OKay, all hair grows (unless youre bald or sufering from alopecia or chemo or other things like that) What you have to wory about is retaining the growh. Now my hair will retain growth no matter what I do to it. I can say over the years Ive pretty much tortured my hair and still had growth and length but thats not what you should aim for. HEALTH of the hair is what you want.
Once again that differs per person. My hair is healthiest in its natural state. Yes it was nice relaxed but thinner. Nowthat Im transitioning my hair is way thicker and healthier.
Do I use protective styles? Yes and no. WHen my hair is out, its out. When its braided its protected. I sleep without a scarf, I wash when I feel like it, and I use almost every banned product (see my siggy
)
AND I havent combed my hair in 4 days and still my hair grows with VERY minimal breakage. But everyone hair isnt like that so please dont do what I do.
When my hair was bra strap I wore my hair wrapped 85% of the time. I did wear a scarf then (sometimes) but I was still abusing my hair in other ways (dye, etc)
So in conclusion (you couldve skipped all the rest down to this part
) Yes you can grow your hair without using protective styles but it all depends on your hair.