Maintain Long Hair

In order to keep your long locks looking luscious, you must care for your hair properly. Maintain your long locks with regular trims and a well-balanced diet. Choose tools and products that benefit and protect your hair, while avoiding those that lead to damage and frizz. Take additional measures before bed to protect your hair throughout the night.

Steps

Caring for Yourself and Your Hair

1. Schedule regular trims. While cutting your hair often will not cause it to grow faster, trimming your hair regularly will help to maintain its length. Trim your hair every 6 to 8 weeks to rid your locks of damaged ends and to prevent split ends from re-splitting. When you maintain this hair trimming schedule, it will only be necessary to cut approximately ½ an inch off your tresses each time.
2. Shampoo less. Shampooing your hair strips the scalp of its natural, nourishing oils. These oils ensure the health of your long locks. If you choose to use shampoo, apply the product 2 to 3 times per week and always condition your hair after. If you wish to avoid shampoo, replace the product with cleansing conditioner.
   • Always apply shampoo directly to the scalp and conditioner to the ends of your hair.
3. Dry your hair with care. After showering, squeeze the excess water from your locks with a towel. Use a wide tooth comb to detangle your long locks. When possible, leave the blow-dryer in the drawer and air dry your tresses.
   • Avoid roughly rubbing your hair with a towel—this leads to frizz and split ends.
4. Maintain a healthy diet. Your diet impacts the health of your hair. To maintain a healthy shine to your long mane, drink lots of water and eat a diet rich in vitamins A, B, C, D, E, and K.
   • To increase your intake of vitamins A, C, E, and K, consume more mangos, kale, spinach, sweet potatoes, avocados, and apples.
   • To increase your intake of vitamins B and D, eat more animal products. These include fish and dairy products.
5. Avoid tight hairstyles. While ponytails, braids, and top-knots are adorable and stylish, the tension these hairdos place on your hair can cause damage. The optimal style for long locks is to wear your hair down. If you prefer to pull it up and back, opt for a low chignon or ponytail, and don't wrap the hair too tightly.
6. Reduce your hair’s exposure to friction. When your hair rubs against certain fabrics, the resulting friction causes split ends. Pull your hair up into a low bun or sweep it to the side when you wear fur, faux fur, or wool.

Choosing the Right Products and Tools

1. Choose nourishing products formulated for your hair type. When selecting products, read the label and ingredients list carefully. Always buy products that are formulated for your specific hair type. Avoid products that contain sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium laureth sulfate, and isopropyl alcohol. Instead, seek out products that contain natural items, like avocado oil, honey, and or coconut milk.
   • Don’t haphazardly test new products on your hair.
2. Select your heat tools carefully. Routinely exposing your hair to excessive or harsh heat will damage your long locks. If possible, invest in salon quality tools.When purchasing a flat iron or curling iron, opt for a tool that lists its temperature in degrees instead of “High,” “Medium,” or “Low.” This feature will allow you to control the temperature. When buying a blow-dryer, search for a product with a heat distributing nozzle and or a diffuser attachment. These features spread the heat evenly throughout your hair.
3. Purchase a high-quality hairbrush. When you have long locks, a great hairbrush is a worthwhile investment. Select a brush with natural bristles—a boar bristle round brush is ideal. Your brush should be firm enough to detangle your hair, yet gentle enough so that it does not pull too hard on your hair.
4. Limit your use of hair dyes and hair products. Hair dyes will damage your hair and overusing products will weigh it down.
   • It is best to simply avoid dying your hair—wear your natural color proudly. If you choose to dye your locks, only dye your hair when it absolutely needs it.
   • Use a marginal amount of hair products to keep your long locks full and bouncy. Over time, hair products build up on your scalp. Using too many products will weigh down your already heavy locks, causing them to look lifeless and flat.

Protecting Your Hair at Night

1. Brush your hair before bed. Your bedtime routine should include brushing your hair. Run through your locks with a wide toothed comb or a boar bristle brush. Brush your hair from root to tip several times. This will detangle your locks and spread your scalp’s natural oils throughout your hair.
2. Use scrunchies at night. When worn at night, elastic bands can cause undue damage to your roots and hair shafts. If you prefer to wear your hair up at night, trade your elastic band for a scrunchie. Before bed, twist your hair into a top-knot and secure the high bun with a scrunchie.
3. Sleep on a silk pillowcase. When your hair comes into contact with a cotton pillowcase, the resulting friction damages your long tresses. Upgrade to a silk pillowcase to prevent split ends. If you cannot afford a silk pillowcase, wrap your hair in a silk scarf.
4. Consider using a sleeping cap. Waking up with tangled tresses is never fun. Protect your hair at night with a sleeping cap. Sleeping caps constrain your hair—when your hair moves less at night, you wake up with fewer snarls.

Tips

• There are so many different styles for long hair, it's nice to try them out.
• Asking professional stylists on opinions is a good idea. Sometimes, people just might look better with short hair, and they will know.
• Tying your hair back is always a good idea when playing sports, or doing an activity where your vision is important.
• Applying coconut oil the night before you intend to wash your hair has been shown to reduce protein loss when washing hair.

Related Articles

• Maintain Long Hair
• Care for Your Curly Hair

Sources and Citations

See also

• Create a Good Hair Care Routine (for Men)
• Grow Nape Hair
• Use Hair Gloss
• Reduce Frizz on Relaxed Hair
• Dye Hair Sherbet Colors
• Perfume Your Hair
• Add Texture to Your Hair
• Encourage Hair Growth
• Clean Hairspray off of a Curling Iron
• Grow Your Hair Faster Naturally

Read more ...

What links here

• Care for Your Curly Hair