Whether you’ve always had short hair and are growing it out for the first time, or your tresses have always been long, you could probably learn more about the best approach to care. Long locks can be more difficult than a short cut as far as care goes, but not always. You may not have to get it cut as often, and you can often just wash it and let it go while some shorter styles need more attention to look their best.
Table of Contents
Know Your Hair Type
How you care for thick, coarse locks will differ very much from how you care for thin, fine hair. In addition, what you do to make curly hair look its best is not the same as what you do with straight, and whether it is oily, dry or somewhere in between is also important. As an example, some people who want to preserve their curls rarely use a comb at all while for other styles, using a comb the right way might be very important.
Use Natural Products
Natural products are often better for your hair. You can look online for what you need, whether it’s shampoo treatments for oily hair, conditioner for dry or treatments for in between. You might also want to look at some options for homemade products, such as a regular vinegar rinse if you live in an area with hard water.
Know How to Wash
Who doesn’t know how to wash their hair? You might be surprised to learn that you’re doing it wrong. You only need a little shampoo, and you should be sure to massage your scalp rather than focusing on the ends. You should use conditioner every time. Be sure that you don’t wash too often. Two or three times per week should be the maximum.
Maintain Regular Cuts
Since long locks tend to not need cuts as much as short ones, you still do need to get regular cuts to avoid split ends and other issues that will affect growth. If you don’t want to pay for a salon visit every few months to just get a trim, you can always teach yourself how to do it and perhaps make your salon visits annual ones.
Treat it Carefully
You’ve just stepped out of the shower. With your head down, you cover your hair with a towel and vigorously dry it. After that, you finish the job with the highest heat setting on your blow dryer. Finally, you snap it back into a ponytail and you’re ready to go, right? Actually, every one of the above steps is wrong.
First, you should towel dry as gently and as minimally as possible. Air drying is ideal, but if you don’t have time for it, you should use your dryer at a low temperature with a diffuser, pointed away from your hair. Finally, while you can certainly wear your hair pulled back if you like, try to use a scrunchy or another type of plastic cool that won’t pull at and damage your roots.