When it comes to hair growth it can often feel like watching a pot that never boils. The good news is that there are a number of considerations and practices you can put into place to prevent slow hair growth. While age and genetics are two factors out of your control, there are a few things you can do to manage slow hair growth.
Stress is the primary destroyer of cells, as it can impact your natural cellular life cycle and functions: repair, growth, and regeneration. This prompts your body to initiate immune responses. In the context of hair loss, stress can cause your hair follicles to transition into the resting phase, resulting in hair loss. Additionally, it can trigger an autoimmune response, causing your body to attack your hair follicles and ultimately lead to hair loss.
Lack of sleep: While you sleep, your body is repairing itself and getting rid of any toxin overloads you have been exposed to during the day. If you are not getting adequate sleep your body isn’t getting time to repair itself, which can lead to cellular breakdown and slow hair growth.
Nutritional deficiencies: Your diet provides your body with the necessary proteins and nutrients to form the building blocks that maintain balance and overall health in your body's systems. When we fail to provide our bodies with essential nutrients like zinc, iron, vitamin D, and biotin, it disrupts the normal functioning of our body. Supplying your body with what it needs is going to help support healthy hair growth.
Hormonal imbalance management: When we don’t keep our stress levels in check, aren’t getting enough sleep and have poor nutrition, our hormone levels are going to be out of balance. Women are particularly susceptible due to our fluctuating hormone levels.
Smoking deprives your cells of oxygen and causes the release of cytokine proteins. This, in turn, leads to restricted blood flow to the scalp, resulting in scarring and inflammation of your hair follicles. The heightened inflammation adversely affects hair growth, leaving your hair brittle and reducing healthy cellular turnover.