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-
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