Everyone wants to know the secret to growing long beautiful hair, right? Well, I don’t know if it’s much of a secret, but I do think we can employ some really good techniques that contribute to our hair’s overall health, and I believe that will help with growth. Here are a few factors which have led to my hair’s growth over the past few months… and please keep in mind, growth is relative. I can’t tell you how much my hair has grown, but I know that my tresses are getting progressively longer since my last trim. You have to find a routine which works for you…and stick with it.
- Trim your ends regularly… every 2-4 months. Get a really good tutorial on how to trim or get a professional to do it. I trimmed my own hair several months ago and I must say I was pleased with the results. I watched a couple of tutorials on YouTube. It by no means was perfect, but it did get rid of damaging split ends and the remainder of my permed hair. The wonderful thing about this is, you can trim your hair at any point. Just the other day, I noticed one section of my hair contained a little more permed hair so I politely snipped those off. I am due for another all over trim pretty soon. If there was a piece of advice I can give you…I’d say if you’re doing this on your own, always go moderate at first at first by cutting a very small portion of your ends. I literally put my hair in two strand twists all over and snipped permed ends, mostly abouta a quarter inch on each twist and sometimes more. My sides had the most amount of permed ends so this was the most noticeable area that I’d cut. YouTube videos will show you several methods of how to cut. Others will advocate you blow out your hair then trim. I think this is the best method if you’re concerned about precision. I’m not as concerned about it because I’m wearing my hair mainly in twists or flat twists, so there’s no need for absolute perfection because the style covers any imperfections in length. Now with that said, I will visit a professional stylist at least twice a year to have them trim it. Infact, my next trim may come from a professional.
- Gentle shampoo or conditioner wash weekly with the right product for your hair. Avoid stripping or drying products (like drying shampoos) as this will lead to breakage. This has to be one of my top tips for you. Our mindset has been that our hair is only clean if we use a product that suds up and strips our tresses of dirts and oils. I found when I used lathering shampoos, they left my hair feeling almost like a brillo pad – very harsh to the touch. Now that I don’t use shampoos, my hair has much less shrinkage and the texture when I conditioner wash is super soft. I can see and feel my natural curl pattern.
- Use a deep conditioner once a week, or at least once every two weeks. Create a homemade conditioner, like a protein mask, or buy a really good one. (I will feature a recipe for a protein mask in my next post on Wednesday). Here’s what you do: add a deep conditioner on your hair, place a plastic cap on your head and sit under a dryer for 20-30 minutes. If you don’t have a dryer, then condition while showering and use a plastic cap. Your head will produce a certain amount of heat when covered anyway.
- Add lots of natural oils to natural tresses. I recommend either olive, castor, coconut. You can add daily if you’d like.
- Massage your scalp often. Almost daily, I massage my temple area.
- And while massaging, confess supernatural hair growth over your head. I do it almost daily. “Thank you God for supernatural hair growth, in Jesus name.” Hey may be too much for some folks, but I believe God is concerned about everything that concerns me and I have a head full of healthy hair to prove it.
- Treat hair gently — comb gently (using only large combs please), style gently and shampoo gently. No rough handling your hair please. It will thank you in the end.
- Cover tresses with silk scarves at night to protect hair’s natural oils and prevent drying.
- Add supplements daily like biotin, B-complex, vitamin C and E to your diet. I take these, but have even been told prenatal vitamins work, which contain many of the above elements. Research also to see if there are other items that cause hair growth.
- Commit to the study of your hair and proper nutrition. It’s easy to get in a rut once you’ve been successful, but commit to continue to read and study and experiment.
Meanwhile, Happy Trails natural divas!!!
My Own Hair 
Keisa, I haven’t read your blog in a while. I’m still on my journey of natural hair. I cut all (well the perm part) my hair in April. It was growing, but now it seems it has come to a stop. What V05 conditioner are you using? Do you re-wet your hair everyday?
Just a plain VO5 moisture milks conditioner. It has like a pinkish color. And have you trimmed it recently? I think that’s a huge part as well. Without knowing your daily routine, I won’t be able to pin point exactly what’s going on. But I would say hang in there with your hair… there’s a reason that something’s not working.
And yes, I re-wet my hair each night with either the setting lotion or a small amount of gel to put fresh waves/crinkles in from my flat twist. Some people say they twist once and it stays for two weeks — not my hair. It looks best if I re-do each night. I’m in a routine where I flat twist each night and add a little gel or a little mousse…it takes about 40-45 minutes…but it’s worth it for me. And it holds really well in this weather. Doesn’t automatically frizz up when I come out… which everyone tries to warn you about. But again, a good product helps my hair hold well.
Hope this helps!
Oh, another thing… your own natural hair “may” appear to grow slower than permed hair. Just give it time to adjust…especially if you did the big chop and cut off all permed ends. It’s still adjusting. If it’s only been since April…give it a little time to see what it will do and focus on mega moisture…in shampooing, conditioning and daily care if your hair can handle it. Most natural hair loves oil…not unless your hair is really thin, but even then, it still needs a really good moisturizing routing.
Hope this helps!!!