11 Tips For Growing Long Luscious Locks

Growing your hair longer isn’t as easy as simply not cutting it. Which might explain why you seem to be struck with terminally shorter hair.

Fact is there are many things that can sabotage your efforts to go long like summer and winter to name but two — and who can avoid those?

Yet you can protect your locks from whatever the seasons throw at them and end up with endless stunning hair days in the process.

What follows is based off this video that reveals more than 12 hair care tips, long or otherwise, you might want to start to follow now. Although there are one or two you probably should ignore if visions of long hairstyles are dancing in your head.

#1 Less Heat – Less Hot Tool Styling

Why do we hot style? To look hot, naturally. Doh!

That’s because such styling tools can level the playing field for those who were not exactly tapped by the magic wand of the good hair gene fairy.

But the irony of ironies is all that heat is doing just the opposite those seeking to look hot want.

Yeah, it’s leaving your hair perched somewhere between disappointment and disaster by sapping the life out of it. (That steam you see rising is often your hair dying before your very eyes.)

No, you obviously won’t see the damage overnight. But over time it builds up incrementally. So that the cumulative effect is to fray, dry and suck the essence out of the strands.

That leads your tresses to not looking all that great naturally meaning without hot styling, which just creates a vicious cycle of having to hot style to look acceptable. Using heat to add the shine and smoothness you strands now lack on their own.

Solution?

Slowly wean your hair off those cherished hot styling tools.

With some of them, like say your blow dryer, you can simply lower the heat settings over time. Believe it or not you can get a better than decent style even with the cold setting.

Save the heat for those special occasions weddings, holiday galas, things like that.

Otherwise learn new ways to style your hair that work with hair left to air dry.

For example, if you use a straightener for your work or school hairstyles, instead of running it the entire length of your long strands, just focus on a much smaller section of hair, like say the top half. That part can be styled, but leave the rest untouched by the heat.

Gradually reduce the amount of hair you are using the tool on. Maybe just limiting it to the hair around your part some days.

Not surprisingly on days you put your hair up in a cute braid or messy bun you won’t need it at all.

But look what that does for you. You will still get a polished and refined look to your hair while sparing it the heat.

What happens in the ensuing weeks or months, as your mane recovers, it’s natural sheen will bounce back.

You won’t need the hot styling tools to generate the smoothness and refinement as you did with your previously stressed tresses.

That will be the day you’ll be freed from all the hot styling enslavement hairstyles for long hair can sometimes trap us into.

#2 Easy Does It Hair Styles

Focusing on hairstyles that don’t require heat to pull off would be your next smart move if you are looking to grow your hair longer.

Sure sleek long hair with bangs may be the standard for some, but things like beach waves or heatless sock curls can look cute too.

One suggested technique if you want to go straighter is to act just when your hair is reaching the almost dry stage. At that point you could run a little oil over your strands while giving them a bit more than a gentle tug.

What this does is seal the strands with a smoothing effect that enhances the shine.

Bonus Tip: If your weekend hair style is a ponytail remember to never pull wet hair into a pony under any circumstances. As you know wet hair is at its most fragile state. The hair tie, even those without any metal on them, can slice through the middle of the hair shaft leaving you with what appears to be thinning hair and possibly wondering why.

#3 Loving Your Natural Hair Color

It can certainly be addictive to frequently get your hair color either redone or refreshed. (Addictive and costly – both for your wallet and your mane.)

But what is surprising to many is how their eyes light up and their skin tone comes to life when their natural color is revived. Returning to your God given color is much easier on your hair too.

Anyone looking for insights on how to grow hair long should definitely be paying attention here. Since anything that is easier on your hair means less splits, less breakage, and more healthy growth.

This doesn’t mean you have to go cold turkey with coloring – although you can and maybe should.

You can color some just embrace your natural hue. Taking less than a quarter of your hair up or down a shade depending on the season. Remembering to focus a bit of a coloring effort on the hair line around your face.

REMEMBER: The low maintenance approach discussed in this video frees you to worry less about your hair and what you will need to do to it to get the look you want. Embracing your natural texture and color can be very liberating.

#4 Meal Matters

Yeah, what you eat matters.

We all know that.

Still this is probably the most critical yet most overlooked tip of the lot.

Like it or not your hair is what you eat. Literally.

And even if you are about to zone out or speed read past this paragraph, please don’t.

That’s because what you put in your mouth determines what grows out of your scalp. It’s as simple as that.

And the fresher you go for with what you put on your plate the more beautifying the food is.

Especially when compared to those empty calories found in sugary soda, glazed donuts, or the lard like fats found in things like pizza.

Besides there are creative ways to make good for you things like veggies appealing.

Yet don’t be afraid of fats. They are critical to your overall health and to your hair. As long as you are eating the right kinds of fats found in avocado, flax seed, Omega 3 fats found in fish, all these are good for you fats.

If the mere thought of such an eating lifestyle makes you break out in hives, know that there are various ways you can eat these too.

For example you can have your avocado in a smoothie.

You can dice it up and have it with your salad.

Or you can just cut it in half, remove the pit and dig in.

Bonus Tip: Need to fortify your tresses? Hair is composed of keratin which is a protein. Eating more lean protein, seafood, soy and nuts can help to strengthen it.

Try it. And if you notice your nails, skin and hair are looking better maybe it’s the change in diet from highly processed foods that really offer your body little when compared to fresh fruits, vegetables and proteins.

#5 Say Hello to Hydration

Regardless of your opinion here, this one is super vital too because our bodies are basically about 70% water.

Again being advised to drink plenty of water is not new or novel. You’ve heard it before. Probably plenty of times I’ll bet.

But if you aren’t acting on it you are cheating your body and your hair of something needed to be healthy.

Some feel spring water is best. Followed by filtered water if spring water isn’t readily available.

Oh and did you know? Properly hydrated hair is less likely to frizz up on you.

Also if things get super humid during the summer where you call home be sure to run a dehumidifier at night in your bedroom to suck frizz inducing moisture out of the air.

#6 Filtered Showering

Admittedly not something you might think of off the top of your head when it comes to how to get long hair. But filtering the water cascading out of the shower head can give both your hair and skin a break from some of the chemicals that aren’t doing either of them any favors.

Obviously no one can promise a shower water filter will leave you with hair that isn’t as dry or brittle after a week, but longer term you should notice a difference.

Chlorine may be okay for insuring your water is safe to drink but it probably isn’t the greatest for soft shiny strands.

Best off all these filters are really quite affordable.

Bonus tip: Too late for filtering? To rid your strands of mineral build up and/or chlorine grab some apple cider vinegar and whip up a natural clarifying rinse. Dilute it one part vinegar to four parts water. Pour over freshly washed hair let sit for maybe 30 seconds, then rinse.

#7 Going Organic

If you haven’t noticed there has been a proliferation of organic hair care products.

If you are seeing dollar signs at the mere mention of the word “organic” you may want to rethink that.

Turns out they aren’t as expensive as you might think and their ingredients are easier on your mane.

For sure they cost less than salon products and may work better on your hair due in part to the hair friendly, natural ingredients found inside the bottle.

In addition, home-made masks, shampoos and such are another way to avoid any of the harsher chemicals found in some of the off the shelf products.

Did You Know? If your hair is of the fine persuasion you want to use a clear shampoo, organic or not. The more creamy formulations may over moisturize your strands weighing them down while cleansing which is not what fine strands need.

#8 Here Comes the Sun

This bit of advice, not to dodge the sun or to slather up to protect your skin and hair, goes contrary to what we are often told, which is acknowledged in the vid.

But that rather non mainstream perspective goes against conventional wisdom which is to avoid excessive sun exposure. It can dull your hair and burn your skin.

She disagrees and I really have to disagree with her.

Sure some sun is good.

But I still feel if you are going to be out in the sun all day, you are better off protecting your hair in some form or fashion or live to regret it.

Because that much UV ray exposure, can burn out the natural gloss you’ve been working so hard to cultivate by eating right, foregoing the hot styling tools and things like that.

But at the end of the day it’s up to you.

Bonus Tip: Windy day? Going for a drive with the top down. Having your hair whipping in the wind may made for a great photo shoot but it will shred your ends. Avoid that by wearing a scarf or braid your hair to keep it out of harm’s way.

#9 Scalp Massage

It’s always a good idea to boost the blood circulation to those follicles.

Healthy follicles produce healthy hair that is full of vitality, possess extra shine and be stronger than it otherwise would be.

Yes, you can get a bit of this whenever you wash your hair if you focus your attention on your scalp as you should. But you get extra bonus points whenever you bother to massage your scalp just because.

Coconut oil is one you can use without worry when doing your follicle rub down. It’s totally natural and others have many good things to say about it.

Best of all it is totally moisturizing for your hair.

How much? Maybe a tablespoon’s worth.

And you don’t have to bother with heating in the microwave first to liquefy it. It becomes a liquid at room temperature or a bit above. Your body heat is more than hot enough.

There is no specific how to when it comes to massaging it in although one way is suggested. So that when you apply it, you’ll notice it

In fact I think this is such a good idea I’ve included another video to show you how to do this.

Note that many of the same points are made in both videos.

An alternative would be argan oil.

You can massage either oil in and let it be on your hair overnight and wash it out in the morning if you prefer.

#10 Pulling the Curtain Back On – Castor Oil?

While I’m not so sure there is much if anything you can do to grow hair faster, the assertion here is that castor oil can dramatically accelerate hair growth.

But it shouldn’t be surprising.

If you look on the labels of products sold to encourage hair growth, you can’t help but notice castor oil is high on the ingredient list of many of them. That’s because it will promote healthy hair growth and help prevent hair breakage.

Essential if you want longer hair, no?

Castor is a thick oil.

That means once you put it on you’ll have to leave it for an hour to work its magic.

Or even better give it all night before washing it out.

You also want to get a high quality product. Two brands to consider might be Tropic Isle Black Castor Oil or the one sold by NOW solutions.

But there’s more. It is a super moisturizing treatment that can make your hair incredibly soft and manageable.

If you like rub no more than a dime sized amount of castor oil over your palms and work that into your ends leaving it on as an oil treatment.

#11 What’s Up With Silica?

This is deemed to be an essential mineral that is found in greens, salads or green smoothies. A great source is a green leafy vegetable, arugula, rugula, or salad rocket.

It is jam packed with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.

Don’t let the fact this is a somewhat pungent, if not a bit bitter salad green, stop you.

Because it is considered here to be a great beautifying green. Which is why it might not be a bad to work it into your meal plan several times a week.

Now if the idea of more salads doesn’t fill you with desire, maybe a silica gel supplement would work better. You can get them flavored although that isn’t a must. You simply mix it in with a glass of water in the morning, or since it is flavorless you could even add it to your smoothie.

#12 Wash Only As Needed

Who among us isn’t guilty of washing our hair more often than it needs to be?

Okay. You’re right. If you have super oily strands then daily washing may make the list of required things to do.

But for the rest of us not so much.

Here’s why.

Your hair and scalp have to rebalance every time you lather up.

Rebalance? Yeah, otherwise known as “making up for lost oil”.

Knowing this, a holistic approach to hair care is best so everything from pH to amount of oil produced is considered. Over washing only stimulates your scalp’s oil glands to go into over drive.

This is why you want to try to go as many days between washings as you can.

If you are worried about the excessive greasiness first remember things may be that way due to over washing.

If you can’t possibly go an additional day see if you can’t cut down on the amount of shampoo you use. Even doing that over time can help since we also tend to use too much.

It’s also smart to wash right. And that would be to focus on the scalp and not so much on the strands. Any shampoo that runs down them will gently cleanse them without drying them out.

Obviously no one can say how your hair will react to any hair care advice.

But if longer hair is the goal you can certainly experiment a bit to find out, right?

In six months who knows how great your tresses will look?

Besides we can all use with a better diet which is what much of these ideas boil down to.

I know that may be hard to accept but if you want longer hair you may need to think long and hard about what you put in your mouth.

Which got me thinking. Maybe it is not how to get long hair fast but more how to get long healthy hair period. What do you think?

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