How to care for long and healthy hair in 2023
Having long hair is no easy feat: you need to actually grow it long, and when you finally reached a length you enjoy, you have to make sure that you look after it, so it’s not just a long mop over your shoulders! If you want long hair, we’re sure you’re dreaming of gorgeous locks of shiny, wavy hair, not a sad mess. So, here are some tips that can help your hair grow long and stay beautiful!
Detangle with care!
You have to be careful with your hair, or you will damage it. A good process to include is to detangle your hair often, brush it out carefully and gently! Don’t let your hair go too long without a good brush, because as it gets more and more tangled, more and more knots form and those are difficult to get rid of! Keep in mind that if your hair is very tangled, not only does it look messy, it is also harder to manage. You will have to tug on it hard to get it detangled, and tugging and forcing your hair back to its natural state will definitely damage it!
So, our tip is to detangle your hair with a high-quality brush before washing it or gently with your fingers once it's wet and conditioned. Never brush your hair while it's wet and avoid tugging on your locks to keep them from breaking!
Invest in a Boar Bristle Brush!
Boar bristle brushes have been around for ages, people have been using boar’s bristles to brush their hair and even their teeth in the olden days! So, why is it so good for your hair? Boar bristles are nearly identical to natural human hair, so their benefits are unmatched. For one, the soft bristles give a nice head massage and promote blood flow to the scalp, which helps grow hair faster! It’s also an excellent tool to naturally condition your hair with the oils your body produces!
By gently brushing your hair with such a brush, you can distribute the sebum from the top of your head through the strands of your hair. This way, your hair becomes shinier and cleaner, and the evenly distributed oils are able to prevent hair breakage and split ends!
Silk or Satin Pillow Cases
Who would have thought that even our sleep affects our hair? Sure, we know the importance of a restful night’s sleep for our bodies and minds, but it’s important that we look at our environment too!
A silk pillowcase is not a hair growing tool, it’s actually an anti-damage miracle! Cotton or rougher materials damage our hair as we sleep, that’s why you find pieces of hair stuck to your pillow every now and again. The hair strands drag over the pillow’s surface, damaging their surface!
A silk pillowcase is much softer and due to its texture, the hair glides over it instead of dragging, thus significantly reducing hair breakage! You will definitely see its benefits quite quickly! Silk pillowcases can be quite expensive, so if you don’t want to splurge on them, satin is a better option than your usual cotton cases!
Protect against the UV Rays!
If your hair is not dyed, you may have noticed that during the summer it becomes lighter. As kids, we thought this was quite delightful, but by now we’ve learned, this is no joke! We realize the importance of protecting our skin against UV rays, but our hair is neglected sometimes, even though it goes through the same mechanisms our body does.
Your hair becomes lighter when it’s exposed to a lot of sun because the sun actually opens up the hair cuticle, which in turn results in the hair strand losing its moisture and even its melanin! So, your hair becomes dry and frizzy, and your hair color lightens. This affects even colored hair! Your natural, vibrant hair color becomes faded in many places and you’re left wondering what happened. So, in order to keep your hair healthy and safe from sun damage, use a UV protectant on your hair. It’s like sunscreen, but for your locks! Make sure to read the label carefully! A product with high SPF is good for skin, and yes! You should protect your scalp from sunburn, even if you have a head of thick hair! But you need a product that protects against UV rays specifically to keep your color intact and your hair moisturized and soft!
Get Yourself a Microfiber Hair Towel!
We’ve discussed the benefits of a silk pillowcase above. Using a good, gentle towel is just the same! We tend to dry off our hair with a rather rough terrycloth towel which definitely damages the surface of our hair. Especially since many people tend to squeeze and rub their hair to dry it quicker. We advise against that! Try to be patient, and invest in a microfiber towel for your hair!
A microfiber towel usually holds around 200,000 fibers, and all of them are working hard to dry your hair! So, one of these magical towels will absorb the wetness from your hair within half an hour. And the fabric is much softer than terrycloth, so you’re reducing friction and hair damage in the process! As an added bonus, microfiber towels last much longer than your run-of-the-mill towels and they don’t shed, so you won’t find tiny balls of cotton in your hair!
Taking care of long locks of hair is not just about what you put directly on your hair. So many little things we don’t even consider, have a great effect on our hair! So, on top of your solid routine, it is a great idea to invest in products like a high-quality brush and a pillow case. This way, the hard work you put into your hair care routine pays off tenfold!
