Hopefully this is an acceptable section to post this...couldn't find anything dedicated to beauty/skin/hair/stuff like that.
Anyway, to those of you with long, luxurious, flawless hair, I have some questions.
First of all, I've been OBSESSED with growing my hair long for....probably two years now. Ok, I've wanted it long for 3-4 years, but I abused it roughly 2 years ago. I used to dye it firetruck red with Splat hair dye. This means I would have to bleach it, then dye it. At least one time that I remember, I had missed a couple spots, so I actually bleached it again and dyed it again. Needless to say, by this time, my hair was fried! I mean, my hair didn't fall out in clumps or anything like that, but it was extremely dry and brittle. I could've been compared to a poorly-groomed sheepdog or a bale of hay. After that, I would occasionally dye it black with Garnier hair dye. No bleach, of course, but still. I haven't done THAT in probably 6-7 months.
Ever since the last time I dyed it, I've tried my best to take immaculate care of my hair. I condition every time I wash. I tend to switch shampoos and conditioners a lot. Lately I've been switching between Renpure Argan oil shampoo and condition, sometimes I use Pantene anti-breakage shampoo and 3 minute miracle conditioner(same brand). I NEVER use heat products(blow dryer, straightener, curler...), I sleep with a sleep cap on. I prefer to wear it down, but have to wear it up for work(not as a rule, but I hang tags at a grocery store, so it's to keep it out of my way), but it's a low, not-too-tight ponytail. I do coconut oil treatments, I put argan oil on the ends, and I only trim it when necessary. I eat a LOT of protein. I've tried taking biotin and iron pills. I don't brush it, and I only comb it before washing it, or when I put it in a ponytail. I try to only wash it 1-2 times a week(usually 2, though). But....it just doesn't seem like it's growing!
My boyfriend's sister's hair is like, at least a foot longer than mine, and she's a brunette who dyes her hair blonde! When we talked about it, she was like, "I don't know. I just didn't cut it for 2 years and it just...grew" LOL.
Now, I've heard about that whole phase thing everyone's hair has. Apparently some people's hair grows really fast, with a 6 year phase, so they have super long hair. Some people's hair grows really slowly, for only 2-3 years, so they generally have short hair. I've looked everywhere at different sources, hoping this is a myth!! Lol.
Could it be that my hair is still healing from the abuse? Oh, I forgot to mention about the time I not only dyed my hair red, but black as well, so it was mainly red with like, black bangs. The way it looked best was to straighten it! So at that time, it was fried from bleach, dye, and straightening. That was about 3 years ago. Surely 3 years is long enough for hair to heal??
I hacked about 3 inches off of it a little over a year ago, too, just to remove the dead ends and start over from there.
A few people have called my hair long. The most recent was a co-worker who said, "Your hair is so long and pretty!" I really appreciated that, but like, it's just a little over halfway down my back if you pull on it slightly(I have wavy hair, so...of course the curlier it is, the shorter it looks lol)
I'm roughly 5 inches away from my goal length.
But it still seems damaged!! Like, no matter what I do, my ends end up pretty dry and sound like dry grass when you rub it in between your fingers.
I've looked up so many freaking hair care videos on youtube, it's insane.
So, any advice? What do you do to keep your hair healthy and long?