JUST ADDED!Growing Out Your Hair: Part #1
by aviva
This is the beginning of a two-part series about what to do with hair that is being grown out – whether you’re letting it get extra-long, or you’re waiting for it to not be too short. Feel free to share your own tips or experiences by commenting!
Between my younger sister and my best friend, I believe they have donated a total of seven feet of hair to Locks of Love and similar organizations that make custom wigs for children suffering from medical hair loss. They’ve both grown their hair to incredible lengths several times over. So when I decided to do this blog post about how to care for extremely long hair, I went to them first. Here are their tips – plus a few others that I discovered along the way – about dealing with crazy-long hair. The better care you take, the more show-stopping you’ll look, so pay attention!
- Braids are your best friend. They’re the best way to keep your hair neat, and they really show off spectacular length to the best advantage.
- Friends (or siblings or parents) are your other best friend – recruit someone to help you with all the brushing and braiding and so on. Get a good natural-bristle brush and a wide-toothed comb. Anyone feel like playing hair salon?
- If braiding is too difficult for you to manage sometimes (and it shouldn’t be – check out this video tutorial), bundling it up into a messy-bun style ponytail will keep it out of the way. Put a tichel or a roomy pre-tied bandana over your long hair to protect it from wind and rain.
- In terms of other accessories, look for embellished ponytail holders, or headbands that you can wear with pulled-back hair to dress it up. Leaving it loose looks great – but it’s not the most practical style when your hair is down past your waist.
- A handy hair styling tool you’ll want in your arsenal is detangling spray. When you have 18 inches to comb out every day, take whatever help you can get! My friend recommended the Johnson and Johnson kids’ No More Tangles spray, but there are lots of different brands out there, so take your pick.
- Don’t forget, long hair is heavy. Avoid blow-dryers, straighteners, and curling irons as much as possible – high heat damages hair, which leads to even more breakage. Deep condition once a week or use leave-in conditioner instead. When you’re in the shower, put extra conditioner on the ends of your hair to keep it smooth.
- Even if you’re growing it out, your hair still needs to be trimmed regularly to get all those nasty split ends. It will take a bit longer to get to your desired length, but it will be SO much healthier and nicer if you do it!
I’ve learned to stay away from metal barrettes and other metal hair accessories. They can break the hair and pull making it uncomfortable to wear. Using an all natural shampoo is better for your hair as opposed to the shampoos with sulfate in them. There are two names to look for when purchasing shampoo– “SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE” and “SODIUM LAURETH SULFATE.” This is what makes the shampoo suds up. In truth we don’t have to have suds up in order to clean our hair. This harsh chemical is also an irritant to our scalps, ever wonder why our scalps itch and we get scabby spots on our head? It strips the hair of it’s natural oils and is a leading cause to dry scalp and irritations.
I have tried several shampoos over the years I enjoy Burt’s Bees, Nature’s Gate, but recently have discovered J.R. Liggett’s shampoo bar. The shampoo bar is free of petroleum based detergents, Sodium Laurel Sulfate, DEA, animal products or preservatives. They have a lovely selection to of scents to choose from but I’m partial to the original scent. Refrain from the use of a blow drier, dry your hair with a soft cotton towel, and use hair accessories such as scrunchies, bobby pins, and strong toothed hair combs. I agree roomy snoods are a wonderful accessory, hats are perfect to wear outside, and I’m a huge fan of tichels.
And a thing to remember your diet affects the health of your hair. Choosing the right foods will help keep your hair long and healthy and bring back the luster and shine that we tend to lose as we get older or have badly damaged hair.
My oldest daughter wants her hair long. It looks great, but it’s rough because she has curly hair. Right out of the shower, it looks fantastic, but it gets messy very fast. It gets much too knotted for her to care for by herself.
Her twin sister chopped her hair very short earlier this year and while I miss her long curls, it is SO much easier to care for short.
I do love the long hair, but I just wish it didn’t get so messy so quickly.
Before Pesach I cut off and donated 12″ of hair to Pantene’s organization that makes wigs. I’ve heard some negativity about Locks of Love but only good things about Pantene. It was a very positive experience for me! Now, my hair is in that ‘in between’ length — it’s too long to just wear it as a short bob without much fuss, but too short to get all the hair up even in a pony! I think I’m going to cut it and keep it short, although it is tempting to grow it to donate again. I agree that you must still get trims to make the hair even, it gives it such a nice appearance!
I have always wanted really long hair but it never seams to work for Curly hair. I mean really curly hair. I’m trying to do it now and will use the above tips to help. Thanks!
I’ve always wanted to grow my hair out really long but somehow it always ends up getting cut. Even when I only want a trim, depending on who cuts it (it’s gotten to where I only trust my oldest sister to cut my hair, even above the professionals that have done it), I often end up with a bit more than I wanted cut off.
retweeted message
ponytails are our friends while growing out our hair
I used to have verrrry long hair, but it was straight and thin, which made it very easy to brush and maintain. Did have LOTS of split-ends though-I used to sit in class and break them off (hey, it’s better than nail biting!!).
I have found that taking a vitamin supplement helps my hair to grow! I haven’t had much trouble making that happen over the past years since I have been either pregnant or nursing during much of the last nine years. But the better that you eat and drink and take care of yourself in general the better health your hair will be in too.
I had pretty long hair for a long time, but a few months ago cut it veryy short; as a matter of fact, I just realized that in this hot weather,even wearing a snood or teichel, that it’s time to find a ponytail holder once again since it’s growing out.
I’ve always had long hair however whenever I do get it cut I get a little bit nervous but as my mother always said “hair is a renewable resource”! However when I’m waiting for it to grow back I just straighten it everyday to get the longest look that I can!
Thanks!
Your article has lots of good suggestions. I’m thinking of “growing-out” my hair in another respect–I may quit coloring it and go gray!
@Lexiquin tweeted! http://twitter.com/lexiquin/status/21001822144
While growing out my hair, I found pony tail holders and regular trims to be essential.
I recently cut a lot of my hair off and donated it and these tips are spot on! I am working on regrowing my hair, and have a few new ideas to try out. Thanks coveryourhair!!
At 43 years old im growing my hair long after a lifetime of short,its quite a process learning to style it but also fun
For me so far the biggest thing was whether to go with bangs or without and what shape bangs.
I retweeted..http://twitter.com/mitch1066/statuses/21006184906
I go back and forth between wanting long hair and short hair. I usually end up disliking each cut as soon as I get it. My hair is wavy and frizzy and I’ve yet to find anything that really works to make it look “neat”. I usually just end up putting it up in a pony tail.
Kelly D. ~ dkad23(at)gmail(dot)com
Tweet. (dkad23)
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Kelly D. ~ dkad23(at)gmail(dot)com
I have found that the best way to prevent knots is to comb or brush my hair as soon as I get out of the shower. Not all brushes are good for wet hair. When I get out of the shower, I like to brush my hair with a massaging brush and then out on a cloth headband and let my hair dry naturally.
I have also donated to locks of love for almost 10 years, and this is the first year they would not accept my hair because my hair is showing some grey which changes the texture of the hair and they say it no longer make a nice wig. Anyway I wear my hair in braids a lot and I wear a hair net at night, and I always get my hair trimmed once a month. I love having long hair.
I have found it always to be much easier to take care of shorter hair. Especially now that I cover it
I am growing my hair out after having it very short for two years. It is still short, but it is starting to be noticeably longer. I struggle with keeping it from being frizzy. My sister uses coconut milk serum on her hair after she showers and says it helps tremendously. (She has shoulder length curly hair). Another thing that helps with all types for that matter is avoiding shampoos and conditioners that contain SLS and propylene glycol. Any suggestion on how to not go crazy in the growing out stage?
It has always been my dream to have long, beautiful, flowing hair! Alas, it is not to be. I have never been able to grow it much below my shoulders and even then by the time it gets even that long it is so frizzy and unhealthy looking I have to chop it back off and start over. In the last couple of years I have been a fanatic about my choice of shampoos and my hair has started to look a lot healthier but it still won’t grow.
My daughter loves to braid her hair or have it braided. I totally agree with you on braiding being the best.
Thanks for the tips. My hair is getting long and I always have it up because I have frizz in this summer humidity. Thanks for the tips… I may be able to keep it long if I get through the summer without giving into the temptation of cutting it off because it is so darned hot.
I dont have long hair anymore, but remember when I struggled with it trying to grow it out–It just gets to that point, where you cant do anything with it, and I hated it, so finally I gave in and chopped it off…I regret it, but I do like short hair, but am so jealous of people with long beautiful manes- that takes alot of patience!
Re= tweeted this article
great information and ideas
How do you keep long hair from getting broken? Mine and one of my daughters is pretty long but pretty broken, too. My daughters hair always looks frizzy because of it. What can I do?
Braiding and buns are definitely the easiest when this long. You can also pony tail it, then hold your finger and thumb through the middle of the hair right above the rubber band then flip your pony over and through the hole for a nice, easy look.
I’m in the process of growing my hair out. It has been a hair pulling experience, but I’m starting to have enough length to be able to style it different ways.
tweeted
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I have pretty long hair now bec I grew it to donate it and go tlazya nd never cut it yet so my pony is about 15 inches. I find the best thing is to brush it right out of the shower then I let it dry naturally usually under a tichel bec of other people being in the house. my hair is curly and very thick and very hard to brush through completely but if i make sure to have the patience to do it every morning and every night at least no matter how long it takes its much easier to handle.
When one can’t wash your hair and you want your hair to look clean and smell fresh use some kind of baby powder. It gets the oil out and when you brush it out of your hair it makes it smell and look like it was just washed. the baby powder takes the excess oil out that makes it look dirty and the fresh sent or baby sent makes it smell decent good for a long yom tov
I don’t like the way that No More Tangles smells. I long ago had a little 8-yr-old girl with long tight-curly hair. I found out that diluting it with water made it smell less strongly. It still worked to detangle her long hair. I kept topping off the container with water. It lasted a long time.
It is good for the hair, and also for the rest of the body, to make sure to get enough good oils in the diet. The bad fat-free diets makes for brittle, dull hair. A little oil in the diet will make a dog’s or cat’s hair nicer, too.
Concerning hair that “won’t grow”. I have seen hair start to grow marvelously when one takes a lot of brewer’s yeast, which is sold in the vitamin section. One needs to take a lot of them, as instructed. It should be taken by the tablespoonfuls, but it tastes bad, so they squish it into pills. So take a handful of them. Brave souls will CHEW them! Brewer’s yeast also is the vitamin for increasing the breast milk supply. It’s the vitamin Bs in it that are needed. So perhaps a complete, balanced, natural vitamin B source would be also good, but I have not experimented with that one.
About Curly hair: Comb it out morning and night, braid it while sleeping, and it will be more manageable if you let it down in the daytime.