Growing Long Hair Myths

In recent years, I saw a surge in the trend of having very long hair. Unfortunately, with every cool thing that is promoted, I also saw an increase in product marketing that promises to solve all your problems by swiping that card. Needless to say that most of those products are only selling you a dream, so, as someone who has very long hair, I thought I would run through a list of myths and what to avoid if you want to have long hair.

1. Hair is dead 

There are sooooo many treatments that promise you the stars, but one thing that you need to keep in mind is that hair is dead.

Any treatment you do to its length will only focus on the effect, never the cause. If you want long-term improvements that need to be for the scalp, the rest is just temporary. 

Yes, Keratin “treatment” works, but only as long as you keep on doing it, also please keep in mind that your hair will be severely damaged if done wrong, or you stop. 

2. Cutting your hair every 2 months will not help it grow

Not sure if this is an international myth or local, but parents are told to keep their kids' hair very short if they want it to grow long and thick later in life.

My mom never cut my sister's or my hair when we were young, we both have very long, thick hair. 

Another myth that I kept on hearing recently is cutting your hair every 1-2-3 months to avoid split ends and to help it grow. Well, this one I want to debunk, hair grows from the root, and having split ends will not impact the growth, but the visual aspect of the hair. 

In 2020, I didn’t cut my hair at all, so now I have very long hair. What helps when it comes to haircuts, is not to have it thinned at the ends, it helps with the number of split ends and the overall look. 

If you cut it every other month, I doubt you will ever see it grow.

3. Hair grows 1-2 cm per month

This is a fact, so whatever you are trying, be prepared for the result to happen in time. 

There are so many commercials promising you more than that, so make sure to spot the “fake” when they advertise instant results. 

Also, if your hair was previously damaged, you will have to wait for it to grow until that section is “out” so the aspect as well as the possibility to break is removed.

4. Dying your hair will damage and shorten it

If there is one thing that I can tell you for sure, blond hair is very hard to maintain. Even with the best products, dying your hair means damaging it.

The same goes for using any heat tools to style your hair. In the long run, it will damage it. Using heat protection and quality tools will slightly improve the effect, but there will be one. 

As a teenager, I had blond hair and I used the straightener a lot, during that time my hair got severely damaged and I had to cut it in half.

5. Genetics cannot be bought 

All the women in my family had long hair. That was not something that we put effort into, it just happens.

No amount of money or treatments will override this.  

6. Products with huge prices will not make a “huge” difference

I often get asked a lot about the products that I use and there is a huge disappointment when I tell people that I use drugstore products, I don’t invest in fancy equipment, and I rarely go to the salon. 

I color my hair with regular drugstore products (l’oreal color-creme is what I  currently use) and my partner is cutting my ends every 5-6 months.

I am not saying that quality products are bad, far from it, but they will not make a huge impact when it comes to growth.

If you are in the process of growing your hair, don’t despair, there are still good ways of trying to achieve this, but please don’t fall for the miracle options. Those are not real and will only add up to the frustration. 

Also, as women we go through hormonal changes that have a huge impact on our body, hair included, so don’t beat yourself up for this, it will happen, it just needs time.