Mermaid Locks, Continued...

Hello there ya'll

I started off my 'how to grow your hair' theme by making a post about one of my favorite things in the entire world- the lovely amazing mister Biotin and this little pumpkin is still my go to, HG, will always recommend straight away to people growing their hair product based on how well it worked for me, but this post is going to be about everything else, every little detail you're going to want to do to make your hair grow as fast as humanly possibly!

Just to explain why I've become an expert in these matters- about a year and a half ago I had hair down to my ribs and then (even though I freakin' loved my hair) I decided it would be a wonderful idea to cut it all off and I mean all of it so the longest of it was to the top of my neck, around an inch or so long? and just to make things as awkward as possible for myself, I bleached it white blonde and as I will mention- hair needs to be healthy to grow so I screwed myself a tad there!

I did love my hair for a while but my attention span is terrible and I get bored of things (especially my hair- its pretty much been every colour under the sun) and wanting it short is quick and satisfying to do, sadly wanting it long is not. 

Taking care of it!

Brushing: Generally I actually don't brush my hair unless I really need to, and there is never really much of a need. I'm not sure where the 'brush your hair 100 times a day!' thing came from because that will do the opposite of help and just create a ton of split ends.

If you have very tangley hair then it could help to brush them out every now and then (maybe with a tangle teezer) as tangles can damage hair but they will come when washed. when you do brush, always always work from the ends up to the roots- so brush the ends out first. This will cause much less damage.

More importantly when your hair is wet- NEVER EVER EVER BRUSH IT, I wouldn't even comb it. When your hair is wet it is very fragile and brushing will cause it to stretch and snap off! Someone at the hairdressers did this to me before and, dramatic as it is, i wanted to cry! Also, this should be obvious but back coming is also a no no.

Heat styling: Even though most of you guys are going to hate/ignore this part it has to be mentioned, sigh.

Personally I haven't really straightened, curled, blow dried, crimped (you get the point) my hair in over a year now and no, I am not one of those people, I used to straighten my hair every single day. Going out in the morning without it being straightened or heat styled in some way would feel just wrong and naked but because growing my hair is something I was desperate for I adapted and now my hair looks lovely without doing these things! 

I've actually gotten used to my hairs natural wave/texture now and learnt how to style it and use it to my advantage and I do suggest this to everyone else! It has made my hair a lot less damaged and I don't need to have it cut as often.

Chemicals & colouring: Again, a bit of an obvious one but dying can do all sorts of horrible things like changing the hair structure completely. The worst thing I think you could ever to do your hair would be bleaching, it strips your hair back completely of everything and makes it dry, brittle, thin and includes a million splitsies (sadly, this is a first hand experience). Its pretty much impossible to make it healthy and manageable again unless you cut it all out- which is obviously the opposite direction you want to go in.

All of this is the same for perming and relaxing/chemically straightening

then there is permanent hair dye's which I would also stay away from, very bad! and then there are semi permanents which again I would stay away from if you can, BUT this is something I have done and its not ideal but I don't think its as bad as heat styling on a regular basis and if you invest in a fairly decent one then it won't be too damaging and it lasts a hell of a long time. I used this one and mine has lasted 6 months+ so far!

Washing: This might be deemed as gross but I wash my hair the least I possibly can! 

The natural oils in your hair are there for a reason and are very good for it, shampooing that away everyday will NOT help the condition of your hair at all. If you are someone that washes their hair everyday because otherwise it will get greasy, a lot of the time the reason your hair gets greasy as fast as it does is because you are washing it so often, your hair is trying to combat that by releasing oils faster so basically if you wash your hair less, your hair wont get as greasy.

In the time you are trying to ease your hair into this lifestyle you can easily use dry shampoo or even talc powder and do a cute messy bun.

Wear and tear: Other than this, generally taking care of your fragile little hairs is something I always have on my mind. Just little things like using thick/fluffy hair bands instead of thin little ones as they will break your hair and moving your hair out of the way of friction eg scarves, pillows, seat belts ect. these things will be very helpful.

Making it grow!

(Not including Biotin) This is probably the best tip I can give you:

Massage!:  This tells you how or you can just wing it it's not the most difficult thing in the world! Massaging releases natural oils which conditions and stimulates hair follicles, increases blood flow and thus makes it grow faster. You can try doing it upside down as well if you want it makes the blood flow quicker. Its easy do it while you're watching TV or something so there is no excuse! 

also burdock oil, grape seed oil and caster oil (people use this for going bald so I think it works) stimulate hair to grow so use that to massage and leave in overnight for a little treat on a girly night in.

Procucts:

Main n Tail- actually a horse shampoo! but there are things all over the internet swearing that it works. personally i did try and research it and i don't think it makes your hair grow as much as it makes it a lot stronger which is good for growing. warning- it will make dye fade VERY fast and it did build up a lot in my hair

FAST.- extremely expensive but I've heard good things

Vitamin B- either from leafy greens or a supplement 

Folic Acid- apparently this works very well! in the same sort of way i think biotin works but personally i haven't tried it

Hair cuts: It is said that you should trim your hair every 4ish weeks, but I don't think you should do that. If you are trying to grow your hair and that is because your hair grows on average 1/2 inch a month and on average hairdressers cut off about 1/2 inch off so you would just be cutting every bit of new growth off.

Personally I think it should be every 10-12 weeks. I've actually nearly passed the 12 week mark now and I don't think I actually NEED a cut yet I just use the S&D method which gets rid of a good amount of split ends so all of the hair that has grown- is mine to keep! But obviously it does depend on how your hair is and how much breakage it has because you do need to get rid of that, otherwise they will just break further and further up the hair shaft and you will need to cut off more length to get rid of it.

Health: the last thing I can suggest is just to be healthy. smoking, drinking, stress and eating badly are all things that will make your body run a heck of a lot slower thus slowing down the amount your hair is growing considerably and sometimes even bring it to a near stop. Things you can do to help are drinking water, a lot of sleeping (your body recovers when sleeping and runs faster) and eating a healthy amount of protein based foods.

Damage free hairstyles!
hairband made curl
sock made curl
straighten without heat
crimp- no heat!

So overall, if you want to grow your hair as fast as possible there aren't many miracle products that will make you skip the frustrating bits that nobody wants to do and really, they are all very straightforward and dable if you want it enough!

let me know if you have any questions you think i've missed out and comment below on what has helped you and your journey

Talk soon!