Leaving your hair dirty could help stimulate hair growth

Following the long quarantine, many have been trying the ‘sebum cure’. The idea is to let your hair get dirty and keep it that way for a few days. Apparently limiting how often you shampoo your hair can boost the hydration of your hair.

But for a while now, there has been another rumour circulating about the benefits of dirty hair. While washing your hair excessively is known to damage the hair fibre and ultimately weaken your hair, allowing your hair to get a bit dirty and unkempt could actually make it grow faster.

Could dirty hair grow faster?

This latest theory came from over at Refinery29. One of the journalists challenged herself not to wet or wash her hair for 10 days. The result? Her hair does appear to have grown. And so not wanting to waste any more time, the American media source contacted Nikita Mehta, a professional in the business to try and find an explanation for this miraculous growth:

Hair health and growth is improved with less water and less washing time […]. Dry hair doesn’t need to cleanse off natural oils as much as other types and washing it less allows the scalp to heal itself. If you shampoo daily, you’re likely stripping your scalp of oil, and without it, your hair gets drier.

Although these arguments are true for hair health and hydration, other hairdressers that were interviewed are more sceptical about hair growth.

As we already know, if you don’t shampoo your hair as often, this stops your hairs from breaking as easily, especially when you have naturally dry hair. However, according to Annabel Kingsley, stopping washing your hair doesn’t actually have an effect on how quickly it grows.

How to make your hair grow faster

But rest assured, there are a few things you can do to stimulate hair growth.

• Cut your hair regularly
• Eat a balanced diet, because being healthy on the inside can also affect you on the outside
• Brush up on your dietary supplements
• Use a silk pillowcase as these are softer and gentler for your hair fibres
• Avoid using (too much/many) products on your hair

And finally, regularly massage your scalp. Either without any products or with a little castor oil (which is known to stimulate hair growth), massaging your scalp activates your blood circulation which allows the nutrients to reach the hair follicle more quickly. As a result, the hair bulb is more nourished and your hair can grow easier.