Hey all. In the past two years, as seen by my posts here, I've gone through a lot of long hair transitions. A hairdresser made a mistake and cut off about a foot of my hair, taking my hair from half way down my back, to just under my chin. Well, my hair was the only thing that I felt made me pretty, and combined with a bad breakup, I compensated my going through color extremes...platinum blond, jet black, honey brown, red, and back again...this meant I had very damaged hair I could never grow out, because I had to constantly cut off the damaged ends.
Well I finally got fed up and decided I wanted to grow my hair out...but for some reason, my hair grew obscenely slow (never more than a 1/4 inch a month...and even then i considered myself lucky). And the hair was frizzy, coarse, and completely unmanageable.
I did some research and made a few changes, and quite literally have more than doubled my hair growth. I now average between 1/2-3/4 inch a month. Here is what I do:
The first thing I addressed was my nutrition and vitamin intake. I read the Turbo hair thread and went to GNC to pick up the supplements, but the girl who worked there (who had waist length, perfect condition, gorgeous hair) made a few modifications. She said Nourishair was not recommended, because when combined with a complete multivitamin, it flushed out the needed B vitamins. She instead recommended taking the Women's Complete Multivitamin (you take 2 a day) in the morning, and 2 of 2500mg Biotin at night. I also take an iron supplement in the morning (I am very anemic, and I read that can cause trouble growing hair) as well as 2 of the Walmart hair pills, one in th emorning, and one at night.
I never wash my hair more than two or three times a week. A hairdresser recommended I only use shampoo sparingly, like once a week at the most because most shampoos contain silicione and other -cones which can damage hair and extract too much of hair's needed moisture. Instead, she recommended washing only using conditioner, that did not contain cones. Once a week, I also use Aphogee's Reconstructor, put a shower cap on it, and let it sit for 15 minutes, to help maintain my hair's condition.
I've really cut down on heat styling. I used to blowdry, then curl or straighten daily. I've found alternatives to heating products, such as wet setting hair in velcro rollers for straight hair, pillow curlers or rags curlers instead of curling iron, etc. I also will douse my hair with leave-in conditioner, and then will pin my hair up.
For special occasions I will heat style my hair (maybe veery 2 weeks), but to make the style last, I'll use Pssst Spray shampoo. It really makes my hair look and feel squeaky clean, and it gives it great volume.
Just this week, I've returned my hair to my natural color (first time in over a decade), so I can cut back on dying as well.
My hair is so much better. Besides the length change, it feels so silky. I find myself just petting it constantly, I never knew hair could feel like this! It's texture is also a lot more manageable.
I just thought I'd shar ein case anyone else was having trouble growing their hair.



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