welcome to paradise

how to look at art / lynda barry

you CAN dye/heat treat your hair; just be concious. If you dye your hair, reduce heat treating it, and viceversa. Both things damage your hair, so try not to pile up damage and choose one. If you use heat always use a heat protector, and if you bleach it look into olaplex or smartbond as they are the only ways to actually repair your hair (normal permanent dye also damages your hair but not as much as bleach i promise. however, if your hair is too damaged from box dye you might also wanna look into them)

egg masks do not work: they make your hair look longer, but there’s no instant way to grow your hair out. I did them a few times, but my hair didn’t actually grow, my roots were intact when i had colored hair, but it did look longer. They also aren’t for anyone, people that have hair with low porosity will find the mask completely useless, and for some it might even be damaging as eggs are protein and low porosity hair doesn’t need/like it.

coconut oil might not be your savior: there seems to be only two sides in the coconut oil discourse; it either completely saves your hair or it completely ruins it. But it’s not like that; it might or might not work for your hair. If you wanna try oil masks do your research, and try different oils. The two most recommended oils are coconut and olive; make sure they are extra virgin and safe for eating (bc some drugstores add parafin to it to make “cosmetic” coconut oil which is not edible, so be sure)

co-washing does not mean you’ll stop shampooing your hair: co-washing with the correct conditioner alone might clean your hair, but if you use many hair products, you’ll still need it once in a while. Use a silicone free, thin, runnier conditioner for co-washing, and once every month/every two months shampoo it and use a thicker, also silicone free shampoo. Because you aren’t stripping your hair’s oils with co-washing, you don’t need extra moisture a thick conditioner will give you. You do need it when you shampoo to clear up buildup (which can reduce hair growth and make it look bad). If you mix shampoo with coffee grounds you’ll make a exfoliating shampoo which will be even better at clearing up product buildup.

learn how to use hair oils. if your hair is oily, you don’t even need it. if you have combination hair (oily scalp, dry ends) use it only in your ends, if your hair is dry, use it mid to ends.

The invertion method WORKS: maybe not for everyone, but my hair grew like crazy when i did it. You go upside down and massage your scalp for five minutes, maybe even use a hair mask? (maybe do it while listening to music or watching netflix, to not be bored) and you do this every day for a week so that you do not get used to it, then you wait a month until you do it again. Some people experience more growth than others, some experience none, but i think it’s worth trying out.

don’t trim unless you need to: i’ve been growing out my hair for almost a year now, and i’ve only trimmed it when i needed to get rid of my mullet, and once i got past that stage around june i didnt even trim it. You won’t need it unless you heat treat it or dye/bleach it a lot. If you think your ends are really split then don’t believe hair products that say will get rid of split ends, change your habits and get a trim asap!!!