I grew my hair 7 inches in under a year – here are the 4 tips I followed, including a £6 buy you need to use once a week
YOU went for the chic bob – but now want to grow your tresses and become a real-life Rapunzel?
Although sporting a sleek bob is all the rage right now, there’s no denying that certain hairstyles look better with longer hair – and if you want to embark on a hair growth journey, you’ve come to the right place.
One beauty buff, Mila Jay, managed to give her mane an epic makeover, growing a staggering 7 inches in less than one year – and has now taken to TikTok to spill the beans on her top tips.
Before the jaw-dropping transformation, which has since taken the platform by storm, Mila’s tresses were not only quite short and thin by the ends but had also been severely damaged by constant bleaching.
Now, her hair is significantly longer, ”healthy, strong, thicker and really, really shiny” and she doesn’t experience nowhere near as much breakage as she used to.
Check out how she took her ”fried as f**k” make to the most gorgeous waves ever…
Oiling is a must
The ”most important” piece of advice and one to incorporate in your beauty routine was to oil your tresses.
”If you’re not going to listen to anything else on the list and you’re going to scroll away, only listen to this – but it is hot oiling my hair,” the platinum blonde stunner said in the informative video.
Although you can buy ready-made hair oils from the high street, Mila revealed she liked to make her own DIY concoction at home, which consisted of castor oil, rosemary oil (£6 at Boots) and jojoba oil.
”This is a game-changer for your hair – once I started doing this, my hair started to grow thicker, I didn’t get breakage in the middle of my hair, my hair stopped falling out excessively in the shower, whilst I was brushing it.”
According to the young woman, who posts under the username @vanilla_swirlxx, she applied the mixture just once a week, before rinsing it out thoroughly with shampoo.
Deep scalp clean
As your hair grows from the scalp, it’s essential to provide the ultimate environment for the follicles, Mila explained.
As well as keeping the skin moisturised with the hot oil treatment, the stunner, from Toronto, Canada, likes to deep clean her scalp ”so there is no gunk, no anything gross”.
For this, she uses glycolic acid (currently on sale at The Ordinary for £8.85) once a month, as well as following the double-shampoo method.
”Every time I shower, I go in with my shampoo and I wash it two to three times.”
”One of the main benefits of double shampooing is that with this technique, any product build-up and excess oils are removed, meaning the scalp and hair is properly cleansed and free from impurities,” explained the pros at Up Circle.
”This means that you can go longer between washes as the scalp is cleaner than if you were to only cleanse with shampoo once.”
The 4 stages of the hair growth cycle
Hair experts at Philip Kingsley shared the four stages of the hair growtn cycle are: Anagen, Catagen, Telogen and Exogen
Anagen Phase: Also known as the ‘Growth Phase’ or ‘Active Phase’, is when the cells in the root of your hair are most rapidly dividing so more new hair is formed.
During the Anagen Phase, hair grows around half an inch a month [about six inches a year], and faster in the summer than in winter.
This phase of the hair growth cycle lasts an average of three to five years.
Catagen Phase: Following the Anagen Phase, your hair cycle enters a short transitional phase known as the Catagen Phase, which signals the end of active hair growth and cuts individual hairs off from the blood supply and from the cells that produce new hair.
Approximately three percent of all hairs are in this stage at any time and it lasts for around 10 days.
Telogen Phase: The third stage of your natural hair growth cycle is the Telogen Phase, a resting period when strands remain in their follicles but are not actively growing.
An estimate of 10-15 percent of your hairs are in the Telogen Phase at any given moment.
The Telogen Phase lasts around three months or 100 days.
Exogen Phase: The final stage of the Hair Growth Cycle, when individual hair strands are released from their follicles and fall out.
Now the whole process begins again.
Protect your mane
If you go to bed with wet hair right after showering, you may want to listen up, as Mila had some bad news to deliver.
”I used to be someone who went to bed with wet hair, my hair in a messy bun, my hair not brushed and I wondered why my hair was breaking off and falling off.
”So, now I go to bed with a heatless style or I braid my hair. I just do something while I’m sleeping, so it’s not getting tangled, not getting wrapped up under the pillows or anything like that.”
Condition – daily
Last but certainly not least on the list was conditioning your hair on a daily basis.
Although many of us use conditioner when we’re in the shower, Mila revealed that it is not enough to keep moisture in your tresses until the next shower.
”Every day I go in with some sort of product to add more moisture back to my hair,” said Mila who likes to use argan oil on her ends ”to make sure they are hydrated, protected and strong”.