How I Grew Out My Hair

Something I've talked about a lot on this blog is my hair- how it's long, how it's oily, how it's color treated... you guys know the story. But what you don't know is how I grew out my hair, and my own personal recommendations for both growing and taking care of your hair once it reaches your desired length.

I started "officially" growing out my hair in 2008- that was the last time I really had a drastic cut, or cut off more than a couple of inches at a time. And, yes, it did take about 5 years to really achieve the length and health I have now. It is a process you have to be patient with, and every once in awhile you'll have to trim off more than you'd like.
If I had wanted instant results, I would have bought extensions. But I wanted my own hair, and for it to be healthy.




This picture was taken in 2008, my hair was red, and this is the shortest I had it. I really liked the cut, but I wanted long hair. I also wanted the red out, so....



I had to bleach it. (I cut my friend out of this pic because I wasn't sure how she'd feel being on the blog.)
I do miss being lighter blonde, but not this blonde. I think I had my hair this light for about a month, and then I started darkening it. 



My hair was a little past my shoulders here, and this was taken in late 2009.



No other really good pictures until 2010, bu you can see how long it got, and quickly! 



A better picture, this was in 2011.



A pic I found of me attempting a hairstyle I saw on pinterest.



And finally, this is the length of my hair today (though this was taken back in February and I had about two inches chopped off shortly after this, my hair has reached this length again)! 



So how did I do it?
Well, first, I paid attention to my hair. If it felt dry, I'd give heat styling a few days off. As a matter of fact, unless I'm doing something on the weekends, I will let it air dry. I always use some kind of heat protectant or leave-in.
I use a deep conditioner or hair mask about once a week, and sometimes twice a week if I feel like my hair needs it. 
I know my hair is oily, and I would try to stretch my hair to two day hair, but most of the time, I was washing it every day. This is what works for me, and also what I believe kept my hair healthy, because I noticed my ends would be so dry second day.

I read countless "how to grow out your hair" articles for weeks, and all suggested coconut masks, egg masks, aspirin in shampoo, and all kinds of other stuff. And I'm sure that stuff all works great- but for me, the above really did work for me just fine.

My biggest tip, though? GET REGULAR TRIMS. 
Every 6 to 8 weeks, I was getting at least an inch trimmed off my hair. I set reminders in my phone and planner, I'd ask my hair girl how my hair looked, and if she thought I needed a couple inches off instead, I did that. 
It sounds counter productive, but really you're just getting rid of all that dead length- the scraggly stuff that really weighs down hair and makes it look crappy.

And yeah, it took awhile, but now my hair is long, and beautiful. And it is all mine.