6 Ways To Get Longer Natural Hair!
Retaining length as a curly natural can be achieved and its quite easy to do when you have a set hair routine. These routines include both morning and nighttime, which are super important times to protect and refresh your hair to work towards its full potential.
Don't worry! A lot of curly natural's have issues retaining length, and the reason isn't because their hair isn't growing (because it definitely it), but because it may be breaking off at the same rate it is growing!
In this post, you’ll find out 6 ways to grow your hair longer and stronger. If you want longer curls, keep reading.
1. Do not color your hair
You may want to change things up, but this is the biggest culprit for breaking and damaging your hair! Once your hair starts to break off, it is hard to maintain.
This does not happen to everyone, but it has an huge impact on your curl pattern and can damage them forever.
How To Color Safer
You will need to understand all of the risk that come with coloring your hair, especially striping it to a much lighter shade. Usually that requires you to bleach your hair, which you should avoid all together.
You can also try darker colors, so you can skip the bleaching stage or try a rinse. Rinses are temporary and come out of your hair with every wash until it is completely gone. It is a good way to color your hair and see the color when it is in the sun.
2. Do not skip detangling
Detangle your hair a minimum of once a week. You should do this during your weekly wash day and make sure to take your time with this process. Detangling your hair helps your hair hydrate each and every strand thoroughly and equally.
It will lead to less breakage during the styling portion of your wash day, leading to less breakage overall.
3. Wear a bonnet at night
You must wear a bonnet every night to reduce and prevent breakage! It should be 100% satin or silk and when you wear one, your curls will thank you.
Some naturals think that their hair is not growing, but it may just be breaking at the same rate that it is growing. When you do not wear a bonnet or use a satin or silk pillowcase, your curls rub against the cotton sheets and pillowcases and strip your hair of product and natural oils, thus making it dry.
If you want to retain length and see what consistency does to your hair's length, you should not skip this step at night.
4. Stop using heavy products
Heavy products tend to dehydrate our curls and block out moisture from getting into our hair. We have discussed in previous posts why you should ditch heavy shea butters and oils because they usually sit on top of the hair and make it hard to other products to reach your strands.
Check out this blog posts.
5. Use a blow dryer
Adding a little heat to your routine can actually be a huge game changer. We all experience shrinkage, but some more than others based on hair type. Our hair is the weakest when it is wet, so the strands break off easier.
Once you add a bit of heat, using our Wash n Dry method, you will have elongated, moisturized curls that will last longer than a day. In the long run, this will help to retain length because you are semi drying your hair and getting it out of its weakest state to reduce breakage.
6. Don't overdue protective styling
A lot of us have been taught that protective styling is what makes our hair grow long and strong. You can use protective styling, such as braids, but not all the time. Experiment with hairstyles like the two-strand twists and styles that do not add too much tension to your hair.
Touching your hair constantly, in general, can lead to breakage and loss of natural oils. You also do not have to twist or braid your hair to the ends because the ends are usually super fragile and will break off.