Hey everyone! Happy Wednesday! A while back, like two years ago, I wrote out my 8 Tips for Long, Healthy Hair post. Welp, months later I decided to chop off all my hair for the first time (left pic) in my life to just touching my shoulders, and it’s been about a year and some and it’s almost all grown back (right pic from a few weeks ago)! Many people are asking me how I grew my hair back so fast. Unfortunately, there is no speeding up your hair growth, although many products claim to do so (hair pills? uhmm… I don’t think so). 

Length

Hair length is relative to the person growing the hair. Just like eyebrows, eyelashes, and armpit hair, our hair only grows so long before the root lets go and it falls out. This length is DIFFERENT for everyone. If you keep your hair healthy (moisturized) you have a likelier chance of growing your hair to its maximum length. Some people’s maximum length is mid-back, some is up to their butt, some is longer, and some is shorter! Your hair my grow a little longer than it’s maximum length, but this is where it starts to look thinner at the bottom (like a horse’s tail). This is because most of the hair that has reached it’s max length has stopped growing or has shed, and the remaining that are longer are far and few.

Hair grows on average for only two to six years before it gets into its resting phase. After rest (no growth), it slowly starts to shed and new hair starts to grow for another two to six years. The amount of years your hair grows will determine the length your hair can achieve. The length of time is different for everyone and is a result of your DNA. The length your hair grows during that time will be determined by how strong and healthy your hair is (i.e. dry, frail hair will snap off and be shorter than strong, healthy hair). You can’t force long hair, you have what you have and all hair lengths, as long as it’s healthy, is beautiful!

You also can’t change the thickness of your hair. The amount hair that sprouts out of your head doesn’t really increase, it can decrease due to stress and hormonal changes and then go back to normal, but it doesn’t really increase.

My Regular Hair Routine

This is my full hair routine which I’ve been doing for many years and it has yet to let me down. I am recommending this routine to people with the same hair type as me as I do not know if it works for fine hair or coarse/curly hair or any other hair type. My hair type is thick, semi-coarse (thick strands, Filipino hair), very long, and mostly straight.

Washing

I wash my hair every three to four days, depending on how clean my hair feels by the third day I won’t wash it until the fourth. Since my hair is not fine hair, it can absorb some oils on day two and three that naturally secrete from my scalp. People with fine hair should not go more than one or two days without washing their hair because they cannot absorb the oils and it appears oily faster (because the oil is literally just sitting on your hair). This is just like coarse, curly or black hair can go longer than my hair type without washing because it needs more moisture to stay healthy so the oils are beneficial.

I use OGX shampoo and conditioner, it retails for about $8 a bottle at Wal-Mart. It’s sulfate and paraben free. While it’s not the best shampoo in the world, it washes my hair well and does not make it dry. The conditioner also makes my hair shiny and soft. I mainly only apply conditioner to the bottom half of my hair and the outer surface of my hair which people see when it’s down, and let it soak in while I wash my face/body then rinse it out.

I would not recommend Pantene or Head and Shoulders but price does not determine how good or bad a shampoo/conditioner is for your hair. There are effective and ineffective drugstore and high-end products. Don’t buy a shampoo just because it’s $60 a pop, just do your research and find one that works for you.

After Washing

After I wash my hair, I massage oil (argan or moroccan) on the ends of my hair while it’s still wet and then let all of my hair air dry. Oil does not need to be applied to the top of the hair because our scalp makes natural oils throughout the day and most times these oils do not get to our ends by the time we wash it which is why ends become dryer faster than the rest of the hair on our head. I also use a wide-tooth comb to detangle my damp hair.

Heat

I only blow dry or use heat on my hair once a week or even once every two weeks (depending on if there are any important outings to go to!). The less heat applied to the hair, the less dry it will be. Find styles that you can do everyday without using heat on your hair. For me it’s: down in it’s natural form, in a ponytail (90% of my life haha), in two braids, or in a bun.

Chemicals

Part of the reason I cut off my hair was because after dying most of the top blonde (yup, that happened lol, see right photo above) it felt very dry and hay-like. I dyed it back to brown/black two months later and it still felt a little dry and I couldn’t stand having unhealthy hair. This was all due to the bleach. When it comes to bleach, only use it on your hair if you HAVE to, otherwise don’t. It makes hair snap off!

For dye, only dye your hair in moderation. Do lots of research on the best ways to change your hair color with the least amount of damage and find a salon that will help you accomplish it. Also, if you use box dyes, use them in moderation too. I used to box dye my hair in high school and my hair was never damaged by it because I did it only every four to six months. In the above photo on the left (before the blonde) is my natural hair color after not being dyed for four years. Chemicals are a huge cause for hair breakage, so I repeat, do it in moderation or not at all. I would also never recommend a perm (to curl or relax hair), these are very harsh chemicals that are being used. Relaxing hair is very popular in the Philippines, while it makes hair pin straight, it also makes it very, very dry.

Trimming

You do not need to trim your hair once a month. If you do this, your hair will never gain length. By trimming it once a month, you are cutting off all the growth. Hair grows about half an inch per month. I’m guessing your stylist will probably cut that amount or a full inch, at least, during the trim. The purpose of trimming your ends is to get rid of the UNHEALTHY and BROKEN ends. If you keep your hair healthy, you won’t have any unhealthy ends to trim off. This is why people think my hair grows faster… I keep it healthy enough and rarely use heat, so I only need to trim it once every six or seven months (usually only about an inch) and therefore I’m never going backwards with my growth.

Hair Masques

I’ve never used a hair masque per say (but please send me some natural ones that you recommend) but I do soak my hair once every week or two weeks in warm extra virgin olive oil or pure coconut oil. I warm it up and apply it all over my scalp and through my hair until the ends of my hair (on a hair wash day) and let it soak for an hour or two. That length of time isn’t mandatory, but I usually just apply it to my hair and go on with my usual evening. You don’t need to put time away for this (except the 15 minutes to apply), so time ain’t an excuse! Just put it in your hair and put your hair in a shower cap/plastic bag to keep it out of the way. You can cook, meal prep, clean, do homework, play video games, at home workouts, literally anything you’d normally do at home anyways, then wash it out! This helps my scalp stay moisturized especially in the fall and winter when it gets extra dry outside, which causes flakes.

Eat and Drink

Eat healthy, drink lots of water. I don’t need to explain it, this is common sense. Our body puts out what we take in. The healthier and more natural, the better.

Summary:

• You can’t force length, but you can change the healthiness of your hair over time.
• Don’t wash too often if you don’t have to (also depends on hair texture), it sucks out the oils that are good for your hair.
• Treat your ends after wash so that they stay conditioned.
• Style your hair regularly without the use of heat.
• Only dye your hair in moderation, try to avoid perming/relaxing.
• Don’t trim your hair every month, keep it healthy enough to go six months.
• Eat and drink healthy.

After re-reading this post and my previous one, they’re basically the same. This goes to show that my routine has done me well for YEARS and I still stick by it. Healthy hair care does not take much effort or complicated products. Thank you so much for checking out my newest blog post and taking the time to read it up til this point! I hope you have an amazing day and week! If you have more tips, please leave them in the comments!