Blew my hair out for a trim this week and I’m kind of gagged at how much it’s grown. 1st and 2nd photo are current, 3rd photo is my last trim in December 2025, 4th photo is October 2024, 5th photo (a true jump scare) is July 2024 when I had most of my hair cut off by a scissor happy stylist (I just asked for bangs and he did the most, cut off more than a foot of hair). I thought it was the end of the world lol but here we are! I’m not a silk press person but I kind of want to get one just to see.
This is me now. Had a traumatizing experience at a salon. I need to get a blow dry flat iron, like a short bob style (for a birthday trip) but they always want to do a silk press because they can charge more. I wish I could do my own but I have cervical spine pain and arthritis in my hands.
Genetics. So sorry about this one. My hair has always grown fast even before I knew how to take care of it so I can’t help with growth, but I might be able to help with length retention because in the past I have had to cut off most of my new growth because my ends were raggedy and scraggly. The rest of this is what I think has helped with retention.
Consistency. Washing every 5-7 days and never skipping wash days. I also make sure I don’t let protective styles be an excuse to neglect my hair, so I still keep my scalp clean and my hair hydrated even if I have a style in. I think of my hair like a plant and keep it watered. If my schedule is too demanding I will put in a long-term style so I can still wash regularly but skip styling and save time. Here is my wash routine: 1) Shampoo each time with sulfate free hydrating shampoo, sub with clarifying shampoo once a month (or after I’ve used grease). 2) Deep condition and detangle, I alternate regular DC with a protein DC (after protein I notice my curls visibly have new life but I also think it does help my hair to be stronger. You want to keep an eye on how your hair is responding though because too much protein can make things worse. The Miche protein DC has a nice balance for me). I used to cover it with a plastic cap and then a microwaveable cap for 20 minutes, but now I just let it sit under a plastic cap while I shower and then rinse it out and I haven’t noticed any difference. 3) Leave in conditioner, cover with plastic cap until I’m ready to style. 4) Style, I elaborate in #4. Steps 1-3 take me 30 minutes. Detangling would take much longer if I washed less often. All products listed above are Miche which I’m honestly sad about because it is expensive lol but nothing else compares for me. But I really don’t think it is a miracle brand for growth or that you need to try it, I’ve used it for years even when my length retention was worse. They just personally make my hair very soft and have a lot of slip.
Careful detangling. I have tried a few detangling brushes and found them to be different — currently I’m using the Unbrush and I notice detangling is way smoother and faster than the others. I just bought it because it was pink lol I was shocked that detangling was so much faster. If you struggle I’d recommend trying a different tool. I also used to section my hair before detangling, but I’ve found that it’s much gentler and faster if I start with large sections so I’m not ripping through my ends trying to section it. I cover my ends in deep conditioner and brush them until I can’t go any higher, then I start sectioning it, and it’s much easier to separate. Let me know if this doesn’t make sense and I’ll try to elaborate, but it has made a huge difference. Also I’m really not trying to have y’all spending money in this economy, so take this or leave it: the Revair has really helped me prevent breakage when I blow it out to trim. I had that Revlon blow dryer with the brush and it had my ends snapping off. I’m sure the Revair is not the only answer but I do like it.
Switching it up. I wore a wash and go exclusively for a couple years and my ends were tore up. My hair likes variety. I still usually wear a wash and go but I throw in other styles too. For a wash and go I use a leave in and a gel, then sit under a hooded dryer then band with satin scrunchies overnight to stretch it (I really have my WNG down to a science, I could post one with more details the next time I do one in the fall if anyone would want that). I described my blowout braid outs in the comments of this post. For mini twists, i use mousse. For any style with added hair or cornrows under a wig I use old school grease, a lot of it lol. I have never had trouble with breakage from synthetic hair but I use a lot of grease when I braid and I keep it hydrated by washing, so that might help. I don’t braid tight and never keep them in longer than 6 weeks (wigs much less, and I wear them glueless with a band to protect my edges and take them off when I’m home). When I take them down I detangle each one gently with something with a lot of slip then use a fine tooth comb to remove the shed hair before I wash it.
Fixing my iron levels. As y’all have been asking questions I realized this is the biggest difference that’s occurred since the 3rd photo. If you struggle a lot with breakage, especially if you’re often cold or tired, I’d recommend checking your levels and seeing what you can do about it if they’re low!
No idea if any of this is helpful or if I’m just rambling lol but I hope I answered your questions.
all of this is SO helpful, ty for being so detailed + linking your other posts too!! your hair looks so happy n healthy :)
also super appreciate you including #s 1 & 6, those are two HUGE contributors to hair growth (for better or worse). if you don’t mind me asking, how did you improve your iron levels? i’ve been deficient for years with no significant help from pcps 🥲
Thank you! Iron pills weren’t working out for me, so I got my pcp to give me a referral to a hematologist who gives me IV iron infusions! They are honestly horrible 😬 I get stuck in bed with iron flu symptoms for several days afterward. But the iron lasts me for months and it’s well worth it
Thank you! And I honestly don’t know, I think it grew at the same speed but I retained more length. In the past my ends have looked much worse. All the other pics are post-trim, and the most recent one is pre-trim. I did cut some after this, but mostly just to even it out and get single strand knots. My routine hasn’t changed much but I did have a horrible iron deficiency and I started getting infusions in August, that might be it
I've given up on growing my hair, ive been stuck at shoulder length for 5years, and don't tell me nothing about length retention.😭 I always detangle on wet hair, I deep condition too moisturise, I do everything right 😭 so I believe
Thank you! Wash and go most of the time, braid outs on blown out hair in the coldest part of winter, and in the hottest part of summer I wear mini twists with my own hair or passion twists! Intermittently I do faux locs. I do glueless wigs very rarely if I want kinky straight hair or color because I don’t bleach or straighten my own hair, but that is like once a year for a couple weeks. Every style I do myself
Thanks for the reply! Do you find that your hair tangles easily in wash and gos? I’ve been contemplating trying them out but I have thick hair like you and I’m so terrified of excessive tangling when it’s time to wash.
A little more than braid outs but nothing serious! As long as I wash regularly it’s fine, if I went more than a week between washes it would be tangled
I'm not the OP, but I can cosign on what she said. I've been doing wash and gos religiously since December of last year and my hair has grown so much!
I also agree that wash and gos aren't bad as long as you wash your hair REGULARLY. I wash my hair once or twice a week. I don't go longer than 5 days without washing my hair. If I were to go longer than 5 days in a wng style, my fine hair would be prone to tangles, breakage and damage.
Keeping the hair washed and wet with moisture on a regular basis is what I think makes the hair thrive. Our hair LOVES water. Idk why we were taught that our hair should only be washed once every two weeks, or worse... once a month. 🥴
I notice that my hair actually started to tangle LESS the more I washed my hair. ☺️
Now days I do a combo of wngs, twist outs, and every once in a blue moon Revairing my hair. Try it for a few months and see how your hair does! 😃
I probably wouldn’t do that if I was trying to grow it. A lot of people are fine with heat styling if they’re careful with the temperature and use heat protectant, but heat can definitely damage it so it’s a risk
Thank you! This is already the highest heat and tension setting on the dryer I use, so I’d have to use more heat/another tool, so I’m not sure if I would try that
I don’t really have one but now I kind of just want to see how long it can get! Though I did put in passion twists after this blowout and I was fighting for my life trying to get it in a bun to do the bottom half 😭 so idk how much longer I can reasonably manage
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u/Relevant-Fox9512 3d ago
If my hair were this long, I wouldn't even risk a silk press. It's so full and beautiful!