. I’m not one of those girls.
 
I have long-admired people that go for the bald look and wondered what I would look like without hair. I imagined I’d enjoy it because there would be so little maintenance involved but I also imagined I’d look really weird without hair – my precious hair.
 
Many of us deliberate the big chop like this;should I or shouldn’t I. We want the look  but somehow convince ourselves that it won’t look as good on us as it does on others so we don’t.
 
Indeed, after telling fans I’d chop my hair off on 1-Jan-2015, I chickened out. I couldn’t do it – there was too much going on, I told myself; like chopping your hair off takes any time at all.
 
And so, I waited another year and it is in this year I came up with a strategy that helpedme go for the big chop. Hopefully it will help you too,if this is your heart’s desire:

1. Do it for something that is much more important than yourself, your ego and pride. I did it to honour my sister who suffers from lupus. You can do it for charity or to donate your hair towards cancer patients or something else along those lines. Once you decide you’re doing it for a good cause it’s harder to pull out.
2. Set a specific date for when you want to do it. This way you’ll know at the back of your mind that the day is approaching with each passing day and you’ll be mentally prepared for the event. I set 2-Jan-2016 as my new date.
3. Don’t over think it. Hair grows back. It may grow slowly,it may grow fast but it will grow back!

 
The Night Before
 
Whether you are giving the hair away or keeping it, you want it to be clean. So the day or night before the BC wash and condition your hair thoroughly, moisturize it and twist it.
 
The Day Of The Big Chop
 
With your twists in place go to a barber shop. I don’t recommend cutting your own hair if it’s something you’ve never done before. If you’re doing it for a good cause most barbers will do it for free, they did it for free for me.
 
Ask the barber to chop each twist off neatly and hand it to you before he shaves your head completely, then smile and enjoy the shave.
 
I went for a “1” hair cut – basically, very bald, however you can leave more if you prefer.
 
How Will You Feel Once It’s Done?
 
A mixture of strange and great:strange because you won’t even recognize yourself but also great because, for some reason, you feel like you’ve been released from some kind of a prison.
 
Many describe the feeling as liberated. Either liberated from society’s ideal of beauty or liberated from hair management, a task that enslaves many girls.
 
Anyhow, if you have any BC stories, I’d love to hear them. Make a comment.