Getting Started Questions

[Acidrop]

Hey everyone! After health problems that prompted me to gain weight and , you guessed it, cut my hair, *gasp* I'm on my way to growing it out again...hoorah!

I'd never taken care of my long hair, just Tarzan'd it and let the chips fall.

Now growing it out again, I'm older, and would like a better, healthier, and speedier result.

I just bought some coconut oil, and I'm wondering, do you put it in while your hair is wet, or dry?

Also, what would be the single key thing you've found to maximise your length gains? diet? vitamins? rest?

Thanks for any input? :)

[gthlvrmx]

You can put the oil on your hair when it is wet or dry. If you put the oil on when it is wet, the oil helps "seal" the moisture into your hair. I personally like putting oil on wet/damp hair better than dry because of the moisture factor. If you put it on dry hair, the oil will not allow as much moisture to get through, which may be beneficial for your hair depending on the humidity conditions and weather. Remember when using oil, less is more. Take only a small scraping of coconut oil (scrape it off with a fingernail) and add more oil as needed as you go through your hair with it.

The single key thing for me...moisture? I tried deciding between oiling, SMT's, and benign neglect, but keeping my hair moisturized seems to be the best thing for me.

[Acidrop]

Thanks gthlvrmx! I hadn't put together what coconut oil was really doing before.

By 'moisture', do you mean hair conditioner?

[Frankenstein]

The "key" thing that I noticed personally for gaining length would probably be keeping yourself healthy overall - eating right/healthy, especially. I didn't take care of myself for a few years and my hair would hardly grow but once I started it grew like weeds. Also agree with gthlvrmx that moisture is important. Best of luck to you! :)

[Doreen]

For me my hair has always grown at pretty much the same rate so a lot of the things I do to keep it long involve preventing breakage that would make it shorter. This involves wearing it up more, following a specific routine, etc. I think everyone should experiment with a variety of treatments to find what's best for them, especially when you're just starting out. Best of luck!

[gthlvrmx]

Thanks gthlvrmx! I hadn't put together what coconut oil was really doing before.

By 'moisture', do you mean hair conditioner?

By 'moisture' I mean regular water. Conditioner usually has ingredients in it that act as humectants, which means that they attract 'moisture' (water) to your hair in the right conditions. Making sure your hair receives and is able to hold enough moisture is helpful in preventing getting dry hair or hair that feels like hay or straw. Oils help act as a nice barrier around the hair to prevent a good amount of water from leaving or evaporating.

[Duchess Fuzzy Buns]

In regards to the coconut oil, I like to use it on dry hair as a pre-wash treatment. Here is an article about that if you're interested:
http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/oil-pre-shampoo-or-pre-wash.html?m=1
I usually put it on and put my hair up and leave it all day and then wash out at night.

[ovalgal]

I also use it on dry hair as a pre-wash!

[longsword]

Keep your body hyrdrated, exercise, eat good quality healthy food, get plenty of rest.

[Madora]

Hey everyone! After health problems that prompted me to gain weight and , you guessed it, cut my hair, *gasp* I'm on my way to growing it out again...hoorah!

I'd never taken care of my long hair, just Tarzan'd it and let the chips fall.

Now growing it out again, I'm older, and would like a better, healthier, and speedier result.

I just bought some coconut oil, and I'm wondering, do you put it in while your hair is wet, or dry?

Also, what would be the single key thing you've found to maximise your length gains? diet? vitamins? rest?

Thanks for any input? :)

Hello, Acidrop! Here is LHC member Heidi W's You Tube tut on how to oil hair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjVwPKMQDYk

Single key thing I found to maximise my hair growth (currently at knee): wear it up.

Also important: tons of patience, detangling it SLOWLY and gently, good diet. Good luck!

[elea]

For me:
- Just enough money to eat or lower health > poorer hair.
- More greens, fruits and better food or better health > better hair.
- Anything else > smaller difference.

[lilin]

Hey everyone! After health problems that prompted me to gain weight and , you guessed it, cut my hair, *gasp* I'm on my way to growing it out again...hoorah!

I'd never taken care of my long hair, just Tarzan'd it and let the chips fall.

Now growing it out again, I'm older, and would like a better, healthier, and speedier result.

I just bought some coconut oil, and I'm wondering, do you put it in while your hair is wet, or dry?

Also, what would be the single key thing you've found to maximise your length gains? diet? vitamins? rest?

Thanks for any input? :)

You can do either one, depending on what your goal is. Putting it on dry right before a wash helps lighten up the impact of your wash (so as not to over-strip the hair). Putting it on damp can help moisturise.

Depending on your hair, you may find coconut oil works great, or you may find a different oil that works better.

For me personally, I think the biggest thing was learning how to be gentler with my hair. I did a LOT of damage by putting it in messy buns and then being aggressive brushing out the self-induced mat I'd created. Damage going 6 inches up the strand. I ultimately wound up just cutting it all off and starting over, because even a trim didn't help -- it would just be split again 2 weeks later.

I have fine hair, so understanding how to treat it is important. Fine as it might be, my hair does seem relatively tenacious -- even with so much damage on my ends, it kept getting longer (for a lot of people, the ends just start snapping off, which basically cancels out your growth and makes your hair appear to be "stalled"). But it looked and felt pretty rough.

Learning how to respect my wurlies and just let them be, only combing (never brushing!) when I wash and avoiding knot-creating styles made a huge difference to the integrity of my hair. My new growth feels so much smoother and springier.

I think a lot of wavy/curly people have a similar experience, especially if their hair is finer. Most of us are never taught how to properly care for textured hair, and we spend much of our lives brushing out our curls, making them more susceptible to tangling and frizz, and then trying to battle it into styles that it just doesn't want to be in. Really, what helped the most was learning to acknowledge what my hair wants, and just stop fighting it.