Even though we know that growing healthy locs is a journey and not a race, who says you can’t give your locs the best chance to reach their full growth potential?
In this article, we will explore practical strategies to help you grow your locs faster.
In summary:
- Maintain a healthy scalp – Cleanse your scalp regularly to keep it clean, and prevent build-up.
- Ensure intake of key nutrients – Feed your locs from the inside out.
- Moisturize and hydrate your locs – Keep your dreadlocks moisturized. Lock in that moisture with natural oils. Hydrated locs are less likely to break and therefore will grow long and strong.
- Minimize manipulation – Go easy on your locs! Avoid constant manipulation which may result in breakage.
How to Grow Locs Faster (9 Tips)
Here is a detailed look at the above tips and more.
1. Maintain a Healthy Scalp
To make your locs grow faster, and importantly healthier, focus on maintaining a healthy scalp. Keep your scalp clean, free from excess oils, and well-moisturized to create an optimal environment for hair growth.
Additionally, you massage your scalp regularly to stimulate blood flow and promote faster hair growth. You may massage the scalp using any “lightweight” oils to keep it moisturized and to prevent breakage of the hair roots.
This keeps the roots nourished for new hair growth while also protecting the existing hair.
2. Ensure Intake of Key Nutrients
Sometimes, the ticket to healthy fast growing locs may just be in what you eat. Hair growth in general and locs in particular requires essential nutrients including vitamins, minerals and proteins to nourish the follicles that produce hair.
So, ensure you have a balanced diet rich in vitamins, minerals (e.g., iron, zinc, selenium) and vitamins (e.g., B9, B12, C, D, E).
3. Proper Loc Maintenance
Take good care of your Locs with proper loc maintenance practices to make your locs grow faster. With proper washing, moisturizing and styling routine, your locs can attain your desired length. Some of the good loc maintenance practices include:
- Prevent friction by using satin or silk pillow cases when sleeping
- Avoid frequent re-twisting to prevent traction alopecia
- Wear styles that are gentle on the scalp. Avoid styles like tight pony tails to reduce the pressure on the head
- Wash and condition once every two or three weeks to keep the hair healthy and to encourage new growth
4. Moisturize and Hydrate Your Locs
It is important to keep your locs moisturized even if they don’t need as much of it as loose hair. The truth is that dry hair breaks easily; this will lead to brittle locs.
A leave-in moisturizer made for locs is appropriate as is water sealed in with light-weight oil. Other DIY alternatives include:
- Conditioning the locs with apple-cider (dilute with water and use it to rinse the locs once you’ve washed them—reduces flattening of the cuticles and frizziness, lessening the shrinkage)
- Using a DIY flaxseed gel for moisturizing
- Deep conditioning the locs when they reach mature stage, every 3-4 weeks
- Adopting protein treatments to strengthens the locs and prevents breakage)
6. Use the Right Products Moderately
Beware! Locs are especially vulnerable to build up of hair care products where these are used in excess—they prevent new hair follicles from growing thus causing thinning and hair loss.
Don’t go too heavy on products. Many loc experts are advocating for really going bare minimal with products.
For deep conditioning and loc treatments, home made remedies such as Aloe Vera Juice, Rice Water rinse and Apple Cider Vinegar work very well. That is how “Kepin’ Up Chyna” grew her locs fast. .
5. Minimize Breakage
Excessive manipulation and tension are two major culprits in loc breakage, and the way to avoid them is to:
- Give your locs enough time before retwisting, ideally once every 6 weeks in case you have starter locs; mature locs can withstand more frequent retwists or reties though.
- Continuously moisturize to avoid brittleness
- Avoid wearing tight styles (e.g., ponytails) in your locs since these cause breakage along the hairline. Wear your locs loose around the hairline.
- Avoid over-washing your locs as this dries out the scalp leading to flaking, itchiness and loc thinning. Wash your locs every 2-3 weeks at the very least, and then dry them thoroughly to prevent odors. Ideally, wait for 1-2 weeks before washing your starter locs to allow them time to set and mature a little.
- Deep condition your locs every 1-2 weeks to keep them healthy and less prone to breaking, but note this applies only to matured locs.
7. Consistency is key
It might be cliché to say a rolling stone gathers no moss, but caring for your hair in fits-and-starts is not going to do you much good in the end.
You have to continuously care for your hair so that you can:
- Improve scalp health
- Retain hair moisture
- Reduce shredding, split ends and breakage
- Reduce the danger of harmful UV rays
Being consistent enables you to adjust and improve what you do for better results. It helps you to refine techniques, be efficient and ultimately improve the growth of your locs.
8. Patience
As you remain consistent (this will pay off in the end), remember that hair growth is a gradual process, and impatience can lead to frustration. They say patience is a virtue; we say it is a friend that sticks close to your dream.
Give your locs time to grow without being too anxious for results; this is not instant coffee (It also goes through brewing!).
9. Attend to Underlying Health Conditions
Your locs may seem like they are not growing, and the reason could be an underlying medical condition. Find out the root cause and address it. Some example of conditions that could be slowing down your loc growth include:
Focullitis: An infection and inflammation of the hair follicles caused by bacteria, yeast and fungi.
Seborrheic dermatitis: A scaly, oily scalp caused by overproduction of sebum (oil in the hair follicles); increases the chances of infections.
Psoriasis: While this is not common on scalp, it can cause inflammation on the hair follicles, bleeding and scarring; and in some cases, it leads to hair loss and stunted hair growth.
Telogon effluvium (severe but temporary hair loss due stress from, say, menopause)
Consult a healthcare professional should you suspect any health-related issues.
How Fast Do Locs Grow?
According to the National Library of Medicine, hair and in this case locs, grow at an average rate of 0.35 mm/day, 1 cm/month, or 15 cm/year. [1]
This however varies from person to person, influenced by factors such as genetics, overall health, and hair care practices.
Role of Genetics
Genes are just that, genes, a fact of nature over which we have no control. When genetics rears its head (to compete with your own head of locs) you are left with little, if anything to do. For example, where male-/ female-pattern hair loss occurs, the options thin out.
Since genetics influence hair texture, thickness and growth rate of hair, take things with the serenity of someone who understands and accepts that which you cannot change. But you may resort to supplements or changing your lifestyle to slow the hair loss.
Natural Loc Growth Process
Locs take time to mature as they go through various loc stages and before maturity it may seem as though the locs are not growing. To learn more about the natural loc growth process, we have done a detailed article on: “Why are my locs not growing“
If we had our way, we would happily point a “magic wand” at your locs, and voila! You would have a full head of ‘happy-looking’ locs. But that can’t be, for even science does not pretend there is a quick fix.
So, just be patient and you will not notice the time pass. In any case, there is little to nothing else to do to change this natural process. Yet you can rest assured that your locs will soon be all-grown and beautiful.
