Caring For Long Hair

Once your hair starts getting quite long — "bra strap length, say — you need to switch gears and focus on maintaining the tresses that you already have as opposed to getting your hair to grow longer. With care, length will follow naturally.

How Often Do You Need To Cut Your Hair?

Contrary to popular belief, trimming the ends of your hair regularly does not make it grow faster. Your hair, a stratified squamous keratinized epithelium, isn't alive, and what you do or don't do to its ends will not affect how fast it grows. We all know that split ends don't look awesome though, and those who want to trim their hair can.

Because hair stylists have the unfortunate habit of cutting off more than you asked for, many people who would like really long hair cut their own. Once it grows to below bra-strap length, that's actually pretty easy: just separate your hair into two halves, drape them over your shoulders to your front, and make a straight cut on both sides. How often you cut your hair is totally up to you.

What Should You Use On Your Hair?

As your hair grows, you will likely find that it takes a much longer time for it to start looking greasy. Take advantage of this by washing and conditioning your hair less often, but do remember to condition your hair every time you wash it. Look for hydrating conditioners without silicone for the best results.

People with long hair will often find that the condition of their hair isn't the same across the board, and that the lower portions of their tresses need more care. You can use natural products such as coconut oil, argan oil, and shea butter on the lower end on the day before you are planning to wash your hair, while massaging castor oil into the scalp helps maintain hair growth and a healthy look.

The longer your hair is, the more time you have invested into it. At this stage, you will most likely want to stay away from commercial hair dyes, chemical treatments to straighten or curl it, and blow drying to prevent breakage and allow your hair to look its best. You will also want to look into using hair sticks instead of elastic bands on those days where you decide to wear your hair up.

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What Else Do You Need To Know?

Lots, actually. Use satin pillow covers to reduce friction, and thus breakage, to a minimum. Pat your hair dry rather than rubbing it, and never, ever brush freshly washed, wet hair. If you must do something to reduce knots, use a coarse comb on your hair while your conditioner is still in. When dry, brush your hair from the top up, rather than the other way around, to avoid being hard on your hair as you encounter knots. You'll also want to consider keeping your hair out of the way during those mundane, everyday tasks — exposing your hair to cooking heat, sitting on it, or getting it caught in things won't help!

Maintaining beautiful and healthy long hair takes thought. However, it is no harder than caring for short hair — just different. With time, as your hair grows, you'll grow with it in learning to take care of your tresses.