Top Tips for Growing Out A Natural Curly Cut
Here is a fresh twistout and starting point of my official tapered haircut grow out.
Hi Curl Friends! I feel like it's been forever since we’ve talked about hair. Well let’s catch up, okay? Lately I cannot decide how I want to style my hair. One day I want long bra strap hair, and the next day I want to be a bald baddie. Since I cannot decide what to do, I’ve decided to grow my hair out until January 2020. Growing out my hair means no cutting, no heat, no color, and practicing consistent healthy hair habits. My goal is to grow out my sides and have a head full of healthy curls to start my new year off. In full transparency, I’m not the best at growing out my hair because I actually love short hair. I hate the awkward in between stage too, which always results in me doing a massive big chop. This time I have a different perspective and fully expect this grow out to be a painful journey full of uneven growth and awkward lengths all over my head. Perhaps knowing that this grow out journey will be tough will help me avoid the scissors. LOL! Since my goal is to grow out my taper cut and have a head full of healthy curls, I’m sharing my top 5 go-to tips for avoiding the scissors and a successful grow out.
Tip 1: Get a haircut or trim at the start of your grow out.
This may sound ridiculous, right? Like how can you plan to grow your hair and get a haircut? Well, I find getting haircuts at the start of my grow outs ensures I have a fresh start by removing dead and split ends. Doing so allows me to measure the overall growth as well as prevents me from having to cut mid-way through a grow out. Another reason to start with a fresh cut is to provide overall shape to your hair. Nothing is worse than getting midway through a grow out hating the shape so much that you end up cutting (trust me, I’m guilty of this). If you start with a good shape, your hair will grow out to that shape. So go ahead sis, get your haircut at the beginning of your grow out process.
Tip 2. Pay extra attention to your scalp.
Did you know that maintaining a healthy scalp is essential for overall growth and healthy hair? Our scalps are responsible for producing Sebum, natural hair oils, and other nutrients to the hair shaft so that our hair can stay properly hydrated and nourished. As our hair grows it needs Sebum and other natural oils to lubricate the hair shaft, thus, moisturizing hair making your curls more manageable. At the same time, with the production of natural oils, hair products, sweat, and dirt, our scalps can also become dirty and clogged. When this happens, some of us may experience itchy scalp, dandruff, bacteria, and breakage. If I’ve learned anything about growing out my hair its two things: keep my scalp clean, and feed it natural oils. I’ll be doing regular scalp messages to stimulate growth, and using pre-shampoo treatments to remove excess Sebum and toxins from my scalp. For more on scalp health, check out this article by NaturALL Club.
Photo cred: Good Feed Singapore
Tip 3: Stay away from heat.
It's no secret that growing healthy hair means staying away from heat. When we straighten our hair using thermal straightening such as flat irons, blow dryers, or sitting dryers, we damage the hair shaft and our curl pattern. Straighten hair also strips the hair shaft of natural oils that protect and moisturize curls. So when growing your hair out, avoid heat, PERIODT!
Tip 4: Cut back on ponytails and high tension styles. (insert twist out picture)
Listen, my hair is now long enough to style in a nice high bun. I’ve literally been obsessed with slicking my hair up and laying my baby hairs down! Okay! Even though high buns are life, I find this style to be high tension meaning a lot of pulling on edges, and tons of manipulation and combing to slick it back. Tension from styles like tight buns, braids, and ponytails may lead to thinning around your edges and breakage. I’ll be sticking with styling options likes twistouts, flexi sets, and wash and gos to get me through this grow out.
Tip 5: Eat clean.
Wet fresh twist, my go-to natural hairstyle for low maintenance hair care.
This might be the hardest tip! Lol! I know we’ve all heard of the infamous saying, “you are what you eat”. As cliche as it sounds, this is every true, even for hair. When we eat clean with lots of water, fruits, and vegetables our bodies and skin look amazing. Why should our hair be any different? The way our hair looks and grows depends on what we are feeding our bodies. Fruits and vegetables contain certain nutrients and vitamins like Vitamin A and Vitamin C which are critical for cellular growth, Sebum production, and Biotin. Our hair also needs plenty of protein because protein is important for hair growth because hair follicles are made of mostly protein (Healthline, 2018). As you start your grow out or revitalize your routine, be sure to incorporate clean healthy foods and protein for luscious, and healthy hair.