My Hair Routine

Triple braided tuck variation with a flexi hair clip

Hair routine is probably the most often asked question of a long haired person! When you share pictures of your hair everyone wants to know how you got your hair so long and see if there’s anything they could use on their own hair. So today I’m sharing my hair routine with you!

My Hair Philosophy

I believe that everyone’s hair is different and you have to experiment and try things out to see what is best for your hair’s health and growing hair long. But one thing that always helps is to treat your hair kindly and gently.

Washing My Hair

I’m one of those people that only washes their hair once a week. I can actually go longer than that but I implemented a wash day so I wouldn’t lose track of the last time that I washed my hair. So now every Sunday is wash day. Stretching washes like this doesn’t work for everyone but I happen to have pretty dry hair and scalp so it doesn’t start looking greasy for a long time.

On Sunday I detangle my hair, then I prepare my rinse. I take two tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar and put it in a cup of water. I place that beside the shower.

I use Function of Beauty shampoo and conditioner, it is a high quality brand that is customized to my hair’s needs and my goals. I have a full review of it here.

I take a small amount of shampoo and massage it on my scalp. Then I rinse it off.

Next I take a large amount of conditioner and saturate my length, wrap it into a cinnamon bun and leave it in while I do soap and shaving, etc. Then I rinse out well (during the summer I’ve been rinsing off with cool water!) After I’m satisfied that my conditioner is rinsed out, I dump the apple cider vinegar rinse over my scalp and let it fall down my length. Then I rinse that out.

I wring out my hair a little bit and wrap it in a microfiber towel (I use a norwex one) for about ten minutes. Then I let it air dry the rest of the way and gently detangle. I used to use a wide toothed comb but recently I’ve been using my wooden paddle brush (more on that in the next section). If it feels dry I will rub on a little bit of hair smoothing serum (I use the Function of Beauty for that too).

I pretty much never use heat on my hair. Though I hear if you use a heat protectant it isn’t bad. I used to do hot rollers when my hair was a lot shorter but it’s not worth it to try to heat style on thigh length hair, in my opinion!

Sleeping

For bed I brush and wrap into a very loose bun, then I tuck that into a satin sleep cap (I like this one with the wide brim). I know a lot of people who use silk but I personally hate the feel of silk so I went with satin. It took some practice to keep it on my head at night but I got used to it! These days I often pull it down over my eyes as a sleep mask too.

The glamorous life — thanks to my four year old for this picture!

Styling

I am very into protective hair styles. I love learning (and teaching) new updos and other gentle styles. I use accessories that don’t snag or pull on hair, such as flexis, hair forks, hair sticks, and spin pins.

Three sizes of flexi hair clips

Learning new and creative ways to put my hair up is one of my favorite things about long hair!

For brushing I have a TEK wooden paddle brush with long pins. It’s expensive but totally worth it! The wood is super smooth on your hair, it distributes from your scalp oils the way a boar bristle brush will. It can get through my thick hair but is still gentle and has just the right amount of “give” to not yank hair. Brushing with it feels super nice and it makes a satisfying sound when you run your fingers along the pins! My husband has started borrowing it to use on his shoulder length hair and he says he never wants to use another brush ever again.

TEK hairbrush review

Damage

I minimize damage to my hair by wearing it up gently with the ends tucked in and safe accessories. I use a gentle hairbrush and I treat my hair carefully.

For most of my life I have not done anything about split ends and haven’t had any issues with it (see more about what really happens when you don’t trim split ends here). But lately I’ve been doing S&D where you sit in good light with sharp scissors and search through your hairs for split ends. Then you just snip right above the split. That preserves your length, deals with splits farther up the length of your hair, and makes your hair smoother and sleeker looking.

I recently researched and published an ebook on hair oils and I’ve been inspired to try oiling but I haven’t started yet!

(You can get a coupon for half off this book when you sign up for my newsletter — see below)

That’s My Hair Routine

There you have it! How I care for my long hair day to day, year to year. It changes a little bit as I try new products and techniques but not by very much. And I’m very satisfied with my current routine except for my desire to try some hair oils!

Find me around the web at Long Hair Carolyn

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