If you grew up dreading haircuts, you may have been told a popular, yet perplexing myth: Trimming helps your hair grow faster. Seems suspect, considering your hair grows up and out of the scalp. Is there any point of communication between those long, dead ends and your follicles? Or is the myth simply just that—a little white lie to wrangle you in the salon chair when you were little?
Let’s separate fact from fiction.
Does cutting hair make it grow faster?
Well, not quite. As mentioned above, hair growth stems from the follicles on our scalps, not the ends of our hair; that said, shearing off dead ends doesn’t actually affect the follicles up top. As Erica Conan, director of education at ColorProof, puts it, “There are no magical powers in haircutting scissors that make our hair grow faster when we get a trim.” ADVERTISEMENT
Benefits of regular trims.
That’s not to say you should forgo your regular trim. What trimming does do, however, is remove pesky split ends, which can actually halt hair growth by damaging the hair shaft: “When you have split ends, what happens is the hair slowly splits up the shaft, which leads to breakage and slower ‘growth,'” says celebrity hairstylist and Biolage brand ambassador Sunnie Brook. Regular trims are the only way to eliminate those frays (read: you cannot heal or restore dry, damaged hair) and thus ensure healthy strands. And as it turns out, healthy hair does grow faster.
Trims also can make your hair appear longer, even if they don’t stimulate actual growth up in the follicles. “Long hair that is breaking and splitting will look thin and tapered at the ends; this can make the hair appear shorter as well,” says Conan. Snipping off those ends adds an even weight to the hair, making it look thick and full. (Hot tip: If you don’t want to shear off any length, ask your hairstylist to “dust” your hair—it removes frayed, damaged hairs without eliminating any inches.)
How to really make your hair grow faster.
A quick trim won’t cut it (pun very much intended): If you really want to enhance hair growth, you’ve got to approach it internally. That includes both increasing blood flow to the scalp—with a lovely, tension-relieving scalp massage—and taking hair-growth supplements.
On the scalp massage front, that uptick in blood circulation delivers vital nutrients and oxygen to the hair follicle, which can help promote growth. Perhaps the easiest way is to massage your scalp in the shower: “While shampooing, massage the scalp to increase the flow of blood, relieve stress, and stimulate hair follicles,” hairstylist Miko Branch, co-founder of natural hair care brand Miss Jessie’s, has explained to mbg. You can also opt for a dry scalp massage, if you so choose, by simply wetting the pads of your fingers with an oil and massaging through. Regardless, regular scalp massages have been shown to promote hair growth.
In terms of supplements, both collagen and biotin can provide the body with specific amino acids that make up keratin (aka, what each strand of hair is made of).* Research has even shown that low levels of biotin, in particular, is linked to hair loss and that taking both of these supplements can support hair growth.* Perhaps look into antioxidants like vitamin C and vitamin E as well, to help manage oxidative stress on your scalp (as it turns out, oxidative stress has also been linked to hair loss).*
There’s a host of other ways to protect your hair to keep it long and strong (all of which are outlined here), but in terms of supporting those follicles from the inside-out, the above methods are key.*
The takeaway.
Cutting your hair doesn’t necessarily make it grow any faster, but that doesn’t make regular trims any less important. Technically, trimming off damaged split ends ensures healthy hair, which not only looks longer and fuller but stops breakage and slower growth as well. But to stimulate actual growth in those follicles, you’ll want to start at the source with proper scalp care and do what you can to keep the hair you have healthy.
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