Your scalp grows hair at roughly half an inch per month. That's about six inches per year, every year, regardless of what you're doing to your hair. This is a biological process governed by your genetics, hormones, and nutrition: not by your products. So when someone says their hair "stopped growing," what they usually mean is their hair stopped getting longer. That's a completely different problem.
Growth vs. Length Retention
Growth is what happens at the follicle. Length retention is how much of that growth you keep on your head long enough to accumulate into visible length. If your hair is growing half an inch per month but breaking off at nearly the same rate, your length stays the same or even decreases despite constant biological growth.
This is the reality for most naturals who feel like their hair "isn't growing." The growth is happening. The breakage is erasing it.
Where Breakage Happens Most
Mid-shaft breakage, where strands snap in the middle rather than shedding from the root, is the most common culprit. You can see it in your sink or on your hands when detangling: short pieces, not the full long strands of shed hair with a white bulb at the root. Mid-shaft breakage is a care problem, not a growth problem.
The most vulnerable points on a coily hair strand are: the ends (oldest and most damaged), where the hair bends and coils (more structural stress than a straight strand), and anywhere the hair has been manipulated repeatedly with rough technique.
The Main Causes of Breakage
Dryness. Dry hair is brittle hair. A strand without adequate moisture snaps under tension that healthy, moisturized hair would bend through. If your hair is chronically dry, that's the root cause, not a growth issue.
Too much protein without moisture. Protein overload makes hair stiff and brittle. Read the protein overload article if this sounds familiar.
Rough manipulation. Detangling dry hair, using a fine-tooth comb on coily textures, pulling through knots instead of working them out gently: every instance of rough handling creates breakage.
Heat damage. Repeated heat styling without protection weakens the protein bonds in the hair shaft. The damage is cumulative and isn't reversible. Damaged sections either need to be trimmed or maintained at the damaged state while healthy hair grows from the root.
Tight protective styles. Styles with excessive tension at the hairline or roots cause traction breakage and, over time, traction alopecia.
How to Fix the Actual Problem
Identify where and how you're breaking. Short pieces in the sink or after detangling: mid-shaft breakage from dryness or protein imbalance. Hair at the edges or temples that isn't growing: traction from tight styles. Hair that's always been "stuck" at a certain length: breakage at the ends from damage or lack of sealing.
Fix the breakage cause. Length retention follows. The hair was always growing.