10 No Wave Bands You Must Hear Before You Die

'No Wave' began as a small avant-garde music scene in New York in the late 70's, but it's influence to Minimal Wave music and Alternative or Post-Punk music as a whole is undeniable and still strongly present to this day. A reaction to Punk's recycling of rock n roll cliche and poking fun at the newly emerging New Wave's upbeat saccharine hues being all too much of the same old thing; No Wave took on dissonance where there was once melody and chaotic noise where there would otherwise be conforming structure. Taking influence from the atonality of free-jazz and the abrasive nihilism of the punk scene, No Wave became the catalyst for the emergence of iconic bands such as Sonic Youth, Swans and The Birthday Party. Here are 10 No Wave bands you need to hear;

1.  Dark Day

Dark Day was formed in the wake of DNA by their former keyboardist and visual artist Robin Crutchfield. Personally Dark Day is one of my favourite bands in general and his 1980 LP 'Exterminating Angel' deserves a place in any synth enthusiasts record collection.

         2.  Theoretical Girls 

Theoretical Girls were the short lived brainchild of Glenn Branca, but with maddeningly repetitive and dissonant arrangements in unison combined with calm yet urgently frantic vocals pushing on they were a perfect example of the apathy and frustration woven in to the genre. 

                                     

3. DNA

DNA have become somewhat of a legend within the genre for their unusual approach to writing and performance. With a drummer who was originally a violinist and had no experience on drums and arrangements that at first glance seem to make absolutely no connection with each other they're certainly an acquired taste but I feel they're worth the experience even if they don't click with you. Guitarist Arto Lindsay went on to be heavily influential in various genres but DNA was his concept and a wildly successful one in the underground of No Wave.  

                                      

4. Material

Material were a unique beast and even though they're not considered to be No Wave they were considered to be founding fathers of the genre by influencing the musicians who came to create it. They were mainly considered an Acid Jazz band but used samples of spoken word and had a heavy funk influence especially in their basslines, branching between genres frequently and working with legendary poet William S Burroughs. 

                                      

5. Teenage Jesus and the Jerks

The iconic Lydia Lunch, star of No Wave cinema and dedicated member of the music scene on vocals, none more needs said. 

                                       

6. Pesteg Dred

Pesteg Dred have always been a difficult one to place in one genre, so why bother? They're an entity within themselves and embody teenage frustration in early 80's Denmark. "Their first and only album 'Years Of Struggle Against The Lies, The Stupidity And The Cowardice’ was written, recorded and produced during a weekend in December 1981. Unable to pay for the recording session, the master tapes were confiscated and the album remained unreleased until the summer of 1985 where it was issued as a bonus cassette with the Danish art magazine Atlas." -Dark Entries Records

                                        

7. James Chance & The Contortions

Brian Eno produced James Chance's first record in 1978, managing to capture his stage presence and urgent intensity. While funky and heavily jazz influenced with heavy bass reverb and distortion combined with synths which makes The Contortions manage to sound like they're trying to crawl out of their own skin and it's extremely cathartic to listen to. 

                                         

8. Lucrate Milk

France is the home of some of the best early Synthwave and EBM in the world, so it's no surprise that No Wave art punkers Lucrate (Lucrative) Milk were extremely influential to the French punk scene and continue to influence an aura of their energy and sound in the scene to this day. They perfected non-musical music and noise to a fine art and they deserve more credit than they get. 

                                         

9. The Del-Byzanteens 

The Del-Byzanteens had more of a punk flavour than most other No Wave bands but their stripped down old school funky sound has more of a post-punk vibe despite it being almost timeless in it's sound which it lends itself surprisingly well to the scene. They used samples of ambient music concrete a la Talking Heads similarly to Material. Their lyrics are deceptively dark and somber for the upbeat sound of their music which is a beautiful juxtaposition. Compositionally these guys are most interesting to me alongside DNA. 

 

10.  Circle X

Finally we have Circle X, a fascinating blend of primitive beats and brooding, swelling bass and guitar vocalist Bruce Witsiepe sounds timid in the midst yet catches the listeners ear nonetheless. Born of a disbanded punk band in 1978, Circle X was the project of Bruce Witsiepe and Tony Pinotti. Bruce was the true mastermind of Circle X; 

"After a short stint studying philosophy at the University of Delaware, Bruce turned to visual exploration at the Louisville School of Art in Kentucky. As a creator in the music/performance group Circle X he became a seer of broad, haunting ideas and dynamic compositions uniquely fired. Among his myriad expressions and observations was a deeply sensed dichotomy of burden and longing. "Belief" was a term of action for him. It could be considered that recognition of his fragile existence strengthened his natural inclination towards collaboration. He developed a strong drive to put people together with projects of grand stature or small piercing bulbs of endeavor. Simultaneously his own visuals, his individual works began to lean toward the ethereal, cellular/molecular, diaphanous of membrane, while his writing, appearing light on the page increased in its expressionistic, symbolic and gothic weight. Singular or collective, his oeuvre generated a recognizable but unexpected tone." - Visualaids 

Circle X really deserves an entire album listen to really get in to what they were trying to convey, so I implore you to give them a shot. 

-Amaris-

Happy?

Are you happy?
Are you sure?
Have you checked that you locked the door,
to that small box in your mind where your love for him lies?
Are you going to make excuses forever,
For why you never searched for better?
That you didn't want to start anew and find someone who truly loved you
That you were too old, too tired, too far in
Over your head, the waves of doubt still pool around you
20 years deep in something that never brought you joy
At first a toy for an unoccupied young boy
You've become an option he never chooses
A path he never walks
A chance he never takes
Are you happy?
Are you sure?

Icons, Idols and Inamoarata: Robert Smith

Ah the quintessential stereotypical post-punk poster boy, Robert Smith. Father of the 'Cureheads' who pretty much only listened to The Cure and the The Smiths. The Cure were one of the bands that shaped my listening habits and helped me through the first three years of high school (which aren't usually the easiest for anyone), along with influencing my style and my poetry at the time. I began listening to them around 12 or 13 years old, I first heard the band without seeing them, became completely enamoured and found myself scrambling through the local record stores trying to find anything at all by them. I remember seeing the cover for 'Boys don't Cry', holding it in my hands knowing how good they sounded and my heart fluttering at Robert's big hair, hen toed stance and the proportions his baggy jumper and skinny jeans gave him. My 'boyfriend' at the time (who I barely spoke to, as 13 year olds do) had really turned in feet, which I now know is really not that 'cute' as I thought it was at the time, he had the long fluffy hair and beautiful amber eyes, so immediately I fell for both him and Robert as they were something new and exciting. As that relationship came and went, the memories associated with it stayed and The Cure healed my poor tween heart (which took about a week) and the feelings for them grew and grew and haven't stopped since.  Robert was the sweet, shy, talented and wholesome frontman that my parents remembered from their 20's/30's and approved of me admiring. After all; it made a lighter change from Marilyn Manson (circa 2004 at the time), Pantera and Anthrax blaring from my room 16 hours a day (when I was home). The Cure weren't really an underground or alternative culture exclusive band in the 80's and 90's, they made television appearances and were played on the radio in my country. They were a turning point in many ways for the alternative subcultures emerging in England and Los Angeles, they bridged a gap between bands like Virgin Prunes and Southern Death Cult (later to become The Cult) and bands like Duran Duran and Sonic Youth who were household names by the time The Cure came on the scene. Clubs like Xclusiv in Yorkshire and the Bat Cave in London played The Cure, your local corner shop in Crawley or Scunthorpe played The Cure, their music was diverse and interesting, it fit seamlessly in the record collection of any self respecting Goth (although in the early 80's anyone alternative used to be called Punk in Britain) and the record collections of Yuppies and New Romantics alike.

Robert Smith had early beginnings in music when he and his sister began piano lessons as children but it wasn't until 13 or 14 that he discovered Rock and became more seriously, he has said that he "started to play and learn frenetically" (Tellier, Emmanuel 1997) when he began borrowing his brothers guitar. It wasn't until December 1972 that his musical career really began when he received a guitar for Christmas (the date has been disputed as '72 or '78 and no one is 100% sure whether he himself bought it or his parents did) and that same Woolworths guitar was used in very early Cure recordings.  The band went through various names until The Cure came to be in roughly 1977/78. As their name changed so did their sound, it evolved greatly over the years, even in the space of an album there are many directions and styles taken and used. In August 1979 while The Cure were working on their first album "Three Imaginary Boys" Smith met Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees at a Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire gig at the London YMCA. They hit it off and Severin invited Smith and The Cure on tour with them to promote their second album ' Join Hands' with Smith playing in both bands every night. From this he learnt how to be a front person and changed his persona drastically, and thus rose the iconic smeared lipstick and eyeliner that Smith is so famous for now. The look that was fully realised by the early 80's that influenced so many aspiring alternative kids, actually came from a pretty dark time in his life. "While touring 1982’s desolate ‘Pornography’ album Smith was struggling with severe depression and suicidal urges, he chose to make the album as a way to prevent himself from "going off the deep end", while the album was a commercial failure and poorly received, despite the single "Charlotte Sometimes" being popular, it also caused a split in the band when at the end of the tour bassist Simon Gallup quit the band. Robert Smith recalls: “I was a monstrous person at that time" (NME,2014). After the release of 'Pornography' the band took a lighter, more radio friendly sound which would later change several times. Smith has struggled with addiction and depression, this may have been the root cause of the problems on tour. Whilst in the midst of another very difficult time in Smith's life my favourite album of all time was born; Disintegration (1989), ironically it may never have come to fruition at all. Whilst recording Smith was not only in a very dark place but the bands record label warned that it would be commercial suicide to release the dark, brooding soundscape that is Disintegration. Disintegration was not only a success but has become somewhat of a turning point for the band away from their previous more palatable sound and has become an iconic record for many people for many reasons, myself included. There's something in Disintegration that isn't in their other records, I'm not sure if that's pain and strife from the drug addiction Smith is said to have been struggling with or if it's the change of direction and sound at that point, it shows experimentation and exploration for the band. Smith has remained an enduring part of the alternative/post punk scene for decades and still performs. He made an impact on my life, and now hopefully his music can make an impact on yours. 

A song from each of their albums chronologically starting with Three Imaginary Boys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okiCApJeonQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xik-y0xlpZ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4s4kGvQfIk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWmdt4Zn0-o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zowlf0JcvM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjvfIJstWeg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3nPiBai66M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijxk-fgcg7c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGgMZpGYiy8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weT9Sj3FADc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4nXnuV7j6Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtYL7F7aXI0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctBliTDIXDg

 ~Amaris~

How to: Goth in Summer for Cold Countries

Last year I posted an article called 'How to:Goth in Winter for Cold Countries', many vloggers, bloggers and youtubers have talked about summer and winter appropriate clothing for hot countries or very hot countries, but us Nordic goths have a few tricks up our elaborate puffy sleeves too. Most of the world thinks of the Scandic area to be this ice encrusted hell hole 365, and while we do get more cold weather than hot, when we get summer we really get summer; it doesn't come without its catches though, after all, we do live so far north we could throw rocks at the north pole (we can't really).

Keep Calm and Carry a Parasol:

While this may seem exceedingly stereotypical and many of you may roll your eyes in disgust but hear me out! Parasols, not the lace kind but the solid fabric ones, are very useful for keeping the sun off of delicate shoulders and backs that may be forgotten about otherwise. No matter what skin tone you are the sun can be very destructive and any extra protection for your face and décolletage is a bonus.  Find a parasol that fits your style, preferably one with a large circumference so that it can also be used as a 'personal space-o-meter' during those interactions with the public that one must endure.

(The example shown above is the one I personally use.)


Layer with Caution:

Nothing further ruins your idea of summer like heatstroke. Face it; our fashion choices are often heavy and complicated. In the sun this isn't always the most practical, so ditch the heavy velvets and silks and instead choose light chiffon and lace; even silk can work when worn in a sensible manner. Silk comes in different weights and of course there's Satin which you want to avoid like it's a pustule in Norway circa 1349. Satin is clingy and sweaty, being a synthetic fabric it won't breathe like Silk will. So if you must be shiny please don't boil yourself alive for it and avoid the satin. In terms of light fabrics for summer, one can layer gauze, chiffon, charmeuse, organza and lace- in our climate you may be able to wear thin brocade such as waistcoats but do try to steer clear of your favourite heavily embellished brocade frock coats. Billowy chiffon shirts and dresses in black or white can keep you cool but also corpse-like in your styling. Think burial gown, but try not to get so hot that your beautiful gown does in fact become your final fashion statement. Stevie Nicks a la 'Nightbird' is a great inspiration to me in summer

Jewellery is your best friend:

Continuing on from layering; When I must lose the layers and keep things simple and comfortable in the heat, I load up on my Jewellery instead. To me it's quintessential Goth and looks stunning, I feel like Anna Varney Cantodea when I dig up my old bohemian pewter pieces handed down from my mother. Metal can of course get hot, so do try and keep your jewellery on top of clothing or net gloves. I choose to protect as much skin as possible so I cover up everywhere that can be covered; This makes for far easier accessorising as I just throw on belts, bangles and a truck load of necklaces and I'm ready to go on lazier days. I will choose to sweep my hair up in a rats nest that can be decorated with circlets and headpieces or I braid and twist it all up on to the back of my head and leave the tantalising space between the nape of my neck and my dress exposed, adorned with necklaces and my many earrings, to me the simple looks I wear in summer are the most elegant and I thoroughly enjoy accessorising, so don't despair! when you must leave the layers of fabric, choose instead layers of jewellery.

Fashion AND Function:

I'm a huge believer that functional pieces need not be frumpy or ugly. In summer I'm all for massive sun hats in the vein of Lydia Deetz's wildest dreams, Gloves to protect delicate skin, thin chiffon capes, Massive sunglasses and endless amount of factor 50 sun screen. Our skin is so fragile and precious, even if you have a high Melanin level and have the richest darkest skin; you can still burn and you can still get skin cancer. It's not worth risking your life to look 'cool' or 'Gothier Than Thou'. I always carry sun screen, sunglasses so as to prevent wrinkles from squinting, a big floppy crushed velvet sun hat or woven sun hat, a large extremely thin scarf to swathe myself in if I fear being burned and of course, MAC fix+ to refresh my face and makeup throughout the day. Chiffon and Devoré kimono or duster jackets are a beautiful way to keep the sun off your back whilst looking wistfully back in to the 1930's when you were hip and eternal and bitten by that Vampire.

Sunscreen and Sandals:

This one goes without saying, or at least it should; Socks and sandals aren't cute so please slather your feet in sunscreen before slipping on those Platform sandals you're gonna break your ankle in. No, I am not speaking from personal experience, honest, why do you ask?
Your feet rarely see the light of day in the Northern Hemisphere, so remember that the skin is much less capable of coping with the UV rays and is more susceptible to burning.



Tie it up:

Hair is a key element of our styles, but it's also hot, sticky and nasty when it's on your face, melting your makeup off in the heat. There are many ways to tie your hair up and retain your vibe, be it a simple backcombed ponytail or beehive, or a more complex braided elven get up, getting your hair off your face is one less thing to worry about when you're out and about in the summer sun. Again, scalps can burn so be careful and wear a sun hat if you have one.

Good luck in your sunny adventures fellow mistresses and masters of the dark, here's to holding out til Winter comes again!          

~Amaris~

The Gothic Capsule Wardrobe

Recently I've had a lot of questions from those attracted to the Gothic subculture and enquiring about how on earth they begin the wardrobe building process. This blog began as a ranty blog about pop culture and the world as a whole; and I will get back to that, don't you worry, but I'm very much enjoying showing the other edge of the sword and withdrawing the venom a little in favour of imparting what knowledge I have on these subjects. I began dressing the way I do a long time ago, it has been at least 12 or 13 years and in that time I have gone through phases; to begin with I only wore gothic clothing occasionally and was bullied relentlessly in school because of it, I was a shy and quiet kid so the bullying just made me recoil further in to my shell. After that I only wore it at weekends and would spend my Saturday mornings playing dress up in anything dark in colour I could find and listening to my dads thrash and death metal records simply because it was what appealed to me. I've always enjoyed metal music and whilst it is not a staple of the goth culture, it has managed to become intertwined with it and I enjoy both post-punk and deathrock to the same extent I enjoy metal, diversity is key to a happy and engaged brain guys. When I entered high school shortly after beginning my journey in to gothic culture, I discovered the internet and stumbled upon a glorious myriad of gothic fashion and music, goth metal and 80's music, early 2000's goth as it was at the time and I immediately knew this is what I had been searching for. As a child I had always had an interest in the darker cartoons about bats and ghosts and zombies that were so popular in the early 90's, I was drawn to the more intricate and macabre designs of toys and books and loved to get dressed up in my mothers rich purples, blacks, royal blues and emerald greens, wear all of her Harley Davidson jewellery, dark fringed devoré scarves and the slave bracelets, jangly metal belts and big black boots she wore to rally's with my father (which I would later attend with my family), I felt like a magical performer, a star in my head. Whilst singing in the living room window dressed up in my mothers heavy metal jewellery, I felt like a mysterious witchy angel and I loved every second, I didn't want it to end; now that I am older,it didn't have to.

My beginnings were somewhat unusual in that I was brought up in a family where alternative appearance and culture were the norm, guys with long hair and tattoos were my guests at tea parties with my disney princess tea set, women with big dyed hair head to toe in leather scooped my up in their arms to hug me,say hello and tickled me til I was doubled up laughing. These people who were shunned by society were our friends and family, they still are! They've just aged a little, people have a habit of doing that. I was drawn to the appearance rather than being introduced to it, I didn't know what it was ; I just knew I wanted to look a bit like that. Growing up I didn't have the money or access to buy fancy garments and so my mother and I trawled the local shops and second hand markets to find interesting looking items. Not gonna lie, I picked out some hideous HIDEOUS things but my mother always let me try them out. If I was going to find a style, I was going to find it on my own.

Enter "Goth Capsule Wardrobe". This is the wardrobe I started out with when I went to university, it served it's purpose and allowed me to build around it as and when I could. At the time I was in to the clean lines of trad goth and thankfully this taught me how to bulk out your style without having to bulk out your wardrobe. I feel that by this point in this article you're thinking "For the love of all that is unholy mother get to the fucking point!" and so I shall, for a starter wardrobe I advise obtaining:

T Shirts or Shirts 

4 tshirts may seem like a very small amount, but in actuality you will be able to style these four in different ways and people are less likely to notice you wore it last week. Especially if you live in a city, you're most likely not going to be seeing the same person two days in a row. 4 Shirts gives you the option to play around with how you wear them and get in to the groove of your personal taste a lot more before buying more clothing. The same can be done with shirts if you're more in to the romantic or victorian goth styles.
Examples of both mens and women's wear suitable for multiple different occasions:

 Skirts and Trousers


A good solid selection of 2-4 skirts or pairs of trousers will get you by, there is wiggle room in each case of course, this is just to build upon. If you're in love with 8 skirts you've found, that's totally fine and a great advantage in future, so long as they go with your top halves. This is just something to base your wardrobe on, so feel free to expand if you find you are more confident and happy once you've found your groove in your capsule wardrobe.

Examples:

(Kilts are great alternatives to trousers or skirts, suitable for both men, women, and agender/nonbinary goths!)

Dresses

Dresses can be worn by anyone of any gender, it may be intimidating to some, but a nice ragged dress looks amazing on anyone! If you'd like to try opting for dresses then I'd suggest adding one or two in to your wardrobe to start with. I say this only because dresses limit you a lot more than tops, skirts and trousers do when it comes to stretching the ways you can wear them. 

Shoes

It's easy to be enamoured by so many pairs of shoes, I'm guilty of that. I have a collection of boots that barely fits in my apartment these days but yet I still fall in love with shoes and they still come home with me haha. However, when you're building your wardrobe and want to have a good solid base to dress up or give an edge to any outfit; one pair of shoes, one pair of boots. Depending on your style it could be victorian ankle boots, Demonia platforms, New Rock boots, TUK flats or Iron Fist, anything your heart could desire. Now fly my pretties, and find those shoes! 

Accessories

An essential component of any Gothic wardrobe is of course your arsenal of accessories. I leave this relatively free to interpretation but I would suggest looking to history of inspiration; headwear, gloves, parasols, spats, veils, ruffs and collars of all shapes and sizes.  Below I will show some examples, it should be known that I consider accessories to be unlimited in terms of the capsule wardrobe. Accessories can change the look of the few outfits you have and enhance the impact of every outfit. Very important to remember about useful accessories such as handbags, belts and sunglasses, you don't want to look amazing then realise you have nowhere to store your phone. 

 

Jewellery

I recommend finding a good set of jewellery, for example Alchemy Gothic carries beautiful matching sets in a myriad of styles, to wear with your first outfits. You can expand on this set later, but a good quality bat or cross necklace, and maybe a few rings can make all the difference to your style. Many people think you must wear ten tonnes of jewellery to wear Gothic fashion, that is incorrect, the only things that you should really do are; enjoy yourself, express yourself and listen to the music that started it all, at least once or twice anyway. 

~Amaris~

How I overcame self harm by radical skin care.

A little bit of an unusual post, but as I haven't written in so long I felt I should write something a little personal to ease back in to blogging as I seem to have the brain of a startled chicken. Many people struggle in their life with not being able to open up about how they are feeling or if they are struggling. I was one of those people. I went through years and years of therapy to cope with childhood abuse and bullying throughout my school years. I turned to extreme self mutilation in order to deal with the pain I was dealing with inside. Unfortunately this has left me with life long scars that remind me every day that I was once in a very dark place but they also remind me that I have become a strong, resilient adult full of love and compassion for my current and past self. In recent years I have had difficulty dealing with the progression of my illness and the continuous arguing, travelling, stress that comes with my career and my illness/es. Grievances and loss within my family/friend circle lately have driven self destructive, negative thoughts in to my mind. In order to face these thoughts head on and turn them in to positive, loving actions; I decided to practice radical skin care (which sounds a lot more awesome and/or social justice-y than it actually is). I took up twice daily or 'whenever my mind was eating me alive' dry brushing over my entire body, moisturising, extracting blemishes on my face with a comedone extractor (which also hurts a little but doesn't leave marks) in order to clear my complexion and deal with my urges to harm myself which I of course don't want to listen to, so this is a somewhat positive way. Using sheet masks, hand masks, moisturising my face and finding what works for my skin not only makes me feel relaxed and good about myself, but takes my mind off of the destructive thoughts until I can get them under control and out of my life.

I hope this suggestion can improve the way some of you are feeling and also improve your confidence and quality of skin.
 

~Amaris~

A bullshit free guide to growing and maintaining very long hair

There are several billion articles available on the internet on the subject of growing your hair and keeping it healthy. However most of them are only half the story and/or an excuse for someone to boast about their hair. When I was growing my hair I spent hours trawling article after article despairing over how to protect my hair and maximise growth, eventually I just gave up and tried what seemed logical, hint ; it worked. Now I'm going to relay what I did, or rather didn't do in the small hope that maybe it'll work for someone else. To start with, here is a picture of most of my hair:

As you can see, my hair is very thick, naturally wavyish, blonde, has no layers and is about waist length in this picture and has been braided, it is now hip length. In this picture it looks a little frazzled as my friend had been trying out braids on it and it hadn't been brushed prior to the photo. I'm 162cm tall.

I don't have the perfect hair and I have never claimed so. My hair gets split ends, flyaways and all the rest, just as everyone else's hair does. I have merely managed to grow my hair long enough to reach my hips and keep it healthy and now I'm going to shove that information in this post. 

Leave it the fuck alone

This will either come as a "well duh" point or a "REALLY?!" point. Leave your hair the fuck alone, leave it alone. Brush it once or twice a day, braid it, and leave it alone. This will keep your hair protected from getting caught on things like zips or other snaggy bits on clothing or your surroundings. Don't over-style it, don't heat treat it, don't heat style it, don't use rubber bands in it, don't use anything that will catch in it, just leave it the fuck alone.  Try not to dye it either, that can strip the hair badly, particularly bleaching or dying dark colours. 

Oil is your friend

Don't wash your hair every day. Try not to even wash it every two days, I have no shame in saying I wash my hair on Wednesdays and Sundays and that's it. Every day I brush the natural oils through my hair to protect and nourish it and flip my hair over to my head is turned upside down, and massage my scalp to remove any dead skin or oil build up so as not to get scalp infections (the brush will also help with this). The massage will also increase blood supply to your scalp and stimulate growth. After massaging my scalp I brush my hair again and add argan oil to the lower half of my hair; This is a particularly useful and important step for those with very curly hair or persons of colour as curly hair types are less oily and need coconut oil or argan oil to nourish them. Coconut and Argan oil will also make your hair smell soooo nice. 

Deep moisturising treatments aren't a myth

Hair masks and coconut oil deep treatments aren't a money making scheme, they work wonders for your hair. You can go for the most practical option and heat some coconut oil then smear it all over your hair and leave it over night or you can buy a moisturising mask for in-shower use and use it once a week instead of your regular conditioner. You will feel the difference, your hair will be soft and renewed and most important of all; protected. 

You don't NEED to trim your hair every six weeks

Now this one is a super popular piece of advice "Oh if you trim your hair every three to six weeks you'll have lovely long healthy hair" Bull.Shit. Your hair grows at a rate of about 6 inches per year or 1.25cm a month. If you cut off 3cm-1 inch every six weeks, guess what, your hair will either stay the same length or will get shorter and shorter. If you take care of your hair you won't need to have it trimmed anywhere near as often, I think that this myth has sprung up from the heavy use of straightening and curling irons and treatments in the last 40ish years. These things will rip your hair to shreds obviously and you'll have to get all the frayed ends cut off. If you take care of your hair and don't over style it (i.e don't style it every day) then you will be able to have your hair cut whenever you feel it needs tidied up, I personally get mine cut about twice a year and my stylist is amazed by the condition when I come to her. 

You have no optimal length

Most of us have a length at which our hair slows it's rate of growth or appears to stop. I'm not denying that. However I do feel that when we care for our hair properly there is no stopping our rate of growth, for example when I bleached and dyed my hair frequently, backcombed and styled it every day my hair would only grow to shoulder length or a little longer, now I have hip length hair since I stopped attacking it. 

Looking after your inside is as important if not more important than looking after the outside 

What you put in to your body, food, drink, time and exercise make a world of difference to your hair and nails. Try supplements and vitamins if you're struggling to balance things with your body. Eat well and consult a nutritionist, I found I was lacking in a few key vitamins that were hindering my skin, hair and nails. Now that I eat a healthy balanced diet my hair has grown like rapunzel and my nails are long and strong too. 

I do hope that some of these quick pointers will help you on your journey to long healthy hair. 

 -Amaris-