How to Get and Maintain Long Healthy Hair

Hi Everyone!

Thought I'd make a post on long hair, since I never see anyone really talk about hair that's generally longer than mid back.

Below are the tips and tricks that I use to keep my hair as long as it is, and let me tell you it really is a lot of work, and more than one would expect.  These are all from experience, not read in a book, or by going to the doctor and getting medication.

My Hair

As you can see my hair is pretty long (almost 3 feet) and looks generally healthy for the length it is.

1.) Stay Healthy

I can easily say, this is the biggest thing among most. If you are depressed, not eating a lot, and getting sick.....chances are your hair won't be growing along with your nails. I know from experience when I lost a drastic amount of weight too soon, my hair wasn't growing and I was actually loosing it.

What I personally did to get the most length of my hair is by eating a lot of protein, drinking milk, and eating vegetables. Your hair and nails are excess protein in your body, and if you make sure you eat protein such as beans and meat, it might help to get the length. Just make sure you don't eat too much, because it isn't healthy!

2.) Taking Care Of Your Hair Right NowShampoo

Even though you want the length, you need to take care of your hair as it is! Make sure you wash it regularly, and get all the products out. I recommend using a clarifying shampoo once a week, and using a normal one every other time you wash and if you want you could use a dry shampoo in-between washes (I recommend the Suave one). For regular shampoo, I use suave naturals.
Condition
Remember also to condition your hair. I normally don't condition the roots, but every so often I do depending on how my hair is doing and if it's knotting up more. Try to make sure you condition the part where if you had a pony tail in and down from there. I make sure to condition my hair every time I wash it in the shower, just to make it tangle free and not so dry. For this I also use Suave naturals.
Heat Styling
Another note, try not to heat style! I would not heat style your hair regularly, because it can fry your hair. I only do my bangs because of the shape. But I rarely, and I mean rarely, ever curl/straighten my hair. If you want curly hair, you could always try pin curls, and they last a hell of a lot longer than heat styling. Another thing is, is that you could try is braids or putting it up in a top knot before you go to bed.
TrimsA good thing is to get regular trims. Try not to get a whole lot off, just the split ends...and I mean it never hurts to get a nice hair cut. This will also make your hair super soft and look healthy
Coloring/Dying/BleachingLet's just leave it at this, it's better to go darker than lighter. Lightening your hair (or bleaching) makes your hair dried out and can make it feel and look fried. (I used to have white hair, I know from experience). I haven't colored my hair in about 1 1/2 years now, and my hair is much more healthy now than it was when I dyed it a reddish brown that was darker than my natural color. If you want to dye your hair, go ahead, but I would say to go darker since it really won't be hurting your hair as much.

3.) Lifestyle

Lets face the facts right now, having extremely long hair is a bitch. Not only is it easily caught on things, sometimes more prone to split ends, and can take extra work to style. But, you have to make life style changes, to make sure you can get the length, and maintain.
SleepingTry making sure that you sleep on a silk pillow, this makes it so your hair won't tug as bad and break off. If you take a shower before you go to bed, try to only sleep with damp hair, and not have it soaking wet which will make it so it doesn't smell bad in the morning, and won't knot up as bad. Also, when you (or if you) tie your hair up at night, a cloth hair tie is a lot easier on your hair.
Being CarefulI can not say how many times I've caught my hair in the door, in my register at work, and just catch it on buttons on jackets. Make sure you are aware of your hair, so it wont break off if it gets caught on buttons, zippers, what have you.
WinterI can not stress this enough, do not go outside with wet hair! What happens is that the wet hair freezes, and when you go inside, it can break off from the frozen to hot transition.
SummerAnother thing with weather, especially warm weather is that it's not healthy to stay out in the sun! Everyone forgets that it's not just your skin that can be damaged. During summer, if you go outside, you can get a sunscreen protective spray for your hair. Though I hope everyone doesn't stay out too long, because sun damage is definitely not healthy for any part of your body.

4.) Time

We all forget that it takes time for things to happen, and that you can't become Rapunzel in a day. Finding a good healthy hair routine that works for yourself takes trial and error.

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My Hair Care Routine
With all these being tips, and suggestions, here is my hair care routine.

+Wash hair every other day, using Suave Naturals shampoo and conditioner. I also use dry shampoo in between washes. Making sure to condition my hair a lot
+ No heat styling regularly, except bangs here and there
+Eat meat at least once a day, or a few times a week
+Trim once a month (just the ends)
+Sleep with a cloth hair tie
+Not sleeping with extremely wet hair
+Keep hair up as much as possible when not going anywhere
+No coloring/dying/treatments

Hope this helps all you ladies who want long hair
xoxo
Kitten