10 steps to get your dream hair

This blog post is about the 10 steps to get your dream hair and how to grow thick long beautiful hair.

Are you tired of your hair looking like an absolute mess and not knowing what to do to fix it? Are you ready to unlock your hairs true potential and get the thick, long luscious hair you’ve been dreaming about ?

Then you’re in luck cause I have 10 tips that will change your hair game completely.

What is ‘The Dream hair’?

This is different for everyone, no two people have the same idea of what ‘the dream hair’ will look like. 

Although, every dream hair has something in common. Regardless of whatever hair type you might have, I know you would want your dream hair to be thick, long and beautiful.

So permit me to define ‘the dream hair’ as the thicker, longer and healthier version of your specific hair type. 

Society has tried to instill this misconception that black hair can’t be long, thick and beautiful but I disagree. There are countless black people who have thick long beautiful hair in different hair types and there is nothing stopping you for getting your own dream hair.

If you’re ready to begin this journey to getting the thicker longer beautiful dream hair, I congratulate you!

10 steps to grow your dream hair

Hair and scalp care

In order to grow long, thick healthy hair you need to ensure that you are caring for your hair appropriately. A proper hair care regime will not only ensure thick long hair but it will leave you feeling good and refreshed. 

The perfect hair care regimen to get your dream hair should stimulate hair growth as well as help you retain the hair you already have.

A hair care regimen is made up of different hair care routines that help target different aspects of the hair growth cycle that work together to promote your hair growth. 

For instance, you have a wash day routine targeted at cleansing product buildup and dirty that accumulate in your hair and scalp over time. 

You can decide to incorporate some other routines like deep conditioning, which helps restore the moisture that was lost after shampooing the hair and ultimately this helps in strengthening the hair and preventing breakage.

And just like that you have a hair regimen! There are several other routines you can include as well. Michelle from Finenaturalhairandfaith recommends hair care routines like Scalp exfoliation especially if you have dry scalp and Nightly scalp massages to stimulate blood flow and increase hair growth in her blog post ‘Hair growth secrets for black hair: 7 tips to grow faster‘.

Handle hair gently 

I would like to debunk the myths that black hair is very strong and therefore doesn’t need gentle handling.

The coily nature of 4c hair makes it prone to extreme shrinkage and tangling which causes the hair to break when detangled roughly.

In order to retain the hair length you already have you need to ensure that you are handling your hair gently and with care. 

A good way to do this is to ensure that you detangle hair in small sections and use the appropriate tools and products.

I recommend starting the entire detangling process with your fingers first and your favorite live in conditioner or water. Finger comb through the small sections first before going in with a detangling brush.

A great the way to prevent these sections from knotting up again is by twisting or braiding the sections. The thicker the hair the smaller the sections.

Use natural hair growth stimulants

These are products that when applied directly to the hair and scalp, they promote the hair growth cycle of the hair follicles and thereby cause new hair growth.

There are different natural and pharmaceutical hair growth stimulants.

I prefer to go with the natural hair growth stimulants because they are readily available, cheap, environmentally friendly and safe to use while providing tremendous results.

Natural hair growth stimulants 

A. Lavender essential oils 

It has antibiotics and antiseptic properties and can prevent bacterial grow on the scalp that can cause infections that can cause dandruff.

B. Peppermint essential oils

It increases blood circulation to the hair follicle due to its cold tingly feeling which promotes hair growth. 

C. Rosemary essential oils

It helps repair damaged tissues and improves the rate at which old follicular cells are being replaced with new ones.

D. Thyme essential oils

This helps to reduce dandruff by preventing inflammatory bacteria.

E. Castor oil

It moistures the hair and prevents dry scalp. It is also an antioxidant that prevents oxidative stress that can damage follicular cells.

F. Sweet almond oil

It contains biotin which is an important element in the production of keratin which is the major component of the hair.

G. Jojoba oil

It stimulates blood circulation in the scalp, nourishing and strengthening the hair follicles to grow.

H. Tea tree essential oil 

It reduces inflammation and has antifungal properties which prevent dandruff.

All the natural hair growth stimulants listed below (with the exception of Rosemary essential oil and tea tree essential oil) help to stimulate circulation, when massaged into the scalp to improves oxygen delivery to the follicular cells and can promote the hair growth cycle.

Please note that the essential oils are well concentrated and should be diluted into a carrier oil (eg coconut oil, olive oil)

Moisturize hair based on porosity

Porosity is the ability of hair to absorb and retain moisture. Your hair could have low porosity, meaning that water can’t easily penetrate into the hair. Therefore the hair lacks moisture. 

Medium porosity hair can easily absorb water and it doesn’t easily loose the moisture it has absorbed. High porosity hair easily absorbs and looses water.

Porosity check: You can easily check the porosity of your hair by cutting a single dry strand and putting it in a glass of water. If it sinks to the bottom it is high porosity, if it sinks to the middle its medium porosity and if it floats it is low porosity.

If you would like a blog post on how to moisturize hair with different porosities please let me know in the comments.

Protein moisture balance

The balance between the level of protein and moisture in your hair is an important concept responsible for retaining the length of hair you already have.

Protein treatment is not a requirement for everyone. Some factors will make a specific set of people more likely to require the treatment. Those factors include: Relaxed hair, Colored hair, Damaged hair and Heat styles hair.

Protein moisture balance is a tricky thing so I would recommend seeing a specialist before deciding to include protein treatment into your hair regimen.

Protein moisture balance check: Stretch a few strands of your hair towards gravity. If it bounces back up to it’s original length your protein moisture balance is normal. If it feels weak and lifeless you might have too much moisture. Lastly, If it stretches more than it’s original length and breaks you can either have too much or too little protein.

Eat a balanced diet

It might come as a surprise to you but your hair is only going to get as good as your meals. For your body to grow that beautiful hair you dream about, you need to feed it properly.

Foods containing essential vitamins and minerals like vitamin B12 and D, riboflavin, iron, biotin and other nutrients stimulate the hair growth cycle which ensures proper hair growth.

It is important to eat a healthy balanced diet to provide all these nutrients(you heard me no more skipping meals and midnight snacks). 

I’d recommend a diet that’s rich in proteins cause your body needs these nutrients to build up keratins which is the main component of hair.

Food that contain nutrients for hair growth: Eggs, Avocados, Nuts and seeds, Fatty fish, Berries, Sweet potatoes, Spinach and vegetables, Sweet peppers etc

Record your progress

A great way to stay motivated is by keeping track of all the progress you make. This could be by recording your monthly hair length or taking a picture of your hair monthly. 

Keeping records gives you the evidence you need to monitor the effectiveness of your hair regimen.

When you see that your routines are finally paying off, it’s going to encourage you to stay more consistent and accomplish your hair goals.

Choosing the right protective hairstyles

A lot of times the hairstyles we think are protective actually do the most damage. 

Protective hairstyle according to Wikipedia are hairstyles that keeps the hair tucked away for minimum manipulation from the weather.

The essence of tucking your hair away is to ensure that the hair you already have is not damaged by environmental factors and other manipulations.

To properly care for your hair and retain the length you grow, ensure that before choosing a protective hairstyle you ask yourself “Am I going to lose an unnecessary amount of hair in the process of making the hair or taking the hair out?” If the answer is yes then don’t even think about it.

Check out this blog post on ‘25 trendy protective hairstyles for hair growth‘

Lifestyle modification 

A lot of factor can affect your level of hair growth and its important to take all these factors into consideration and combat them in order to ensure optimal hair growth and that you are retaining the hair you grow.

Here are some ways you can prevent unnecessary hair loss;

A. Sleeping with a silk bonnet on a silk pillow case

B. Using heat protectant before styling with heat

C. Wearing hair sun protection

D. Wearing your hair up while in transit until you get to your destination 

E. Opting for hair accessories that will not damage your hair e.g. silk scrunches and hair ties

Styling techniques

As previously stated, due to the texture of black hair it is prone to shrinkage and tangling which can cause breakage. As a result, an excellent way of retaining length would be by stretching the hair.

Hair stretching can be achieved by both heat and heatless methods. Although, I would recommend avoiding using heat often. If it is absolutely necessary ensure you use an effective heat protectant. 

Hairstyles like buns and twist outs that are not necessarily protective styles but still stretch out hair are very good in retaining hair length.

Conclusion

So here are my easy 10 steps to get your dream hair. 

I know all of my tips to help you grow out your hair and retain your hair growth will be useful in transforming your hair into the thick, long, beautiful hair you’ve always dreamed of.

Have you tried a different hair care regimen in the past?

If so, how did it go?

Let me know in the comments section below.