Tips and Tricks:

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#1. Take Folic Acid and Biotin.
• These are over the counter vitamins that you can find at almost any drugstore!
• They are both essential building blocks in the growth of your hair, and should increase your hair’s growth rate.
• I bought 800 MCG Folic Acid and 1000 MCG Biotin at CVS Pharmacy for only 12 dollars.

My Routine: I take one of each, every day, preferably with a meal.

#2. Use a wide-tooth comb.
• Comb out your hair using a wide-tooth comb, not a regular paddle brush, especially when your hair is wet.
• This will prevent damage and breakage that a normal bristle brush inflicts on wet hair, when it’s in its most fragile and breakable state.

My Routine: After showering, I wrap my hair in a towel for about 10 minutes, then carefully brush it out with a wide-tooth comb, starting from the bottom up.

#3. Wash your hair less.
• The natural oils in our scalp are good for hair, and washing these oils out every day causes damage.
• Even if your hair is oily, go as long as you can stand without using shampoo.
• I have thin hair, and if I don’t shower everyday I can’t wear my hair down, so I feel your pain! those of you that can go longer without a shower are lucky, so take advantage of that!

My Routine: I shower every other day, and wear my hair up on the days when my hair feels oily.

#4. Get a regular trim.
• Cutting a 1/4 inch off the ends of your hair every 6-8 weeks prevents split ends, and keeps hair healthy.
• There is NO way to repair split ends, so cut them as soon as possible!

My Routine: I check for split ends in my hair, and even if I don’t see any, I get my hair trimmed every 8 weeks to keep it strong.

#5. Limit use of heat styling.
• Using straighteners, blow dryers and curling irons on your hair regularly can be extremely damaging.
• Try wearing your hair natural more often, or if you do use heat on your hair, use a heat protecting spray.

My Routine: I almost never use heat on my hair!

#6. Massage your scalp for 2-5 mins every day.
• This will stimulate blood flow to your scalp, making hair follicles more active.
• If you take vitamins, massaging your scalp will bring those good nutrients to your hair follicles.
• It also feels really good!

My Routine: I massage my scalp every night before I go to bed.

#7. Boar Bristle Brush.
• Brushing your hair with a SOFT bristle, boar bristle brush distributes the natural sebum in your scalp throughout your hair.
• This will help moisturize and strengthen your hair using the natural oils on your head.

My Routine: I brush my hair with my boar bristle brush every night on the days I don’t wash my hair.

#8. Split end protection serum.
• Applying oil to the ends of your dry hair every day will help protect against damage and split ends.
• This will NOT heal split ends, only prevent them.
• Coconut oil, almond oil, and argon oil are great natural products for this, but you can also buy brand name serums.

My Routine: I apply a pea sized drop of Matrix Sleek Look Seal Serum to the ends of my hair every morning.

#9. Search and Destroy.
• Go through the ends of your hair and find split ends; when you do, cut them off with a sharp pair of hair scissors.
• This will keep your hair healthy, keeping you from needing haircuts as often, which lets your hair grow longer.
• Hint: sit near a light source and place a contrasting piece of paper in the background of your ends to make locating split ends easier; use white paper for dark hair, and dark paper for light hair.

My Routine: I go through my hair about every other day and cut off any dead ends I find.

#10. Limit metal use in hair.
• Using bobbypins and snap-in clips can cause hair breakage, so be gentle when putting them in and taking them out.
• Only use hair ties without metal clasps as these are very likely to snap and pull hair when removing the hair tie.

My Routine: I never use bobby pins or clips because my hair is long enough that I don’t need to, and I use Goodie “Ouchless” hair ties when I put my hair up.