The natural hair community, especially those who are all of YouTube, has used trial and error methods of what works best for textured hair. Over time from those lessons come the myths that still stayed around in the guise of being helpful when in reality, regardless of length, these myths don’t really do what you think is helpful. We’re here to debunk a few things to keep your textured tresses as healthy as possible. Here are the top five things to stop thinking about your textured hair so it can be the best it can be.

Textured hair grows slowly.

This is false; textured hair, even 4c if you subscribe to this hair-typing, grows about a half inch a month, just like most hair textures. Because textured hair can be tightly coiled and because of shrinkage seeing that growth may be hard to see but don’t be discouraged with your routine. If you’re getting the right about of moisture, eating high-protein foods, and not over-combing and brushing, you are perfectly fine.

You shouldn’t wash your hair too often.

Listen, I don’t know why this one is still around. Please wash your hair. This myth is most common when someone is starting to loc their hair. What most don’t know is that washing and moisturizing your hair will help the loc process go much more smoothly. This also comes out of the notion that textured hair doesn’t get greasy like looser textures, but that’s also false because our bodies naturally produce sebum in both our scalps and skin. Textured hair is coarse and hard to manage. Surely models know the struggle of this myth. Not many hairstylists know how to do textured hair properly, so the myth of it being difficult to do has been an ongoing thing. Even people with lots of textured hair have those thoughts at times, but with the right routine, it isn’t!

Textured hair is stronger than looser textures.

Textured hair is actually quite sensitive, so brushing hard from the roots to the ends is really bad for hair shafts and can cause breakage. Even if someone’s textured hair looks thick, it might not be. Coily textures tend to be on the thinner side and more prone to breakage when not properly moisturized. Even with protective styles like braids, faux locs, sew-ins, and so on, doing any of those too tight will cause severe breakage, especially around your edges and nape of the neck.

Textured hair doesn’t need trims.

Trimming your hair will, in fact, help you grow your hair. The ends of everyone’s hair gets the brunt of so many elements and tend to be the driest. It can get very, very thin if not moisturized properly, which is quite often. That’s why cutting them off to let the healthy parts of your hair thrive is so important. Who wants long hair if it doesn’t look healthy? Often times you won’t even see growth if you keep your dead ends because they are breaking off. Do yourself a favor and cut those ends by a professional; holding on to length won’t do your hair any good.