Almost everyone has had the dream of growing their hair, whether it’s shoulder-length or down to the hips. The movies like ‘Tangled’ and others have helped a lot and lots of women can be seen trying to go for that look. But what we don’t understand is that growing your hair is only the first part of the process. It is also the easiest part. The other part—the more important one is to take care of it once you have it to your desired length. You have to make sure that your hair stays healthy, strong, shiny, and detangled at all times, otherwise, they will ruin your whole look. That is what you have to focus on—maintaining your hair rather than growing it.
We all have to go through a lot throughout the day. Whether it’s the smoke, dust, or any other debris that we face during our commute, or it’s the stress and tension of work, there’s a lot that we and our hair face. Due to these conditions, we have to worry about split ends and broken strands that make our hair brittle. The more it goes through the less our hair has the ability to put up with it day in and day out. This is especially the case when you have long hair. You will find out that there are a lot of things where your hair can get tangled in. Increased shedding can also worsen. But if you take proper care of your hair, you can minimize all these situations and make sure that you look and feel your most fabulous self. These tips cover everything from providing the right nutrients to your hair to using scrunchies to keep them in place and everything in between.
Don’t Over-wash Your Hair
This is one of the biggest mistakes that we make when we are trying to grow our hair. We wash it, again and again, to keep it clean and supposedly healthy. If you want long and healthy hair, then you need to maintain a healthy scalp. This means that you have to conserve the natural oils that form on your scalp and not wash them away by jumping into the shower every day. What you can do is to take a break between two showers which should be more than a day. Also, you can dry shampoo your hair if you feel the need to clean your hair without taking a shower. Plus, when you do take a bath, make sure that you use shampoos and conditioners that are developed to enhance hair growth and provide nutrients to the hair follicles as well as keeping the scalp healthy.
Stay Hydrated
Water is good for everything in our body, including our hair. A hydrated body signifies healthy hair. If you drink less water than you should, you will see that your hair growth will be stunted. The same is the case when you are trying to maintain a full head of hair. People who don’t keep themselves hydrated at all times face problems like hair fall or worse. So drink the amount of water that a person of your age should. If you don’t know what the correct amount is, we recommend asking a dietician or your local physician. They will be able to guide you.
Use the Right Brush
As far as the brush is concerned, keep in mind that the wide-toothed comb is your best friend. You can also use small detangling brushes that are easily available in the market. When you start brushing your hair, start from the bottom and work your way up. Otherwise, you won’t be getting the knots out of your hair, instead, you will be creating a far worse mess than it was before. It will cause a lot of breaking as well as split ends.
Heat is Your Enemy
Avoid all of those things that contain heat as they can permanently damage your hair so, no curling irons for you. If you do want, you can look for alternatives to using heat so that you can get the effect that you want and protect your hair at the same time. If you want to curl your hair, you can use foam rollers or if you want to straighten your hair, you can opt for a hair mask. Sometimes a hairdryer might become necessary, but make sure that you use it at the lowest heat level.
Prevent Breakage When Sleeping
We don’t keep a check on it, but we lose a lot of hair and a lot of damage occurs to our hair while we are sleeping. How?
A lot of us toss and turn during our slumber. That is one of the biggest reasons for waking up and finding a pillowcase full of broken hair. The same is the cause of damaged hair. One way to prevent it is to use a silk pillowcase so that there’s less friction. Another thing that you can do is to braid your hair loosely before going to sleep. If you want to use a cotton pillowcase, make sure that you get one that has a high thread count.
Don’t sacrifice your hair for style
We know that backcombing your hair gives you great volume and it also looks really good, but that is a surefire way to break and damage a lot of your hair and get split ends that will have you waking up at night and screaming. Stop doing this to your hair and to yourself. After growing your hair over a long period of time, you don’t want to just throw it all away. If you want volume, use some products like sprays and shampoos that can give you the look.
CONCLUSION
Keeping your long hair healthy, shiny, and silky smooth is a never-ending battle. It’s also time-consuming. But if you want great hair that everyone is envious of, you will have to take proper care of it and do all the things that we have mentioned above.
