My hair only grows fast when its in braided hair extensions(thats bad).How do I grow all of my hair long?

My hair is very short in the front and hard to manage. I have like, "ghetto hair". So yeah its usually in braids (like KeKe Palmer) And I really need it to grow. So anyone have any suggestions. Faster would be nice but it doesn't matter. And I can't weave it. I want my natural hair to grow out