Q: Can I grow my hair with a routine of washing it and doing African threading every week?

A: Yes you can.

For a better explanation, I’ll break my answer down into two parts:

1.  weekly washing routine; and

2. threading your hair.

PART 1. WEEKLY WASHING ROUTINE

When you wash your hair weekly and follow it up with deep conditioning, your hair will most likely stay well moisturized. It will also be less susceptible to breakage. This will result in length retention and you will see your hair growing.

I do however find that some ladies might have some issues with weekly washing.

1. Finding a good deep conditioner for YOUR hair. What works for me might not work for you and vice versa. For example, after years of trial and error, I finally realized that products containing cetyl alcohol and cetearyl alcohol are not good for my hair. The minute they touch my hair, my hair turns hard. This is quite surprising because a simple internet search will tell you that these are ingredients added to conditioners to make the hair soft.
2. Excessive manipulation and tackling hair breakage. For some ladies, washing and deep conditioning their hair weekly might cause more harm than good and make it break more. For others, going any longer than a week can cause breakage.
3. Lifestyle. If you are a busy person, you might prefer to wash your hair once in two weeks or even more.

Summary: A hair journey might take some trial and error for some ladies but if you listen to your hair and keep a hair journal, you will eventually figure out what works and what doesn’t. If weekly wash days work for you, then go for it. Otherwise, pick a frequency that suits you best.

PART 2. THREADING YOUR HAIR

When I was in high school, my hair was not relaxed and my favourite way to soften my hair was to have it threaded. African threading really does help stretch and soften hair. It is also a protective style and can keep your hair tucked away from the elements. This will encourage length retention and therefore hair growth.

You can do it yourself and if you don’t like to wear it out on its own, you can wear a wig on top of it. At the end of the week, you can undo it and wash your hair and redo it. Or you can decide to leave the threaded style for up to 2-4 weeks. It’s all up to you.

You can also get it done by someone else: a friend, family member or even a professional. In that case, it would last even longer and you might want to keep the style for up to 6 weeks. I don’t recommend that you leave any hairstyle for more than 6 weeks.

If you live in Lagos – Nigeria, Yellowsisi does lovely modern African threading styles in her natural hair salon.

Cons of African threading

1. It can be painful if the hair is held too tightly. This can also cause hair loss especially around the edges and nape, which by the way, I recommend to check https://www.ukmeds.co.uk/treatments/hair-loss/generic-finasteride/ if you have issues with hair loss.
2. Getting the right thread to use might also be a bit difficult but I think that of you use a thick thread and loop it several times, that should be okay. If you want the actual hair thread, check an African convenience or beauty supply store.
3. If you are doing it yourself, it might be a bit tricky to master it at first. There are several YouTube videos to help you master this skill.

My final thoughts:

Washing and threading your hair weekly is an effective regimen to grow your hair.  You can, however, adjust the frequency of washing your hair, undoing and redoing the threaded style to fit your needs.

Do you thread your hair? Or have you ever done it before? What was your experience?

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About the author

Dr Fomsky

Nigerian-born Dr Fomsky is a God-lover, a wife, a mom of three, a medical doctor by day. Plus she owns a Nigerian-based online hair product store called Sizzelle.
Dr Fomsky is very passionate about hair, skin and weight management. Since she's had her babies, she's been struggling to keep her weight and her tummy down!
At night, she likes to read books, write blog posts and leave comments on other blogs. She lives in Alberta, Canada and is also the author of Solving your relaxed hair breakage book .
DR FOMSKY'S HAIR TYPE:
LAST RELAXER DAY: December 15th, 2016
BIG CHOP: January 14th, 2017 Natural Hair, Unknown Porosity, Fine Hair strands, Low to Moderate Density
CURRENT HAIR LENGTH: Unknown
FAVOURITE DEEP CONDITIONER: ??

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