10 Steps to growing long relaxed African American hair

To grow relaxed hair long you must be dedicated and follow these steps exactly. It will take time but once you apply these methods, you will see results! Every African American can grow hair; it just takes a little work. A lot of women go to see a hair stylist every 2 weeks, but really don’t pay attention to their hair during the weeks in between hair appointments. Take care of your hair in between hair appointments. By following these 10 steps, you are closer to longer healthier hair.

1.      Clip: The first step to growing your hair long is by clipping the damaged and split ends off. If your hair is severely damaged, then you will need a good hair cut. By cutting it you are allowing it to start fresh. If your hair is not damaged then slightly clipping the ends will take care of the split ends.

2.      Wash: as African Americans we are taught that we shouldn’t wash our hair weekly. However, this is not true. You should wash your hair once a week to wash away dandruff, build-up, and residue. Keeping the hair clean allows your roots to breath therefore allowing them to grow. Shampoos tend to strip the hair a little because of sulfates and parabens. Therefore I recommend using Shea Moisture Shampoos. They have various shampoos to fit your specific hair type. Their shampoos are sulfate and paraben free. Shea moisture products are 100% natural and excellent for African American hair.

3.      Condition: Condition, Condition, Condition!! It is important that you condition relaxed hair every time you wash so that you can restore moisture to your hair. Because the hair is relaxed, you need to use products that have natural ingredients in them. The week after your hair is relaxed, condition your hair with Shea moisture conditioner. Message the conditioner in for 5 minutes and then rinse. Then condition with Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner. Cover hair with a plastic cap and let stand for 1 hour with no heat or 30 minutes under a dryer. Rinse your hair and style it. Natural ingredients are much better for the hair. Choose natural conditioners that have no parabens, gluten, sulfates, synthetic color, mineral oil, or synthetic fragrance. Recommended weekly conditioner: Shea Moisture Organic Restorative Conditioner.

4.      Drying: When drying your hair, you should rarely blow out your hair but instead let it air dry or sit under a dryer. The healthiest way to dry hair is letting it air dry because heat is very damaging to the hair. If you are in a hurry and must blow out your hair, set the blow dryer to the coolest setting and then dry. Be very gentle when drying your hair.

5.      Handle with care: African American Hair is very gentle and delicate. In order to grow your hair long you must treat your hair as if it is very fragile. Detangle with wide detangling combs. Focus on the ends of your hair because they are the oldest and most fragile part of the strand. Comb through the ends delicately working your way up to the root. Also message your scalp weekly to stimulate the hair follicle.

6.      Moisturize: Moisturizing is very important when trying to grow hair long. In order to grow hair long you must preserve your ends and retain your length. Keeping the ends and hair moisturized will prevent breakage. Moisturize daily with organic oil. Recommended oils: 100% Organic Jojoba oil and 100% extra virgin coconut oil. These oils hydrate and protect hair from air, chemicals, and heat.

7.      Protective styling: This step is sometimes difficult for women because we like to wear our hair down. But when it comes to growing your hair long, protective styling is the fastest way to achieve your hair goal. Moisturize your hair and ends daily with one of the organic oils and put it up. If you do this daily you will retain your length because your hair won’t be breaking from weather, heat, and tangling damage. Your ends will be protected and moisturized. Great protective styles are: chignon, French braids, Pin ups, roller sets. Oil your ends and tuck them away! If you are dedicated to this for a while, your hair will grow!

8.      Heat: Stay away from heat as much as possible. Don’t flat iron your hair as much, and if you do, let your hair air dry and then flat iron your hair. Double heat is a big No No! When going to the hair salon, get roller sets instead of flat ironed and heat curled hair.

9.      Nighttime: Every time you go to sleep you should protect your hair with a silk cap. Excessive rubbing against pillows and sheets can break the hair. Recommended night caps:

10.  Tools: The tools that you use on your hair are very important to your hair success. Limit the use of brushes and small teeth combs. Use combs with wide teeth and ceramic heating tools.

Things to stay away from:

Excessive heat

Holding sprays and gel

Gels with alcohol

Glued extensions

Micro braids

Small teeth combs

brushes

Recommended products: Shea Moisture products are absolutely the best!  They are organic, great for your hair, and they smell delightful!