How To Grow Long Hair and Keep It Long !!

I haven't always had long hair.

 Back in sixth grade, I chopped it off above my shoulders! (I hated it)

Throughout high school it was a few inches past my shoulders.

(please excuse the poor quality and unfortunate picture but you get the point!)

From 7th grade through 9th grade I would straighten my hair everyday...

with a CRAPPY straightener...

and NO heat protector!!!

(once again, I apologize for the crappy quality!! but if you look closely, you can see I have split ends all the way up to my eyebrow area in my hair and the ends of my hair are really brittle!)

I had to figure out a way to not only grow it longer, but also repair the damage I had done to my hair.

I stopped using heat all in all for a while (i'd say 6 months with MOSTLY no heat)

and I wore my hair up a lot. 

(you can simply cut back on the heat but i just decided to go all out)

This helped it a lot and my hair got healthier.

BUT...

After high school when I started getting really into beauty related stuff,

I learned that I NEEDED to use some form of a heat protector 

whenever I would decide to use heat on my hair.

I used this Tresemme one for a while and I really like it

But I did my research and found that 

really any product that conditions your hair will work as a heat protector!

You don't need to buy a special product!

So as long as you use some kind of oil, serum, or leave-in conditioner in your hair, you will be fine!

I love these:

I also learned you need to condition, Condition, CONDITION!!

These are my favorites:

Use a conditioner every time you shower,

(it says it is a deep conditioner but I don't feel it works well enough for that)

And use a leave-in conditioner

AND deep condition it at least once every week!

Now my hair is MUCH thicker and very healthy and I do my best to take care of it!

And about getting haircuts when you are trying to grow your hair long..........

Back when my hair was super damaged, I would go in about every 6 months to get it cut 

and the stylist would always want to chop all the dead/split ends off.

(they can actually travel up the shaft of the hair!!)

I would recommend going in about every 3-4 months until your hair is healthier again

and once it is healthy, then you can go in every 6-12 months to get a trim.

If you like a lot of layers in your hair (like me), I wouldn't go more than 6 months without getting a haircut!

Other recommendations:

I have heard and researched a lot on prenatal vitamins helping hair to grow longer!

I haven't personally tried it, but I know people who have and it worked well for them.

Hair masks also help restore damaged hair!

RECAP!

As little heat on your hair as possible

Protect it with a leave-in conditioner, oil or serum

Condition everyday and deep condition once a week!

Get haircuts every 4 months until it is healthy again

Then get haircuts every 6-12 months!

Hope this helps !!

xox Stephanie