As I said in my previous post, I was going to talk more about hair because after looking back and realizing how little I knew about it (plus causing extensive damage with bleach, hormonal imbalances, hairstyles and Covid) I now want to improve this aspect of my health as well.

I definitely have been taking better care of my hair after 2021 and it has been consistently strengthening and grew longer than before. If you’re struggling with hair growth and want to get stronger and healthier hair, you might find helpful what I’ll share, these tips have worked great for me and made a huge difference. I’ll also talk about what new hair routine I started following!

Things that has influenced greatly my hair growth after the last hair loss episode:

NOT trimming my hair.

I know you’ve heard that trimming your hair helps with hair growth, but this has been a total lie to me. Beside making no sense (hair is dead cells that doesn’t benefit from cutting), if you think that hair grows half an inch a month, you really need to let your hair be and grow. We all know that a “trim” at a salon can easily mean 2 inches off. And that means that trim is costing you 4 months of growth! If you want to keep healthy ends, I get it, but try to wait at least 6 months between trims and make sure you oil your ends properly to avoid breakage. Breakage is what makes your hair look like it isn’t growing, but if you look at your roots, especially if you color your hair, you’ll see hair is always growing. I honestly don’t remember last time I cut my hair (my mom trimmed it lol). My ends aren’t even splitting so I’m not cutting my hair, period.

Washing my hair about once a week.

Beside noticing I loose most hair on wash days, the longer my hair get the more of a “process” it is to wash it, so I started to reduce wash frequency. In the summer I go in the ocean at least once a week wetting my hair as well, and I consider that a “second” wash lol. My hair loves salt water, it really gives it the “mermaid look”. You can call me crazy, but after a dip in the ocean I’ll put a leave in mask or conditioner in my hair and let it be like that for a couple days. My hair gets amazing, defined waves!

Using high quality products.

Now I know this is very subjective as everyone has their own favorites. I personally had always amazing results with Kerastase, right now my favorites are their Manifesto and Blonde Absolute line, the Masquintense mask and their Elixir hair oil. I also love the italian hair line Davine (real good natural ingredients). For leave in conditioner I love the brand OUAI, another mask I had great results with is L’Oreal Nature’s Therapy Mega Moisture. It’s tricky to find the perfect product as we all have different hair, my advice is get small bottles or samples (also to cut costs when trying things out) and see how your hair responds, there is so much out there.

Sleeping on a satin pillow case.

I remember when I was younger, my hair was amazing no matter what (like my skin lol) and it didn’t matter what I was sleeping on at all. Then my hair changed in time and now it can get really frizzy easily. The satin pillow case is actually amazing and minimize frizz and breakage. It’s also quite cheap on Amazon. I even travel with it now ahah!

No tight hairstyles.

I used to do mostly ponytails when working out, or rough hair buns. No more! I really enjoy hair clips, they don’t pull on my hair and I can keep them on all day no problem. Any hair braiding or tight hairstyle is off limit too.

Sleeping in a loose braid.

Sometimes out of laziness I’d go sleep in a low ponytail, only to wake up to a crazy matted chunk of hair. Now I always do a soft braid to keep my hair “in order”, so when I wake up is not all tangled. I remember going to sleep with my hair all down sometimes if I was with a guy, the mess afterward isn’t worth it. He better still find you cute in a braid lol.

WET brush. Forget anything else.

Once you start using this hairbrush brand, there is no coming back. It’s the best at gently detangling hair (N.B. ALWAYS BRUSH YOUR HAIR FROM THE BOTTOM UP, NOT FROM THE ROOTS).

Brushing it before it gets matted/brushing it on wet hair with conditioner.

Sometimes I’d get also lazy about brushing my hair, to the point it’d get matted SO bad, it’d be very hard to detangle, especially having fine hair. I suggest you to brush it every night before putting it in the soft braid or wetting it with a bottle spray filled with filtered water (trying to minimize hard water on hair), put leave in conditioner, section your hair, gently brushing the knots off. This could also be a good “refresh” technique in between washes too. If you need to refresh your scalp though I’d use dry shampoo.

Not using extreme heat (around 200-230F).

I don’t really blow dry my hair and if I do, I let it air dry first for a good hour. I recently started embracing my natural hair pattern more (wavy) so I don’t straighten my hair or use any hair tool. The only time I do is with an ion hair curler, but I don’t go over 200 F heat and don’t hold on the curl for more than maybe 10 sec.

Less bleaching (preferring balayage or partial highlights, maintaining some natural color).

I tried to go back to my natural color BUT it’s quite dark (brown). I love the “beach hair look” so much, how the warm blonde goes well with my skin, how it lighten up my face. So to minimize damage (bleach, heat and hard water are the most damaging) I go get my color done by a trusted professional 1 -2 times a year and ask for balayage (lighter softer color going more toward the mids) or baby highlights (a finer version of highlights), which add dimension and mimic a sun kissed/beach look, without going full damage blonde. This way of coloring works for me and I don’t mind when I see dark growth at the top, it blends nicely with my waves while I let the hair recover and strengthen between appointments.

Scalp massages.

I read that massaging your scalp stimulates blood flow and overall it can be a simple practice to aid hair growth, so beside massaging the scalp in the shower with shampoo, I also do few times a week a 5 min scalp massage. Sometimes even when I’m on the couch, I’d just massage my scalp while watching TV lol. I tried VEGAMOUR hair serum for a few months, but I’m not sure that made a difference, I think it was probably the massage itself that helped.

Viviscal supplements.

I know there are a TON of supplements on the market and personally I tried many. The only one that gave me visible results was Viviscal. They have a specific blend of ingredients called Viviscal’s AminoMar Marine Complex. It’s made from shark cartilage and mollusk powder, which provide a marine protein that helps feed existing cells and regenerate new cell growth. I’ve taken it for a long time and I noticed a difference in less than 3 months of use: fuller, thicker hair and faster growth. I do think hair supplements work as long as you also follow at least some of the other points I’m mentioning.

Nutrition/water intake.

This is a no brainer, what you eat and how hydrated you stay will affect hair health. Hair, like many parts of our body, needs protein. So make sure your diet is vary and includes nutritious foods, high in protein. Water also is extremely important for hair and skin, so aim for at least 2-3 liters a day.

Stress management.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, one of the common denominator of my 3 episodes of hair loss was stress, be it physical (box braids) or emotional (heartbreak), my hair really suffered from it. So if you’re serious about hair health, find ways to manage stress, worry, anxiety, depression. I can make a separate post about this topic, but what has helped me the most has been learning to meditate, journaling daily, reading, slow down and limit screen time, to name a few.

Hair oil.

Hair oil is a MUST if you’re trying to grow long healthy hair. You can never go wrong with hair oil, I apply it as the last step in my hair wash routine and on dry hair almost daily, always focusing on ends. Argan oil is one of the best for me, as well as the Kerastase one I mentioned before. There are many on the market and I’m trying new ones as we speak.

Below I’m going to talk about new practices I’ll implement from now on in my hair routine, I’m curious to see what type of improvement I’ll notice. I’ll keep you posted!

In the meantime, these are the new add ons:

Hair Diffuser.

As I mentioned previously, I’m embarking on a more natural hair journey, and that means taking care of my waves/curls better. My natural hair pattern is 2A which means wavy and thin, with medium to high porosity due to color treatment, so my hair needs extra care to thrive. A hair diffuser is a way to promote the formation of natural waves/curls without damaging too much with heat. I also have started hair drying my hair more and learning what product combination works best while going heatless. We shall see!

Shower filter.

Apparently our home water is not good at all for skin and hair! Jeez… the more you know lol. It’s loaded with chemicals like chlorine and heavy metals that get deposited on hair and skin. I searched online and it looks like Miami has very hard water, so I ordered a shower filter and also a kit to test both my home’s tap water and the filtered water that I’ll get from the shower filter. I’m curious to see if there is actually any difference.

Bond building products.

“Instead of simply coating your strands with moisture like most products, bond-building products help repair disulfide bonds or polypeptide chains inside the hair that are broken while coloring, straightening or from thermal abuse. In other words, it helps to build up damaged, broken hair bonds from the inside out.”

I’ve used Olaplex 3 (very popular bond builder) but I still can’t tell if I noticed a real difference, so I recently bought the K18 Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask and I’m curious to see if it’s any better. The bond building products are recommended to those who treat their hair chemically with color or bleach or have damage from heat.

There are other products out there but I’m also trying to take my time with each one and not spend a fortune at Sephora lol.

Curl cream (embracing my hair pattern!)

I recently discovered that if you have wavy or curly hair, a curl cream is a must! Lol. I got the Oribe Curl Control Silkening Creme and I’m liking it so far. I apply it after washing my hair before hair oil or on refresh days after the leave in conditioner. I part my hair in sections and work the product in, brushing the hair and then “scrunching” each section to promote curl formation. I’m still learning how much to use because last time my hair felt weighted down, but the time prior was amazing.

Hair towel.

I never knew this but… your hair needs a towel of its own LOL. Microfiber, to be specific.

And I spent all my life using the same shower towel, shaking my hair in it (BIG NO-NO) and putting up a big ass turban feeling cute. Those days are GONE.

An hair towel is much more gentle and is made specifically to absorb most of the water so you hair drying time is shorter. You can also use an old cotton T shirt as well.

Leave in conditioner ALL the times for more HYDRATION.

How I never knew this!?? HOW!

You need a leave in conditioner. All. The. Times. It’s not a substitute for a regular conditioner or a mask… no. It’s shampoo, conditioner and/or mask, leave in conditioner, hair oil. It’s always there!!! I thought it was either conditioner or leave in conditioner, otherwise it was “too much product”… but it’s about correct product sequence, not amount of product. Which takes me to our next and final point:

Product layering (like make up).

It’s important to know the correct sequence and placement of product, just like when you put on make up, you don’t put setting powder before foundation or mascara on your lips… get it?

So just a reminder:

1. Shampoo for roots
2. Conditioner/mask for mids and ends
3. Leave in conditioner for mids and ends
4. Curl cream if you got waves or curls on mids and ends
5. Hair oil on ends

And that’s all for today… as you can tell if I get interested in a topic, I go all in with it ahaha. You either do it right or you don’t!!!

Let me know if you want me to write about something in specific or I’ll find something else to babble about lol.

Thanks for reading and I hope you get some good insights for your hair journey as well!