i was coloring my hair about once a month for a little over a year, but almost four months ago i decided to let my color grow out and i haven't colored it since.  one of the reasons i decided to let it grow out was because i thought the color might be affecting my growth.  as i said, it's been almost four months since my last dye job and i haven't seen much new growth- i have about 2 inches of root at the top of my head but i'm not seeing this at the bottom.  i recently (about a month ago?) got an inch of split ends/breakage trimmed off and for a while it seemed like my hair was growing again, but yet again it seems to have stopped.

my hair is only about 6-8 inches away from my waist and it's only grown about 2 inches since summer 2003.  i don't think it's my genetic limit because four or five years ago i had waist-length hair, but could the coloring have permanently affected my hair's ability to grow?  another thing is that i was on an anti-depressant for about half the time i was coloring my hair, so i'm wondering if this stunted my hair's growth as well?

maybe this is all in my head, because people always tell me my hair grows very fast, but if that's the case then why is it taking so long to get to the waist-length that i want?  if anyone has any comments or suggestions, i would greatly appreciate what you have to say about this!

Hi Katja,

I agree with Alyssa.  Sounds like you are back on track.

When I first started trying to grow my hair long back in 1988, the first thing that happened was that my new hairdresser cut my hair from the middle of my back to the top of my shoulders.  I cried and cried.  He said my hair was damaged from too much color (Nice n Easy for years).  He told me it would take awhile for my hair to come back and start growing again AND he suggested that I let my hair color grow out for awhile then switch to highlights.

I did all that and it took about 1 year for my hair to start really growing.  But then when it did, it grew it healthy and strong.  I stopped the Nice n Easy and starting doing just highlights around my face which minimized the damage to the majority of my hair.  That also made a huge difference.

So be patient and hang in there, you should see accelerated growth soon.  Also, keep in mind that hair grows faster in the Spring and Summertime than in the Fall and Winter, so you may just be in a dormant state right now.

And of course don't forget to hang out here where great folks like Alyssa and others can give you encouragement to keep growing.  :-)

Best wishes,
Karen

You might want to start taking a multivitamin if you're not already taking one. Maybe as summer approaches your growth rate will increase some. I know I'm looking forward to the boost the warm weather gives. Good luck!

What Alyssa said!  I totally agree!

I'm on a couple of medications long term and it never stopped my hair from growing before so I wouldn't worry about that.

I feel like my hair is in a growing coma recently, after a period of rapid growth.

Just hang on, it will get longer.  Just baby it and yourself!

SF