Does Relaxed Hair Grow Faster than Natural Hair?

Does Relaxed Hair Grow Faster Than Natural Hair?

  • Yes

    Votes: 34 4.1%
  • No

    Votes: 455 55.2%
  • Depends on the person and hair type.

    Votes: 215 26.1%
  • Don't Know

    Votes: 121 14.7%

  • Total voters
    825
  • Poll closed .

seraphim712

Well-Known Member
After reading the thread wanna go natural, it reminded me to ask the question I keep forgetting to ask every time I come to LHCF. Does relaxed hair grow much faster than natural hair?

I just happen to wonder because it seems that most ladies on here who are relaxed seem to have better hair growth progress in having relaxed hair and stretching in between touch ups. Believe me, I've seen some beautiful heads of hair on this forum that's natural, but it just seems so much easier to have relaxed hair and watch for the new growth, and care for it.

I've been natural for three years after transitioning from relaxed hair. I didn't realize however how much thicker and coarser my hair is. It also seems to grow much slower in comparison when I had relaxed hair. Does it have something to do with my curl pattern being much looser allowing moisture to sink in? I ask this because now that I'm natural, every time I add moisture, my hair seems to drink it up and dry out like a desert. I only wash twice a week and add light oils such as grapeseed and jojoba. But the only time I seem to be getting anywhere is when my hair flat ironed and not tightly coiled in natural curls. I hope to use caruso steam rollers to do the trick in making my hair a bit more manageable.

I apologize, I just had to vent out my frustration at that moment. But I am still curious for your answers and opinions.
 

♦K.O♦

New Member
I believe that the growth rate is the same for healthy relaxed and natural heads. The difference that you are talking about may be in the retention of hair. I dont know, but if I were to theorize, maybe the looser curl pattern of relaxed hair facilitates (for some people) better retention because there is less manipulation?

Hmmmm.
 

chayil0427

New Member
I've been natural and relaxed and my hair growth was the same. It's just harder to tell because of the shrinkage with natural hair.

And often times relaxers are dont improperly and cause damage so the hair is breaking and seems to grow more slowly.

Chayil
 

*Michelle*

Well-Known Member
seraphim712 said:
After reading the thread wanna go natural, it reminded me to ask the question I keep forgetting to ask every time I come to LHCF. Does relaxed hair grow much faster than natural hair?

I just happen to wonder because it seems that most ladies on here who are relaxed seem to have better hair growth progress in having relaxed hair and stretching in between touch ups. Believe me, I've seen some beautiful heads of hair on this forum that's natural, but it just seems so much easier to have relaxed hair and watch for the new growth, and care for it.

I've been natural for three years after transitioning from relaxed hair. I didn't realize however how much thicker and coarser my hair is. It also seems to grow much slower in comparison when I had relaxed hair. Does it have something to do with my curl pattern being much looser allowing moisture to sink in? I ask this because now that I'm natural, every time I add moisture, my hair seems to drink it up and dry out like a desert. I only wash twice a week and add light oils such as grapeseed and jojoba. But the only time I seem to be getting anywhere is when my hair flat ironed and not tightly coiled in natural curls. I hope to use caruso steam rollers to do the trick in making my hair a bit more manageable.

I apologize, I just had to vent out my frustration at that moment. But I am still curious for your answers and opinions.

Generally this is true because (in short) the hairs are not causing friction amongst them selves.

IMO...what you do to your hair (relax, natural) has nothing to do with the growth. It is all about RETENTION. Hair grows from the INSIDE, what we do or don't do on the outside will make a difference in retention.

Maybe during your period of slower growth there was something going on internally, maybe you were stressed more, maybe you took for granted that your hair was natural and just going to grow so you didn't take care the best care of it like you did your relaxed hair. There are just so many variables...

Are you using the same products as when you were relaxed?

I wish you all the best and know you will get some great advice...hang in there girl!! ;)
 

VeryBecoming

Devil's Avocado
I don't think the hair grows faster. It's all natural when it grows out of your scalp. I'm sure shrinkage with natural hair makes it appear that it isn't growing as much. Also, there's no new growth so you can't actually see where the new hair has come in.
 

cmw45

Well-Known Member
AlexB7 said:
I don't think the hair grows faster. It's all natural when it grows out of your scalp. I'm sure shrinkage with natural hair makes it appear that it isn't growing as much. Also, there's no new growth so you can't actually see where the new hair has come in.

I agree...I think that shrinkage makes is seem link natural hair doesn't grow as fast, but I def. don't think that's true. My hair is THRIVING now...something it didn't do when I had relaxers, because the relaxers bothered my scalp so much.:ohwell: :( :mad:
 

meia

New Member
cmw45 said:
I agree...I think that shrinkage makes is seem link natural hair doesn't grow as fast, but I def. don't think that's true. My hair is THRIVING now...something it didn't do when I had relaxers, because the relaxers bothered my scalp so much.:ohwell: :( :mad:

I AGREE! My hair seems to be growing more now than ever and quicker (which its never done before). I think it appears, when you have a relaxer, to grow a lot quicker but its only because when you get a touch-up, you're only straightening out the new growth and so it feels like its growing faster. Honestly? its just because the new growth is straight....for years I believed this but then I realized I only noticed the growth when i touched-up and not really otherwise.

Even if you do just grow your hair out natural, imagine how much less breakage is faced versus the shedding from relaxers. I don't know this is just my personal experience- but the relaxers irritated me and made my hair thin something fierce..
 

Blackoutzangel05

New Member
I don't believe that having relaxed hair makes your hair grow faster, just more noticeable. People that have natural hair have to give just as much TLC to their hair as relaxed people and that is where the common misconception is. I find that some naturals don't believe that they have to do anything to their hair because its natural,however, with the hair coiling around each other and constant friction it does take work. Even though my hair is short because I just BC'ed I notice that I have to work moisturizers down my hair shaft where before I could just apply and run through. Nope not now, I apply dabs in sections and ensure its getting to my ends. I can tell that this is going to take longer when my hair gets longer but that is okay with me, its just something that I have to do. Natural hair takes just as much care and maybe even more so then relaxed hair....
 

LocksOfLuV

New Member
As a WHOLE (everyone has varying factors) I don't think one type grows faster than another.

You just SEE the length more because there is less shrinkage with relaxed hair.
 

PinkPeony

Well-Known Member
Isn't ng natural hair...

We don't have relaxed hair growing OUT of our head:lachen:

ok....sawry again,I just GOT the thread:perplexed :lol:
 

seraphim712

Well-Known Member
Pixel Lady said:
Generally this is true because (in short) the hairs are not causing friction amongst them selves.

IMO...what you do to your hair (relax, natural) has nothing to do with the growth. It is all about RETENTION. Hair grows from the INSIDE, what we do or don't do on the outside will make a difference in retention.

Maybe during your period of slower growth there was something going on internally, maybe you were stressed more, maybe you took for granted that your hair was natural and just going to grow so you didn't take care the best care of it like you did your relaxed hair. There are just so many variables...

Are you using the same products as when you were relaxed?

I wish you all the best and know you will get some great advice...hang in there girl!! ;)

No, after coming to this forum and reading about all of the products that are better for the hair. I threw all my old ones away. They all had alchol based ingredients which I knew was a huge mistake for my hair.

I really want to try henna, but fear that it will cause my hair to clump together.
 

justNikki

Well-Known Member
I was relaxed for over 15 years and I'm natural now. My hair grew fast with the relaxer and without it. The difference is, I actually retain more healthy hair (thickness all the way to the ends) with natural hair than I did with relaxed hair. I can grow long hair either way, but being natural allows me a little more freedom so I'm not babying my hair all of the time to retain the ends. You can definitely see the length more in relaxed hair, but you can flat iron natural hair occassionally to see the length as well.
 

joyous

Well-Known Member
MizzEsq said:
I believe that the growth rate is the same for healthy relaxed and natural heads. The difference that you are talking about may be in the retention of hair. I dont know, but if I were to theorize, maybe the looser curl pattern of relaxed hair facilitates (for some people) better retention because there is less manipulation?

Hmmmm.

As a natural I agree.
 

Valerie

Well-Known Member
Both hair relaxed and natural grows the same, but with natural hair, there is shrinkage and it is sometimes difficult to see the growth.
 

lovenharmony

ET / OT Bonafide Member
I voted it depends on the person and hair type that determines the growth rate. Hair grows nonetheless and it depends on how you take care of your hair that determines how much you retain, which is important for noticing that your hair is growing. Relaxers straighten the hair, so it looks as if it's growing faster, but I've seen to many natural ladies on here whose natural hair grows like a weed to believe otherwise!
 

Cichelle

Well-Known Member
I could not retain growth beyond BSL with relaxers. Now that I am natural, I am able to retain the growth and my hair is longer than it ever was relaxed. If the growth rate is better now, it has to do with other factors, like nutrition, rather than the relaxed/natural difference. IMO.
 

STLCoverGirl

New Member
AlexB7 said:
I don't think the hair grows faster. It's all natural when it grows out of your scalp. I'm sure shrinkage with natural hair makes it appear that it isn't growing as much. Also, there's no new growth so you can't actually see where the new hair has come in.

ITA, I think it grows at the same rate, but with shrinkage it is harder to see growth.
 

Keen

Well-Known Member
STLCoverGirl said:
ITA, I think it grows at the same rate, but with shrinkage it is harder to see growth.

Yeah, I'm surprise so many people says it depends on hair type.
 

nikkivale

New Member
STLCoverGirl said:
ITA, I think it grows at the same rate, but with shrinkage it is harder to see growth.

Don't mean to get off topic but STL CoverGirl Your hair is so Beautiful!:)
 

RegaLady

New Member
I think they grow the same rate. Chemicals have nothing to do with growing from the scalp. I think they affect the hair and the way it is treated. Relaxed hair shows easy because the hair is stretched beyond what natural hair can be. But, nothing grows faster than than the other.
 

halee_J

Don't worry be happy
No I don't see why it should, but due to shrinkage it can appear that way. I'm transtioning and it feels like its taking foorrreverrrr for my hair to grow out :ohwell:

Also I think that people assume that natural hair does not need TLC and don't mosturize and/or protective style regularly and that can give rise to retention issues, which can also make the hair appear like its not growing.

JMHO.
 

LaPetiteCoquette

New Member
I would venture to say that for most people it doesn't GROW faster in one state vs. the other, however for some people they RETAIN more in its natural state and for others they RETAIN more if it's regularly relaxed (this seems more the case for transitioners rather than ladies who BC). It's retention that's the issue. I am a slow grower. It definitely didn't speed up when I transitioned and was chem free for a year. However, I lost a lot of hair due to breakage at the line of demarcation. So for me, since I will never BC, I need to keep my hair regularly relaxed to decrease the chances of breakage. I stretch 9 weeks and I slowly want to work my way up to 13 weeks and I think that's all my hair can stand.
 
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MAMATO

Well-Known Member
I think the growth rate is the same, but when you relax bone straigth it is easier to see the difference of length compared to a natural head of hair even straightened. When it comes to retention, it depends on the person. I have a 4a-4b thick hair, I retain more length relaxed cause I don't have to deal with all the knots I used to have when I was natural. I used to lose a lot of hair every week while detangling. But everybody is different, not all naturals have that kinds of problems.
 

ebonylocs

New Member
I would venture to say that .... it doesn't GROW faster in one state vs. the other, however for some people they RETAIN more in its natural state and for others they RETAIN more if it's regularly relaxed. It's retention that's the issue.

Agreed. That, plus shrinkage.

OP, the answer to your question is a big NO. That wouldn't make sense. It's all natural when it comes out of your scalp anyway.

As a natural, I grew my hair from scratch to BSL in 3 years. HOWEVER: I didn't KNOW it was BSL until I finally relaxed. Natural, it looked huge, but shoulder length - its true length didn't SHOW. Even my housemates who were like "Oh your hair grew so much since a couple of months ago." And I was like, "Uh. No. Then it was shrunken. Now it's all stretched out."

Now for the issue of RETENTION. As long as I low mani-and protect, I retain fairly well both natural and relaxed. However I find relaxers dangerous because of the possibility of overprocessing - double processing recently caused me to have a lot of split ends, which I recently cut off, so I'm stuck at BSL. I do believe if I had stayed natural, my hair STRETCHED would have been waistlength by now. But the thing is, I would NOT have SEEN that length on a daily basis - which for me was a problem. It's a Catch 22 dilemma.

Other 4A/4B ladies that are not as low-mani as me, might have slight problems retaininig with natural hair, because that kind of natural hair is prone to tangling, so if you're ripping a comb through it a lot - just yanking it through when it gets caught - then you're basically giving yourself a mini haircut every time you comb. So for 4Bers who like to comb their hair a lot, maybe straight from root to end is the way to go - for retention sake. But like I said, for me that wasn't an issue as a natural, because I was perfectly fine with wearing twists for two weeks at a time and combing very rarely.
 
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