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Is having long hair mainly genetics or about length retention?

Cutie Kay

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So I (naturally) have hair down to my lower back but my sister has never been able grow hers past her shoulder and she’s very depressed because of it. She always has it in protective hairstyles in hopes of growing it longer but even when she takes it out, it’s still the exact same length. I tried to tell her that maybe it’s because I got my mom’s hair gene whereas she probably got our dad’s (his side of the family also has shoulder length hair) and she went off on me, saying that genetics hardly play a role and that retaining length matters way more. Is this true?
 

Diana Hunter

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My maternal side of the family all had long hair except for my mom. My hair is in the middle of my back. I always had the longest hair in my family. My sister was jealous because of it.
 

loveEden

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What is she doing to promote growth? Is she doing scalp massages with pepermint/rosmary oil weekly?

Is she using castor oil?

What kind of protective styles is she wearing?

Is she using the right products? does she know her hair's porosity?

Internally, is she drinking water? taking supplements?

Both play a role. But if the hair on her body is growing then surely it should be growing on her head.

Genetics impacts texture I would say which does impact growth rate. But at the end of the day you hair STILL grows so its moreso about retention.
 

Melodic Nightingale

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My moms side tends to have thick hair, but usually peaks at shoulder length. On my dads side, my family has extremely thin hair. The only ones in my family with a lot of hair are my 2 sisters and I who either do a lot of protective styling, or is loc'd. So it makes me wonder if its genetics or the care we put into our hair.
 

DZbornak

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My mom and sisters all have shoulder length hair. Mine is tailbone length and my daughter’s hair is bra strap length when wet and curly (she is 10). My hair is really different from my siblings’ and my mom and dad’s. I’m the only one with super long, thick, course, 4b hair. And my daughter’s texture is totally different from their hair and mine. So I guess I just got weird throwback genes from somewhere.
 

Candy Bling

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It is both. My hair has always been dense and long, it also grows superfast but for many years it could never maintain it's lengh past a certain point. I changed everything and now it's the longest its ever been and not breaking off.
 

YoungBougieBlac

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It is majority you caring for your hair. Genetics can make it easier to have long hair (ie faster growth rate or coarser texture which means it can hold up to damage more) but overall it’s up to and your diet and your care. Keeping your hair moisturized, not having a lot of tension, drinking water and getting enough protein and vitamins will help. Those are all things in your control.

Humans grow on average 6 inches of hair per year and most humans hair has an anogen phase (the phase where hair grows) of 4-6 years. That means that unless you have an illness that is making your hair growth phase shorter ie 2 or less years which is extremely rare, most humans can easily get at least bra strap length if they care for their hair. If ur hair is fine, u may start having problems when it hits your shoulders since there is more friction and thus more mechanical damage, but keeping ur hair up or wearing silk shirts etc can help. U have to do what your hair needs. Coarser hair can stay intact with daily combing. Asians tend to have coarse hair. Blsck ppl tend to have fine hair which breaks easier but that doesn’t mean u can’t prevent breakage to grow it

ppl say it’s all genetics as a convenient cop out. Some ppl have it easier but anyone can grow long hair aside from ppl with certain illnesses
 

funnelcake

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I think it's both. I know for me personally long hair runs in the family but when I'm not careful with detangling my hair and wrapping it at night it shows. I get breakage like crazy
 

Scorpion

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Honestly when people can't get past shoulder length, most of the time it really is breakage and lack of a proper regimen. Her hair is always in protective styles...what kinds? Is she caring for her hair or just letting her haircare fall to the wayside while she has a style in? Does she ever take breaks inbetween styles? I feel like the answer to these questions will uncover exactly what her issue is.
 

redleon

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What is she doing to promote growth? Is she doing scalp massages with pepermint/rosmary oil weekly?

Is she using castor oil?

What kind of protective styles is she wearing?

Is she using the right products? does she know her hair's porosity?

Internally, is she drinking water? taking supplements?

Both play a role. But if the hair on her body is growing then surely it should be growing on her head.

Genetics impacts texture I would say which does impact growth rate. But at the end of the day you hair STILL grows so its moreso about retention.

ppl say it’s all genetics as a convenient cop out. Some ppl have it easier but anyone can grow long hair aside from ppl with certain illnesses

All this. From what I've seen, the women in my family mostly have shoulder length hair, but it's damaged and not all the way healthy, so I thought my hair would be the same when I was younger. Currently, I'm a little past bra strap length because I'm doing more hair retention things for my hair.

Personally I feel like genetics speak for hair curls, coarse/fine, and thick/thin types. Length retention is something any woman can achieve with proper research and trial and error.
 

doeja

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I think it's both but imo, hair routine, health and diet play a bigger role than genetics.

Aside from me and one of my aunts, no one in my family has ever really had hair longer than shoulder length. But there was a time when I also struggled retaining length until I figured out what worked for my hair.

My relatives who have struggled with their hair have generally been too rough like they're trying to beat their hair into submission, used chemicals for too long to the point they damaged their scalps, went natural but followed routines for people with looser textures, or generally don't take good care of their physical health.
 
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I think both, I have really long waist length hair, my mom have mud back length hair and my brother before he cut it was able to grow his hair from shaved to bra sharp length in a matter of 2 years. But my grandma don’t have long hair, and that because she don’t take care of it how she supposed to. So I think it’s a matter of both
 

GlamourDoll

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Genetics mainly, I don’t know how to take care of my hair for sh!t and yet it still grows like crazy.
 

yoco

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I don't really do length retention if that means protective styling all of the time but it's currently down to the bottom of my rib cage when heat straightened. The longest it has been has been down to my waist when heat straightened. Everyone on my father's side has a head full of long hair like mine, but on my mother's side, the longest seemed to be shoulder length. I think my length is a combo of my father's genetics and some of my hair routine (daily moisturizing,, conditioning etc.) But, I think it's mostly genetics.
 

naturalserenity

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It’s both nature and nurture but for some reason, people like to downplay the role of genetics in attaining length. Regardless of genetics you can’t have long hair if you aren’t retaining length, however there are genetic factors that affect length retention.

I have waist length 4b hair and I don’t put in a tremendous effort in caring for my hair. My paternal grandmother also had very long hair with no effort. Both of my sisters also had long hair in the past. I don’t have any real regimen but I don’t use excessive heat and I keep my hair moisturised and wear protective styles occasionally. I know there are lots of women who do all of this to their hair and so much more yet are struggling to grow long hair.

I don’t see how genetics can be denied when you can observe differences even within families. For example on RHOP, I noticed that Gizelle’s oldest daughter has long hair while her twin daughters don’t and I’m sure she doesn’t take care of the oldest’s hair while neglecting the others.
Solange’s hair as far as I know has never been as long as Beyoncé’s and their mother was a hairstylist.
 

beadybeads

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maybe both? In my experience, when i was a teen i didnt know how to properly take care of my hair. i could never get it to grow past my armpits. Made me feel like crap tbh.

But now I know how to take good care of it, all bc ive started trimming my ends almost every once a month since 2016. It turns out my hair actually does grow fast, bc its genetic, i get it from my mom. its past my armpits now to now down to bra strap length. I still have some set backs it used to be a little past bra strap length but i trimmed more of my ends off. Sometimes i actually dont even need to trim my ends but i guess i still do it bc i want my ends to be neat and not break off. So i need calm down with the need to do it so much.

Thats how it has been for me.
 
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I think it's both, but mostly length retention in my experience. There was a while when I couldn't get my hair past bra strap length because of the ponytails I would regularly put my hair in, which would cause it to break in one spot, for a while my trims would end up the same length. After I switched to different hair ties and since I'm really not doing anything to my hair since there's not too many places to go these days, it has been flourishing, I do take vitamins, but other than that my nutrition has seriously terrible during this pandemic, appetite gone. Still, my hair is the thickest and longest it's ever been after trimming. My mom's hair is super fine and was very long when she was younger, so I'm sure that factors in, as mine is super fine as well, but I was one who thought my hair couldn't grow past a certain length when all I had to do was change regimen and make it more simple.
 

loveEden

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This girl has 4b/4c hair. Makes most of her products and has hair down to her knees. She says no one in her family has hair like hers.

We always hear that this is the most challenging hair type to work with but she did it. I hope this inspires your sister and I wish her well.

 

sofia.loren

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I’m not sure. I’ve always had fairly long hair except when I’ve cut it on purpose. My hair is much longer natural than when I relaxed it as a teen, but I’ve never struggled with length as a natural. My mother had long hair up until she cut it in her 40s, and my sisters all have long hair.

I wouldn’t say it’s genetics though, I think we just wear our hair longer if that makes sense.
 

Miss_Sinai

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Also medicines can play a role. My mom has been on BC (the pill) before i was born and a year before my sister was born (a good 20ish years) then she also has been on BP meds before i was even born (30+ years).
 

Alicia

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I don’t see how genetics can be denied when you can observe differences even within families. For example on RHOP, I noticed that Gizelle’s oldest daughter has long hair while her twin daughters don’t and I’m sure she doesn’t take care of the oldest’s hair while neglecting the others.
Solange’s hair as far as I know has never been as long as Beyoncé’s and their mother was a hairstylist.
Because genetics isn’t directly responsible for hair growth, it only affects aspects of your hair that can make length retention easier or harder. People with fine hair will have a harder time with retention than those with coarse hair since fine breaks more easily. People who have high porosity hair are more prone to heat and chemical damage than those with low porosity hair. So if two people with very different hair types have the exact same routine, of course one will struggle with seeing progress if the regimen is not suited for her hair type. Coming from the same gene pool doesn’t mean you and your relatives will all have the same hair type, just like y’all won’t all have the same body type.

And Solange frequently wears wigs, weaves and likes to cut her hair so how would you know if she’s less capable than her sister of attaining long hair?
 

naturalserenity

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Because genetics isn’t directly responsible for hair growth, it only affects aspects of your hair that can make length retention easier or harder. People with fine hair will have a harder time with retention than those with coarse hair since fine breaks more easily. People who have high porosity hair are more prone to heat and chemical damage than those with low porosity hair. So if two people with very different hair types have the exact same routine, of course one will struggle with seeing progress if the regimen is not suited for her hair type. Coming from the same gene pool doesn’t mean you and your relatives will all have the same hair type, just like y’all won’t all have the same body type.

And Solange frequently wears wigs, weaves and likes to cut her hair so how would you know if she’s less capable than her sister of attaining long hair?

You’ve quoted my post only to essentially agree with me in a very long-winded way.


People with fine hair will have a harder time with retention than those with coarse hair since fine breaks more easily. People who have high porosity hair are more prone to heat and chemical damage than those with low porosity hair.’

I clearly said in my OP that there are genetic factors affecting growth. Only, I wasn’t pedantic enough to say perceived growth. You mentioned having fine hair and high porosity hair which are genetic factors. How does this refute what I said?

‘Coming from the same gene pool doesn’t mean you and your relatives will all have the same hair type, just like y’all won’t all have the same body type.’

Exactly. Hair type is genetic . So again, how does this refute what I said?

‘And Solange frequently wears wigs, weaves and likes to cut her hair so how would you know if she’s less capable than her sister of attaining long hair?’

I don’t know this for certain which is why I said in my OP as far as I know. I said this based on childhood pictures I’ve seen of both Beyonce and Solange, not how they choose to wear their hair as adults. Beyonce had thick, long hair as a child while Solange didn’t.
Those with a genetic ‘head start’ for long hair usually have it in childhood e.g Aaliyah, Beyonce and Kenya Moore. My sisters and I also had long hair as kids.
 
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Alicia

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You’ve quoted my post only to essentially agree with me in a very long-winded way.


People with fine hair will have a harder time with retention than those with coarse hair since fine breaks more easily. People who have high porosity hair are more prone to heat and chemical damage than those with low porosity hair.’

I clearly said in my OP that there are genetic factors affecting growth. Only, I wasn’t pedantic enough to say perceived growth. You mentioned having fine hair and high porosity hair which are genetic factors. How does this refute what I said?

‘Coming from the same gene pool doesn’t mean you and your relatives will all have the same hair type, just like y’all won’t all have the same body type.’

Exactly. Hair type is genetic . So again, how does this refute what I said?

And Solange frequently wears wigs, weaves and likes to cut her hair so how would you know if she’s less capable than her sister of attaining long hair?

I don’t know this for certain which is why I said in my OP as far as I know. I said this based on childhood pictures I’ve seen of both Beyonce and Solange, not how they choose to wear their hair as adults. Beyonce had thick, long hair as a child while Solange didn’t.

people with a genetic ‘head start’ for long hair usually have it in childhood i.e Aaliyah, Beyonce and Kenya Moore. My sisters and I also had long hair as kids.

But you were still making length directly dependent on genes, hence me also saying this, which you didn’t quote:

So if two people with very different hair types have the exact same routine, of course one will struggle with seeing progress if the regimen is not suited for her hair type.”

You brought up an example of children having different retention rates despite them all having identical hair care routines as proof that some people aren’t destined to have long hair no matter what they do. When in fact, not having a routine that is tailored to their needs is why they can’t have hair as long as those with more resilient, less demanding hair types.
 

naturalserenity

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But you were still making length directly dependent on genes, hence me also saying this, which you didn’t quote:

So if two people with very different hair types have the exact same routine, of course one will struggle with seeing progress if the regimen is not suited for her hair type.”

You brought up an example of children having different retention rates despite them all having identical hair care routines as proof that some people aren’t destined to have long hair no matter what they do. When in fact, not having a routine that is tailored to their needs is why they can’t have hair as long as those with more resilient, less demanding hair types.

Yes but all things been equal and assuming perfect regimens tailored to individual hair types, length is still genetic.
The duration of the growing and resting phases of hair -anagen and telogen respectively and terminal hair length is genetic. Actual growth rate from the scalp is also genetic. Average growth rate is supposedly 1/2 inch per month but some people grow 1-2 inches of hair a month while others grow 1/4 inch or less. Even with the most perfect regimen, ultimate hair length is limited by these genetic factors. I can’t see how you can argue this.

Even with the best hair care, some people will never have hair past the shoulders while others can grow hair to the knees and beyond.
 
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headflower

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It sounds like your sister isn't retaining length. She's likely experiencing breakage during or out of protective styles. While I don't agree that we can all grow ankle length hair, most can grow past shoulder length.
 

Laaaayla

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It could be either both or neither.
Lol I know people who’s hair grows no matter what and it’s healthy and flourishing. I know people who take care of their hair but it’s struggle. And I know people who take of their hair and it flourishes where before it didn’t.


If I had to choose 1 I’d say genetics is more important simply because you can’t change it. You can change unhealthy habits but you can’t change genetics with short growth cycles.
 

Alicia

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Yes but all things been equal and assuming perfect regimens tailored to individual hair types, length is still genetic.
The duration of the growing and resting phases of hair -anagen and telogen respectively and terminal hair length is genetic. Even with the most perfect regimen, ultimate hair length is limited by these genetic factors. I can’t see how you can argue this.

Even with the best hair care, some people will never have hair past the shoulders while others can grow hair to the knees and beyond.

Not everyone has the potential to have knee-length or even waist-length hair, true. But I refuse to believe there’s such a thing as being unable to get past shoulder length strictly because of genetics. Shoulder length isn’t that long, however I notice it can be a difficult plateau to overcome because your ends make direct contact with the fabric of your clothes, get stuck under your purse strap, etc. and as a result breakage ensues. This is a problem if you have an inherently more fragile hair type. Most people really aren’t aware how that can get in the way of retention.

We shouldn’t underestimate the role of diets and medical issues in hair growth/retention either.
 

naturalserenity

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Not everyone has the potential to have knee-length or even waist-length hair, true. But I refuse to believe there’s such a thing as being unable to get past shoulder length strictly because of genetics. Shoulder length isn’t that long, however I notice it can be a difficult plateau to overcome because your ends make direct contact with the fabric of your clothes, get stuck under your purse strap, etc. and as a result breakage ensues. This is a problem if you have an inherently more fragile hair type. Most people really aren’t aware how that can get in the way of retention.

We shouldn’t underestimate the role of diets and medical issues in hair growth/retention either.

I wouldn’t believe it either if I hadn’t seen it firsthand. A white work colleague of mine in her 40’s has hair just above her shoulders which appears healthy. However, she confirmed that she’s never been able to grow her hair past her shoulders. She’s shown tons of pictures from her youth to the present and her hair has always been between ear length and shoulder length except when she got a pixie cut.

I have a cousin and friend both I’ve known since childhood with hair that’s never been beyond ear length. Both would cut their hair into short styles because they could never grow their hair out whether worn natural or relaxed.
 

CapnCrunch

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Hm i would say some hair takes wayyy more effort to make grow than others. Some people can do the bare minimum and their genetics make their hair thick and coarse and thus resistant to breaking. While others can try their best and still struggle. But i think for black hair a tailor made hair regi and retention wins. Health must be taken into consideration, also consistency, hair handling, and quality of products.
After my cousin with dreadlocks, i have the longest hair in my family and its only just a bit below bra strap length. EVERYONE else’s hair stops at their shoulders. Since high school i discovered LHCF and healthy hair practices and have been able to get my hair to grow. I sort of feel like bra strap length seems to be my terminal length though cause ive been struggling to grow beyond that.
 

CapnCrunch

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Not everyone has the potential to have knee-length or even waist-length hair, true. But I refuse to believe there’s such a thing as being unable to get past shoulder length strictly because of genetics. Shoulder length isn’t that long, however I notice it can be a difficult plateau to overcome because your ends make direct contact with the fabric of your clothes, get stuck under your purse strap, etc. and as a result breakage ensues. This is a problem if you have an inherently more fragile hair type. Most people really aren’t aware how that can get in the way of retention.

We shouldn’t underestimate the role of diets and medical issues in hair growth/retention either.
Yup. To go past shoulder length you have to put your hair up. Bun, banana clip, claw clip, weave, wig, whatever. But you have to stop your ends from rubbing against your shoulder. The longer lengths also rub but they moreso just lay on your back.
 

Sososnendiddnd

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I think it’s length retention. My hair was earlobe length throughout secondary school but once I started wearing wigs and protective styling my hair has grown to armpit length now. Thank the Lord for wigs.
 

tempuralove

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It is genetics. That is why you see poor, malnourished people (ex. southeast asia) or people with bad eating habits (ex. obese women) with long hair. Techniques to maintain length can help some, but genetics win a vast majority of the time. My mom has long, coarse hair. Her sisters could never get their hair as long as hers, and neither can I. My hair is fine and stays at armpit length.
 

Krafty

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I would say both. but genetics play a bigger role than black women want to admit. My aunts are mixed race with european like 3b curls. VERY soft hair curly hair. There hair has never been waist length or even bra strap length their entire life.

They don't struggle with breakage or knots because there hair isn't coarse at all. They have easy wash and go hair.
 

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