Hair stopped growing? 23 best tips & remedies to reverse it.

I understand your concern…

That, you have been doing anything and everything to ensure the optimal health and growth of your hair but for quite some time, you are observing that your hair’s length is not improving like it used to be.

So, looking in the mirror in an understandable frustration, you are asking all sorts of these questions to your inner self like… 

“Ugh, why the hell won’t my hair grow while I have been following the best hair care regimen possible ?, Do hair stop growing past a certain point of age?, Do my hair have stopped growing simply because of my recent hair color treatment?” 

So, do you want to find out why your hair is potentially stunted?; what can you do to come out of this hair growth plateau and what are some of the best tips and home remedies to stimulate the growth of your hair? 

If you want to get the answer to your question as to why my hair have stopped growing, then missing this post is not an option for you.

How long and quickly hair grow?

Before you even make an opinion that your hair growth has stopped, you first need to understand how long normal hair grows in a time period, like a week, a month or a year. 

Given that your hair are adequately taken care of according to the AAD, on average, hair grows about 1/2 inch per month. However, depending on various factors like illness, hormonal activity, diet, and genetics and play a part in slowing or pacing this very digit of hair growth.

Potential reasons your hair have stopped growing

Let’s be clear on one thing. While it is true that your hair hasn’t stopped growing altogether but one thing is certain that there are some factors that can greatly slow down their growth and look as if they are stunted of some sort.

In fact, your hair follicles growth cycle comprising of 4 different phases that determine the length and health of a person’s hair.

So, it follows that any cause/factor that can disrupt this normal 4-period phase is a potential cause of slowing down or deteriorating your overall hair health & growth.

The following are the potential causes that can explain why your hair has stopped growing.

1. Your Genes

You would probably already know this that everything about your body is determined by the genes you have inherited from your parents and your har are not immune to this i.e your hair lengths, color, volume, etc, everything is decided by your genes.

So, these are the genes that influence your hair growth cycle. Your genetics decide the maximum length your hair can reach in a growth cycle, beyond which they will no longer be able to grow and grow will either break off, shed, or be cut off at your hair salon.

Furthermore, since each strand of hair has its own different growth cycle, that’s why you would find there are varying lengths of hair strands in your head.

 So, how good you treat your hair, they would simply not grow while they have entered into this no-growing hair cycle ( typically it can last for 2-5 years) determined exclusively by your DNA.

2. You are aging

Just like your genes, your age could also be a potential factor why your hair has just stopped growing altogether.

On one hand, years of using heat styling, processing, bleaching, dyeing, and an unbalanced diet lead to the weakening of your hair’s ability to grow. On the other hand, as you age, your scalp naturally produces less of its oil which yields coarse, dry hair prone to easy breakage and falling down.

Recently studies have confirmed this too that aging alters the inner biology of hair which shortens your hair growth stage. This manifests in the frequent shedding, hair thinning and ultimately a stunted hair growth.

3. Having a poor diet

I am sure you are a strong believer in the idea that ‘you are as healthy as your diet’. So, the healthier your body, the healthier your skin and healthier your scalp & hair growth.

A well-balanced, hair-friendly nutrients/vitamin-rich diet with adequate iron, vitamin D, B-complex, calcium, potassium, zinc, and biotin in your diet means extra nourishment for your scalp, which leads to strong, long, beautiful hair.

A diet deficient in these nutrients and minerals can easily prevent your hair follicles from adequate nourishment which can manifest in the form of weakening of your tresses, hair loss and ultimately an apparent stunted growth.

Therefore, if you don’t your hair to stunt at one point of time, do at least what you can do i.e maintain a diet rich in eggs, chicken, salmon, avocados, legumes, lamb, turkey, and pumpkin, etc.

4. Maintaining a poor hair care routine

A poor hair care routine can also be a potential cause of why you are witnessing a stunted hair growth. You are, unknowingly, probably these harmful things to your hair. Like.

As a result, these poor hair care routine habits ultimately lead to the overall weakening of your hair health leading to thinning, breakage, falling which can lead to an apparent stunted growth of your hair.

5. Your regular hair breakage

Hair breakage – Breaking and falling off your hair after reaching a certain length is one of the best ways to stop your hair growth altogether.

You are doing the hard work to maintain a healthy hair care routine for your health but if they are splitting up at the ends, breaking and falling off, you go back to square 1. 

For instance, since hair normally grows about half an inch in a month, if it keeps breaking off at nearly the same rate, you would feel as if your hair are stunting and not growing at all.

Again various factors like poor hair care routine, poor handling of your hair and poor diet can cause extreme dryness leading to this regular breakage phenomenon.

6. Aggressive hair styling & treatments

Another potential reason why you are witnessing a stunted hair growth could possibly be due to your aggressive treatment & styling of your hair.

While a minimal usage of hair treatments like dying, relaxing, bleaching and hair straightening is fine, but once you overdo these, you are surely damaging your hair cuticle which causes hair to become dull, brittle, and frizzy. 

Furthermore, unfriendly hairstyling strategies like tight buns, ponytails, aggressive brushing and complicated hairstyles involving backcombing and others can be quite damaging for your overall hair too.

This all ultimately leads to split ends and breakage making it apparently impossible for your hair to grow past a certain length.

7. Having an unhealthy scalp

It is that simple. To grow out your healthy hair, your hair care efforts need to be focusing on nourishing your hair roots in the scalp. But taking appropriate care of your scalp can be fruitless if it is unresponsive to your healthy hair care treatments

Put simply, If it is having a lot of build-ups accumulated over time due to its natural oil, topical hair products & other oil treatments which lead to blocking of hair follicles ultimately putting a temporary blockade over your hair growth.

So, it is in the best interest of your hair health that you steer clear of any hair products that have buildup forming silicone-based ingredients in it. 

Also, don’t forget to use a good clarifying shampoo to keep away any scalp building impurities so that you are receptive to your healthy hair treatments to keep your hair growing.

8. Not getting enough hair trims

If your hair are not growing then it’s probably time to revisit your hair cutting strategy. Trying to avoid regular hair cuts just to maintain your hair length would not help if you have hit a hair growth plateau.

You need to realize that once your hair reaches there, your hair naturally tends to break or split up. So, until and unless you are not going to get rid of these split ends by routinely trimming, you are not going to get over this plateau and stimulate further hair growth.

So, trimming your hair regularly and maintaining proper hair care routine coupled with good hair products and nutrient-rich dieting can keep your hair from hitting a hair growth plateau.

9. Having certain skin conditions on the scalp

It is quite rare but when it happens, your hair growth is virtually halted for the time period. More often than not, poor hair care habits and unhealthy scalp can lead to various hair growth-inhibiting like 

• Seborrheic dermatitis,
• Psoriasis
• Fungal infections like ringworm
• Alopecia Areata ( an auto-immune disease leading to rapid hair fall)

10. Hormonal imbalances

Quite rare, but when it happens, you can witness a virtual halt in your hair growth and health. Particularly, these two types of hormonal imbalance are commonly associated with hair loss, thinning and ultimately blockage of hair growth.

11. Thyroid hormonal imbalance

The thyroid is an important regulatory hormone in our bodies but when its imbalance happens, hypothyroidism, due to certain reasons, your hair growth is directly going to be affected, potentially leading to hair fall and stunted hair growth.

12. Pregnancy & childbirth hormonal imbalance

Most women can suffer from this, known as postpartum hair loss, during their pregnancy and childbirth lasting up to 8-12 months which can directly affect the health and growth of your hair.

However, this is easily curable with a healthy diet, good hair care routine and appropriate hair supplements  & topical care.

13. You are having high levels of stress

While you might not apparently believe this but does have a serious impact on your hair health and growth.

The science of high stress is that when you are under high physical or psychological stress, it stimulates the production of a stress hormone called “telogen effluvium”, which prematurely sends your hair growth in a dormant stage/phase called “telogen” which can restrict about 30-40% of your normal hair growth, thus giving you an apparent stunted hair growth.

However, this does not last for more than 6 months and various stress-relieving techniques like meditation, yoga, psychological assessments, etc can easily help you come out of it.

Best Stress Relief Guides

What to do if your hair is not growing: How to get long hair regrowth?

So, you now know why your hair might not be growing, but you are wondering what to do next? Am I done and dusted and leave them on their own or can I revive them somehow? Very legit questions!

While it is truly disheartening to see your hair stunting and shattering your dream of having healthy, shiny and long tresses but if you figure out what exactly(from the above things mentioned) is stopping your hair growth, chances are ( in most cases, it is simply poor hair care & routine) you would be able to revive your hair growth.

As mentioned above, you don’t get disheartened by a temporary hair growth block. Most often than not, simply revisiting your hair routine and product usage can jumpstart your stalled hair growth towards healthy & long tresses.

So, find below what can you do to start living the dream of long, healthy, and shiny hair.

Best hair care and re-growth tips

It is that simple: If you want to get long and lustrous hair back, then you need to follow a dedicated long term hair care regimen than just doing it for a few days, weeks or months.

So here are the hair care tips to grow back long hair which have become stunted for now.

1. Regularly massage your scalp

Regularly massaging your scalp is one of the simplest yet most effective remedies to keeping your hair growing healthy.

Doing it regularly can greatly improve blood flow towards your scalp which can directly increase the supply of healthy nutrients to your head to promote long hair growth.

Good sources to massage your scalp are almond oil, coconut oil, and lavender oil which are proven for hair growth. You can easily get it done at the parlor, by a family member or friend, or simply by yourself.

Or you can automate with some very good scalp massager tools available online.

Best Scalp Massagers

2. Don’t use shampoo daily

Stop using shampoo daily on your hair as the regular contact of harsh ingredients in them like sulfates can further dry up your hair making them brittle, frizzy and prone to easy breakage/falling off.

Just using it for 2-3 times a week should be enough to remove dirt or product built up away to allow the natural penetration of your scalp’s oil to keep it well-moisturized.

3. Always follow shampoo with a good conditioner

Just like it is better to limit the use of shampoo daily, it is better to always follow shampoo with a good conditioner.

Conditioning helps your hair to seal the moisture in your hair shafts, give some shine and protect it from surrounding dirt and pollution and provide some healthy nourishment in the form of hair-friendly lips and proteins.

4. Do deep conditioning at least once a month

Deep conditioning is simply a hair conditioning on steroids. Hence, it is not that often but whenever you do, you can see your hair extra shiny, well-hydrated and well-nourished. All these qualities make deep conditioning a hard-to-miss ritual for your hair.

Best Deep Conditioners for Hair

5. Change your hair dealing practices

It is that simple. If you are careless while dealing with your hair strands, how good products or good hair care routine you have, you are not going to get healthy hair.

So you change your hair dealing habits and make them hair friendly.

These are.

1. Always be gentle while you are washing your hair
2. Always dry your hair gently (don’t do aggressive blow-drying or towel-drying)
3. Always brush your hair when they are dry (brushing on wet hair can lead to breakage)
4. Always use a wide-toothed comb ( A brush can break up your detangled hair strands)

Best Gentle Hair Brushes

6. Brush your hair twice a day

Brushing your hair twice a day will ensure you are not accumulating any scalp and evenly spreading out the natural oils of your scalp skin to keep your hair adequately moisturized.

7. Get a trim regularly

This will ensure that you are removing any potential roadblocks for hair growth as cutting off split ends tend to stimulate stalled hair growth.

8. Minimize harsh treatment & styling tools

It is that simple. If you don’t want to get serious damage to your delicate hair, then you have to promise yourself to minimize the harsh treatment you give to your hair in the form of heat-styling tools, hair-straightening, and hair-coloring treatments.

Over time, these can reduce the thickness, a sheen of your hair and making them appear dull and dry. Furthermore, you need to do these good things to your hair too.

1. Protect your hair from the sun & harmful surroundings by covering up as far as you can.
2. Never use tight ponytails as this can easily lead to breakage.

9. Maintain a diet rich in nutrients/vitamins/minerals

Your hair is what you are eating. If you are eating a hair-friendly healthy/vitamin-rich diet, this will be visible in the form of long, healthy and shiny hair.

Include a lot of proteins, minerals like iron, zinc, biotin, vitamin B-complex, vitamin E, etc and nutrient-rich leafy vegetables & fruits to maintain a balanced diet.

10. Drink plenty of water

Drink plenty of water to never let your hair run out of moisture. These help in improving the blood circulation to the scalp, in turn, promoting hair growth.

11. Manage your stress

Both physical and psychological stress has been scientifically proven to negatively affect your skin & hair health leading to a temporary reduction in growth.

Having a good night’s sleep, meditation, yoga, etc can easily help you out of this.

Best Stress Relief Guides

12. Take some hair growth supplements

Taking some market-based hair growth supplements can help quick regrowth of your hair. Using a gelatin supplement in the form of capsules or in dry shape is one good option to try out.

Best Hair Growth Supplements

Beautywised tip!

Savvy tips to make your hair appear longer-than-usual

Don’t worry if you have don’t have those lengthy tresses. Here are some nice tricks to make them appear a little longer.

1. Try layering  – This has been popular for quite some time to make your hair appear longer. For this, you can either go with a razor cut or step cut (anyone which can give you the most layers.)
2. Part from the middle – You might not have tried this but if you do, you would find out that your hair are surely looking some longer.
3. How-to-styling to make your hair longer – to make your hair look longer through styling, follow these guidelines.
4. Get dark color treatments – If you want to give the impression of long hair while you have not, you need to go for darker color treatments like reds, plums, chocolates, etc make them appear voluminous and hence longer.
5. Simply shampoo and condition your hair.
6. Towel dry your hair and add some mousse to give volume.
7. Now blow dry with your head looking down and focus it more on roots.
8. Now, using a round brush, try to add some waves at the ends and mess around a lit bit.
9. Try to get loose waves as it can make your short hair appear longer.

Top Home remedies for growing long & thick hair

You just don’t have to look in the market for some solid hair growth remedies. What if you could simply open your pantry and find some of the best natural treatment waiting for you to get your job done cheaply & quickly.

You need to at least give a try to these purely organic, homemade remedies to have a shot for those long, thick hair that you have dreamed off.

1. Coconut Oil for long hair

Rich in hair-friendly proteins, quality nutrients & minerals, and deeply moisturizing properties, it can easily percolate into your fine hair shafts to benefit your hair from the inside out and stimulate hair growth. 

what Do You need?

• 2-3 tbsps of coconut oil

How to use it?

1. Simply take the coconut oil in the mentioned quantities and gently massage on your scalp and leave it for 40-50 minutes to allow enough time to sink in. 
2. After this much time, simply rinse it off with slightly lukewarm water and use a good shampoo in the process.

Use this simple home remedy for 1-2 times a week and you would surely find some encouraging results.

Best Coconut Oils

2. Amla oil for long hair (Gooseberry)

A very popular treatment for long hair called “Indian Amla” in the subcontinent has been found to stimulate hair growth by elongating the growth phase of hair follicles called “anagen”.

What do you need?

• Simply 2-3 tbsp of amla oil

How to use it?

1. Simply take the Amla oil in the mentioned quantities and gently massage on your scalp and leave it for 40-50 minutes to allow enough time to sink in. 
2. After this much time, simply rinse it off with slightly lukewarm water and use a good shampoo in the process.

You need to do this for 1-2 times a week for best results.

Best Amla Oils

3. Yogurt for long hair

Full of quality hair-friendly proteins, deep moisturizing properties, and powerful cleansing properties, this makes it a perfect remedy for stimulating your hair growth.

Moreover, the rich probiotics found in it can provide good luster and prevent further hair loss.

What do you need?

• Just about half, ½ cup of plain yogurt

How to use it?

Simply use it daily on your breakfast or any other time. You can also use it as a weekly DIY hair protein pack mixed with egg over your head to use.

4. Fenugreek (methi) for long hair

Recent studies have confirmed that it is rich in bioactive compounds that can both reduce hair loss and promote long hair growth.

What do you need?

• About ¼ of a cup of just fenugreek or methi seeds
• About half, ½ a cup of water.

How to use it?

1. Take these methi seeds and leave them to soak overnight in a half cup of water.
2. Now, finely grind these soaked seeds and make a good thick paste.
3. Now, layer off this paste on your head as a mask and leave it for 30-40 minutes.
4. After this much time, simply rinse it off with cool water

You can do this 1-2 times a week for optimal results.

5. Onion Juice for long hair

Recent studies have found that onion juice is rich in phytochemical compounds that can stimulate hair growth. These benefits are also equally applicable for thinning and apparent balding of hair.

What do you need?

• Simply half, ½  a sliced onion juice.

How to use it?

1. Simply take the juice out of onion by putting it in a blender Or buy a readymade one.
2. Now, just lather this on your scalp and leave it for 30-40 minutes.
3. After this much time, simply rinse your head off with water and use a good shampoo in the process.

You can use this home remedy for long hair for 1-2 times a week safely without any side effects.

Best Onion Hair Oils

6. Green Tea for long hair

Rich in hair growth-promoting polyphenols and bioactive compounds, green tea can significantly stimulate hair growth and help you come out of a stalled hair growth period.

What do you need?

• About half, ½ a cup of boiling hot water
• Just 1 green tea bag

How to use it?

1. Simply put the green tea bag in hot boiling water for 5-10 minutes until it completely seeps into the water.
2. Now, just sip this tea as you would do with normal tea.

You can safely use this green tea hair long remedy daily without worrying about any side effects.

Consume green tea 1-2 times daily.

Best Green Teas

7. White egg yolk hair mask for long hair

Research has found that egg yolk contains powerful hair growth stimulating ingredients like peptides. It can also treat hair loss.

What do you need?

• Just a yolk of an egg

How to use it?

1. Simply force open an egg to take the yolk out of it and just whisk it.

what you have to do?

1. Extract the yolk from an egg and whisk it.
2. Now, simply lather this on your scalp and leave it for about 25-30 minutes.
3. After this much time, simply rinse it off your head and use a good shampoo in the process.

You can do it once a week safely for optimal results.

8. Henna for long hair

Henna is a very popular scalp treating treatment that has shown to benefit hair loss and balding.

What do you need?

• Simply a bowl full of henna powder
• About a cup of water

How to use it?

1. Simply make a paste out of henna powder and water.
2. Now, apply this evenly over your scalp and leave it for an hour or so before rinsing it off with cool water.

You can do this simple hair remedy once a week safely.

Best Henna Products

9. Curry Leaves for long hair

Packed with healthy proteins, moisture and growth nutrients make it a very good natural remedy for aiming at long hair.

What do you need?

• Simply a handful of curry leaves
• About ½, half a cup of coconut oil

How to use it?

1. Simply put curry leaves in a bowl having coconut oil int and heat up to let the juice of curry leaves flow into coconut oil.
2. Now, simply cool this mixture down and strain out the liquid.
3. Apply this oil over your scalp like a gentle massage and leave it for half an hour.
4. After this much time, simply rinse it off with a good shampoo

You can safely use this long hair remedy for 1-2 times a week

10. Fish oil for long hair

• Rich in omega-3 fatty acids & other bioactive compounds, this home remedy effectively can promote hair growth.
• Most of the fish oil supplements available have DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) which have been found to reverse the thinning and the resulting baldness from it.

Best Omega-3 Options

Best foods for promoting hair growth

How good your remedies are, if you are not doing something from within, you are never going to realize the dream of long, lustrous and voluminous hair.

Just as topical treatments & hair care is important, dietary treatment is equally important to, if you are looking for long term hair health & growth.

Here are a few of the best foods you can eat to ensure long hair growth

• Eggs
• Berries
• Spinach
• Fatty fish
• Avocadoes
• Nuts & seeds
• Soya beans 
• Shrimps
• Meat 

FAQs