Daily Dilemma: Growing Long Hair

Being a girl is tough, or hadn't you noticed?

Such short hair - gah!

With ever changing fashion and makeup trends, it's enough to make a girl's head spin, and we haven't even gotten to how bad that could mess up your hair! Being a lifeguard, I go in the water constantly and this does serious damage to my hair (chlorine + sun = major split ends and breakage). Despite this, I challenged myself a year plus ago to grow my hair past my belly button and do whatever I could to keep it as healthy as possible.

May 2013 - graduating university (with gorgeous hair)

I recently had a staff meeting and most of my coworkers FREAKED OUT when they saw how long my hair was. They couldn't believe I had grown it so long, when it seemed so short not that long ago. One coworker in particular came to see me and begged for my help. She had recently cut her hair and despised how it looked, as it was much shorter than she had anticipated (she had gone for a long bob cut and though I found it suited her, she hated it). Being a lifeguard with long hair means lots of questions from lots of girls, so I decided to share some of my wisdom with you as to how I have managed to grow my hair out.

A note before I begin: some of this stuff may not work for you. Everyone is different and there are LOADS of things that I have read on the internet that did not work for me. I even tried a few things that friends recommended that I HATED and did more damage than good. So on that note, shall we begin?

Washing: I have oily roots and dry ends (talk about the deck being stacked against me), so before this year I was constantly washing my hair. Since I was in the pool all the time, I HAD to wash it, as it was filled with chlorine, but this meant I was washing it almost every day. This left my hair feeling stripped, dry, and super brittle. What I decided to change was to wash my hair as little as possible, meaning only when it was super dirty, and to rinse my hair really well after being in the pool, to get rid of the chlorine. Now, I wash my hair every 2-3 days and use dry shampoo in between when my roots start to look oily.

Conditioner: My dry ends eat up conditioner like a man drinking water in a desert. Though I used to slather conditioner onto my hair before, now I deep condition my hair once a week, and try to keep the conditioner in my hair for as long as possible. After shampooing, I'll put the conditioner on, shut off the water, and wash and shave so that the conditioner has some extra time to work. I'll then rinse everything together. This seriously worked miracles for me, as my hair looked and felt stronger and could therefore grow!

Hair oil: The BIGGEST thing that saved my hair was hair oil. The one I am currently using (and in LOVE with) is by Kerastase.

This particular formula is made for damaged hair and feels amazing on my hair. My ends absorb it all and it doesn't feel greasy in the least (which is often what people are hesitant about). I use about 2-3 pumps of this after I shower on my hair, as many have recommended to me to do and it's true that this really helps. However, what made the biggest difference in my opinion is this: I apply 1 pump of this every night on my hair and then braid it when I go to sleep. I've noticed less split ends, my hair is smoother, and since my hair is curly, this makes a big difference in the "appearance" department; it looks and feels healthy.

These may not be anything new, but these tricks seriously helped me, and I hope they can help you!

What have you done to grow lusciously long hair?

S
xxx