“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair”. Popular culture is full of images of beautiful women with long hair. Western culture is saturated with paintings of women with waist-length, thigh length and knee length hair. Just look in any classic art museum. Stories tell of princesses with glossy, lengthy locks and pretty mermaids combing their hair with forks and shells. So how do you get your natural hair to reach such great lengths? Here are a few tips.
Au Naturel
There are plenty of ways to help your hair grow naturally. But when it comes to growing your own hair, patience is a virtue. It’s important to remember that your hair isn’t going to triple in length overnight. The average person’s hair will grow between one-quarter of an inch and half an inch a month. You can’t make your hair grow much faster than this, but there are a few techniques that will encourage your hair to grow and reduce damage and hair loss. Great hair will you give you a confidence boost and make you feel better about yourself, so it’s worth the effort.
Get a Trim
This sounds counter productive. But the hairdressers are your friends. Having regular trims will remove split ends which will prevent them from working their way up the hair strand. Your hair will be a little shorter, but it will be a whole lot healthier. It is recommended that you get around an eighth of an inch taken off every ten to twelve weeks. Have a consultation with your hairdresser first and make sure they know you want as little length as possible removed.
This isn’t only true for long hair. Super short hair can also benefit from regular trims, especially if you normally dye your hair which can damage it. Here’s a guide on cutting your own hair to save some money in-between the trips to the salon.
Wash Your Hair Less
You don’t need to wash your hair every time you get into the shower. Your scalp produces natural oils which will keep your hair healthy and strong. So wash your hair less. When your hair does need a good wash, be gentle with it. Lather it up, gently massage your scalp and let the shower rinse it out.
Use Conditioner
When you wash your hair, it’s important to use conditioner. Conditioner is a healthy head of hair’s best friend. It helps replace the lipids and proteins inside of the hair shaft that thins over time.
Heat Protector
We put our hair through a lot. The hair dryer, straighteners, curlers and any other heated appliances wreak havoc with the health and quality of our hair. Use a heat protector before putting any heat on your hair. A quick spray will take hardly any time but it’ll make all the difference. You’ll see less breakage and your hair will remain stronger than without any product at all.
Scalp Massage
Massage your scalp once a day. Whether this in the shower while you’re applying your conditioner, or just before bed. A scalp massage feels great. It’s so relaxing. But this isn’t the only benefit. It will increase blood circulation to the hair follicles. It also conditions the scalp and increases the overall strength of your roots.
Brush Carefully
A lot of people brush from the top of their hair shaft down. Don’t do this. Start at the bottom. Brush down. Then move up your hair. This prevents hair from creating one large knot at the bottom of your hair. This will result in hair loss and should be avoided at all costs.