Dreadlocks can be made for a fun look, but people often worry about their hair growth when it’s knotted.
Dreadlocks can actually grow as fast as regular hair but demand some special care. If you want your hair to grow faster, consider having a healthy diet. Doing so ensures that you’re consuming the right vitamins and minerals that can boost hair growth.
You should also wash your hair frequently to keep it healthy.
Changing Your Diet
Looking for another motivation to commit to a healthy diet this year? Well, wanting to grow your dreads faster can be one.
A diet loaded with Vitamin E and A will promote hair growth, not to mention all of the other health benefits they will have on your skin and nails. Foods abundant in Vitamin E are Almonds, Spinach, Sunflower Seeds, Avocado, and Wheat Germ.
Meanwhile, you can naturally improve your vitamin A consumption with carrots, broccoli, kale, spinach, and beef liver. Sweet potato carries both vitamin A and E.
Consuming these veggies raw drastically improves the number of vitamins your body gets to enjoy. That’s where a juicer or eating some salad could come in handy.
Bonus Tip: Add a small amount of Flaxseed oil for those Omega-3 fatty acids that can stimulate hair follicles.
Get more vitamin A. Vitamin A can help make your hair grow faster. If you’re looking to grow out your dreads quickly, find some way to include more vitamin A in your diet each day.
- Liver, fish oils, milk, and eggs are great sources of vitamin A.
- Vitamin A can be obtained in fruits and vegetables like leafy greens, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, carrots, squash, apricot, and broccoli.
Up your vitamin E intake. Vitamin E can also assist with hair growth. Try combining extra vitamin E into your diet and see if your dreads grow faster.
- Nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils are a few of the best sources of vitamin E. It is also obtained in leafy green vegetables and fortified cereals.
- Sunflower seeds, almonds, hazelnuts, corn oil, peanut butter, and peanuts are also great sources of vitamin E.
- You can also get vitamin E in spinach, kiwi, tomato, and mango.
Add flaxseed oil to your diet. A small amount of flaxseed oil can boost hair growth. Try picking up some flaxseed oil at a local grocery store and add them to your diet.
- Sprinkle ground flaxseed over various foods throughout the day. You can also sprinkle it over fruits, vegetables, yogurts, and cereals. Try adding it to hummus recipes and butter.
- Look for things like bread, muffins, and other wheat items that are enriched with flaxseed oil at your local supermarket.
Increase your protein intake. Protein supports hair health. If you want to grow out your dreads faster, look for protein-rich foods and include them into your diet.
- Fish, whole grains, nuts, and beans are great sources of protein.
Take a biotin supplement. Biotin and other B vitamins help enhance the overall look of both your hair and skin. Add more biotin to your diet by consuming more nuts, eggs, and cauliflower, or just simply include a biotin supplement once a day with one of your meals.
Caring for Your Hair
If your dreadlocks are new, your stylist has presumably told you to stay away from washing them for the first month or so. And that’s excellent advice.
When new dreadlocks suck up all that water, your newly done dreads can puff up and go fluffy, ruining all of your hard work. There is also what we call “dread rot,” which results to leaving your hair damp often.dBut it’s not just the new dreads that require this proper care. Water can damage and wreak havoc on any kind of hair type, causing the fibers to dilate and weaken, which can lead to breakage.
If you desire to maximize the long-term fullness of your dreadlocks, you need to make sure they’re going to last. This means keeping them dry and strong after every wash.
Here’s how you can do it:
1. Wash your dreads early in the morning, so they have enough time to dry.
2. Begin ringing out your dreads at the end of your shower to eliminate any excess water.
3. Wrap your dreadlocks in a fast-absorbing microfibre hair towel to seep the water from inside your dreads.
4. Leave your hair uncovered for the rest of the day to let it dry naturally.
Microfiber towels dry twice as fast as a normal towel and help you avoid the damage caused by rubbing and hair dryers.
Here are some tips on how you can take care of your growing dreads:
Wash your hair once a week. Many people think dreads should not be washed. However, it is something you should do one a week two weeks after your dreads are done.
For the best results, scan for shampoos specially designed to wash dreads. Be sure to rinse your hair completely for 2-5 minutes so the shampoo won’t leave residue in your dreads.
Shampoo that is not correctly washed out can produce flaking and drying.
Care for your hair at night. Preserving your scalp at night can help your dreads grow quicker. Wrap your dread with a scarf, blanket, or hair cap. Silk caps work particularly great.
Do this every night to keep your dreads secure as well as promote growth. If shedding is the problem, wrapping your hair before bed can also help catch loose hairs.
Massage your scalp. Lightly massaging your scalp for five minutes once a day can keep your hair healthy, stop dead skin cells from building up, stimulate blood flow, and support growth. This will also make you feel relaxed.
A scalp massage will improve blood flow to your scalp, spurring your hair follicles for faster growth.
Apply castor oil or coconut oil to your hair. Once a week, before shampooing, combine castor oil and coconut oil then apply the mixture to your hair. Let it rest for about 30 minutes and then rinse it out. This can make your dreads grow faster in a couple of weeks.
Get More Blood Running to Your Luscious Locks
Just like any other part of your body, your hair requires a constant supply of nutrients to grow and flourish. And without healthy blood flow to provide those nutrients to the hair, your dreadlocks could end up starved and less likely to grow.
Luckily, there are loads of natural ways to develop the blood flow to your hair to keep your dreads happy. You could try:
- Getting more regular exercise. Yoga is exceptionally good for getting more blood to the head, thanks to all of those upside-down poses!
- Massaging your scalp. Just a few minutes every day can help to produce more blood on your hair.
- Eating better. Foods that have lots of iron can enhance your circulation, while hot spices like cayenne or chili peppers can cause your blood vessels to dilate. This allows more blood to get to where it’s needed.
Use Natural Oils to Boost and Grow Your Hair
There are loads of drugs and substances available in the market that claim to help your hair grow faster. But there is also an abundance of natural options that have been used for hundreds of years.
Castor oil (made from compressed castor seeds) is stuffed with proteins and beneficial fatty acids. It’s loaded with antioxidants that promote the keratin in your hair, and it has lots of ricinoleic acids, which can help to develop blood circulation in the scalp.
Unfortunately, it’s also a bit dense and sticky. So some people prefer to combine it with coconut oil to make it more comfortable to use.
However, make sure that you are not allergic to castor oil or coconut oil. To do that, apply a small amount on a small area of skin first. Wait a day or two to see if it has adverse effects.
Give your hair some physical protection
You won’t reap the benefits of all the growth-boosting tips in the world if you don’t help your dreadlocks to survive once they grow.
You can protect them from damage and breakage by:
- Covering them in a scarf or silk cover when you’re sleeping. This helps to lessen friction and prevent them from drying out. Look for a head covering that works for you and your locks while you sleep. Also, a fabric made of cotton can reduce or eliminate any unnecessary lint, dust, or any other flying particle that likes to nestle in your locks. Cotton may also dry out your locks and scalp, so it’s definitely a fabric you want to bypass when possible.
- Looking for a reliable conditioning treatment to help lock in your hair’s natural oils.
- Getting yourself a swimming cap with lots of space to keep your locks dry and safe in the shower or the swimming pool.
In general, you should keep your locks covered in a certain fabric for certain situations, especially when you know you will be in a dusty environment, to avoid any additional risks.
Don’t Over Twist
There are times when twisting is needed and then there are times where you don’t even realize that you have been twisting your locks for the past 15 minutes. While it’s essential to twist your dreads, too much twisting can lead to hair damage.
Stay Happy and Stress-Free
That’s not just great hair advice – it’s great life advice.
When you’re dealing with something stressful, your body produces extra adrenaline and cortisol. Sure, getting stressed is inevitable. But chronic stress pushes your body to produce DHT.
This stress hormone can make your hair follicles shrink, slowing down hair production.
Trying Other Means
Talk to a hairdresser. If your hair is not growing as fast as you want it to be despite your efforts, see a hairdresser. Go over your hair care cycle to see if you’re doing anything wrong. A certified hairdresser should be able to help you achieve the hair length you desire.
Try a supplement. You can purchase supplements online that are designed to help dreads grow faster. However, you should always consult your doctor before attempting any dietary supplement. You should do it as a last resort.
Get more sleep. Make sure you’re getting ample sleep. Poor sleep practices can harm your health, including your rate of hair growth. Also, make sure that you are using the correct pillow. A silk pillow helps stop hair from tangling and breaking.
Don’t rush it!
Growing any type of hair takes time and meticulous maintenance. More so with dreadlocks. So you need to be patient.
In particular, you should avoid:
- Applying hair-growth drugs that aren’t well-researched or well-tested. There are lots of companies ensuring faster hair growth, but they won’t always have your health as their top priority.
- Taking too many re-twists too often. Excessive twisting can thin the hair and produce damage. Re-twist your hair once a month instead,
- Overloading on vitamins and supplements. Some hair supplements help your hair to grow faster. But you should always consult your doctor before you take new supplements.
Make sure that the products you are using to twist, lock, and clean your hair are all-natural products and not loaded with unnecessary junk that will create build-up in your locks.
Many unnatural products may dry out your locks and scalp creating more unnecessary breakage and frizz. Sometimes these products smell, work, and seem great at the beginning. But it can cause irreversible damage later on.
Myths and Facts on How to Grow Healthy Locs
There are a bunch of myths and errors when it comes to having dreadlocks, particularly making them grow. All of it comes from a shortage of information on how to care for, nourish, and keep your locks.
We see several individuals with locks and just begin conjuring up random thoughts on how they’re able to achieve it. That’s said, we’re here to debunk some myths about having healthy dreads.
- Your Hair Will Grow Fast: Your hair will grow at the same pace that it did whether it’s natural, relaxed, or jerry curled. Locs don’t get your hair to grow any faster than it usually does. Our hair only grows an average of ½ inch a month. It may grow faster because of your genetics or slower because of health conditions. Overall, everyone’s hair grows at the same pace.
- You Don’t Have to Maintain Your Locs: A lot of people believe individuals with locks don’t care for their hair, which is very far from the truth. You still must care for your hair, whether you have dreads or not. Although having dreadlocks may require less maintenance, you still need to manage it well. More so if you apply oils, gels, or mists.
- You Don’t Have to Wash Your Locs, Ever: This is also far from the truth. You do need to wash your hair to keep it healthy. After applying various products on your dreads, sweaty hands, furry orbits form our sheets and pillowcases, our hair moves through a lot. In addition, sebum is building up on our scalp to cover new growth. So, you must cleanse your scalp regularly to eliminate all the dust, debris, gunk, product buildup, excess oil, and sebum. This leaves the scalp free and ready to breathe.
- You Have to Go to a Loctician: It’s unnecessary to visit a loctician everyday. That’s because you can take care of your dreads within the comforts of your home.
Final Thoughts
So, you’ve already committed to keeping dreads and making it grow faster. The first step is to go natural and maintain good health. That way, you will notice positive results.
You should also keep in mind that growing healthy dreadlocks demands time and patience. And while there are lots of dubious ‘hair growth solutions’ out there, we prefer to stick to more natural ways – well-tested ones and low-risk.
Hopefully, a few of the methods listed here can work for you in achieving happy and healthy dreadlocks that grow faster.
