new thread
There is an article in this month's Hair & Beauty magazine listing 20 tips to growing your hair. I thought others may be interested in a summary of what was suggested.
1. Have regular trims to avoid split ends.
2. Keep heat styling to a minimum - let your hair dry naturally as much as possible.
3. Make the most of styling tools.
4. Become obsessive about conditioning - including deep conditioning treatments
5. Have a goal. Know ehere you want to go - have a snapshot of what you want to look like.
6. Try in between styles to help you on your way (such as the Rachel cut). Having a definite style means you are less likely to get fed up with it.
7. Avoid chemical processes such as colouring and perming.
8. Going for broke - grow it out in a year only if it grows very quickly.
9. Wear a hat.
10. Dress your hair up to hide scraggy ends.
11. Find the right styling products for you.
12. Protect your hair from sun with products containing UV filters and use a rich conditioner to avoid chlorine damamging hair when swimming (or a swimming cap).
13. Make the most of accessories - use them to secure stray hairs or sections or to detract attention from inadequacies in style.
14. Don't make rash decisions. If you get a sudden urge to have it all chopped off stary away from a salon for at least two weeks - review it again then.
15. Be patient - hair only grows at 0.5" per month - you can't rush this.
16. Try hair extensions - to see if long hair really suits you and to prepare yourself for handling long hair.
17. Eat well and take good care of your health.
18. Strike up a good relationship with your hairdresse - tell them what you are aiming for and get their suggestions and advice.
19. Be careful how you treat your hair when its wet - don't use a brush and do use a detangling conditioner.
20. Keep an open mind - as it grows you may find that your hair is just not suitable for the look you wanted. Be prepared to adapt to your hair and change your long term goals.
This obviously has a female slant to it, but there is also some good advice in here.
Any comments,
Paul
I'm going to add my own comments.
This assumes, of course, that you don't like split ends. I don't think they are necessarily bad. However, they are almost always disliked.
Commonly touted advice. I have never seen any evidence for this, though. How about some counterevidence? There is a theory that the purpose for head hair on people is to provide protection from the sun. In other words, it evolved to take the heat of the sun, maximizing cooling for the rest of the body. Have you ever felt how hot your hair gets in the sun?
Hard to argue with "Make the most of ...." statements.
Yes, conditioning is good. However, some conditioners do little, or worse yet, can damage hair.
Unless you are a carefree, happy-go-lucky person.
and more likely to keep from attaining your long goal by maintaining these between styles.
Absolutely!
Since all hair grows about 1/2 inch per month, with some, but not much, variation, this statement is rather meaningless. Furthermore, a year seems like very little time when speaking of hair.
Why? For fashion or to protect the hair?
Whatever this means.
Another hard-to-argue-with generic statement.
There has not been adequate testing of the effectiveness of UV filters in conditioners, which most likely contain only negligible amounts of UV protection. Use enough conditioner to create an oil slick when swimming.
Is it just me or do others see this as restating previous items?
Good idea.
Right.
Depending on the expertise of the stylist and the technique used, adding extentions can damage natural hair. Better, I think, would be to try a wig.
Never a bad move.
with a wary eye to those with scissor-happy fingers.
This depends upon hair type. A few people get better manageability with brushes, such as a Goody brush with the nobby ends, than with combs.
OK.
Well, how was that for devil's advocate. Actually, I did not stray from my actual opinions.