#30dayglowup - Day 4
Growing my hair at twice the average rate of normal hair growth? Let's find out more...
Educating
myself about haircare is something I’ve enjoyed doing for a very long time now
and I’ve spent years researching different products and methods to increase my
rate of hair growth and make my hair healthier overall. I’ve tried a whole load
of different experiments and this point and I know what works for my hair and
what I’m happy recommending to other people. I’m going to try and share some
slightly different tips to those that are usually included in these types of
articles and incorporate some of the knowledge I’ve build up over the years, so
that hopefully you learn something new from this.
A lot of recommendations
for growing your hair more quickly involved reducing the amount of breakage to
your hair. If your hair is more supple and flexible and you trim off any split
ends for example, it will prevent breakage which is going to thin out your hair
and make it take longer to grow. My tips each tend to focus on one of three
things: moisturizing dry hair, preventing breakage or stimulating the scalp,
all of which will in some way contribute to healthy and fast-growing hair. So,
if you’re looking to grow your hair more quickly or to restore some of the
shine and suppleness to otherwise dry hair, keep reading.
My 10 tips for fast growing, healthy hair
1. Use protective styles and accessories
How you
leave your hair whilst you go about your everyday activities is going to impact
the amount of damage that your hair experiences regularly. For example, if you
use an elastic band as a hair tie while you go about your day, it’s going to
snag on hair strands and cause friction to the hair it’s wrapped around which
may eventually lead to breakage. Additionally, how you treat your hair when you’re
asleep is so important because it takes up a significant portion of your
day. You could be the gentlest person with your hair, but there’s no point if at
night it’s getting tangled and caught.
I’d
recommend using accessories that are very smooth and gentle on your hair such a
silk scrunchies or pillowcases. Also at night put your hair in loose,
protective styles such as braids or a pineapple on the top of your head so that
when you take it out in the morning it has as little breakage as possible.
2. Eliminate silicones and sulphates
If you've shown any interest into
looking into hair care you've probably heard this advice. Silicones are
commonly found in conditioners or hair treatments meant to smooth the hair, as
they provide a waxy coating which gives the appearance of shine. However, this
can build up over time and prevent moisturising products from penetrating the
hair shaft. The only way silicones can be removed is by using sulphates, which
in turn are overly stripping to the hair and can cause damage.
I recommend using a haircare brand which
eliminates these ingredients entirely, such as Shea Moisture, to regain hair
health. If you want to learn more, I suggest looking into the curly girl method
- those girls really know how to do the best by their hair!
3. Scalp stimulation
Getting
the blood flowing to your scalp is a sure-fire way to increase the rate of hair
growth. Stimulating the scalp via massages activates the hair follicles to
produce hair by interfering their skin cells. It can also help to
remove product build up which could cause flaking and dandruff since it's a form of
physical exfoliation. Increasing blood flow to the scalp can be done in many
ways such as:
- Shampoo brushes
- Scalp massage
- Inversion method
- Haircare products designed to stimulate the scalp e.g. caffeine shampoos
4. Microtrim split ends
This one may seem counterproductive
- how is trimming my hair going to make it grow faster? But it also links back
to what I was saying at the beginning. You want to prevent any damage from the
tips of the hair from affecting the strand higher up, and making it break off.
Use a pair of sharp scissors and search and destroy those split ends - you only
need to trim right above the break which won't hugely impact your hair length.
If it seems that the ends of your hair have a lot of damage however, it might
be best to opt for a big chop to allow your hair to grow quickly and healthier
in the long run.
5. Hair masks
Using deep treatments before
shampooing to really moisturise your hair will cause a noticeable difference in
hair health and its overall appearance. I recommend using my science-based DIY hair mask which I have already posted about – it’s easy to do, incredibly moisturising
and has a scientific approach to its formulation. If your hair is incredibly
dry and straw-like, definitely give this mask a go as it made a significant difference
to my hair over the time I’ve been using it.
6. Leave in conditioners
Moisturising
your hair after a wash is vital too - I use both a leave in conditioner spray
and a cream to fully coat your hair. Oils are great too but be sure to check if
they contain silicones if they're branded, as many use them to 'fake' a healthy
shine. Castor, coconut and jojoba are my personal favourites. Additionally, you
want to keep the tips of your hair moisturised all through your wash cycle and
not just straight out of the shower. Every couple of days check to see how the
ends of your hair are doing and apply more product as needed.
7. Brush your hair the right way
When you
think about it the actual process of brushing through your hair to get rid of
tangles could be very damaging and cause breakage to your hair. However, if you
brush your hair correctly, then you can reduce this as much as possible. Start
at the ends of your hair and very gentle tease out any tangles and then slowly
move up your hair strand. At no point should you be ripping through tangles or experiencing
any pain at the root. It may seem more time-consuming to do it this way but it’s
definitely worth it in the long run to protect your hair as much as possible.
8. Eliminate build up
Build up on
the scalp can cause flakiness and reduce the rate of hair growth. It is very
common from using products in your hair such as dry shampoo or styling products;
however, it isn’t hard to get rid of. I recommend using a clarifying shampoo
(these do contain sulphates so use them at your discretion) or a chemical
exfoliant on your scalp such as a product containing salicylic acid. This will
clear your scalp of that gunky layer that comes off under your nails, which is
both good for scalp health and honestly is just more appealing to look at.
9. Use protein treatments
You’ve got
to be careful with this one. Protein treatments such as using rice-water rinses
or yoghurt in hair masks can be very beneficial for more dry, damaged hair to
increase suppleness and shine back into your hair. However, you do have a risk
of protein-overload which leaves hair stringy and strange looking. I recommend doing
them max every 2 weeks and the slowly reducing the frequency from there. You
may be blown away with the results the first time and want to recreate it, but
this will be because your hair had a lack of protein initially, and you
definitely don’t want to overload it.
10. Don’t wash your hair everyday
This tip is
commonly recommended by people who know anything about hair care as washing
your hair everyday isn’t necessary and it can dry out your scalp. If frequent washing works for
you because your hair is maybe thinner or on the greasy side, then that is
completely fine. But I would suggest to give it a try if you haven’t already to
give your scalp a bit of a breather and return some of the natural oils to your
hair – if anything, it saves you quite a bit of time not washing and styling
your hair every day. I usually go about 4-5 days in between washing my hair; however,
my hair is on the thicker side and I know this might not be possible for
everyone.
In conclusion
Growing long hair is so much about patience
and treating your hair well. Remember self-care is not vanity and it's not shameful
to take pride in your physical appearance. My hair does have a big
impact on my self-image and confidence, so I do enjoy spending a lot of time on
getting it to be how I like it. I am also considering dying it as soon as I can
with the lockdown rules lifting and so knowing more about hair health is going
to be even more important to stop my hair from drying out.
Thank you for reading, I hope you learnt
something new from this article. If you have any other tips or questions then
definitely let me know, and I hope you’re enjoying being involved in my glow up
journey so far.
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