Healthy Hair Growth Tips & Repairing Damaged Hair

Today I wanted to talk to your about hair growth and repairing damaged hair. The products that I am going to be discussing in this post are pictured above and have been my saviours for repairing my hair from damage caused due to dye-ing and heat styling and ones that have also encouraged my hair to grow quicker and also thicker recently.

Keep reading for my tips on healthy hair growth and repairing damaged hair…

My Hair Journey

Born a natural blonde (once white blonde actually) but never actually realising how lucky I was – I used to always think ‘yeah, whatever’, when my Mum would say that people would pay for my hair colour – oh how young and naive I was. When I hit 15 I rebelled by dying the underneath section of my hair dark brown; when it was cool to have half your hair a different colour to the other, or at least we thought so anyway. Then upon experiencing my first serious relationship break-up when I thought that it would be a good idea to chop off my long blonde locks into a short bob and dye it basically dark black – you can imagine the shock horror expression on every-one’s faces from this drastic change, especially my Mother’s. Then throughout my adolescent years and being at university my hair was every colour under the sun from brown to ginger to grey and even pink, before it had taken as much bleaching as it could possibly manage and I was left with a somewhat savage pixie hair-cut, which did not suit my already long and mannish face / features one bit!

After coming to the realisation of the long term damage and turmoil that I had actually caused to my hair, alongside my looks, apart from crying on the inside for months on end I decided that I needed to take responsibility for my foolish actions and to start repairing the damage that I had done.

The First Steps To Repairing Damaged Hair

1.  Visiting The Hairdresser Every 6-9 Weeks

First and foremost I am probably going to tell you something that you are not going to like…..regular visits to the hairdresser are a must, even if growing your hair, to get rid of any split ends that will only inhibit your hair from growing healthily. My best advice with this would be to go to a trusted hair dresser and ask for your ends to only be trimmed and your layers neatened up. I can’t even count on my hand the amount of times I have asked for a couple of cms off and had 2-3 inches chopped off the ends, but thankfully I have found a gem in my local Toni & Guy hairdressers.

2. Reduce Heat Styling Where Possible

If you are trying to reverse the effects of damage from heat styling then the obvious action is to stop using heat on your hair all together, although I appreciate that this is not possible all of the time. Unless I have a special event I will leave my hair to dry naturally (washing my hair in the evenings) and then I will only use heat, say for curling my hair, a maximum of once a week. I have actually even retired my hair straighteners for a while and instead blow dry with serum to smooth fly-aways as I am trying to get my hair to grow and improve it’s condition. If using heat stylers remember to always use a heat protective spray or hair product.

3. Investing In The Right Hair Brush

We all know that it is a sin to brush you hair whilst it is wet and where as some people think that brushing your hair 100 times a day is beneficial,  others say that you should not over-brush your hair as this causes damage. So if you do like brushing your hair throughout the day then I definitely recommend that you invest in a Tangle Teezer for your hair, I have a mini one for carrying in my bag with me and the Original Tangle Teezer pictures above, which I got from Hair Trade, for professional de-tangling and minimum damage to your hair.

4. Using The Right Products For Your Hair

As I have hair that has been previously damaged from years of bleaching and numerous hair dye jobs, investing in a hair care routine that is going to restore my hair to it’s natural balance in what I seem to have been ever searching for and I have finally found. Say hello to Bumble and Bumble‘s BB Mending and Repair range that has literally saved my hair. Previously I have found that a number of repair products have been quite heavy and as I have naturally fine hair, this has left my hair limp and greasy, whereas these products smell great, make my hair feel super soft, minimise fly-aways but don’t weigh my hair down and make it greasy within 24 hours. I definitely recommend investing a bit more in your hair care products as you will generally see great results.

5. Hair Growth Supplements and Serums

Another way to promote and encourage healthy hair growth is via hair supplements and serum treatments. For the past couple of months I have been working the Viviscal tablets and serum treatment into my daily routine and I can definitely see a difference in the rate my hair is growing – as it normally grows at a snails pace and I have already had two cuts in the past 12 weeks and it is still longer than before. Even my hairdresser commented that I had new baby hairs growing last time I was in the salon, which also means that my hair is getting thicker – yippee!

Through a culmination of the above – and also stopping putting bleach in my hair, which you may have noticed from my rather large roots – I have overall seen a great improvement in the condition and length of my hair, which will hopefully be long and lustrous for my impending wedding that we are off to Santorini later this month to plan…eeeek!

I hope that you found these hair growth tips useful and if you also have some hair growth or repairing tips that have been working for you, I would love to hear about them so leave me a little comment below. Thanks for reading. If you would like to see more posts like this please do let me know as I love writing them and going in to a bit more detail than my usual posts.