When growing your hair, all aspects of your lifestyle have to be considered.
It's not just a matter of using a hair mask every week. There's a lot to consider.
Is my body getting the right nourishment for hair growth? Am I drinking enough water to keep my organs (hair included) hydrated? Are the ingredients in my shampoo & conditioner good for hair growth? And what does my hair need to grow? Repair? Hydration? More protein?
As with improving any aspect of our health, first, you need to identify the state of your hair health before you can decide what you need to grow your hair.
Then, there's a wide range of products to meet your hair's needs and effectively grow your hair.
Below are our selection of the best hair growth products to use for longer hair, faster.
Hair-growth friendly shampoo & conditioner
Let's go back to basics.
Shampoo and conditioner are such daily necessities that I, for one, sometimes forget how these products contribute to hair growth.
It's easy to be on auto-pilot in the supermarket and grab a well-known shampoo & conditioner brand with a 'paraben-free' sticker on it and assume it's good for your hair.
And yes, absolutely paraben free is the way to go, but it's not the only chemical to avoid in your shampoo and conditioner.
To increase hair growth, opt for a shampoo and conditioner that is designed just for that; growing long locks.
These products will likely already exclude all the baddies like parabens and sulfate.
But what they'll also include is specific natural oils and ingredients that stimulate hair growth.
The best shampoo and conditioners for hair growth will include ingredients like jamaican black castor oil, argan oil and a range of natural oils that promote hair growth.
The Bondi Boost Hair Growth Shampoo & Conditioner is a great option for hair growth.
It contains peppermint essential oil, rosemary oil, saw palmetto and horsetail extract, which are all plant-based ingredients with powerful hair growth benefits.
Bondi Boost Hair Growth Shampoo & Conditioner
Truly Organic Biotin Boost Shampoo & Conditioner
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Hair & nails supplements
If you're not a 'supplement' person, you might not have considered this method of hair growth.
But don't underestimate the power of hair and nail supplements for longer hair.
If you're not familiar with hair & nail supplements, they supplement your body with the specific vitamins and fats that your hair needs to grow nice and strong.
These can contain various hair strengthening ingredients including omegas, B vitamins like Biotin and zinc.
A great vegetarian option is the JSHealth Hair + Energy capsules, which include the sea vegetable Kelp for restoring hair strength and volume, as well as Iodine for maintaining healthy locks.
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Natural oils for hair growth
Hair oils can come in many forms.
The pure oil itself, mixed into serums, conditioning masks, etc.
Some of the best oils for hair growth are castor oil, Jamaican black castor oil, argan oil, rosemary essential oil, peppermint essential oil, lavender essential oil and lemongrass essential oil.
Choosing the best oil for hair growth and thickness is quite personal, as this is where it comes down to what your hair needs to grow.
For example:
A dry scalp can interfere with hair growth, so in that case, lemongrass oil can be used to stimulate oil reproduction that leads to a healthy scalp, and in turn, hair growth.
For a more intensive treatment, you can use massage the pure on your scalp and hair and leave in for 30 minutes before washing twice with shampoo and conditioner.
Personally I like to leave whatever oil my hair needs in my hair overnight and wash it out the next morning, like an overnight hair treatment.
If your lifestyle doesn't allow time for oily hair, you can find a lot of these amazing oils in various natural hair brands.
The Ouai, Gisou, Oribe and Kérastase are some of our favourites.
I also particularly love Aveda for damage repair. Their Damage Remedy treatment contains castor oil and ylang ylang essential oil as well as a range of other natural ingredients to combat damaged hair.
Aveda Damage Remedy Intensive Restructuring Treatment
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Bonding hair treatments
I'd never heard of the concept of a bonding hair treatment until I came across Olaplex.
There's a reason we regularly refer to Olaplex on the topic of hair growth.
It's nothing short of a miracle treatment when it comes to hair repair, which is why so many of our hairstylist friends rave about it.
Olaplex is not like your usual moisturising mask.
It's formula is designed to strengthen the bond of the hair follicles, protecting against breakage.
What so many women love about this product is that you can notice improvement even after the first use.
If you're going to invest in any product to repair and grow damaged hair, Olaplex No. 3 is the best hair growth treatment for you.
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Featured photo @amandaalidabarnard
