How I FINALLY Got My Hair To Grow

Brace yourself…this is going to be a long post. Keep reading if you want to learn how I transformed my fragile, dull hair!

The problems began when I started to bleach my hair blonde. My hair had gone from shiny and healthy, to flat and dull before I ever realized it. I was always annoyed at my hair during college, and I couldn’t understand why it never got any longer, and seemed so unhealthy. It was always frizzy and dry. When I curled it, it was barely past my shoulders! I hated having my hair pulled back, because it always felt tight and uncomfortable on my head. Because it was almost never up in a ponytail or a bun, it was always curled, or straightened. I used hot tools on my hair basically every single day. Not only did I straighten and curl it constantly…I showered in the morning, and blow dried it every day as well. It’s making me cringe just thinking about it.

My problem wasn’t so much that my hair wasn’t growing…but that the ends were breaking off repeatedly. The damage from everything I was putting it through was too much for it to handle. Here are a few pictures from college to show you what my hair used to look like:

Now obviously it could be a lot worse, but I absolutely hated it. I wanted to do big, beachy waves, and cool braids, but they just didn’t work on my perpetually short and damaged hair!

The year after I graduated from college, I started making some changes in the way I took care of my hair. I don’t know what really made me start to do things differently, I don’t recall having some great epiphany, but slowly I started implementing a new hair care routine that made all the difference. So without further ado…here is the list of changes I made that have saved my dull & damaged hair!

Wash it less

I was washing my hair every single day, during college. Even on the weekends! I always wanted it to look clean and fresh. I have very fine hair, which means it gets oily easily. When it was even a tiny bit oily, it would drive me crazy and I would want to wash it again! It was a vicious cycle! Now, I wash my hair about once every three days. I know some people wash theirs once a week, but my hair is much too fine for that. Even the best dry shampoo in the world couldn’t keep my hair clean that long. Once every three days seems to work the best for me.

Dry Shampoo in between washes

During college, I had not discovered the absolute miracle in a bottle that is dry shampoo. I honestly feel sorry for my high school, and college self for not even knowing what dry shampoo was! These days, I use dry shampoo 24/7. I spray it on my roots pretty much every day that I don’t wash my hair. Before I go to bed, I like to spray a little extra on the hair around my face, so that my hair doesn’t pick up the oils from my face while I’m sleeping! Here are my dry shampoo faves, although I’ve never come across a dry shampoo that I didn’t like:

No blow dry unless necessary

As I said earlier, I used to shower in the morning before class, or work. This meant that I had to blow dry my hair right away after! These days, this is a HUGEEE no-no for me. I would honestly rather leave the house with damp hair than blow dry it. Obviously once in a while I find myself in a predicament, and have to resort to blow drying, but it’s far and few in between. Instead, I shower at night so that my hair can dry naturally!

No styling with hot tools unless necessary

Now even though I avoid blow drying my hair 99% of the time, styling with hot tools just can’t be helped. What can I say, I like to curl my hair. I do however try to limit the amount of times I use hot tools on my hair in a week. I will usually curl my hair the first day after I wash it, and then just touch up that curl as needed as the week goes on! If I’m having a bad hair day, I’ll throw it up into a bun with one of my scrunchies, or throw on a hat!

Masking treatments

Whenever I feel like my hair is lacking moisture, or seems dull, I do a hair mask! I like to do them while I’m taking a bath, so I’m not running around with product dripping from my hair! Here are a couple of my faves:

HUM hair gummies

I’ve been taking Hum’s “Hair Sweet Hair” gummies for about six months now, and I feel like they’ve definitely made a different in the length and health of my hair! They include biotin, while is commonly taken to promote hair growth! Plus they taste amazing!

Getting enough protein in my diet

The other thing that was a big deal for me was making sure I was eating enough protein. When I went vegan a little over a year ago, making sure I ate enough protein was super important to me. Obviously your diet is reflected in your body, and your hair is no exception. A healthy diet full of protein will help your hair grow, and look beautiful! When you aren’t getting enough protein, your body will begin to ration the protein it does get. This could mean little or no hair growth, as well as brittle and dull hair. (For more info: Livestrong) No thank you!

Progress

I’m still working on it, but I am so excited at how much better my hair has become since I started taking better care of it! It’s longer, more full, and I can actually style it in my fave beachy waves. Life is good.