One of my most asked questions is "what do you do to your hair to make it grow so long?" So, finally, here is the so-in-depth-you-will-regret-you-even-asked hair care routine and all the tips I use to make my hair grow as long as it possibly can. Some things are obvious and some are not talked about enough at all.

I have hesitated to make this post, because I am not a hair dresser or a hair scientist and only have my own experience to go by, combined with the fact that the beauty industry is making a lot of money on trying to make people forget that a lot of our appearance is determined by – surprise surprise – our genes. Hair growth being a good example of that. However, that is not to ignore that a lot can be done with the right hair care, as I have experienced myself in my journey to grown long and healthy hair.

I have also discussed this with several of my friends who simply thought that their hair growth cycle was short, when they kept bleaching and heat treating their hair. No good. A few years of leave-it-the-heck-alone and now they sport waist-length hair.

Consider your hair type

This is probably obvious, but still needs to be said. Hair care varies immensely depending on what hair type you have, so a lot of this routing may not be applicable to your hair type. For example, I have pin straight hair and never brush it when it’s wet, while I know my fellow curly haired friends would smack anyone brushing their hair when it’s dry.

So, for clarity, my hair type is very fine (typical Scandinavian hair), and it is a 1 on the hair type chart (seriously, making curls stay in my hair is harder than any math class I ever took). But it is fairly uncomplicated to style, as long as I don’t demand it does anything differently (especially at this length). And because I am planning on donating my hair, I mainly just focus my routine on keeping it healthy anyways. This is my natural hair color as well. It has been two years since I last saw my hairdresser, so I have just trimmed the ends myself after a shower here and there, making it less that perfectly even (she’s gonna be so mad when I finally go back!). On top of this, I have eczema on my scalp that sometimes flares up, adding a somewhat labor intensive scalp routine as well.

Growing long hair (and faster, please!)

According to The Trichological Society, hair grows between 0.5 and 1.7 cm every month. I took out the tape measure today and it measured over 80cm, which is 31.5 inches and some math later, I concluded that my hair growth has been on the upper end of that. I have been focused on growing my hair for the past two years, and it has grown 37cm, and that’s with me having trimmed a few cm’s every year as well.

Again, I’m not an expert, but of course two things affect your hair length; the duration and speed with which hair grows out of your scalp and for how long it can hold on and withstand whatever damage you do to it.

Obviously, the more you damage your hair, the more it’s going to break off and it will feel like it’s either not growing or growing slowly. Therefore, even if it might not technically be correct, I feel like most people seem to not mind whether you’re affecting the root or the end, as long as the end result is the hair being longer, faster.

Speedy hair growth is not a primary goal of your body…

Healthy hair is happy hair!

…so make sure that you take care of your body on the inside. Otherwise it won’t have any extra effort towards making your hair and skin shine and grow. This is what I have heard a million times, at least. And I personally feel that it holds true.

For the sort of “inside fixes”, I don’t do much. I don’t take any hair vitamins, so I don’t know how they work, but I definitely notice a difference when my own, various vitamin levels have been off. That has affected my hair, as well as nails and skin. Because I have chronic deficiencies, I have to take several different vitamins and also have some injected every other month. Of course I would never recommend you just start taking a bunch of vitamins but for your overall health it’s so much more important than people think, therefore it’s not the worst idea to have them checked at your doctor anyways, especially if you haven’t in a while.

Apart from that, although I have no evidence here, it seems to me that when my scalp is irritated or damaged, it makes sense that it also could impact my hair growth. So while it is definitely my eczema that makes me put scalp care as my number one priority, it does go into making my hair look nice as well.

That is all I will say about what I do to actually make my hair grow out of my head faster, I just focus on my overall health and diet, and don’t really use any product designed to help that along because I haven’t found it necessary.

Treat your strands nicely, and they will hang around longer…

…meaning, your hair will grow longer and it will happen faster. I know some of these tips will be known, but sometimes we (you) need a kick in the butt to actually do it, and not ignore it. So, with that out of the way, let’s get into some of the most important changes you can make to get long hair.

How to grow your hair long

  1. Stop bleaching. Seriously. Realize that if you want super long hair, there will be sacrifices. Otherwise it’s called a wig.
  2. Embrace your natural color, if you can. Healthier hair means hair that doesn’t snap off before it has stopped growing. And then it can finally grow long.
  3. Put away the extensions. They are an instant gratification that just prevent you from ever getting there with your natural hair. And so expensive.
  4. Let your hot tools rest for a while. I still use mine every now and again, but finding hairstyles that work with what you have, instead of using heat to transform it all the time, will let your hair grow long.
  5. Wash less often. Hair is not really happy getting wet and the excessive cleaning of both scalp and strands only work to dry out your hair. When my scalp condition acts up, I have to wash my hair almost every day and it ends up looking tragically hay-like. So, avoid if you can.
  6. Be strategic with styling. Don’t flush your scalp in product, don’t use more than you need and go for products that don’t tend to be rough on your hair when you don’t wash it every day (things like hard hold hair sprays or texture pomades that seem to promote tangling).
  7. Be gentle. This is ignored far too often. Friction will damage your hair, even when it’s dry. Find looser hairstyles with less pressure that won’t cause breakage like a tight ponytail or bun will. Be mindful of your hair, constantly getting it tangled or caught on clothing or stuck in jackets are all things that increase the friction and damage to your hair, even if far less than bleaching it.
  8. Find protective styles for when you are sleeping, to reduce damage at night.
  9. Cut it less. I know this is like cursing in a church, but I personally find that if I just trim my ends very very carefully, instead of getting trims at the hair salon, I keep more length in the end. I know that we are meant to get rid of split ends and by all means, but my idea and a hairdressers idea of how much that is, often differs. Once there is a decent bit of length and you have kept your paws off of the heat styling for long enough, trims will not be such a big deal anymore because they will be hardly noticeable. I cut 15cm off my hair and not a single person noticed.

You may not need to give up everything, personally I do still sometimes heat style my hair (always with heat protection, of course!), but if you feel very strongly about continuing the routine you currently have, perhaps consider whether or not you would like long hair more than what you have now. All the little changes you would have to make, included. At least until you have gotten some length to your hair (and you will get to a point where you feel like it’s growing really fast without you even doing anything), try a bit of a lazy approach to hair: do less, care more. Be very gentle in brushing and styling and wearing your hair but be too lazy to curl or straighten or keep up with bleaching roots. The transitional period can be awkward, but the end is worth it.

Make hair stay on your head for as long as possible (AKA The Routine)

Now, onto my actual routine. It is nothing too exciting, as everything is just designed to make my hair a) be healthy, b) care for my scalp and c) sometimes amp up the shine a bit.

The most important thing that improved my hair health was to embrace my natural hair. I have wanted curls since forever and spent most of my teens trying to make my hair have some sort of wave to it. The curling iron burns were endless. As were my split ends. Now I prefer to work with what I have instead. Okay, let’s get into all the details. All of them.

Before washing my hair

I tend to always brush out my hair before showering when it’s dry, because it makes it easier to detangle when it’s wet and in a much more fragile state, so I reduce the amount of breakage I get. If I use a hair mask, I will typically use it before I was my hair as well. I don’t use one that often, I find it nice but it has helped me a lot more to use actually great products in the shower and after and that has a bigger impact on my hair health than one saving grace hair mask that is supposed to make up for me damaging my hair the other 23 hours of the day.

Sometimes I use the Inkey List salicylic acid scalp treatment before a shower as well. I have not had the best luck with their packaging (but it looks like they have finally redone it, maybe it’s better now), but I put this product on a spray bottle and spray directly on my scalp and let it sit for at least 1 hour. I think the packaging says a lot less, but over time, I feel like it has not been too harsh and works better if it sits a bit longer. It helps so much to balance my scalp and it’s a great product if you struggle with an oily or flaky scalp.

Washing my hair

I try not to wash my hair very often, I find that it really tends to dry my hair out and makes it look more dull. It also just takes a really long time because my hair takes a long time to dry, and that whole process in itself also wears down my hair. So in general, I wash it twice a week. I would step that down to once a week – especially considering I use so little product on my hair, but my scalp tends to get issues if I leave it that long. As I mentioned, I sometimes get eczema on my scalp, and when I do have a flare up, I have to wash my hair nearly every day with a medicated shampoo and it makes my hair look so incredibly sad, so I can definitely tell you this is a big one to stop if you’re currently over-washing your hair. I also personally use lukewarm water. I have not really seen a difference when I used cold water and it’s so unpleasant that I quit that.

I have used sulfate free shampoos for well over ten years now and my scalp literally cannot take anything else. I currently use and looove the Rahua classic series, because not only is it sulfate free and full of very natural ingredients, it also lathers up quite nicely. If you have made the transition to sulfate free shampoos, I’m sure you have noticed how much harder then tend to be to lather up.

Of course this is ridiculously pricey, but one bottle tends to last me well over 6 months, so that helps. I have used other ones that are much less expensive and work great as well, I will link those as well, I definitely don’t think healthy and long hair has to come with this price tag, it’s just a really enjoyable shampoo if you don’t mind the price.

Best part of long hair is swishing it around!

I massage the shampoo in in sections and never rub it over my hair, it will make my hair frizzy and tangled. I only use it on my scalp and only if I have used a lot of product on my strands will I clean down my hair, but that is never more than every few months as the most.

I use about a £2 coin’s worth and on the recommendation of my hair dresser, I wash my hair twice. I also use a scalp brush (but this one only once, on the first wash), which I always thought was such a gimmicky product but now struggle to live without. It’s great for really getting the scalp clean as well as just feeling great. As with massaging in the shampoo with my hands, I tend to use the scalp brush in tiny circular motions but never rub it around on my head. I place it, do a few slight circles, lift, reposition the scalp brush and repeat. I really try to avoid any excess friction!

I love the Rahua conditioner as well (and even if you prefer a different shampoo that lathers more, I can really recommend trying this conditioner!). It has lasted me a really long time, even when my hair is this long, and it just rinses out so beautifully, leaving my hair super soft and silky, without any heaviness or product-y feeling. I really only use this on the “ponytail” area, but that is most of my hair now of course. I try to leave it as long as possible in my hair, but at least 5-10 minutes.

After the shower, I tend to wrap my hair in a soft towel. I used to use a cotton t-shirt, but my hair got so long I needed something bigger. But I never, ever rub my hair dry with a towel (or anything, for that matter), I simply let it soak up the water from my hair. I try not to leave my hair too long like this, usually about 15-20 minutes. I want my hair to dry as soon as possible, and I don’t put it up in a wet bun or anything, just let it hang loose while it’s drying. Trapping moisture on my scalp for longer than necessary can create scalp issues (at least for me!) and there is literally no benefit.

Styling routine

Drying

I let my hair airdry I’d say 60-70% of the time, to avoid damage as much as possible. I will sometimes use some of the styling products into my wet hair and just very carefully detangle it with my fingers. This process is a lot easier if you have brushed your hair before showering. Now that my hair is so long, it also tangles really easily, which is an absolute pain. A few months ago, I came across the Kerastase Nectar leave in treatment, and I can honestly say that I would never grow my hair long without it again. It makes my hair so much more manageable and it doesn’t tangle nearly as much. It’s also a heat protectant, but I tend to apply a tiny bit of this after almost every was, regardless of whether I’m using heat or not.

I do blow dry my hair sometimes as well, especially if I want a more shiny or sleek finish on it. I have a few products that are heat activated as well, but in general I tend to keep my blow dryer as cool as possible. I tend to layer all my products in my hair, then detangle. If I have a lot of product, I may need a very gentle brush through, and for that I always use a tangle teezer, to minimize breakage. And always after I have applied all the products, so the brushing works double duty to evenly disperse the product in your hair. I use the blow dryer pointing downwards and will sometimes finish off the last bit with a hot air brush. It gives such a beautiful finish to the hair and really makes my hair smooth, especially if I have used a bit of product, so I avoid any of the sticky feeling that some styling products can give if they’re not blow-dried into the hair properly. I also use the Ouai styling pomade pretty much every single day, to control babyhairs. This product just makes me look 110% more put together, every single time.

My go-to styling products tend to be these below. If I use them all, I tend to layer in a certain way, to avoid having my hair weighed down by product. I sometimes use a perfecting spray like the Color wow dream coat, to add softness and shine. I also love their serum for that ultra-shine effect if I am doing something special (or just want to feel special). Then I layer over the Kerastase leave-in that also works as a heat protectant. If you’re not using that, lots of other heat protectants work as well, of course, but I always layer them last over all the other styling products.

Heat styling

So, I shared how I use the hair dryer, which I know is technically heat. But we’re talking about the hot tools that have given you burns here. Now, I probably curl my hair 3 times a year at the length it is now. It simply takes too much time. And I tend to only use a straightener to work out any kinks or bends, not my whole head. The truth is that I am lazy and have accepted that when I want my hair this long, it comes with the sacrifice of not doing a million different styles. But it also is just so much better for the hair to not have to go through all that heat. It was harder in the beginning, when I wanted to heat style my hair and timing wasn’t an issue, but you soon embrace the more low-effort approach to styling your hair and going with what you have.

That is pretty much my entire routine. As I mentioned in the tips, I do take care of my hair as well. I love doing loose braids or low “bun-ponytails” when I don’t want my hair hanging loose and getting caught on everything (seriously, got a knot stuck on a door knob once – ouch!). I use a lot of invisibobble hair ties and scrunchies when I’m at home, to not get that horrible breakage at the ponytail area. I still have some, but it’s massively reduced.

If you want an overview of all the products I use, I have a separate page with them all linked, click here.