14 Common Myths on Hair Growth

Hair growth is one of the general mysteries for many people. Yes, hair is essential part of you and changing your hair style will significantly alter you looks. Losing hair means a tragedy for some people. Therefore, there are so many myths and urban legends, surrounding the topic. Let’s debunk some myths together.

Cutting hair makes it grow faster. Hair is dead. Otherwise, it would hurt when you cut it. There is nothing you can do to your hair strands that will make it grow faster. Cutting the hair does however make it appear healthier since damaged ends are being removed. Hair grows a half-inch per month, whether you cut it or not. It may grow slightly faster in the summer time, but that has nothing to do with the stylist's scissors and everything to do with hormones, which do speed growth a little.
Brushing your hair frequently helps to grow the hair. The idea of brushing the hair 100 times a day to stimulate the scalp circulation is a fantasy. In fact, if you brush your hair too much, you may end up injuring and losing hair. This myth stems from the thought that hair loss was due to poor circulation and that brushing or massaging would improve blood flow and nutrition to the follicles. The truth is, bald or not, there’s no major difference in scalp circulation.

Relaxing your hair makes it grow faster. Natural hair has a curly pattern, when the hair is stretched it may seem to appear longer, but in fact it is not. This is what happens when hair is relaxed as well. The hair is stretched out to its maximum, like stretching a rubberband. However, this leads to reduces elasticity, which is the hair's natural ability to go back to its original shape without breaking. Hair that lacks elasticity is very susceptible to breakage.
Greasing your scalp is good for moisture. If you have noticed that your hair is dry even though you are using a variety of moisture products on it, the reason is that grease, oils, and other moisturizing products that contain petrolatum, lanolin, and mineral oil do not moisturize your hair effectively. Instead of moisturizing, they actually seal moisture in or out of your hair. These types of products should only be used to seal the hair and add shine. Water based moisturizers (and virgin coconut oil) effectively penetrate and moisturize the hair.
Washing hair every day dries it out. Well, this statement is partially true, if you use a wrong shampoo. However, if you are able to locate the right shampoo for your hair type and texture, it will actually add moisture, body and beauty to your hair. Also, it's possible to cleanse hair with water only (WO), diluted shampoo (DS) or conditioner only (CO).
Rinsing with ice-cold water after a shampoo will give you shinier hair. Well, ice-cold water is definitely good for your health and well-being. It also might wake you up, but a dousing of cold water will have no effect on the shininess of your tresses.

You cannot use the same shampoo for long, as hair develops immunity. Many people swear that their hair will become immune to the benefits of the same shampoo used over time. However, there is no scientific evidence to prove this myth.
Heat makes your hair grow faster. Heat styling can actually damage your hair, especially if done too often. When you straighten your hair with heat, you are temporarily altering the protein bonds in your hair and weakening it.
Wearing hat will cause your hair growth to slow down. Many people believe that by frequently wearing hats, you will toy with the hair growth cycle in a negative way. This is highly unlikely, unless the hat is being worn extremely tightly, and cutting off circulation to the hair follicles, thus speeding up the releasing of the dermal papilla.
Steroid use will increase your hair growth. Steroids and HGH (human growth hormone) may help you to grow hair on other parts of your body, but it will in fact decrease the amount of hair on your head. If you want to grow more hair, steroids and testosterone are your enemies.
Pulling your hair - massage making it grow faster. Some charlatans have sold hair growth products that put uniform pressure on your hair by using a vacuum like contraption, claiming the contestant pressure will help your hair to come out faster. This is not only untrue, but also bad for your hair. Do not attempt to use a vacuum or similar tool on your head.

Magnets increase hair growth. Hats with magnets sewn into them have been sold as hair growth treatments for decades. They don't work. Magnets will not increase the growth of your hair, as magnetic fields have nothing to do with the production of new hair cells.
Squid ink causes hair to grow faster. This is one of the strangest rumors going around regarding hair growth, likely coming from the black color of squid ink. No studies have shown squid ink to help hair grow faster.
Sexual activity helps to grow hair. Unfortunately, there is no truth to the idea that the more sex you have, the faster it growth and less hair you’ll lose. And the same goes for the rumors that the chemicals released during sex can affect hair growth. Science has yet to uncover any proof to this fantasy. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep experimenting, and maybe it is just a matter of how much sex do you need to see improvements.