Dear girl who also wants beautiful & long locks,

It sucks. I know. I grew up with long, beautiful brown hair that makes me so sad to look back at. I wish I just let it grow long and kept it healthy, but instead I fell into the trap of bleach and synthetic dyes. I wanted to try pink streaks, blue streaks, etc. Since you're reading this, I'm assuming you did too.

"I love it!" I said, and so did you when the hair dresser bleached some highlights into your hair, or "it looks pretty good to me!" we both said after using the box dye from CVS or Walgreens. Between me and you, that was the begginning of the end for our hair. So you dyed and bleached it just like I did? Now you wish you didn't, feeling extremely jealous of every girl with hair down to her waist. Trust me, I do too. Do you also read endless articles and watch long videos on how to grow your hair long in a week? You've also seen the ones about vitamins, coconut oils and hair trims? Well I have, and I've not only read about them, but also tried most of these tips over the past two years. My hair was absolutely FRIED from bleaching it every few weeks, and I'm here to tell you the tips that helped me bring it back to normal.

First off, know that you do NOT need to dye your hair to look pretty! You're natural hair color is gorgeous and you were born with it for a reason. Getting your hair back to normal is going to be difficult, yet it is possible. It's a process and you really should not be getting a haircut more then once every three months, but if you're ready to take on this process then you have to get a good trim. Go to the hairdresser and ask him/her to cut off all the dead ends. It sounds scary and it may be a few inches, but this one cut will help you SO much in terms of growing out your hair.

Oils. Oils. Oils. Literally any oils. Coconut, argan, macadamian, almond, avacado, jojoba, olive, or any other types of oils will do WONDERS for your hair. Put it on your whole head and massage into your scalp for a few minutes. Blowdrying your hair (using a low heat setting) for a few minutes will also open up the pores on the hair shaft to absorb more oil. Then, place a towel on your pillow and sleep with the oil in your hair. In the morning make sure to rinse out the oil with shampoo. If you must, shampoo twice but also make sure you ALWAYS condition. Repeat this once a week.

STOP BRUSHING. USE A WIDE-TOOTHED COMB. Brushing gives you an array of split ends and breaks your hair, especially since it is so fragile when wet after a shower. Instead, comb your hair starting at the bottom. Even use a detangler! I us Not Hour Mothers: Way to Grow Spray. It is supposed to help your hair grow by restoring moisture and health to it. I absolutely love this spray and have been using it for awhile.

Stop with the buns - they hurt your hair. However, you can still throw your hair up into an updo if you use the right ponytails. There are certain ponytails that make a HUGE difference on how many split ends you have.

Ponytails you should not use:

Ponytails you should use:

Now I understand that some people recommend vitamins. I'm not a professional, but I've been taking biotin chewables (they taste much better than the pill) and just regular fish oil pills. I don't really like those vitamins specifically for hair growth because they've got a mix of so many things that it hurts my stomach.

That's all I have to say about hair for now! Good luck on your journey to long locks!