A few months after I had Autumn, I did what a lot of moms do, I chopped off my hair. I thought it would be easier or less maintenance if I had super short hair. Almost as soon as I cut it, I regretted it deeply. My hair took forever to grow and I seriously wondered if my days of long hair were behind me.
Well after a lot of researching, asking friends, hair stylists, nutritionists, and trying a handful of changes in my diet and habits, I am happy to say my hair is not only super long, but it’s thicker and healthier than it’s ever been in my life. So I’m going to break down all the changes I made. There’s kind of two approaches, what I put on my hair and what I put in my body.
A few disclaimers.
1) None of this is sponsored these are legitimately the products I buy for myself (*I am a YL rep but buy my own products).
2) These aren’t overnight fixes. Some of these hair growth strategies require sticking it out for at least 6 months to see a noticeable difference.
Ok so let’s dive in!
1) On Your Hair: Don’t wash your hair so much! This may sound gross but just go with it, I wash my hair 2-3 times a week. Day 1 I wash and dry and either wear it straight or curl it. Day 2-3 I use dry shampoo and wear it as normal. Day 3-4 I wear it up in a ponytail and then repeat.
2) On Your Hair: Continuation from point 1. Get a good dry shampoo. PAY ATTENTION TO INGREDIENTS. If you can’t pronounce a lot of the ingredients or there is alcohol in it, it’s not good for your hair growth or hair health (or for you to be inhaling for that matter). You can either DIY your own using cornstarch and essential oils or use a chemical free one (I like the Aveda one and it has no propellant so better for the world and for your health). I actually use a combo I bought the Aveda one because I love the dispenser and then when I run low I top up using cornstarch, lavender oil, peppermint oil, and rosemary oil.
3) On Your Hair: Speaking of ingredients. Invest in your shampoo and conditioner. Pay attention to ingredients! Cheap shampoo and conditioner is brutal for your hair health. I’ve been told this by numerous hair stylists. Ingredients to avoid are Mineral Oil (stops healthy cell growth), Propylene Glycol (the active ingredient in antifreeze), Parabens (directly linked to breast cancer) to name a few.
4) On Your Hair: Mermaid Spray! You may have heard of this one before if you have any crunchy friends but holy it works like a hot damn, get ready to see the baby hairs coming in full force! I know this works because a few months after using this I had a halo of baby hairs that looked hilarious after I blow dried my hair haha. Spray on your wet roots after a shower or saturate your scalp before bed the evening before a hair wash day. What you’ll need is
- A Spray Bottle
- 20 drops Lavender Oil
- 20 drops Rosemary Oil
- 20 Drops Cedarwood Oil
- 1 tsp jojoba oil or witch hazel
- top bottle with distilled water.
*You can grab these supplies from me and I can ship them direct to you if you need 🙂
5) In your Body: Eat sufficient protein. I remember when I was in the textbook slinging biz, one of the nutrition professors had the most gorgeous hair I’d ever seen, when I commented on it she said, make sure you eat enough protein.
6) In your Body: Collagen. There’s a few ‘supplements’ I take with hair growth in mind. Collagen is one of them, why? Since hair follicles and nail beds are rooted in the skin’s dermal layer with are made of 75% collagen, higher collagen levels in the dermis around the hair follicles and nail bed significantly improves nutrient delivery to that area which improves the strength, hydration and appearance of hair and nails. A high quality collagen powder is vital. I buy Deep Marine Collagen powder but any good quality brand will do.
7) In your Body: Sulfurzyme: I’ve recently added this to my regime and am already seeing a difference in my nail growth. Sulfurzyme is a registered Natural Health Product that combines the antioxidant wolfberry and MSM which is a naturally organic form of dietary sulfur that we need everyday. This can be tricky to get with diet alone because our soils are often depleted of natural occurring sulfur. Similar to collagen, adding this supplement will also help your nails, skin, and any issues you may have with inflammation (in joints). You can buy this directly from me.
8) On Your Hair: And lastly how you treat and style your hair matters. I like to curl my hair a lot, I just find it makes me look put together for days and days and really extends my washes. One trick I picked up to protect those delicate ends from breakage is to get a curling iron that you wrap the hair around versus clamp and roll up. The reason being; the traditional curling irons that clamp the end and then roll up, leave the heat on the most delicate part of the hair; the ends the longest while it heats up the roots. Having just a barrel curler allows you to curl the roots and middle for a few seconds first and then just twist on the ends for a few seconds at the end. This is hard to explain so I took a photo to show.
9) On Your Hair: And two last tips are to get a good heat protectant (either oil or spray) to put on your hair before you use any sort of hot tool. and lastly I also wrap my hair into a bun on the very top of my head when I sleep at night, thus extending my style but also cutting down on friction breakage at night.
I hope you found my tips on hair growth helpful! If you have any questions or comments please let me know! And if you found this helpful please share!
Lastly, if you want to grab any of the oils I mentioned in the above you can reach out to me directly by sending me a note here or you can head to the direct link here . Also if you purchase a Premium Starter Kit from me I’m going to give you a free welcome package of all my favourites (which includes the mermaid spray)
Thanks for being here!
xo
Emily
