Tuesday, 31 March 2020

I finally got my bleached hair to grow by doing the thing everyone says to do

My hair after it's grown a little- basically shoulder length

Hi gang, I'm going to be publishing exclusively cheery/ helpful/ escapist content over here, just to let you know... And today I wanted to talk about how my hair has recovered and has even started growing after not much luck for almost a year. I'm still bleaching it, I'm still washing it every couple of days (even though both of these things are obviously bad for your hair, so what's changed?

Less heat styling.

You knew it was coming- it's something I'd read about so many times but I was pretty much addicted to straightening/ curling my hair and was v reluctant to stop. But, recently I've started really cutting down on using straighteners and it really has made a difference!

So my basic routine is put argan oil and heat protector in my hair, blow dry it 90% dry, then let it air dry in a bun to give some slight waves.
I do always straighten my fringe, and if I'm going somewhere special I might curl or straighten the rest of it it but I don't straighten most of my hair often at all and I really notice the difference.
My straighteners are fairly old and don't glide through my hair particularly well either, which can't help. Eventually I'll get some new ones, which should be better for it :)

Here is a picture of how short my hair was before- I got a bob in may of 2018 and it was looking a bit sad so I got it cut again around May 2019. By July 2019 it was still pretty much the exact same length, just above my chin. And you can definitely tell how bad condition it was in >_>

my hair before it started growing - just above chin length

Then I decided to make some changes- I still blow dried my hair but I had a rubbish hair drier in Shizuoka which took forever so I stopped drying it 100% to save time before work.

And I carried on embracing the natural waves and using less heat, and here's here's how it looks now in March 2020:

It might not seem like a big difference to some, but my hair always grew pretty slowly aaand I still bleach it so I think it's pretty good tbh :) And yes I know my roots are super yellow in this pic...

General tips for growing out bleached hair//

Cut your hair semi regularly- get rid of split ends and a chop will often make your hair feel thicker and healthier.
A blunt cut with less layers can make it feel thicker
Take care of your hair! (Here's my Bleached Hair Care Routine)
Buy a gentle brush like a tangle teezer
Heat styling, hairspray, dry shampoo all dry out your hair and should be avoided/ cut down as much as possible
Put straighteners etc. on a lower heat setting
silver shampoo can also reeally dry out your hair so be careful!