Whose Genes are you Wearing?

Genetics play a huge role in what type of hair you will have. You have control over the health of your hair but your natural texture, color, growth rate and growth cycle are all determined by genetics. So although everyone's hair grows, only certain people will be able to grow extremely long hair due to genetics.

Everyone's hair goes through three phases: anagen, catagen and telogen. Simply put, the hair grows during the anagen phase, the hair stops growing during the categen phase, and during the telogen phase the hair may shed or be pushed out by new hair coming through at the start of the anagen phase again. The duration of the anagen phase will determine ultimately how long your hair can grow, also coupled with the rate in which your hair grows each month (i.e. 1/2 inch per month, 3/4 inch per month, etc).

So if you take two people whose hair grows at the same rate each month, but one has as anagen phase of 4 years, and the other has an anagen phase of 6 years, the one with the longer anagen phase will have the ability to grow their hair longer than the one with the shorter anagen phase. Someone who has an anagen phase that is longer than average can possbily grow their hair to the floor. Also, people who have their hair locked can grow their hair to extremely long lengths because when a strand is shed, it remains part of the loc. (Love Damian Marley's music BTW.)

This post is basically to say the ultimate length of your individual strands will be determined by genetics. No product or hair routine will get your hair to grow to lengths that it is not gentically programmed to be. I do believe that there are things that you can do (like scalp massages) that can get your hair to grow faster, but ultimately at then end of your anagen phase, that strand will be shed. So whose genes are you wearing on your head, lol.