In a perfect world, every girl wants a few things: love, good friends, a hot body, endless clothes and shoes, and long, beautiful healthy hair. With all the washing, dying, cutting, curling, and straightening, it seems impossible to grow long hair that is also healthy. For decades, women have been taught to go to the hair salon in order to obtain gorgeous, luscious locks. But today, women can stay home and use simple tricks to obtain long, beautiful, healthy locks. Here are 7 ways to get long gorgeous hair at home for less.
1. Trim Your Ends
What!!! Cutting your hair makes your hair grow? As backwards as it sounds, cutting off dead and split ends is one of the best ways to grow longer and healthier hair.
Trimming at least ¼ inch of hair every 6-8 weeks is the cardinal rule for hair care because you’re eliminating split ends and damage done as a result of constant heat to your hair. You can either go to a salon and have your ends professionally trimmed or trim them yourself at home.
While hair grows from the roots, having healthy ends is needed in order to grow longer hair. By not cutting off your split or damaged ends, breakage can occur, which leads to unhealthy hair. Unhealthy hair stunts hair growth. So remember… in order to get long, gorgeous locks, trim your ends every 6-8 weeks.
2. Hot Oil Hair Treatments
Hot Oil Treatments are one of the best home remedies for hair. While it doesn’t necessarily make your hair grow longer, it does make it healthier. Remember… in order for your hair to grow, it must be healthy.
To give yourself a proper hot oil treatment, all you need is oil, a microwave, and your hands. The best oils to use are olive oil, coconut oil, argon oil, and jojoba oil.
Place the oil in a microwave safe container and heat it up for approximately 45 seconds. If you would like the oil a little warmer, you can heat it up for 1 minute, but you don’t want the oil to be too hot.
After heating up the oil, massage it into your scalp and allow it to sit for 30 minutes. Rinse out the excess oil after thirty minutes and style as usual. Voila, you’ll see softer and healthier hair after a few tips.
You should do a hot oil treatments at least once a week.
3. Drink Water
Water makes your hair grow? Of course! Water makes EVERYTHING grow! You should aim to drink at least 64 oz. or 8 glasses of water to promote hair growth. Not only does water make your hair grow, but your overall body will look and feel better.
Drinking water helps to keep your hair and scalp hydrated and prevents breakage. The more water you drink, the stronger your hair becomes. The stronger your hair is, the faster it will grow and the healthier it becomes.
Hate the taste of plain water? You can excite your taste buds by adding lemons, berries, or mint leaves to your water to liven up its taste.
4. Egg Whites
Creating an egg white mask for your hair can help your hair grow faster. Egg whites are known to help replenish your hair, and this treatment can be done at home.
Using 2-3 eggs, crack them open and strain out the yolks. Mix the whites together and massage the treatment in your hair. Let the mask sit in your hair for 10-15 minutes. Rinse the mask out and you will see that your hair feels softer and looks shinier.
5. Limit Shampooing
Washing your hair every day, no matter how dry or oily it is, is one of the biggest hair myths out there. The more you wash your hair, the more natural oils you are stripping out of your hair. This causes your hair to become dry and brittle, leading to breakage.
Ideally, you should only wash your hair two to three times a week. Use dry shampoo in between if you have excessively oily hair or just feel the urge to want to wash it every day.
The less you wash your hair, the more natural oils are preserved. You need natural oils in order for your hair to grow, so let your hair breathe and limit the amount of washes you give your hair.
6. Never Brush Wet Hair! Use a Wide-Toothed Comb
Never and I repeat NEVER brush your hair when it’s wet. NEVER EVER! Brushing your hair when it’s wet can cause your hair to become tangled and cause breakage. Allow your hair to air dry before brushing it. If you don’t have time, use a wide-toothed comb.
When styling hair that is wet, thin, or can become easily tanged, use a wide-toothed comb. A wide-toothed comb allows you to style your hair with limited pulling and tugging. The less you pull and tug at your hair, the less breakage occurs. Less breakage means a better chance for your hair to grow, so switch from a brush to a wide-toothed comb.
7. Limit the Amount of Heat Applied to Your Hair
Limit the amount of heat applied to your hair. Heat causes your hair to be stripped of its natural oils. This leads to dryness and breakage. When using a blow dryer only use it a maximum of three times a week and only use straighteners and curling irons once a week. If you must use a blow dryer, curling iron or straightener, always use heat protectant before to lock in moisture.
There you have it. If you follow these 7 tips you can achieve the long luscious locks you have always desired. Remember that you might not see immediate results, and that hair growth is a process.
Happy styling!!!