10 THINGS TO DO TO RETAIN LENGTH

Hiya,

So it's been a while since I did a 10 things post, so here I am with 10 things you can do for/ to your hair to ensure that you retain length at the ends of your hair because as I always point out, your hair at the scalp keeps growing but if you do not retain the growth at your ends then you will never notice the growth progress. So here goes...

1.  Moisturize your ends and seal them daily; I am sure I sound like a broken record with this point, I cannot emphasize the importance of this point, it's a maker or breaker!

2. Clip off your split ends regularly, I have posts dedicated to this point,very important.

3. Reduce how often you comb your hair from root to tip! The aim of combing is to detangle your hair and smooth it out but you might get tempted to over detangle and over smooth out your hair, causing you to loose hair unnecessarily. My advice is that in a week, you detangle your hair from root to tip only twice, on wash day and mid week, so say wash day is Saturday, you comb that day and say Wednesday from root to tip, the rest of the days, you should just focus on your ends and smooth out your hair at the scalp with a soft bristle brush, trust me, the amount of hair you loose will greatly reduce.

4. Still on the topic of Detangling, Detangle gently and ALWAYS only after you have moisturized and sealed your hair. If you have curls in your hair, finger detangle first before you use a comb.

5. Protect your ends; from rubbing against your clothes or while you sleep and while it's in a ponytail ( use snag free ponytail holders and do not hold the hair too tightly), sleeping with curls in your hair? Try the Pineapple Method##

6. Avoid Product Overload!! Using too many products at once can make your hair limp and brittle and inhibit length retention. To avoid an overload simply stick to using a moisturizer and one oil to seal. The only time I 'll advice the use of more than one oil or hair product at a time is when you are doing a pre poo or a hair treatment which you will wash out eventually, so your hair won't become limp or brittle.

7. Do not shampoo your ends. Especially if your shampoo has sulphates in it, let the shampoo from your scalp run down and clean your ends, even the action of washing your ends with your scalp all tangled together( naija salon girls wash style) is not good and can cause more knots than necessary, leave your ends alone as you wash your scalp.

8. Don't do a Towel Turban! Or use your towel in anyway that can lead to breakage. Simply blot out the water gently round your head, in sections. Som e circles recommend using a T- Shirt because it is lighter than a towel and doesn't have those towel fibers that can tangle hair but I still use a towel, just more gently.

9.  Be careful with  Extensions; most times extensions put stress on your roots but if you braid your hair and the braider trims off the hair sticking out so the hair looks neat, then she might just be trimming off your ends, or if you leave out hair to cover weave tracks and treat the left out hair like it's weave, by neglecting it or using a weave brush to brush it, it can lead to unhealthy scraggly ends in that section.

10. Never use heat on your ends without using a heat protectant!! If you have none, then use oil JUST BEFORE you apply the heat. That method of spritzing the heat protectant or applying oil sparing on your hair to fulfill all righteousness will not protect your ends effectively because by the time the heat is applied the product might have dried up or never even touched those ends, so sectioning your hair then applying the protectant/oil to that section then applying heat is a safer sequence for protective heat use.

I have come to the end of this post, hope it's useful to ladies struggling with length retention, don't fret your NAIJA HAIR CAN RETAIN GROWTH with these 10 steps!

Xxx

Dabs