Please don't get me wrong. I adored it. It was short enough that it did anything I told it too, but long enough that I still looked like a girl........and then I got tired of it. I had to go through the weird phases of growth that didn't look like a hairstyle at ALL! I felt like when people looked at me, they saw this:
- especially after I got preggers and put on some weight. I went through months of pinning things back or teasing things up reeaaalll high. Despite all of that, it still looked odd. Then something happened. Pregnancy hormones took over, and it was growing about an inch and a half a month. (typical rate of hair growth is approximately 1 inch every four weeks) It was shiny and thick and luxurious. I bleached out a panel in the front, filled the blonde with a slightly-brighter-than-navy shade, and it didn't falter under the beating. It was wonderful.
Then I had the baby. Hormones again. It started falling out in chunks - yes CHUNKS. I was experiencing post partum alopecia. This is a very common occurrence during which hair that is not shed during pregnancy is shed at periods of extremely close proximity instead of phases of 3 to 4 months apart as in normal hair growth. This left me.......with huge bald spots! I looked like this:
The first picture (the b&w) was taken at the very beginning of my pregnancy. The above picture was taken 3 months after I delivered Sally. They are taken at very similar angles, so you can easily see the difference in the hairlines. I took this picture originally to show my Facebook cosmo page gals my blue hair. Then I was too shocked by the thinness that I forgot to. HA!
Hair thinness is not a bad thing in and of itself. The number of active follicles varies from person to person. We know this already. Some of you out there have so much hair that you could thin out enough to make a Locks of Love donation and still have "too much". Then there are those of us who lust after extensions on a regular basis. This......this, my gals, is life. We're all different. The reason for my shock was that there was such a difference on my own head within a very short amount of time. I went from those triangles on either side of my widow's peak being mostly full of hair to almost smooth bald. A substantial loss of hair like that is always for a reason. I knew mine, so I didn't worry. If you have a noticeable change in your hair - either loss or growth, you need to do some investigating. Hair grows out of the skin. The skin (so then hair growth) is nourished by your blood and other body systems. If something seems to go awry with your hair, something may be awry with one of those systems.
Now, today's subject is :how to get that stuff to grow! You've got your hair. It's fine. It's normal. It's boring to you. Maybe you had a baby and thought shorter hair would be quicker to fix. Maybe you were just so bored and needed a change. Maybe you broke up with your man friend and wanted to chop off the locks he so loved. Maybe you got a little daring during beauty school one day........oh wait, that was me. Whatever the cause, your hair is short, and now you want it long....and it's not.
You are not without options, but let's have a little anatomy/physiology lesson first. If you have ever sat in my chair or in one of my skin/beauty classes, you know that I am all about the reason behind everything.
How does hair grow to begin with? Well, it starts in the follicle. The follicle is a "crater" in the skin. In the very bottom of this "crater", there is a collection of cells that form a hair bulb. The bulb gets nourished and then produces cells itself that divide to serve 3 different purposes. Some will become the hair medulla (the "marrow" at the center of the shaft). Some will become hair cortex (the part that contains packets called melanocytes that determine our hair's color). The last group will become the hair's cuticle (the outermost layer of hair made of many, many tiny scales). These cells die and dry out or KERATINIZE. (Ever heard of keratin treatments? Keratin is a protein that makes up the hair. If you get a Keratin treatment, they are re-stocking your hair with that protein to replace any that you may have lost.) This production of cells continues and pushes the keratinized cells out past the surface of the skin. Then you have HAIR! The longer this process continues uninterrupted, the longer a person's hair. Yeah. It's a little gross.
Ok, my hair grows super slow. How can I make those cells produce faster? Notice I didn't just say "How do I make my hair grow faster"? We just learned that hair grows by cell production, so the real task is to increase cell production, right? YAY FOR NERDINESS!!!! Anyway, think for a sec. Hair growth really starts in the skin and then ends up producing a protein called keratin, right? So in order to affect the end result, we gotta start at the beginning - at the skin.
How do I nourish my skin so it will nourish the hair bulbs faster and push all that keratin out past the skin's surface to give me longer hair? Have I lost you? Think about a tube of lipstick. The lipstick is all in the tube until something (the spiral crank at the bottem) pushes it past the top of the tube. Then you can access enough of it to enjoy it (apply it). The hair "bulb" is the spiral crank. Nourishment to the bulb is the person holding the tube that turns the crank. All the cells and other science-y stuff is the lipstick. The "skin" is the top of the lipstick tube. (Think about viewing the tube from a side angle). The "hair" is the lipstick itself.
See?
The hair or the "lipstick" is really determined by what is happening to the thing it comes out of. In the case of this lipstick, it's MAC's formula and their tube design. In the case of your hair, it's your body.
So what are the things that affect hair's production? Well, my loves, anything that affects your body will affect hair's production. Main contributors will be 1. heredity (what your momma REALLY gave ya), 2. health (the things that are happening with or to your body and 3. nutrition (anything you put inside your body).
Let's explore heredity. If your mom had super thick hair, your grandma has super thick hair and your great grandma was the bearded lady in the circus side show, chances are, your hair will be thick. If your mom has wispy tresses, her mom bought a lot of wigs and her mom also bought a lot of wigs, chances are, you will also need to get some Redken thickening lotion too. The number of hair follicles, diameter of the hair shaft (how big around each individual hair is) and the texture of the hair (curliness or straightness) is greatly determined by heredity.
Health is going to play a large role in what your hair does. In fact, when something happens inside your body, your hair and nails are the last to know, but they can sometimes be the first things to tip YOU off to a problem or the resolution of a problem. That, my dear, is because you can see them. You can't see your vitamin absorption, hormone levels or organ function, but your hair and nails talk with those systems all day long. So, as I said earlier, if you notice a drastic change in your hair or nails, start asking yourself some questions. If you don't think of something in next to no time, go to the doctor - for serious (as my nephews say).
Health is affected, to a degree, by our last subject of investigation: nutrition. There is an old computer related turn of phrase that my dad used to say and I know you've heard: Garbage in; garbage out. So true, Danny boy, so true. (Danny was my dad's name) If, on a regular basis, you put into your body things that leave something to be desired in the nutrient department, it's gonna show. If you neglect to put nutrient rich things into your body, it will be on "nutrient government assistance". LOL. Girl, I'm not hatin. We all pay our taxes, so we all should get to enjoy them, right? HA! Anyway, it's gonna show.
On the flip side, if you are putting into your body vitamins, minerals and PLENTY OF WATER, your body will be able to use it......and it will show. If a building is missing a few bricks near the bottom, it's not going to be strong, but if all of them are firmly in place, I'm gonna throw down a rug and plug in a lamp. It's party time. Same for your body which contributes directly to.....your hair. Right? Hair is protein. Protein is a nutrient. Nutrients come from......the things you put into your body. Follow? Ok. That was a lot. Don't fall asleep. Sciencey things can be real boring. Just remember the lipstick.
If hair is made of protein....blah, blah, blah, what I just said above, then, in order to accelerate growth or strengthen growth, we would need to add more of what hair needs to grow.....anybody?......shout it out if you know it......PROTEIN!!!! Yes, yes, yes!!!
What's this I hear about taking Biotin? Biotin is a vitamin. When you take 30 micrograms of Biotin daily, it helps your body metabolize (break down and move to the right place in your body) good things in food, including.....here it is AGAIN, gals - protein: the guts of hair. Biotin is not protein. It is a protein vehicle, so, in order for it to do it's desired job.....ya have to eat some protein: eggs, meat, nuts, etc. Biotin is inexpensive and is sold in every pharmacy or vitamin section of the grocery store that I've ever seen.
So I just have to eat eggs and peanut butter and take Biotin and then my hair will grow? As long as all your systems are working correctly and there are no extenuating health issues, Biotin will help. It has to. It's scientifically proven. But did you read what I said? It will help, meaning, there are other things you can do too!
A sure-fire way to get nutrients from your guts to your skin is to put it on the nutrient taxi....the blood. Quicker blood flow = quicker transportation of the nutrients. So, get that blood pumping. Sedentary people will often complain about skin problems or even digestive problems because they let that blood just trickle through their veins with only minimal amounts of oxygen. Have you ever been stuck behind a person in the mall or Target who just schlepped along? SO ANNOYING! I have things to buy, places to go or people to see! Well, that's just how nutrients like protein and oxygen feel when they're stuck in someone who refuses to put the blood pedal to the metal. Do something as often as possible that will speed up your heart rate for a good 20 - 30 minutes at the very least. When your heart rate picks up, it means that your heart is pumping the blood faster - just because you told it too. When it pumps the blood faster, you suck wind. That's more oxygen, baby! When you have more oxygen, your nutrient taxi (blood, remember?) works GREAT! Protein will rush to anywhere that it is needed. One of those places - HAIR!
You can also draw blood to the skin's surface with a good scalp massage. That will also free up any extra skin that might not be needed any longer but just won't let go (dandruff). The hair follicle and the hair bulb will be stimulated (yes, excited) to begin or continue cell production. There are shampoos on the market that make a claim to do these things as well. What those do is sometimes stimulate follicles or glue together keratinized cells that normally fall apart before they reach the skin's surface.
Any questions now? Anything a bit over your head? Message me or post your question on my cosmo page here.
Now gals, take that and run with it, and grow some amaze-balls HAAAIIIIIRRRRRR!!!!!
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