Long, beautiful and shiny hair is every girl’s dream! I’ve always had long hair, and I can’t imagine cutting it short! Everyone is always asking me how I grow it so long, though, so here are my top ten tips on how to grow healthy, shiny long hair!
1. Preparation!
Growing long and beautiful hair goes far beyond just what shower products to use. The first step in growing long, healthy hair is to cut off any damaged bits, no matter how much you have. This is the part everyone always struggles with! Go to a hairdresser and ask them to remove all the dead hair, and to style the rest. That way, you’ll look gorgeous and have well- prepared hair!
Photo Credit: brokenheels
2. Book regular trims
This will prevent damage from stopping your hair from growing. Go as often as you need to! My hair grows fast, so I go at least a month, but see what works for you. Most hairdressers recommend a trim every six to eight weeks. If you notice your hair growth slowing down, there is probably damaged hair stopping it.
Photo Credit: Mike Rohde
3. Talk to your stylist!
Tell your stylist that you are aiming to grow your hair, and get them to show you exactly how much they want to cut off before they start. This helps put you in control, and ensures the stylist doesn’t thwart your growing efforts!
Photo Credit: allicette
Topic for me!!
I used to have long hair. I couldn’t take care of it so I decided to stick with short hair for a while. Now I want to grow long hair.
I massage my scalp with almond oil, or coconut oil before I take a shower.
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Fatima,
It will grow by time don’t worry. I had the same problem and it was difficult wating for it to grow but at last my wish is granted :)
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Hey Fatima,
Down here in India it is quite a popular belief that applying coconut oil for atleast an hour a day does help in hair growth. Though now there’s a lot of counter-claims to the validity of the results! but hey, we all know that oil if nothing else atleast conditions your hair!
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Patty
I have long hair. My skin and my hair have a tendency to be dry. I always wait 3 days between shampoos. Before each shampoo I message my hair with olive oil, heavier on the ends. I only apply shampoo on my scalp and lather it good there, not the ends of my hair. When I rinse, enough of the shampoo flows threw the length of my hair to clean it, but not dry it out. I condition and rinse in cold water.
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I’ve mentioned this before on your blog but I’ve been growing out my hair to donate it and a lot of your tips have been tried and tested and are very good! I would recommend a moisturizing treatment at least once a month and once in a while I made an olive oil mask for my hair. I did this more when I had time but it really makes hair shinier and stronger! (Of course you shampoo it after! :) )
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Theo how long do you leave the olive oil on your hair? I read another article that talked about 3 generations of Greek-American woman that covered their bodies and hair in olive oil for an entire day each weekend and had enviable skin and hair for it. An expensive thing to do these days.
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You donate too? Awesome! I donated 10 inches twice. This time I am thinking of keeping it.
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Hey Theo,
doesn’t olive oil really stick to your hair (somewhat like castor oil)? i mean don’t you need a couple of shampooing rounds to wash it off?
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hey ladies! remarkably it does not stick but you cannot leave it on longer than half an hour. I haven’t tried it on the skin (definitely expensive and messy lol) but the hair works fine and it really comes out but need to use lukewarm or cooler water. Additionally, a remedy my mom’s friend recommended was to crush up generic brand aspirin and rub it on the scalp (for anyone with dry scalp). My friend tried it and it helped wonders during the wintertime!
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hey Theo,
yeah the skin would be real messy! But hey thanks for the tips with the Olive Oil.. and wow, aspirin, really!!!
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Thank you Theo :) I am going to try the olive oil for my hair.
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no problem! don’t use too much! I used to combine 4-5 capfuls and let it on for 30 minutes. I think I’m going to do this again this weekend and make time for it. I haven’t been able to for months! the aspirin sounds random for sure but it works wonders! :)
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I have long hair, well I think it’s not long enough to be considered “Asian Long hair”. What I eat never really effect how fast my hair grows, but everyone’s hair is different. BUT, I am going to try rinsing my hair in cold water.
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Hey Alice,
Over the past few years, it has been proven without doubt that cold water is extremely helpful for the hair. so yeah, we’ve just gotta hold our breath for the few seconds of the cold water that it takes for a wash!
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Most of these tips are dedicated to healthy looking and shiny hair, not to hair growth.
Hair doesn’t grow from ends, but from roots. So, cutting the hair is useless – it just helps hair look healthier, not longer. What you need is healthy and nutritious food, vitamins, normal hormonal levels, non-stressing environment, some oils or hair masks might help too.
So, all you need is:
a) check your health.
b) think, what you eat.
c) avoid stress, relax and sleep well.
d) take care of your hair – let your roots breathe.
And the rest is genes. If your family doesn’t have it, you won’t too.
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It’s also a truth that almost all hair growth happens when you are sleeping And it does not happen if you are exhausted or malnourished in any way. Your body won’t expend the energy on hair growth if it has more pressing concerns. Relaxed happy people ‘naturally’ have the best hair.
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You’re right Meadows,
hair does grow mostly when you are asleep. And that the hair growth process is pretty much a secondary importance process to the body.
And yes Paulina, both you and meadows are right about the non-stressful environment helping in hair growth (or avoiding hair fall). However, the point about trimming your hair for hair-growth is quite valid too. If your hair is not healthy or has issues at the tips/ends like split-ends, it will be rejected by your body as waste and will be discarded. Whereas, trimming your hair regularly, makes sure that all (or a major chunk) of your split ends are cut off. This though might not permanently cure your problem of split-ends, but will give those strands of hair longer life!
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If your roots are damaged, that travels up the hair shaft causing the rest of your hair to be damaged..
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I’m now growing my hair out. I’m in 9th grade and i cut my hair up to my ears in 5th grade, and have wanted it long ever since. It’s now in the middle of my back, and all my hair stylists say it’s great. I deep condition, get trims and rinse with cold water. it really works everyone!! pay attention (:
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Don’t you have to use very warm water to rinse out conditioner though? I find if I don’t then my hair keeps too much of the conditioner and my hair looks limp and heavy.
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hey meadows,
I haven’t faced the problem that you have with conditioners. Room temperature water seems to work fine for me, though i do at times use warm water (but that’s not got anything to do with the conditioner)!
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If you adjust the water pressure, cooler water will still get conditioner out effectively. You just need more water to flush it all out.
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I’m in 9th grade, and my hair is down to the middle of my back. It used to go past my butt, but I donated 10 inches of it so it’s shorter now. I am now growing it out again. Something I suggest is if you have curly or sort of long hair, wear it in a loose braid at night so it doesn’t tangle. Then it’s easier to comb in the morning. And also, a wide-toothed comb is so much better for your hair than a brush!
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Thanks.. i really want long hair again!
short hair on me = UGH.
I find that stress affects me a lot. Like now during exam week.. I find pieces of my hair everywhere. really freaky o-o
Brush hair a lot (: 3 times an hour helped me grow a inch in two weeks..
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Amy I know what you mean! When I was with my ex 7 years back now I was so stressed that I was loosing my hair wildly! I went to get a trim to discover I had a 3 inch wide mostly bald spot on the top of my head!! I was devastated and even more stressed! Three months after I left my ex all the hair had grown back. I had thought is was gone for good. Stress really impacts the body badly.
I too REALLY want long hair.
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Thanks for that tip Amy. I didin’t know by brushing it more times it will grow quicker!
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Wow Meadows,
that is some tale! I had no idea that stress could be SO bad for your hair!
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I read on your blog that you use Palty Hair dye. Palty contains bleach so it thins out your hair. When I dyed my hair with Palty I shed like crazy for 4 month.
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September; sorry that happened to you! I’m glad you left that ex and your stress behind. Stress is the cause of 99.98% of all illnesses (: (read on a lulumemon bag.. not sure how accurate! ^^)
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Hey Alice! It’s true that Palty thins your hair. So much of my hair went down the sink after I rinsed it! But after a while, my hair went back to normal.
Woah four months? D: Holyyy
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Thank you Amy :) Life has been pretty darn good since :P
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Kati I am good on all your advice except the brushing wet hair and cold water rinse. Are you implying that I can rinse all the conditioner out with warm water and then just do a cold water rinse? If that is the case then I will do that. I kinda need to brush my hair wet because I wear wigs most of the time on account of my hair still being to short (to me). It works better to have my hair wet and combed back to get the wig cap on and secured. But I will get a big goody comb to use. That’s what I used as a teen and it worked alot better than my brushes.
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GREAT POST I was thinking “ok this isnt going to benefit someone with hair like mine” (a wild afro)
but these are actually tips that anyone can use reguardless of their hair texture :]
–I trim my hair once a month by the way and it makes my hair feel amazingggg
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hehe Vanisha,
glad that it was useful even for you!
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Patience is a Virtu, they say!!
It’s what you’ve got to have in order to grow long hair. I passed it and it was a really depressing time. I cut my hair short which I didn’t like and it seemed ages till it grew! But finally with all the patience it’s long till I wanted it from the beginning!
Trimming it regulary should help too. When you trim your hair it will get more healy and will grow quicker!
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oh and btw girls, don’t fret over the rate of your growth during these cold months. Your hair growth is fastest during the warmer months and really slows down during the winter (i’ve personally experienced this too)
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:D Another good point!
That why so many people get their hair done in winter haha. Less touch ups ;)
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haha yeah Amy,
though it does also work against you if you are trying a new haircut and it really isn’t something you want to keep (had it happen to me a couple of years back)!
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It means that my hair is dead now….cause it grows very slowly even in summer :)) or maybe it’s just hibernating….and I will wake it up in the spring :)
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hehehe Tavia,
you’ve painted a funny picture of your hair in my head! And if your hair is hibernating – this might be a good time to stock up on all its nutrients ;)
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oh! and the aspirin would be mixed with the olive oil lol
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This is the best post for me …well at least from this week. Just last Saturday I cut my hair, was really very damaged cause I didn’t cut it for almost 6 months and I was using hair dryer and flat iron all the time and although I was using protective products, my hair was still pretty damaged. Unfortunately my hair grows very slow, I had this problem all my life and even when I tried to let it dry naturally it still didn’t helped.
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Hey tavia,
I guess your hair growth rate is naturally slow.. Maybe you could try the moisturising treatment that Theo has suggested here. And hey sweetie, look on the bright side – you don’t have to worry as much and get to spend lesser on hair cuts!
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My hair damaged badly last year due to too much of chemicals from hair colouring, straightening and also curl!!! Then I cut my hair short just under my ears!! It was so disappointed.. however.. my hair growth very fast after that maybe due to damaged hair disappeared.. hu3 =) but after 3 months it was slow down.. I taught if I dont cut my hair I can keep it longer hair but it works otherwise actually.. So I did hair trim and it did wonders on my hair growth.. I do trim my hair every month.. Finally, I got long hair I ever wanted.. it was full of satisfaction.. I ve to b patient n of coz sacrifice a lot; no colour,curl n straight treats, very fussy hair treatment (before I just shampoo but now I take effort on olive oil, vitamins and masker).. But I am so happy now with my hair.. its natural,healthy n beautifull.. sorry if i praised myself too much.. =)
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Sheila,
Yeah apperantly all things in our body are connected to one another and so everything effects some part of our body!
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Wow Katie!
Hair that went past your butt?! That’s really long!! Somehow, no matter how much I try, my hair will not go beyond a little below my shoulders. It does not matter how much I wait or trim it, it just won’t happen!
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