Anyone trying to grow out long hair knows that it can sometimes be a real pain to maintain. Frizziness, split ends, entanglement, greasy hair… there are plenty of struggles when you’re pursuing that awesome long hairdo. But there’s no reason to struggle alone! With the right know-how, the hard road to hair heaven can be faster, easier, and even good looking.
How to grow your hair long
Let Slikhaar help guide you on your journey with these 5 essential grooming tips and tricks for growing long hair. Also stick around for our easy to follow step by step tutorial on how to cut and style your hair, while still growing it out. Let’s get to it!
1. Spike Your Hair Growth
Maintaining your long hair is, of course, crucial, but it can be just as important to also help stimulate the growth of the hair, in order to speed up the whole process significantly. There are a variety of ways to help with this, ranging from using oils, conditioners, and various natural remedies. Depending on what type of product you use, there are specific ways to optimize your results. Make sure to do a bit of research before you begin!
A general rule of thumb for all hair growth techniques involves finger-massaging your hair and scalp with the products. This stimulates the blood flow, and – along with the chosen product or remedy – provides nourishment to the hair follicles, promoting faster growth. Gently combing through your hair with a brush can achieve a similar effect, since this also massages the scalp, stimulates blood flow, and helps distribute the hair’s natural oil across the entire surface of the hair. This has the added benefit of also being healthy for your hair, adding moisture and reducing the tendency to get frizziness and split ends.
Gently combing your hair 1-2 times a day is a great and simple way of nourishing growth and overall hair health. Just be careful not to overdo it. Too much brushing can actually damage your hair. Also be careful about brushing when your hair is wet since the hair is more fragile and easily breakable in this state.
2. Shower With Sense
Washing your hair is a natural part of a healthy hair routine, but there are some extra considerations to make when you’re in the process of growing it long.
First of all, don’t overdo it. Too much hair-washing isn’t good for your hair since this washes out all of the natural oils. The natural oils help your hair stay healthy and stimulates growth. Try to wash your hair somewhere along the lines of once every 2-3 days.
Secondly, be mindful of the shampoo you are using. Shampoo is a strong chemical mixture, which can damage the hair follicles and remove the natural sebum and oils which help keep the hair healthy and growing. Either find a shampoo that’s mild on the hair and scalp or try and limit your use of shampoo to avoid drying out. Also be on the lookout for shampoo containing silicones! It blocks out moisture and nutrients, hindering hair growth.
Third, using a conditioner after your initial shampoo hair wash helps counteract the strong chemical detergents in the shampoo. Conditioner helps prevent split ends and breakage, promoting good overall hair health. The By Vilain Skyline series is a good choice for shampoo and conditioner. They both contain menthol which helps stimulate the blood circulation in the scalp. They also contain natural components like vitamin E which works like an antioxidant, while also being generally mild to your scalp and hair.
Finish off by washing your hair with cold water (brrr!). Hot water opens up the hair shafts, which lets out moisture, drying it out and making it more brittle. Cold water keeps the moisture locked in, keeping it strong and healthy. So even though we all love a nice hot shower, sacrifices must be made to achieve the healthy long hair of your dreams. No one ever said it would be easy!
3. Dry Your Hair, Mate!
An easily overlooked part of hair maintenance is drying the hair after a wash. Since the hair is more vulnerable to damage when wet, rubbing it roughly with a towel can tangle it together, stretching, breaking and damaging the hair, causing frizziness and split ends.
The best approach to drying your hair is to shake out as much excess water as you can, and then gently rub the hair with a towel in the natural growth direction of the hair. It takes more time to dry the hair in this fashion, but it is much better for hair health.
Be careful with blowdryers as well, since the excessive heat can dry out and damage the hair and scalp quite considerably. Using a styling spray, however, is a safe way of blow drying without the hair taking damage. By Vilain Sidekick pre-styling spray is a good tool to apply in the hair before blow-drying, as this adds volume, and protects the hair from the strong heat, while also makes it easier to style afterward.
Use a wide-tooth comb to gently brush the hair while blow-drying, and leave it slightly damp afterward to avoid drying out the hair.
4. Cut & Grow
While somewhat counterintuitive to growing long hair, cutting it from time to time is a good idea to promote general hair health. No matter how well you groom and protect the hair, you are bound to get damaged and split ends over time.
Trimming your hair semi-regularly prevents frizzy and brittle hair, so getting it cut 1-3 times a year is a good way to keep the hair looking healthy and fresh while growing it out. Since hair cannot heal itself in the same way that the body can, any damage done to the hair will be permanent until you cut off the damaged hair.
A trim now and then will, therefore, guarantee that the full length of the hair looks nice and healthy, from root to tip. Just make sure to tell your hairdresser or barber that you only want your ends trimmed, and not cut short.
5. Healthy Hair On A Healthy Body
Another easily forgotten part of growing nice good looking long hair is the importance of leading a generally healthy lifestyle. Remember the old saying that stress makes your hair grey and fall out? There’s actually genuine truth to that! Your hair is a direct reflection of your overall health, so if you’re stressed, eating poorly and not exercising enough, don’t be surprised that it shows in your hair (and the rest of your physique as well).
So you shouldn’t forget to try your best to drink plenty of water (8-10 glasses a day), eat healthily (cut the junk food), get plenty of sleep (no more all-nighters!) and don’t overstress (maintain a good balance between work and free time). Doing your best to stay healthy will not only do wonders for your hair but also do good for your body and mind in general.
And there you go! 5 tips for growing your hair long, healthy, and awesome! Now that you’re loaded up with information, take a look at our step by step hairstyling tutorial with Ibrahim, and learn how to get a stylish cut during your journey towards that amazing long hairdo of your dreams.
Step By Step hairstyling tutorial
How to cut and maintain long hair
Products and Tools for long hair:
1. Shampoo and Conditioner, By Vilain Skyline US$20 2. Water spray, By Vilain Freestyler US$20 3. Comb, By Vilain Comb US$20 4.Hair-dryer 5. By Vilain Skeleton Brush US$20 6. Scissors 7. Thinning scissors 8. Trimmer 9. Pomade, By Vilain Powermade US$20 10. By Vilain Sidekick 11. Thinning blade
Watch this video from Slikhaar TV to see the hairstyling in action!