A dermatologist has offered her expertise and shared the reason some people can grow their hair down to their waist in no time at all, while others can’t get it to grow past their shoulders
A dermatologist has revealed why some people can’t seem to grow their hair as long as they’d like, despite the ‘Rapunzel hair’ trend being all the rage.
Like many experts keen to impart their wisdom and help the masses, Dr Aamna Adel, a London-based dermatologist, took to TikTok to drop some truth bombs about hair growth mysteries.
In a recent video, she revealed the reality as to why some people are able to flaunt waist-length tresses while others struggle to get their strands past shoulder level. Her footage was captioned: “This is why you can’t grow long hair (and it’s not your fault).”
Dr Adel explained: “Have you ever wondered why some people can grow their hair all the way down to their butt and no matter what you do, you can’t grow past your boobies?
“Well, allow me to explain. I’m a dermatologist, I specialise in hair, and it all comes down to this.” She then pointed to an image of the hair growth cycle, and elaborated: “Your hair growth cycle. So, every single strand of hair on your head is in a different part of the hair growth cycle, so it’s either growing, it’s chilling, or it’s falling out.
“Now, all the Rapunzels out there spend way more time in the growing phase which can literally be anywhere from two years all the way up to six years.
“So, you can imagine, if your hair’s only growing for two years before it falls out, it’s going to be way shorter than hair that’s had chance to grow for six years.
“Okay, and I know what you’re going to be thinking – how come some people are blessed to have a long growth phase while you’ve got a short growth phase?
“Then, you need to thank mum and dad because even though age, diet and hair breakage can all affect how long your hair grows, genetics is the most important factor.”
People shared their thoughts beneath the video. One commenter said: “For everyone wondering, no you can’t change this, unless there’s breakage or something else stopping your hair from growing you can not lengthen past your max length.”
Another said: “So glad I got my dad’s hair genetics! My mom has always had barely any hair and it doesn’t grow past her chin.”
