5 Ways to retain length.

So you’re trying to grow out your hair or more specifically retain the length as your hair grows. Our hair grows each month, once you’re a healthy functioning human being your hair will grow. However, for some of us, we never see this growth, especially people who do a lot of chemical services such as coloring, relaxing and perm, etc. This whole process of growing out your hair and seeing the results can be frustrating and can make you feel like you’ll never achieve your hair goals. So here are some tips and tricks to help you retain the hair you grow out.

 

1. Moisture and protein balance

Your hair must be getting ideal moisture, dry hair becomes brittle, dull, and tangles early resulting in split ends and breakage. So ensure that you're moisturizing your hair often through deep conditioners and leave-in moisturizers. Once you’re getting your moisture in, ensure that you are finding balance with some protein, protein makes your strands stronger, and helps prevent breakage as well. A simple way to get this balance is to start by alternating your weekly hair treatments, one week do a moisture treatment, next week a protein treatment, and build from there. 

 

2. Leave your hair alone

This can be difficult we know, but it's key to retaining length especially if you are relaxed and you do lots of color changes, these chemical processes change the natural structure of the hair making it more susceptible to heat and wear and tear from styling. Have you ever seen a person who has dreadlocks with short hair after a few years of getting locks? It's almost impossible for them to not retain their length, mainly because of low manipulation. Start by reducing the amount of time you comb out your hair and ensure you use a wide-tooth comb, working your way up from the ends to the roots. 

 

3. Remember your hair in your sleep

Sleeping on cotton can put a real dent in your hair care routine, especially for people who toss and turn a lot in the night, invest in satin or satin silk sheets and hair bonnets, to help reduce the abrasion and prevent moisture loss while you sleep. 

 

4. Trim your ends

Ensure that you are doing light trims every 6 months on your ends, we’re not advising cutting off inches just because you find your ends look a little rough. Sometimes you just need to invest in pair of quality hair shears and lightly trim the ends of your hair. Please do not use the general scissors you use to cut paper or loose thread off your skirt, the dull blade will cause more damage than good. Invest in some really good shears! If you’re afraid to trim your hair yourself, go to a professional who shares the same definition of the word trim as you do, often you to the salon and say you want a trim and they cut off way more hair than necessary. So find someone who understands that you want a light trim and not an inch of length cut off. However, if your ends are severely damaged then do the right thing and get a professional cut and start maintaining your hair from there.

 

5. Reduce Heat

Too much heat will cause damage to the structure of your hair and imagine if your hair is already damaged or you have done chemical services, it’s important to minimize your heat usage as much as possible and use a heat protectant when you do. If you normally style your hair with heat find alternative ways to style hair without heat. 

 

Retaining your hair length can be a bit of a struggle, however with patience and following the few steps above and of course, this goes without saying having a healthy diet, you can achieve hair goals.