Does hair type really make a difference?

[ms jadu]

Okay, i seen that some ppl feel as though Hair type should make no differnce with hair growth, but does it? I know that my cousin is mixed, and her hair grows so fast. She can cut her hair this month, and it is almost back within two-three months. Now with my hair, I have to wait 3 billion years just to reach my goal. Why is it that black women have to go through all types of changes to keep their hair long and healthy. I mean, i dont think its fair that we are the ones to have to buy all these vitamins and have to throw away tons of dough just to find the right products. why is hair growth so simple with other races?

 

[Faith]

Maybe it's not about the type of hair a person has but about how fast that hair grows. I was thinking the same thing too till I realized my total yearly hair growth is only 4.5" while someone elses may be 6-12".....nothing to do with type.
For example, my mom has soft 4a hair (about 2" above bra strap)and I have 4a/b (coarse) hair and she cut her hair 4 months before I did and had about 1-1.5" of hair to start off with and I chopped my hair and had 1/2" to start with and at the moment my hair is about 2-3" longer than hers. My sis (coarse, 4a/b and supppppppppper thick) on the other hand was taking so many meds that she lost a lot of hair and was totally bald in some areas. Now that she's off these meds (less than a year) her hair is growing back fast. Almost catching up to my moms. You have to take into account the hair's health, maybe medications, too many trims, etc. HTH /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[ms jadu]

Hait type has to make a differnce. I have white friends who dont take supplements, dont eat properly, and use simple shampoos, while their hair still grows faster. The same with hispanic and indian woman. I just dont understand why black hair takes so long to grow. Maybe I'll do some research on the web. I asked My biochemistry professor the same question, and he thinks that it is because more black women tend to be deficient with minerals/vitamins. But I dont really thinks thats the case. Thanks Faith for responding! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Faith]

Well they do say black people lack sulfur which is important in hair growth so......
I'm also curious about this topic so if you find anything, please let me know. I shoudl add it's funny you brought this up because at work here there's this Asian girl and she chopped her hair to just below shoulder length just about 6 months ago and believe it or not it's back to where mine is...about bra strap length. I was like....huh?! And thought to myself "you mean her hair caught up to mine...already?!" /images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[ms_kenesha]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Faith said:
Well they do say black people lack sulfur which is important in hair growth so......
I'm also curious about this topic so if you find anything, please let me know.

[/ QUOTE ]

Faith,
When you say blacks lack sulfur is this because of diet or genetically?

TIA /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Faith]

I'll find that info. and post it. I can't recall if it was genes or diet. I think genes.

 

[pebbles]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Hait type has to make a differnce. I have white friends who dont take supplements, dont eat properly, and use simple shampoos, while their hair still grows faster. The same with hispanic and indian woman. I just dont understand why black hair takes so long to grow.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hi Ms Jadu,

You are right that some hair types appear to grow fast. The rate of hair growth is largely hereditary. Vitamins can help, but this is all predetermined for us. There are people of all hair types that experience super fast growth. I don't get more than 5-6 inches of growth a year, but I have a cousin with 4b hair who gets twice as much growth in a year as I do. She has incredibly long hair, and her hair is much kinkier than mine.

At the same time, I spent 4 years in an all girls high school, where the population was predominantly white. Not all of them had fast hair growth, believe me, and they complained about it too. Much of the problem is that our type hair is the driest of all hair types and is highly prone to breakage. So even though our hair grows, we don't see it because it breaks off almost as fast as it grows. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Lindy]

I also think it makes a difference. My co-worker (who is Dominican) and I both had our hair colored at the same time and she has a lot; well, not THAT much, but more, dark roots now than I do.

I don't know if it's just that MY hair grows slow /images/graemlins/cry3.gif, or that her hair grows fast!!! She only relaxes about twice a year. I'm currently taking supplements to see if that speeds up my growth any. I do feel that on the whole my hair really does not grow as fast as some of the ladies on this board... /images/graemlins/cry3.gif

 

[Amethyst]

Ms Jadu our hair is very fragile and as you know breaks easily. While genetics do play a role in the rate at which a person's hair grows, I believe more often than not, it's how you care for the growth that's coming in that counts. Our hair for one needs moisture, moisture, moisture. On top of this, I know what has profoundly helped me were the cuticle-sealing properties of henna. It strengthens the strands making them more resilient and less prone to breakage. Also, Tracy reports that the fantasia line does the same for her hair. That is, it makes her strands very strong. Our hair grows at the same rate as other races, it's just that the elasticity inherent to their strands help keep their hair from snap, crackling, pop- the way our strands do at any bit of stress placed on it.

hth,
Amethyst

 

[Lucia]

Don't buy that stereotype mess-/images/graemlins/naughty.gifcause you'll end up like this /images/graemlins/wallbash.gif you just have to find what works for you and do that consistently. Growth stage time can be manipulated with grape seed extract or shou wu. You have to make your hair healthy from the inside and the outside it takes time but it's wroth it when you reach your short term goals then pass a wall. On the old LHL boards plenty of the anglo women were taking vitamins even the webfounder to get those incredible results.
I beleive that what you take into your body really affects hair growth, I mean look at the ladies who are pregnant-no matter the race they take pre-natals and their hair and nails grow thicker and longer, faster than before it's not a coinsidence. /images/graemlins/think.gif
HTH /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[VALLEYGIRL]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Our hair grows at the same rate as other races, it's just that the elasticity inherent to their strands help keep their hair from snap, crackling, pop- the way our strands do at any bit of stress placed on it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this 100% but we also must realize that our hair shows length differently than other races b/c our hair is highly textured. Asian hair is bone straight and will show length quicker that tightly coiled hair. Black textured hair does need tons of moisture where caucasian hair tends to be oilier and doesn't need as much as ours.

We also need to keep in mind all the bad things we do to our hair; perming, blow drying, flat ironing. I am not perm bashing but we are one of the few races that apply chemicals to our hair every 6-8 weeks. We just have to remember to treat it with a little more TLC b/c of this.
Also when a white woman blow dries she is not always doing so to get the hair to lay straight (b/c it already is straight) so it takes less time and less heat.
I know we can grow hair/show length just as fast as other races we just have to learn to (remember to) treat our hair with as little manipulation as possible and give it the protein and strength it needs when we do bad things to it.
We have been taught so many myths about our hair it is just recently that we are all learning how to handle our hair which is completely different from any other hair on the planet. So we have to handle it as such.

 

[Faith]

Lucia and Valleygirl make really good points. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[BrightEyes]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
pebbles said:
Much of the problem is that our type hair is the driest of all hair types and is highly prone to breakage. So even though our hair grows, we don't see it because it breaks off almost as fast as it grows. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[/ QUOTE ]


That's it in a nutshell.

The texture doesn't have anything to do with the speed. If you look at people with locs and dreads, many of them seem to have super-fast growing hair. But really it's because they keep it in a state where there is no manipulation and no breakage. So they retain 99% of their growth. When braids are done well, they can help a lady retain her growth quite nicely.

Black women do more to their hair than any other race. While a lot of non-Black women dye, perm, relax, straighten, and curl it, it's not as prevalent in their communities. Black women relax, flat iron, roller set, curl, blow-dry, wetset, bump, weave, and braid without taking our delicate texture into consideration. We do many of these things as a matter of routine, not for special occasions or important events. The less you mess with your hair, the more growth you will see. I have taken to wearing twists more often because it helps keep my ends in good condition and keeps breakage to a minimum. My best friend is a natural 2a and our hair grows at the same rate, even when I'm not taking my Biotin and MSM. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Tara]

I don't think hair type makes a difference. I know I've said this ad nauseum but looking at some black men who have 4b hair, and no mix in sight their hair grows pretty fast.

Here's what I think contributes to "other races" hair growth seemingly growing faster, and even to the more "loosly curled" type hair....

HANDELING!! Plain and simple.

Here's what I mean, for the most part, white girls that I've known:
1. Wash their hair DAILY
2. Usually already know to SOAK their hair with conditioner prior to combing
3. Aren't getting harsh chemicals on the regular, and if so certainly not from roots to ends constantly.
4.Usually comb hair from bottom to top
5. Usually aren't "style" queens when it comes to their hair. No french rolls one day, braids the next, and finger waves the following week. It's pretty much left alone

And all my loosly curled friends also already knew to do all of the above.

Now, since joining the hair boards, I'm JUST learning all the things that are so common place to other people of "looser or straight" hair textures. Growing up I was taught:

1. Don't wash your hair but once every two weeks, daily washing is for white people (*don't get mad at me, that's what I would hear)

2. Grease your scalp. Now, grease + infrequent washing = buildup

3. I was NEVER given instructions on how to properly comb my hair. I never knew I could come it while WET with conditioner. Again, I was told that was for "others"

4. I used to do WAAAAY to much styling to my hair back in the day. Remember that "brown gel" that stuff was WAAAAAY to hard and I was wondering why I'd get breakage.

The bad advice for so-called "black hair" goes on and on. All of which we are now learning, thanks to boards like this, are untrue.

So I think that other people handle their hair better, and thus keep their hair longer. Also I usually see, "other folks" not really "styling" thier hair to much. It's either worn up or down. That's probably why they used to trip on me so hard at work everytime I came in with something different. Now that I think of it, I didn't peep them changing their hair too much.

No Freeze curls, finger waves, or "hard" styles, or constant daily curling with irons.

*again, I UNDERSTAND that we don't ALL get hard styles, and that relaxers don't have to take out your hair, and yada, yada, yada...I'm simply speaking of what many of us have normally been taught is bad hair habits.

Now on a flip side, I have seen people with loosley curled hair or straight hair have hair that looks RAGGADY when they start to do some of the things we've done:

1. Blow dry daily
2. Straighten with flat irons, DAILY
3. Over process their hair

And yes, I've heard them complain about how their hair JUST won't grow past a certain point too.

So in my experience it's all in handeling, not race.

In fact we have many mixed ladies on this board who are JUST learning to care for our hair, and who complain about slow growth. So I don't think being mixed has anything to do with it. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[sweetcocoa]

I have to agree with many things Tara pointed out. I feel I get and KEEP alot more growth since I stopped constantly manipulating my hair. All I did last summer was shampoo or rinse and wear my hair back. My hair grew like crazy. I've cut back on thw shampooing since it's been cold, roller set my hair more and it's not growing as fast. This week I'm back to my summer routine for awhile. I even had a white female co-worker who works on a different shift from me, whom I hadn't seen in awhile comment on how much my hair grew since she saw me. She said another cowroker(who is black) told her 'our' hair doesn't grow that fast and is hard to grow long. But she said obviously that's not true.

 

[Paris Belle]

I totally agree. Just this past week, I measured my hair and it grew a total of 2.5" since December 24. And that was after a trim of 0.5"! I was amazed!! And I was just thinking that my hair couldn't grow fast (or at a good speed). I have a friend, she's Dominican, and she had shoulder length hair last spring and now it's midback.

All of the soft handling and moisture really works! I mean, I thought I too was taking care of my hair well, but I was always trying to "style" it. But not in hard styles, but in different styles everyday myself. I did not use any moisturizers unless my hair looked dry (and by that point forget it, it was already split etc.).

In addition to handling, it is also learning about YOUR hair. I realized for the first time that my hair is really dry. Forget the perm, the heat etc, my hair is naturally dry. So I have to adjust my regime to care for its "personality" if you will. My scalp is also dry.

Also, we have to adjust our regimes with the seasons, and as it grows. I realized the importance of applying water and moisture to my ends daily as well as to my scalp. I also learned the importance of sticking to a regime. And I learned what to add and what to take out of my regime.

So in conclusion it's really a process of learning one's own hair type (not your mama's or your cousin's or your friend's or that girl online with the super beautiful, super long hair), but your type! And caring for it accordingly!

 

[ms jadu]

I truly dont feel its a stereotype, because if it were we all wouldnt have to go out and but supplements and products just to maintain our mane. What could possibly be stereotypical, and how many non-black women do you really complain about there hair? There is a small percentage IMO.

Now about white girls, I cant say all, but alot of them dye there hair frequently. As a matter of fact, I know white girls who dyd there hair with all types of things, even markers.(yes, markers!) There hair still manages to grow at a faster pace. My mother has fine hair, and her hair grows very fast. My hair is more coarse and grows slow. Now im not trying to refute the fact that hair grows at differnt rates for differnt people, but there has to be a hair type has to be one of the factors. If it wasnt, when you research vitamin products, they always have a seperate section for black hair. Ex: www.hf37.com

 

[Crysdon]

All races have problems with growth. My cousin Kay is Black with 4b super thick-coarse hair, matter-of-fact, she's hairy all over /images/graemlins/smile.gif. Anyway, she was bald from birth to about 3 years old and her hair grows longer and faster than anyone I know, Black or White. She doesn't even have have the knowledge about hair and I usually do it for her. She hates styling it and she's very careless with what she does to her hair. She cut her hair short and within 6 months, it was past her shoulder.

Now on the other hand, I have a White friend named Linda whose hair only touches her shoulder and doesn't grow longer than that. Even when she got pregnant it didn't move past the shoulder, it did get a lot thicker, so she had shoulder length BIG hair. She told me that her mother's hair grew long, but hers was never longer than that. All of her childhood pics were the same lenghth as her adult length.

I have come to the conclusion that it is merely genetics and/or proper handling of hair that will determine the length.

 

[VALLEYGIRL]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
If it wasnt, when you research vitamin products, they always have a seperate section for black hair. Ex: www.hf37.com


[/ QUOTE ]
I always thought that it was marketing?
You know there are a lot of black women who think they can't use a product b/c it's not made for 'our hair'. So companies realize that there is money to be made in the black community and market the same product just for 'us'
Is the HF37 for black women made up of different ingredients than the regular one? I can't seem to find it on the link you provided.

 

[BrightEyes]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
VALLEYGIRL said:
I always thought that it was marketing?
You know there are a lot of black women who think they can't use a product b/c it's not made for 'our hair'. So companies realize that there is money to be made in the black community and market the same product just for 'us'
Is the HF37 for black women made up of different ingredients than the regular one?

[/ QUOTE ]

BINGO! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I was a Business major before I decided to go with Liberal Arts. Marketing is a big part of that major (as you can imagine) so we learned a lot of "tricks".

Marketing is something that a lot of women don't factor in when looking for beauty products. I believe that Black people know very little about types 3c-4b even though the majority of us are somewhere in that range. This leaves us open to be exploited like crazy. No offense to the ladies who think texture matters, but just look at this thread! A cross between strategic marketing techniques and misinformation has convinced many women that Black hair is harder to grow and maintain. We know so little about our hair that we don’t realize we use the same things that non-Blacks use. It’s just in a different packaging. It's not what goes on under the scalp, it's what happens to the hair once it's outside.

A few weeks ago I was talking to someone about using ‘Delinea’ as a Viviscal alternative. And someone asked me how I knew it was going to work since Delinea is “not marketed as a hair pill”. I responded that it had the same ingredients and that marketing meant nothing to me. I take Fish Oil for depression (EPA works wonders) but it's marketed as a "heart health" supplement. But it has a large amount of EPA, and that's the ingredient I need.

In response to Valleygirl's question, the answer is 'no'. There is only one formula for HF37. I think that says a lot right there. Everyone is getting the same ingredients, but they are being convinced to buy it in different ways. For Black women, they are playing to our insecurities and misconceptions about Blacks having short hair.

We cannot trust any commercial company for information. They are out to make money by selling a product. They pay people to sit in office and decided what is the best way to make us feel that we “need” this product. Trust me. These people know what they are doing. It’s time we all learned.

A few people alread said it. All races have hair issues! If you don't believe me go to longhairlovers or naturallycurly and read the threads. Many of those woman are WHITE and desperately trying to grow their hair. The reason we don't hear a lot of White women complaining is because we frequent hair sites that are targeted towards ethnic hair. If you go to mixed or White oriented site, then you WILL see they are no better off than us.

 

[BrightEyes]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Tara said:
I don't think hair type makes a difference. I know I've said this ad nauseum but looking at some black men who have 4b hair, and no mix in sight their hair grows pretty fast.

HANDELING!! Plain and simple.

Here's what I mean, for the most part, white girls that I've known:
1. Wash their hair DAILY
2. Usually already know to SOAK their hair with conditioner prior to combing
3. Aren't getting harsh chemicals on the regular, and if so certainly not from roots to ends constantly.
4.Usually comb hair from bottom to top
5. Usually aren't "style" queens when it comes to their hair. No french rolls one day, braids the next, and finger waves the following week. It's pretty much left alone

Growing up I was taught:

1. Don't wash your hair but once every two weeks, daily washing is for white people (*don't get mad at me, that's what I would hear)

2. Grease your scalp. Now, grease + infrequent washing = buildup

3. I was NEVER given instructions on how to properly comb my hair. I never knew I could come it while WET with conditioner. Again, I was told that was for "others"

4. I used to do WAAAAY to much styling to my hair back in the day. Remember that "brown gel" that stuff was WAAAAAY to hard and I was wondering why I'd get breakage.

So I think that other people handle their hair better, and thus keep their hair longer. Also I usually see, "other folks" not really "styling" thier hair to much. It's either worn up or down. That's probably why they used to trip on me so hard at work everytime I came in with something different. Now that I think of it, I didn't peep them changing their hair too much.

No Freeze curls, finger waves, or "hard" styles, or constant daily curling with irons.

Now on a flip side, I have seen people with loosley curled hair or straight hair have hair that looks RAGGADY when they start to do some of the things we've done:

1. Blow dry daily
2. Straighten with flat irons, DAILY
3. Over process their hair

And yes, I've heard them complain about how their hair JUST won't grow past a certain point too.

So in my experience it's all in handeling, not race.

In fact we have many mixed ladies on this board who are JUST learning to care for our hair, and who complain about slow growth. So I don't think being mixed has anything to do with it. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[/ QUOTE ]


GO girl!

I hope eveyone in this thread reads your post because you are on point. I wish Black people would stop acting like we are THAT much different.

 

[VALLEYGIRL]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
In response to Valleygirl's question, the answer is 'no'. There is only one formula for HF37. I think that says a lot right there. Everyone is getting the same ingredients, but they are being convinced to buy it in different ways. For Black women, they are playing to our insecurities and misconceptions about Blacks having short hair.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the answer...I could not find it on the website even though I know I saw it before

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
A cross between strategic marketing techniques and misinformation has convinced many women that Black hair is harder to grow and maintain. We know so little about our hair that we don&amp;#8217;t realize we use she same things that non-Blacks use. It&amp;#8217;s just in a different packaging.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just like the NEW Pantene for Relaxed and Natural hair...it has all the same ingredients as the regular Pantene except for a added jojoba and coconut oil. I even tried it and it worked the same way as regular Pantene

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
We cannot trust any commercial company for information. They are out to make money by selling a product. They pay people to sit in office and decided what is the best way to make us feel that we &amp;#8220;need&amp;#8221; this product. Trust me. These people know what they are doing. It&amp;#8217;s time we all learned.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with you on this one too. Also I just wanted to note that you don't see an abundance of hair growth products marketed toward white women...Doo Grow, Don't Be Bald, BB Super Gro...don't believe the hype, please.

All hair grows. If not at the same exact rate please don't believe the hype that black hair grows at some remarkably slower rate than other races. Like I said before our hair is different than any other hair on the planet and b/c of websites like this one we are able to stop the flow of misinformation and really care for our hair.

 

[skegeesmb]

I don't think being black makes a difference at all. I'm black and I decided to go natural. I started transitioning in December and by April when I made my first cut I had 3 inches of hair. My hair is now 9-11 inches (11 inches is what you see from the back of my hair). My hair has grown 9 inches in a year. Even before I took vitamins my hair grew at the normal 1/2 per month.

I think that stress, bad eating habits, not drinking water, and just plain mistreatment contribute to African-American slow hair growth. When the ladies join this site when they first come to the site complaining of slow growing hair, they find that their hair grows as fast as other races.

And when it comes to vitamins, where do you think I learned about taking vitamins from...longhairlovers.com, that site is majority white, and I began taking vitamins based on the praises of many of the white women who took (and probably still take) vitamins.

If I were to stop taking vitamins I would still have growth. In my album I have plenty of pictures where I hadn't been taking vitamins. I think that if a lot of us stop thinking about our hair in terms of "I have that slow can't grow can't comb hair," or realize that straight hair shows length faster than curly hair, we would have conquered one goal in terms of hair growth...faith.

 

[ms_kenesha]

Re: Sulfur

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Faith said:
Well they do say black people lack sulfur which is important in hair growth so......
I'm also curious about this topic so if you find anything, please let me know. I shoudl add it's funny you brought this up because at work here there's this Asian girl and she chopped her hair to just below shoulder length just about 6 months ago and believe it or not it's back to where mine is...about bra strap length. I was like....huh?! And thought to myself "you mean her hair caught up to mine...already?!" /images/graemlins/frown.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Faith you got me looking up sulfur and here's what I found:
There might also be racial differences in the chemical composition of the fiber. African American hair has a greater amount of low sulfur protein compared to high sulfur protein than observed in Asian or Caucasian individuals.
Source: http://www.keratin.com/aa/aa002.shtml

What does hair sulfur mean?
Sulfur has an important but possibly complicated meaning in hair. In elemental analysis of hair, sulfur is the only analyte that is structurally essential for this tissue. Its concentration is nominally 5% (by weight) or 50,000 ppm while all other measured elements are at trace levels with concentrations in the range of 0.01 to 1000 ppm. Mostly, sulfur in hair reflects the cysteinyl component of its protein makeup which is approximately: arginine 21%, cysteine 14%, glutamic acid 10%, serine 9%, and proline 6%, with all other protein-forming amino acids and methionine (also bears sulfur) making up the balance of 0.5%. The complications with hair sulfur come from hair treatments.
Conditioners and permanents ("perms") add sulfur to hair, while straighteners remove sulfur. /images/graemlins/mad.gif The GSDL computer program for hair analysis has pattern recognition and warns about invalid sulfur, due to hair treatments, by giving a partially colored result circle on the report.

Source: http://www.gsdl.com/news/nmnewsletter/issue2-1/index4.html

The Good News is MSM contains sulfur!
The Bad News is now I'm going to buy MSM (puritan's pride is having a buy 1 get 2 sale!!!) I am such a PJ!!! The further bad news is you're supposed to take 4 to 6 capsules a day. I'll have to get the 120 cap bottle that should last a mth and since I get 2 free that should last 3 mths!

 

[Integrity]

Re: Sulfur

i agree with what the ladies had to say, our hair is dry so it tends to break easily thats why we need to really make a concious decision to grwo long hair. also remember that since our natural hair (esp. type 4) is coiled up it takes quite a while to realise any length (due to the shrinkage factor). if our roots grew in straight like relaxed you would see more grow month by month. REMEMBER that often its not till after your touch up that you can see how much your hair has grown. HTH

 

[pebbles]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
In reply to:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VALLEYGIRL said:
I always thought that it was marketing?
You know there are a lot of black women who think they can't use a product b/c it's not made for 'our hair'. So companies realize that there is money to be made in the black community and market the same product just for 'us'
Is the HF37 for black women made up of different ingredients than the regular one?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


BINGO! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

I was a Business major before I decided to go with Liberal Arts. Marketing is a big part of that major (as you can imagine) so we learned a lot of "tricks".

Marketing is something that a lot of women don't factor in when looking for beauty products. I believe that Black people know very little about types 3c-4b even though the majority of us are somewhere in that range. This leaves us open to be exploited like crazy. No offense to the ladies who think texture matters, but just look at this thread! A cross between strategic marketing techniques and misinformation has convinced many women that Black hair is harder to grow and maintain. We know so little about our hair that we don’t realize we use the same things that non-Blacks use. It’s just in a different packaging. It's not what goes on under the scalp, it's what happens to the hair once it's outside.

A few weeks ago I was talking to someone about using ‘Delinea’ as a Viviscal alternative. And someone asked me how I knew it was going to work since Delinea is “not marketed as a hair pill”. I responded that it had the same ingredients and that marketing meant nothing to me. I take Fish Oil for depression (EPA works wonders) but it's marketed as a "heart health" supplement. But it has a large amount of EPA, and that's the ingredient I need.

In response to Valleygirl's question, the answer is 'no'. There is only one formula for HF37. I think that says a lot right there. Everyone is getting the same ingredients, but they are being convinced to buy it in different ways. For Black women, they are playing to our insecurities and misconceptions about Blacks having short hair.

We cannot trust any commercial company for information. They are out to make money by selling a product. They pay people to sit in office and decided what is the best way to make us feel that we “need” this product. Trust me. These people know what they are doing. It’s time we all learned.

A few people alread said it. All races have hair issues! If you don't believe me go to longhairlovers or naturallycurly and read the threads. Many of those woman are WHITE and desperately trying to grow their hair. The reason we don't hear a lot of White women complaining is because we frequent hair sites that are targeted towards ethnic hair. If you go to mixed or White oriented site, then you WILL see they are no better off than us.




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Exactly!! I agree with what you said 110%. We are not all that different from everybody else. White women have issues with their hair too, as with all other groups of people. The black hair care business is a billion dollar industry. Hair care companies are well aware of our fears and worries about our hair and they market their products accordingly. I hope that we can really get past feeling that we have big problems with our hair. The key is to know how to care for the hair we have. That will make all the difference in the world. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[pebbles]

Tara, your post was definately on point! There's not much to add to that!! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[carrie]

I don't think that race has anything to do with it. I think the moisture/less manipulation is the key. I have "slave nappy" hair that I swear never grows. But this past fall, when I was washing EVERY day and always weraring it up, it broke a lot less.

 

[Nikki]

Re: Sulfur

ms kenesha, becareful of your msm intake, alot of the ladies here have broken out from it... But I think it was those who consumed a high amount..my intake is about 1500mg and it pretty much works for me, but everyone reacts differently... Good luck! Do what works for you

 

[ms_kenesha]

Re: Sulfur

Nikki,
Thanks for the heads up on the MSM I certainly don't want to have a broken out face! /images/graemlins/shocked.gif How did you figure out what dosage was best for you?