Grow Your Hair

How many of you have the hardest time growing your hair? Welcome to the club. I’ve struggled with dry and brittle hair, split-ends, and breakage my entire life. As a child I always had individual braids in my hair a) because it’s maintenance free, and b) to help it grow. While this method worked to help grow my hair, it did not stop the breakage or the split-ends. I’m sure you all can relate when I say, my hair just doesn’t grow! I’ll tell you a little story that jump started my determination to grow my hair.

I broke up with my highschool boyfriend in 2009 and to make myself feel better, I chopped off my hair! After an exhausting and toxic relationship it’s only natural that we wan’t a fresh start, right? For years and years I’ve heard that the only way to grow your hair, is to start fresh and cut off the dead ends. Well, who the hell wants to cut off a few inches just to get it to grow? It just sounds so backwards. Instead of doing that, we continue to let the dead ends grow into longer dead ends. See how backwards that sounds? So, back to the breakup. The breakup that resulted in me cutting off 4-5 inches of my hair was such a blessing in disguise! From that moment on I was determined to never let my hair get out of control again. I set a goal for myself and said, “I’m going to have the longest, healthiest hair I possibly can!”.  Some of you will look at my photos and think, “Her hair isn’t even that long!”. Listen. It’s long for me, okay! It’s never been this length before, and the best part is…it’s so healthy! I’m going to share with you the things that got my hair back on track.

First thing is, you have to get micro trims. These trims are vital. If you aren’t going to commit to micros then you might as well give up. There is no sense growing your busted ends into longer busted ends. I get my trims done every 8-10 weeks and when I say micro, I mean MICRO. My stylist is a girlfriend of mine, so I can be brutally honest with her. I tell her to take next to nothing off, like nothing. Some stylists get a little carried away and take off our precious length, then we go home and sob. I always tell my girl to just skim the ends and remove any evidence of split or dry pieces. By the time we are done I’ll look on the floor and hardly see any hair, that’s how little she takes off. The reason why micros are so important, is because it stimulates hair growth. You gotta trim a little to gain a little. It has made the biggest difference for me and if you’re patient you will see results too, and remember consistency is everythaaang!

Now that you have healthy ends, you’ll want to keep them healthy. I have tried tons of products to help with breakage and I’ve found my solution here. This Redken product comes in 2 parts- primer and sealer.  The primer sits on the hair for a solid 10 minutes (or more), then rinsed, and finished with the sealer. Do not wash the sealer out. I’ll do this treatment once every couple weeks to maintain my ends and I have found that it works wonders for me. I go into my trim appointments with better ends more and more every time, thus less hair needs to be cut off! Can you see how it’s a win-win? Another product I looove is also by Redken with interlock protein network (IPN) technology. Totally sounds fancy, but it basically means you need it in your life. You can view that product here. It’s an all around leave-in treatment that I do not rinse out and I’ll apply it about once a week. For a bonus, the smell of these products are heavenly! I know that my opinion of smell means nothing to your nose, but I love it and you can be the judge for yourself.

Okay, this next product is my absolute, absolute favourite. There is no way in f’in HELL I’d live without it. It’s called Olaplex Hair Perfector and it’s liquid gold, y’all- no lie. Olaplex is a 3 step system- part 1 and 2 are used professionally as your getting services done and part 3 is where you come in. Whether you’re having a chemical service or a colour done, this product was created to protect and insure our locks so we can finally get those golden honey tones without fearing the damage of bleaching our hair to get there. Did you read what I just said, it’s a goddamn miracle! Part 3 is the take home treatment to ensure optimal results of your salon service or you can use it on it’s own to strengthen damaged hair. This product has drastically made a difference on my breakage and I apply it once a week.  It can be rinsed off or left on for more severe cases of dry hair. It has seriously saved my hair’s life and I’d give up everything before I give up my Olaplex. For FAQ’s on Olaplex, please click here.

Lastly, with all the diffusing I do on my hair, I always make sure to spray it with a heat protector. Right now I’m loving Redken’s Pillow Proof Express Primer. I saturate my hair with this baby and it works to lessen the time to blow dry or diffuse. I will never apply heat to my hair without some type of protector on it. With my hair already being dry as the Sahara desert, adding more heat to it is like a fire in the Sahara desert. Sounds excruciating right? Get your protection on!

Now with all this talk about products and how amazing they are, you should know that there is a protein limit our hair can handle. The saying “too much of a good thing” makes perfect sense right now. Our hair can only handle so much goodness, so be sure you space out your applications. I will always alternate my products weekly and rarely will I combine them in the same week- that’s a no no. Find a routine that works for you. One thing I will admit, is I use coconut oil every single damn day on my hair. Coconut oil is a natural product so there is no harm dousting your hair in it. You’d be surprised how quickly oil disappears in my hair, it’s such a thirsty bitch.

If you have any questions about the products I use, leave me a comment below. Happy hair days are upon us!

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Xoxo,

Chia-Sig