What's Your Hair Story/Regimen?

[*waves*]

Hey guys!

So I'm pretty new to DIY hair care and such; over the summer, I donated a foot of my hair so it went from waist-length to just a few inches past my shoulders, and while I don't regret it, I miss it the long hair all the time. So I'm always looking for new DIY treatments to grow out long and healthy hair. So what're your guys's hair care regimen and story?

For me, I have to wash my hair every two days or else it gets really greasy and it drives me crazy, and I use a MASSIVE variety of shampoos and conditioners (L'Oreal, Nature's Gate, Pantene, Aussie, I own literally every brand out there) because my mom has always believed that using a variety helps your hair become healthy, so... yeah. :DOnce a week I'll do an ACV rinse with a few drops of patchouli/clary sage EOs, and every few days I use an oil mask made of grape seed oil with cedarwood, lavender, and geranium EOs and leave that in for a few hours before washing it off.

I look forward to seeing what y'all do for your hair. :)

[lapushka]

First question. Do you let the conditioner get onto your scalp? If your hair is oily, I wouldn't recommend it. I am oily too, and I don't let oils or conditioner touch my scalp, only ear down. It helps control the oil, and you'll for sure need to wash less.

There's plenty of methods out there (try looking around a bit), CO, CWC, WO/SO, WCC, etc...

[*waves*]

Not really, I mostly focus on my ends and I don't condition anything higher than my ears either.

[lapushka]

Not really, I mostly focus on my ends and I don't condition anything higher than my ears either.

Oh okay! :o Just checking, because not everybody does so, and conditioner and/or oil on the scalp can give you... issues!

[Larki]

I'm 22 - I had long hair until I was about 13, when my mom chopped it off to an ugly chin length bob in an attempt to disguise my trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling) - needless to say having short hair made the new growth way more obvious because I couldn't put my hair up anymore. From then my hair was kept at around midback length to waist, and a few years ago I decided I wanted to try to get it longer than waist (shortly before I joined LHC). I hit tailbone length in September, but then trimmed off several inches to even up the hemline, so now I'm back to waist length.

I generally co-wash, I've been doing that since around summer 2014, I believe (conditoner-only, basically using a lot of conditioner on ends+scalp instead of shampoo to clean the hair) but am now trying to use up shampoos that just take up space in my bathroom, so I've recently started normal shampoo+conditioner again. I prefer co-washing because it does an excellent job of taming my frizz from trich new growth, and when doing S&C I have to use more leave-ins and anti-frizz products than normal. My hair is super fine and silky, it doesn't tangle easily but it is very fragile and prone to split ends, so I'm very careful with my ends and use anti-split products and a lot of leave-in conditioners and oils to minimize that - catnip tea too. I wash twice a week (used to be a staunch every-other-day person, for the same reasons as you, but I stretched my washes with the help of dry shampoo and updos and got to every two days, then 2-3 times a week and now twice a week). I have bangs that I wash in the sink when needed if it's not a wash day. I deep condition before every wash, generally at least 12 hours but sometimes only 2-3.

http://i63.tinypic.com/33cujnm.jpg

[Kat-Rinnè Naido]

Hello *waves* welcome to the LHC.
Good luck on growing and enjoy your hair growing journey.

[Alexe]

Hi, I'm also new here!

I usually just washed my hair with a regular anti-dandruff-shampoo. I really have to. Last year I experimented with CO-washes and my scalp dit NOT like it. I have had dandruff since I was a child, so sticking to my routine there is helpful.
Just recently I began to use conditioner again (regular, pretty cheap one), from ears down only. That doesn't seem to have an effect on my scalp, so I'm happy with that! :) Prior to that it was some oil repair treatment from the drugstore, but that was tricky because if I used too little it had no effect, but using too much would leave my ends wet-looking and stringy. Sooo...I don't know, I will see how the regular conditioner works.:)

[samanthaa]

Welcome to the forum!

I don't have much of a "story" except that I've always wanted long hair, but when I decided to grow it out in high school, I couldn't get past MBL because I'd always trim off my new growth (I'd trim anywhere from 1 to 3" every six months). It took me until joining this forum to finally make it to waist, and that's only because I forced myself to put down the scissors for 10 months. I trimmed back in June and have again put away the scissors until 2017.

I have thin, fine hair that gets washed with CV shampoo bars once a week. I follow this up with a weak acidic rinse (ACV or citric acid) and a cone- and protein-free conditioner. I'll water wash as often as I feel like throughout the week (at the very least to rinse away the sweat after a run) and I do like to do an SMT, an SMT + coconut oil, or a cassia SMT weekly (though sometimes this ends up being biweekly...or every three weeks). I oil my ends lightly a couple times a week. That's about it.

ETA: I used to shampoo my hair daily (back in high school/early college), then I moved to every other day, and finally it took me about a year to get from that point to once a week.

[Lavendersugar]

Best wishes on growing again! Wishing you healthy fast growth!

No real story. Had long hair most of my life except twice. Two years ago I decided that I wanted very long hair at least classic length.

I don't do much with my hair. Typically wash daily. I use Mane n Tail original shampoo & conditioner most of the time. The other is Tresemme Undone.
If I use after products it is Mane n Tail detangler & the Gro strength spray.
I use a ox horn comb only. I do have a wooden bristled brush but I rarely use it.
Airdry except in the winter. For the winter I will blow dry the roots only unless it's super cold or I plan to use a curling iron.
I always use Heat protection.
Clarify once a week.
I don't wear my hair up. At most I will put it in a double or single braid while working out.
Henna roots once a month.