Day 1

My name is Sophie, and I have medium length, brown hair, which has a mind of it's own. I've decided to start a project, and attempt to grow my hair as long as possible whilst keeping a blog of my progress. This may sound like a bit of a crazy thing to do! My hair is currently just below my shoulders, but I used to have much longer hair. In the last few years I have been using heated styling products on my hair and it has made it dry and damaged, and it does not seem to grow as fast as it used to, probably because my hair is breaking off. I miss having really long hair and so that's why I decided to try this project, as well as to improve the health of my hair! I think that making a blog about it will keep me motivated to treat my hair nicely and not resort to things like hair straighteners when my hair is going a bit wild!

So, I have set out a few rules to begin with, although this is all a bit of an experiment so these may change as things progress and I try different things, and work out what is better for my hair! But from the research I have done, there are a few things that should definitely help my hair. Firstly, I aim to change my hair washing habits, by washing my hair in warm or cool water instead of hot, by using more conditioner, by shampooing more gently, and by letting my hair dry naturally instead of blow drying it, and to avoid brushing or combing my hair whilst it's still wet. Secondly, I aim to brush my hair less in general, and brush it more gently and pull tangles apart with my fingers, to avoid pulling my hair out, and I also aim to plait my hair more often, including when I sleep, as I read that this helps prevent damage. Thirdly, no more hair straighteners or curling tongs! Unless it's a special occasion and I may make an exception! (I shall also try and find other ways to make my hair look presentable without heated tools!)  Lastly, I shall try to eat more protein rich foods, and vitamins that will help hair growth - I need to do some more research on what these foods are though! I also aim to drink more water, as that's always a good thing! Basically though, I'm just going to experiment and see what turns out good for my hair.

So today was the first day of my project. I washed my hair this morning, with a Lush shampoo bar called 'Squeaky Green' - and I tried to smooth the shampoo into my hair without massaging it too much, to avoid tangles. Then I used a generous amount of conditioner - I believe it was a Pantene one. I gently towel dried my hair afterwards and then left it to dry naturally, rather than blow drying like I used to. Once it was dry, it was a bit curly and frizzy and all over the place, typical of my hair if left to it's own devices! I went into the kitchen and my mum commented that I looked like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards and asked if I'd like to borrow a hairbrush. I declined.

Later on in the day though, my hair seemed to calm down a little. I put it in a plait in the afternoon, and it's been like that ever since. I'm going to take it out now though and attempt to take a photo to put on here!

Photos taken! Not particularly good ones... but it will be good to have a reminder of how my hair was on day 1! I look forward to the rest of this project and hope that somebody will enjoy following my progress and maybe learn some tips as well!