Hair 101: How I grow my Hair long

Good evening all, I hope you've all had a great Monday, as good as any Monday can be anyway. Last week was quite the week for me, but I'll talk about that in a diary post, but I'm glad to be starting a new week. I actually came across an old "Grow my Hair" list that I had written a while ago and was reminded of how my hair was a year ago. It's been through quite the journey, which I've written all about in my post here, and so having finally got it to a length I'm happy with, I am keen to share the tips and tricks that got it here.

The key things to consider when growing your hair

• Damaging Treatments
• Heat
• Washing
• Cutting
• Nutrients

All the things above a contributors to the health and condition of your hair. You may not think that altering small habits will make a difference to the length and condition of your hair but it is the combination of good habits that results in long hair. Trust me, I've found out the hard way.

Damaging Treatments

I have had my fair share of treatments on my hair (that rhymed, not intentional!) and even knowing how damaging they were didn't stop me going ahead with them. As I mentioned in this post Here I have dyed my hair for 2 years, bleach bathed it, highlighted it and stripped it of dye. All of which left my hair in pretty rubbish condition. Naturally, my advice is to leave out damaging treatments, which is what I'm doing now. However, if you're dying your hair and want to keep it that colour, this isn't an option for you. 

So my advice to those of you that are going to be bleaching or dying your hair is firstly, go a little longer between treatments. When I was dying my hair, I would count 10 weeks before I would do it again. Regardless of how bad I thought it looked. Second of all, whenever I would do a treatment, I would balance it out by using a deep conditioner or hot oil treatment. I found this helped in reducing the damage to the locks. 

Heat

Although countless "How To" posts will tell you not to use heat, if you're anything like me, this isn't really an option. On a night out I want to curl my hair and do something with it to make it look nice. What's the point of having beautiful hair if you can't do anything with it? I've also stopped hairdrying my hair and letting it dry completely naturally. I've taught myself how to do some up-dos in order to reduce how often I use heat on a daily basis and this has helped. Here are some links for how to do a messy bun, knot braid and my personal favourite heatless wavy hair! 

Next of all, if you are going to use heat (which we both know you are) always always always use a heat protector. They actually do work when used correctly and make a such difference. The one I swear by and cannot live without is my  Loreal Studio silk & gloss Straightening cream. I've done a full review here and as you can see, I'm in love with the stuff. I've been using it six years now and can 100% say it makes your hair silky soft and it smells amazinggggg. 

Washing

Obviously, washing is a big part of hair care. All I really need to say is firstly, when my hair needs washing, I'll put it in an updo and try and go another day. I know it's a little gross but the hair is never really that dirty but reduces the amount of times you're messing with it. Second of all, use good products which I know, obvious. I'm currently liking TRESemme colour protect shampoo and conditioner and throw in the Aussie 3 minute miracle hair reconstructor for when I have time to really give it some moisture. You can see my full review on it here. 

Cutting

I think of all the steps I took to grow my hair, this one was the hardest. I just felt that cutting my hair was counter productive when I'm trying to grow it. But, it's that classic saying of quality over quantity. Without cutting it, I had longish hair but it was unhealthy at the ends and never really grew any longer. If you want to keep your hair the same length, cutting it every six weeks will keep it that way. However, I've found that getting my hair cut every ten weeks has kept it in perfect condition, but has still left it long enough for it to grow. Now my hair is just past my boobs and still has healthy ends. So bite the bullet and get it cut! 

Nutrients

You've heard countless sources tell you to have a healthy diet, so you don't need me to tell you that having a healthy diet will give you good hair, among other things. I've found perfectil hair and nails supplement worked great for giving my hair an extra kick. I've also heard that pure biotin supplements are available to buy. In case you didn't know, Biotin is the nutrient that your hair and nails need most to grow. As with any supplements, always check with your GP that it's safe for you to take! 

I've also found that gently massaging your head with my fingers has helped speed up growth, I imagine this is due to more blood being brought to the scalp and so increasing growth. And finally, my last tip is not brush your hair when it's wet and if you absolutely have to, do it very gently as harsh brushing when it's weakened will cause it to snap. So that concludes a very long but hopefully helpful "How to" post. I've followed all of these steps in combination with one another and that is when you see the most results. I actually tried on my old hair extensions and was thrilled to discover my hair is now the same length. Proof they really work. Hope you've found this post helpful and let me know your tips in the comment below!

Laura.