Long hair maintenance

Dudess

I've fairly long hair - nearly to my waist. I love it and don't want to cut it, but it is quite fine in texture, even if there is plenty of it - so it's prone to breaking and knotting.

I get it trimmed often to keep the ends even, and it's in good condition - there's a good shine off it. But has anyone any tips, product recommendations etc on breakage minimisation?

Long shot I know...

Stench Blossoms

Have you looked into getting a 12 week blow dry?

Eviledna

I have bra-strap (:)) length hair. I really recommend the pink loreal conditioner if you want to minimise the knotting and breaking, it lets the brush glide through your hair and really helps the oul split ends.

This one

Black Swan

I love long hair too, as does my roommate. It's about medium thickness. We both have ours almost to the small of our backs. To cut costs (excuse the pun) we will take turns trimming the damaged ends when needed, and if the damage goes up a bit further, then that too. It's really hard to repair damaged hair beyond a certain point, and sometimes it's just better to let it recover from a healthy end not damaged. We have a good pair of styling shears for that purpose.

We are both brunettes and tend to avoid hair chemicals, especially colouring or proxides. We limit the use of the hair dryer (except when behind schedule and in a rush).

Diet is important for hair and scalp. We frequently eat chicken, eggs, salmon (when we can afford it), lots of green veggies, flaxseed, walnuts, pecans, almonds, and cashews. Read something about these foods awhile back, and our hair has been noticeably shiny as a result.

Sapsorrow

I have masses of hair and it's taken me years to learn how to care for it proprly. My tips are;

* Wash it, towel dry it (yes in the shower) and add loads of conditioner and use a wide tooth comb to brush it in, this is the only time I brush my hair. Towel drying it will let the conditioner 'grip' onto your hair, I then rinse it with cold or lukewarm water so as to leave as much of the oils from the conditioner on your hair as possible.

* Always use a leave in conditioner but go easy on other products like mousse and chemical dyes that are damaging.

* Always plait your hair for bed to protect it from damage in your sleep.

* Use a hair mask like the lush ones every week or make your own with egg yolks and olive oil if it's damaged and in need of repair. If I plan on washing my hair in the morning I put a tbs or two of olive or almond oil through it, plait it for the night and then wash it and it gets an incredible shine then and doesn't dry out over the next few days too badly.

* Eat plenty of healthy fats in your diet (oily fish, butter, olive oil, nuts etc). You can also use a kelp or multi mineral supplement if your hair is weak or damaged.

* Protect it from the sun.

Dudess

Thanks so much all!

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Have you looked into getting a 12 week blow dry?

I haven't. Do tell...

oohlala

I'd say for that length hair the 12 week blow dry would cost a fortune. Dudess its also known as bkt- brazilian keratin treatment. Its supposed to leave your hair looking like a salon blow dry every day for 12 weeks. Its repairs some damage in the hair but you have to use sulphate free hair products which are rare and expensive. I did this myself and while i was happy at first and my hair is much softer i've noticed the breakage has only cleared up by a minimal amount. I think its because a lot of my repair hair products are now redundant due to sulphate and this conditioner isn't cutting the mustard. There are a few 12 week blow dry threads around (maybe they should be a stickied megathread?) so you should find the info you're looking for in there.

In terms of products i would highly recommend the redken extreme range particularly anti snap and also coconut oil

Twee.

Can't really advise you on products, but when I had really long hair I found a paddle brush great. For knotty hair, a wide tooth comb is essential. Makes it so much easier. I very rarely brush my hair, but when I do, it's only with a wide tooth comb and LOADS or conditioner!

Stench Blossoms

Dudess wrote: »

Thanks so much all!

I haven't. Do tell...

There's a thread on here somewhere.

Basically what it is s a keratin product which is heated in your hair. it's suppose to make your hair 'straight' but tbh it didn't really with mine BUT my hair is much easier to blow dry and is sleeker and overall a really good condition.

Pythia got it done and i think she said it worked out really well for her.

It can be a bit pricey. I've seen it range from 150 to 300 so shop around. There's a good few videos on youtube etc so you can get an idea of how it's done.

Dudess

Thanks SB - well my hair is naturally very straight... a straightener turns it super flat, so this is probably a bit too pricey.
Thanks for the info anyway.

Miss Lockhart

A friend with waist length hair uses something called "Age Recharge" from Kerastese I think. It's supposed to care for "old" hair - ie long hair.

Her hair is beauiful anyway, but I don't know if it's all down to the very expensive Kerastese.

convert

I used to have really long hair a few years back (it was almost down to my hips!) before I cut it to mid back length. My hair is quite fine and naturally straight.

I found the best way of looking after it was to do as little as possible with it. When I washed it, I would only every towel dry it and then leave it to dry naturally, only using a hair dryer if absolutely necessary. I didn't use conditioner very often, but when I did I found any of the Tresemmé conditioners very good.

I usually washed my hair at night, and when it was dry I'd plait it going to bed, but if I wanted to wear my hair down the next day I'd leave it loose so it would be nice and straight, although I normally wore my hair tied up. I didn't have any colour in it nor used any chemicals on it, so it was always in good condition.

I've actually found that since having my hair somewhat shorter I've had to put more work into it, and have to use a hair dryer much more often to style it straight, so I'd say my hair was actually in better condition when it was longer than it is now!

donegalgirl28

I've got quite longish hair which is very very thick. I always get compliments on how my hair is very shiny. Basically before I leave the shower/bath I rinse my hair with cold water all the way through and then towel dry it and brush and then leave to dry naturally. I think the drying naturally part is the most important.

I have noticed the ends of my hair getting really really dry at the moment so I've been using different hair masks about once every 2 weeks which really does improve the condition of my hair.

Madame Razz

I'm so jealous of your long hair!!

MSM is supposedly excellent as a hair supplement. It deffo made a difference to mine but mine is short. It was very damaged at the time tho.

You can get an Indian hair oil on eBay which works wonders for hair also; it's called 'Amla' hair oil; eastern women swear buy it.

dellas1979

Dont wash your hair everyday!
Strips it of natural oil.

hootietootie

I have waist length very very thick hair. I use the pink loreal as well, and only wash my hair once a week, I dry it with hairdryer maybe once a month, and straighteners only if I'm for a wedding, so a couple of times a year. Try to keep it covered in the sun, and have it plaited fairly often. My hair is in fab shape, I also rarely brush it-only every second day. It always looks just washed no matter how long I leave it

sunshine rose

Sapsorrow wrote: »

* Wash it, towel dry it (yes in the shower) and add loads of conditioner and use a wide tooth comb to brush it in, this is the only time I brush my hair. Towel drying it will let the conditioner 'grip' onto your hair, I then rinse it with cold or lukewarm water so as to leave as much of the oils from the conditioner on your hair as possible.

This is the best tip ever, started doing this about 2 months ago and it has made such a difference to my hair. It's way more manageable now and stronger too.

As for products, as mentioned a few times the pink L'oreal shampoo is really good as is the Dove intense repair one (dark blue bottle) it leaves the hair really really soft.

R.D. aka MR.D

I second paddle brush!

Also be very careful what ties you use in your hair. I used to put whatever i could find in mine but when i stopped putting certain ones in the knots stopped!

regualr trimming is the only way i've found to keep the ends looking decent.