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Growing out your hair can be a seriously arduous process. Between the awkward grow-out phases and being on a time crunch (wedding-day-ready hair, anyone?), intentionally growing out your hair takes patience, but most of all the know-how for doing it correctly.
There are so many myths and money-schemes aimed at selling you the idea of growing Rapunzel-length locks in a matter of weeks, but many times those things are hurting your efforts, not helping them.
So in an effort to get you the longer locks you want, and have a healthy head of hair as well, here are our top six tips for boosting hair growth (no 100 brushes a day tips here..please don’t say you still believe that):
1.) Start from the Inside
Long, healthy hair is also a by-product of a healthy diet. That means getting the adequate amount of protein, healthy fats and minerals through whole foods, and potentially supplements. For example, protein helps promote cell growth and repair, which translates to a boost in hair growth as well as stronger strands since hair is comprised of protein.
The extra bonus of eating a healthier diet? It also results in a healthier body!
Do your research on the right foods to incorporate in to your diet and get cooking, you’ll start to see the payoff with consistency.
2.) Keep it as Natural as Possible
When we say natural, we mean cut back on the heat styling and resist the urge to tie your hair up in an elastic 24/7 where your hair is being pulled at the roots, just let your hair be in it’s natural state.
We understand if you can’t do this all the time, but giving your hair follicles some time to breathe and just do their own thing keeps your hair shaft strong and less likely to break or split. Your hair is already dead, but overdoing it with the heat-styling and tight updos can break and pull hair straight from the root, which obviously doesn’t help you achieve the longer hair you desire.
3.) Use Quality Products
You know those cheap shampoos you see in the store that are electric blue or violet? Think about the ingredients within those products that makes it that color. Your hair doesn’t need it.
Invest in quality products that contain cleansing agents that are gentle on your strands as well as products with deep conditioning agents that work to seal in moisture and help protect from the effects of heat styling.
Of course, we’re biased regarding salon-quality products, but it’s only because they work and they’ve proven that they’re worth every penny. You can see some of of the product lines we carry in Bang here.
4.) Swap Out Your Cotton Pillowcase for Silk
Cotton causes friction between your hair and the fabric, which can result in some nasty tangles and subsequently ripped hair when you’re trying to brush them out.
By switching to a silk pillowcase you’ll be saving your hair from catching on fibers, which causes those dreaded knots since silk allows hair to glide over the surface. Plus, silk is also good for keeping your skin hydrated. Double win!
5.) Trim Your Ends
This one brings a lot of debate, so we’re just going to lay down the facts:
Yes, hair grows from the roots. So if you don’t cut your hair or go long times between cuts, yes, you will have longer hair than if you got a “dusting” of your ends every 6 to 8 weeks. But, and that is a big but, your hair will not be as healthy as it could be and it definitely won’t look as great either.
Why? Because split ends travel up the hair shaft, so instead of steadily growing out beautiful, healthy hair, you’ll be growing longer hair where more and more of it becomes longer split ends.
Then when you finally do go in to get a haircut, your stylist is going to want to cut off the five inches of unhealthy hair hanging at the bottom leaving you with shorter hair than before.
What you can do is go see your stylist every 6 to 8 weeks where they can lightly clean up the ends (so little that its hardly noticeable even to you), and you’re left with healthy ends that aren’t causing damage to the rest of your hair you’re working so hard to grow out.
6.) Be Patient
We already mentioned this in the beginning, but it bears repeating, be patient!
You can’t expect to lose 5 pounds in one day, so why would you believe you could grow your hair 5 inches in a month? Our body’s natural processes take time, so don’t get fed up with your efforts after a month or two. Remain consistent in adopting healthy hair practices, improve your diet, and make the slight changes in your environment needed to boost your hair growth.
Over time you’ll start to see the payoff. And if you really need your hair to be a certain length by a specific date, look in to quality extensions and consult with your stylist on the best ways to achieve your desired look, but we bet that if you’re just looking to have a healthier head of hair and slightly longer locks, these tips will get your crowning glory looking fabulous soon enough.
