At least once in your life, you’ve probably googled how much hair you can grow in a month or a year. It’s a common question and with a general answer as well.
Regardless of gender, anyone wanting to grow their hair knows it’s frustrating to wait. It’s common not to notice your hair growth as you’re generally the only person who sees your hair at least a few times a day.
How Much Does Your Hair Grow In A Month Or A Year
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, humans can grow about ½ inch of hair per month. That means you can grow about 6 inches of hair every year.
While that may sound unimpressive, you should understand that a lot of factors weigh in on how fast your hair grows. Believe it or not, with the right steps, some people can even grow their hair up to 2 inches per month.
So what are the things affecting your hair growth, and how can you grow it faster.
Factors That Affect Your Hair Growth
The major factors to affect your hair growth are:
- Age
- Genetics/Family History
- Hormonal changes
- Stress/Lifestyle
- Hair type
- Overall health
- Underlying health conditions
Age Matters
The number of hair follicles since our birth remains constant. The rate of growth for your hair can largely depend on your age. Our head has about 100,000 hair follicles. As we grow older, it is common for hair follicles to stop producing hair.
Stages of Hair Growth
Hair growth can be divided into three stages, and each of your hair strands will always have its timeline. The three stages are:
- Anagen phase: This is when the hair is in the active growth phase. This stage can last from 2 to 8 years.
- Catagen phase: This is known as the transition phase where the hair stops growing, which can last from 4 to 6 weeks.
- Telogen phase: This is the resting phase where the hair starts falling out, and it can last from anywhere up to 2 to 3 months.
According to PubMed Central, about 90 to 95 percent of all hair follicles on your head are in the anagen phase, resulting in 5 to 10 percent of hair that is in the telogen phase.
Hair Types
Your hair type can vary depending on your race, environment, lifestyle, and eating habits. Everyone has a different type of hair. Usually, thin, fine hair doesn’t grow as fast as thicker hair.
If you have thin hair you can still take steps to make them appear fuller and thicker. Regularly using the right oils such as coconut oil, hair masks, shampoo, and conditioners, can help with that. So does a proper diet.
Poor Diet
Having a poor diet can affect your hair growth negatively. Your daily diet allows nutrients to reach the hair. With a bad diet, there are no nutrients to reach your hair.
Iron, vitamin D, B-complex vitamins, and zinc are the most important nutrients for your hair. According to the Huffington Post, getting these nutrients in your body can increase the rate of your hair growth drastically.
Consistently getting some protein in your body through your diet can also help protect your hair and increase hair growth. Foods such as vegetables, nuts, and eggs can go a long way to supplement your protein deficiency. However, avoid protein supplements as too much of them can affect your kidneys.
Hormonal changes
Hormonal changes are the most prominent in women, with pregnancy and menopause being the most common reasons. However, hair lost during both cases can and do grow back.
Giving birth can be a traumatizing event for your body. Women who just gave birth might feel a slower rate of hair growth.
Pregnancies can cause an imbalance in the hormone estrogen which plays a huge role in moving most of the hair follicles in women to the growing phase. After giving birth, these hair follicles then move to the resting phase which can cause a lot of hair fall.
Menopause is also a time when women undergo major hormonal changes. Here, too, the imbalance in the hormones, estrogen, and progesterone play a major role in hair loss. While hair thinning and bald spots may become noticeable during this time.
According to WebMD, hair lost during and after pregnancy does grow back. As mentioned before, proper hair care and a good diet can greatly increase your hair growth. The same goes for getting back the hair lost during menopause as well.
You can also talk to your doctor about more specific treatments or medications during these times as well.
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Health Conditions
If you have underlying health conditions, such as an autoimmune disorder, cancer, or other diseases that make your body weak, it is typical for a person to lose hair. Getting the flu or pneumonia can also slow down hair growth for some time.
If you’ve had an operation or surgery, that can also affect the rate of hair growth as well.
If you don’t have a major disease, have gone through surgery, or haven’t been sick in a while, you might even have an underlying skin condition such as alopecia that can make you lose your hair and form patches on your head. The best way to know that and get the proper advice would be to see a dermatologist.
Conclusion
So while the average rate of hair growth may not be that impressive and many factors go into how fast your hair can grow in a month or a year, you can improve and even increase the rate of hair growth if you take the necessary steps.
So, how fast does your hair grow? What steps are you taking to better care for your hair and your whole body? If you eat healthily and stay healthy, your hair will keep growing and go through its natural phases.