Your top 5 hair tips/advice?

[threadOfGold]

What are your top 5 tips you've found gives you beautiful hair? Also, what advice would you give to those who are new at LHC?
elle x

[restless]

Every head of hair is different and some hairtypes can put up with more rough handling than others but for me and my f/ii-hair, these are the keywords to long hair:

*Deep treatments with coconut oil twice a week or so. I let it soak for a couple of hours before I wash it out. Its an amazing product and has helped me improve the quality of my hair a lot.

*No heat. Heat has been by far the most damaging thing Ive done to my hair I think. White dots. White dots everywhere! :no:

*No dye or bleach. The dye took its toll on the thickness and the bleach turned my hair into straw.

*Microtrimming and S&D every now and then to keep the hemline nice and the hair free from white dots and split ends.

*Im not one for wearing my hair up very much in public. Instead I try to be careful so it doesnt get damaged by being trapped under bag straps or between my back and the chair Im sitting on.

Advice for newbies? Have fun and enjoy your hair! You´ll come across a lot of new treatments here, but dont try them out all at once, no matter how tempting it is :)

[Rio040113]

It's hard to give tips that will work for absolutely everyone because your hair may be different from mine, have different needs, you may have a different goal, etc but some pretty generic/one size fits all advice in my opinion would be...

1. Take all advice with a pinch of salt, YMMV! :lol:
2. Daily gentle updos should vastly reduce tangles and friction, which usually = less damage.
3. Comb/detangle your hair gently, ripping through knots isn't good for anyone's hair.
4. Find a wash routine that works for you and your scalp.
5. Don't be afraid to experiment if you aren't satisfied with how something is working for you, that goes for oils, stretching washes, leave ins, drying methods, etc etc. Just because 1 member gets amazing results, doesn't mean you will and likewise just because 1,000 members get amazing results, doesn't mean you will!

Other than that^ all the advice I can think of, such as cutting out heat styling and dyeing etc, well those are really down to what your end goal is and how hardy your hair is/whether you want 'virgin' hair or not :)

ETA - Agree with restless about S&D (search and destroy), just make sure you have some sharp hair scissors! Blunt ones tend to make things worse.

[Wosie]

1. Finding oils that suit your hair. I haven't tried all that many, but my hair likes both coconut oil and jojoba oil. It takes a while before you get the hang of it, though, in the beginning it's easy to over oil... :o
2. Use a silk sleep cap or a silk pillowcase.
3. Wear it up when it's windy outdoors.
4. Conditioner Only method works great for my hair (not my scalp), but sadly I cannot do this right now due to my atopic dermatitis... I'll still continue to recommend this, however!
5. Not mess with it too much with heat and chemicals (i.e. flat ironing, curling, colouring, bleaching).

[Effy]

1. Be patient! Give you hair time to grow an to get used to new products or treatings.
2. Don't use too many products - less is more.
3. Get to know what your hair really wants and become aware that just because the stunning hair of another person looks great with a certain shampoo/condi/... it does not mean your hair will like it aswell. Maybe it needs totally different things.
4. Don't be afraid of unusual treatments. Try rinses, soap or NW/SO if you think it might fit you and your needs.
5. Be gentle to your hair. Don't get mad when it doesn't grow a fewe months. Just appreciate your body and your hair, growing it should be fun and not frustrating!

[Stiria]

1. Keep your hair up, or if down, in a braid.
2. Find a routine that works for you. CO is wonderful for my hair, but it does not work for everyone.
3. Keep in mind that just because something is very popular and works great for others, it does not mean it will work for you too. Not everyone gets great results from oils or AVC rinses. Not everyone can stretch their washes.
4. Detangle gently.
5. Avoid heat and dye/bleach. If you dye/bleach, slather your hair in coconut oil first.

Other that that, my advice is to enjoy your hair! It is easy to be impatient and think that your hair doesn't grow and that you'll never reach your goal, but you will. It takes time. Relax and enjoy the journey. :)

[Firefox7275]

1. Don't underestimate mechanical damage. Playing with your hair, brushing when wet including round brush when blow drying, rough detangling, ponytails or tight hairstyles. This can cause significant breakage not just a bit of wear and tear.

2. If you permanently dye or lighten do roots only, NO 'refreshing' the lengths. Those five minutes once every two months is a full hour in just two years, two or three hours of extra processing by the time you get to waist. Way more chemical damage than the forty minutes or so of the first dye session.

3. Oiling is great but its just one ingredient in a possible arsenal of many ingredients you could use to protect or treat your vulnerable ends. Find balance in your regime: use a leave in conditioner, do hydrolysed protein treatments too.

That's it I think.

[tlover]

Well I'm not a longtimer here but I have had long or longish hair since I was 12 or so.

1. eat healthy! once I started to eat a healthy vegetarian diet my hair grew like weed even without caring for my hair.
2. massage youre scalp once in a while in some way (mine gets the massage while I'm showering).
3. don't use unnessesary things in your hair when it comes to Chemicals, I do WO, some just find a good schampoo and conditioner, but normally you chose what you have a Little more carefully.
4. careful with stuff going in your hair when it comes to stuff, Sharp edges on hairtoys, heat Tools are normally bad, hair ties are murder for my ahir, even the ones without metal.
5. try to keep it as tangle free as possible, I for example wear my hair up every day

[MeowScat]

1. Wear hair up
2. Detangle once per day with a wide tooth comb
3. Moisturize
4. S&D
5. Satin pillow case

[queenovnight]

Well, for my CURLY hair:
1. Worshiping oil. I use oil on my length daily and I oil my scalp once a week.
2. Always using a wide tooth comb, and only combing my curly hair when it's wet and saturated in conditioner.
3. Protective styling. It's difficult but I try to keep it up or braided when im at home -which is all the time.-
4. Trims. Of course, trimming doesn't make hair grow faster, but trimming -when needed- can make hair look fuller and healthier.
5. Just taking care of the hair. Not bleaching, dying or using a flat iron.

[RancheroTheBee]

1. Silk pillowcase. I sleep like I'm possessed, so whether or not I'm growing at the time, it's a must.
2. Protein and moisture. My hair loves both, and without it, my hair gets rough and dry and starts breaking.
3. Huge amounts of conditioner. My mother would never let me use more than a few dime-sized amounts growing up and I was always embarassed by the fact that I'd go through twice and much conditioner as shampoo. Now that I know this is normal or even good for some people, no problems!
4. Oils and leave-ins are your friend and are not a sign that you are doing something wrong during the washing stage.
5. Box dye is not the only colour available to you!

[Madora]

1 Try and eat healthy. This includes MEAT.
2 Never, ever, brush your hair when it is wet. Hair is weakest when it is wet.
3 Brush every day with a pure boar bristle brush
4 Detangle BEFORE you brush!
5 Wear your hair up to protect the ends.

Advice: Less is more! I can't repeat this enough.
Be patient! Your hair is growing all the time.
Learn new styles so you don't become bored with your hair
Detangle your hair gently..from the bottom up. Finger combing is not as precise as using a comb. You want to get rid of ALL tangles every day.

[swearnsue]

I would say taking care of your general health would be my best tip to give newbies. Increase protein, reduce sugar and refined carbs, increase veggies and eat a variety of healthy foods.

Take time for yourself to relax and eliminate toxic people from your life.

Exercise in a way that is enjoyable, it doesn't have to be exhausting or grueling to be healthy. Just walking the dog is fine. Or bouncing on a Pilates ball for a few minutes.

Don't take advice from anyone about your own hair, trust your own instincts and follow your own desires.

Don't believe hair product commercials, shampoos do not repair damage and conditioners don't nourish the roots. Those companies spend more on Photoshop than on quality ingredients in their products.

[Simone_Fatale]

1. Be patient. As the rest of your body, hair needs time to grow and take care of itself. Nothing will change in a day.
2. If you style or color your hair, find healthier alternatives - replace heat with natural styling methods, use henna instead of box dye, etc.
3. Be gentle to your hair. No harsh brushing, combing, or avoid combing altogether (or fingercomb only).
4. Get to know your hair. Learn to love it and learn what your hair loves. Experiment with washing and conditioner routines, oiling, try to find something that works with your natural texture and color. The more you process your hair, the more likely is the damage as an outcome.
5. A couple of trims a year can do wonders in preventing split ends and ratty hair. Some people trim more often, some less than that, just find what works for your hair.

[umbrellabones]

*Detangle gently with a seamless wide tooth comb (or something else hair friendly. no brushes with the little balls at the end!)
*Experiment and find a washing routine that works for your hair. sulfates, no sulfates, silicones, no silicones, CW, CWC, CO, WO, SO,...there are so many choices when it comes to how you wash and treat your hair! try a few out and see what's best for you. [For my hair, I use shampoo bars followed by conditioner and an ACV rinse]
*NO HEAT
*Wear protective styles to prevent damage and tangles which lead to damage.
*oil ends with an oil that works for you.

Don't stress out over your hair. Getting long healthy hair takes time, especially if you are growing out damage. Just have patience, treat your hair nicely, and it will get better, I promise. Also, spoil your hair with some deep treatments once and a while. There are so many recipes on here for goop to put in your hair, some crazier than others(: You'll be Rapunzel before you know it.

[arr]

The top 5 things which helped my hair are:
1. Quitting the flatiron. For me it was the biggest cause of split ends and white dots.
2. S & D. I realized i could take care of split ends without trimming length or going to the salon.
3. Not using permanent color to refresh my lengths. Now i only use it to touch up my roots and use a temporary color to refresh the lengths.
4. Using oil. Coconut and olive as a prewash treatment and mineral oil after washing.
5. Clarifying. I had no idea about this before LHC and couldn't figure out why my hair was getting worse and worse even though i was loading it with various serums. The first time i clarified i almost cried, it was like i had a new head of hair.

[Aderyn]

In no particular order..

1. Be gentle with your hair.
Carefully detangle hair, use gentle styles, avoid getting hair caught in things, trim and files your nails, avoid excessive bleach/heat/dye, just generally be careful when handling your hair.

2. Less is more.
You don't need tons of products to make your hair nice. A little bit goes a long way.

3. Protective styles.
Helps avoid a lot of unnecessary damage. Do make sure to vary the style and don't do styles that are too tight.

4. Patience.
I would say this is one of the hardest to do. :p

5. Be healthy.
Make sure you're eating healthy, getting all of the nutrients you need and just being all around healthy.

[LongHairLesbian]

Top five things that have made a difference for my hair:

1.) Gentle detangling. I used to be one of those people that rips a brush through their hair, no patience for working knots out. I comb/finger detangle much more gently now, pulling specific knots apart with my fingers, rather than pulling on them with a brush.

2.) LOTS of conditioner! I used to be afraid to use lots because I have fine hair. Since I started to focus on conditioning the length rather than the scalp, I use twice as much conditioner as shampoo, and my hair is much softer and easier to brush because of it.

3.) Pay extra close attention to your ends. Even at APL, your ends are going to be a couple years old. Oiling them regularly, and putting extra conditioner on them in the shower has made my ends much softer and stronger! Remember, your ends are the part of your hair that is most likely to break off, and thus prevent you from growing long hair. Babying them a little goes a long way!

4.) Wearing your hair up in a ponytail, braid or bun. It makes a HUGE difference in tangles and other types of mechanical damage. I use to be a wear-my-hair-down-every-day kind of girl, mostly because I didn't know any other hairstyles. Oh my Lord, the knots I use to have to deal with. My hair would fly everywhere outside when it was windy, it would tangle inside my jacket, it would clump and knot if I got caught in the rain. Once I started wearing my hair up frequently, all these things stopped happening. I can even go a day or two without brushing/de-tangling my hair at all, because it's usually protected. :)

5.) Literally everyone says it, but cutting down on/cutting out the heat. I was never an avid heat user, all I would do was blow-dry my hair for 5 minutes roughly 3-4 times a week. I heard that blow drying is damaging for most people, so I decided to stop and see what would happen. Again, HUGE difference in my hair. Much less dryness, and it is growing faster now than it has in lord only knows how long. Another bonus: damp braiding leads to really nice waves in the morning, which I love and get lots of compliments on. :)

Hope this helps, happy growing!

[lunalocks]

This is how I made it to BCL/40 inches. never thought I would ever grow this long!

1. regular S and D missions
2. protective styles (wearing hair up as much as possible with spin pins or sticks or forks and doing away with elastics, even soft scrunchies)
3. Gentle and protective care (wide tooth, seamless comb or finger comb vs. brushing) and stopped damaging habits (blow drying, pony tails)
4. Stopped going to a professional stylist (who always trimmed off at least twice as much as I requested) and learned how to microtrim my own hair.
5. Catnip tea rinse and leave in and mineral oil on ends instead of conditioner after washing.

Hard to only list 5 things, but these are the ones what I incorporated into my routine since finding LHC. I already drank lots of water, had a healthy (vegetarian) diet, plenty of sleep and regular exercise.

[jacqueline101]

1. Wear hair up
2. Detangle once per day with a wide tooth comb
3. Moisturize
4. S&D
5. Satin pillow case

Those are my top 5; it's a small world.

[Chiquita Banana]

Here's mine:

1. Eat healthy foods - lots of protein helps hair grow.
2. No heat styling
3. Handle your hair gently - shampoo/cond gently without putting all your hair on top of your head, detangle gently (and try to only detangle when hair is dry)
4. Wear hair in up-do's or braided for protection.
5. Silk pillowcase.

[ladylowtide]

1. Don't be afraid to change your routine.
2. What works for someone else might be terrible for your hair.
3. Less is more.
4. No heat or bleach/dye.
5. Loving your hair the way it naturally is makes it easier to treat it gently.

[Weewah]

Here are some points that have helped me in taming my wavy hair:

1. First of all, accept your natural hair texture and color for what it is, don't try to make it something it's not or you'll just continue damaging it.

2. Don't use products that will build up, this will affect your wave pattern and make you frustrated and need to use a harsh shampoo more often. Silicones are NOT the only things that build up, I learned this the hard way! Waxes, honey(for me), polyquats and more all cause buildup.

3. As a wavy/curly, don't throw your hair up in a towel. Rather, apply your leave-ins to soaking wet hair, then gently pat your hair upwards with your hair towel, making sure not to break up the wave/curl pattern. The less you touch your hair while drying, the less frizz you'll have.

4. When testing a new product/technique, keep all the other variables constant. That way if something does or doesn't work, you can pinpoint exactly what it is and not have to play a guessing game.

5. Gentle detangling. For wavies/curlies, detangle in the shower when your hair and fingers are covered in conditioner. The "only brush while dry" advice doesn't work for us because we will have a lion's mane if we do that!

[meteor]

1. Cut out damaging practices as much as you can: chemical processing (e.g. perms/relaxers, bleach/dye), heat styling (e.g. flat-ironing/curling), mechanical damage (e.g. pulling, wet brushing, rough tools). Hair is dead so you can't undo the cumulative damage, so avoid it whenever you can.
2. Eat a healthy, well-balanced, whole foods based diet.
3. Handle gently and try to wear up or in a braid.
4. Benign neglect and minimal manipulation.
5. YMMV. Figure out your own hair's properties and work with them. For example, if your hair is curly, dry, porous or damaged, you may benefit from stretching washes, using heavy leave-ins with oils and other occlusives. If your hair is strait, short, low porosity or greasy, you may need to wash more and avoid heavy oils and butters. Experiment and analyze results.