'How I grew my hair to mid-back length' by Ulovemegz

Ulovemegz's Youtube channel is an amazing source of hair styling demos, product reviews,comparisons but also make up and beauty how to's. She is relaxed but her advice can also be useful for natural ladies. It is mainly inspired by the Longhaircareforum. Afromag caught up with her to find out how she grew her locks to mid-back length.

What is your current regimen?
In my regimen I wash my hair once a week, co-wash twice a week, and deep condition twice a week. I do pre-poo about twice a month and I do protein treatments once a month. I moisturize and seal every single night and also wear heatless styles and protective styles. Moisturizing and sealing helps preventing breakage and defiantly aids in retaining length. The act of moisturizing and sealing helps keep the ends health since its the oldest part of the hair and that's what we want to keep as long as possible.I also stretch my relaxers to 10 weeks and never anything under 10 weeks. I know for some 10 weeks isn't a long stretch but I'm working on stretching longer. I dust my ends monthly and receive trims only when needed in order to retain length. I have been doing this regimen for going on two years now and it has worked well for me and my hair and it has been a successful journey so far with no set backs.

What habits really helped you retain length?
I think my regimen as a whole has aided in retaining length overall. I do believe that oils do help with aiding health and growth to the hair overall, so incorporating oils, regular deep conditioning and moisturizing and staying way from heat helps retaining length. The purpose of doing these things is to avoid any breakage of the hair so that it gets longer. But the priority is sticking with a regimen and having patience and wanting to see results with your hair.

 
Do women in your family have long hair? Have you always had long hair?
Yes I have family members who have long hair. My grandmother naturally had long hair reaching about mid back length as a teen. My grandmother's nationality is mixed with Native American and African American so she had a slight waves to her hair along with her 11 other bothers and sisters. 

How do you know if your hair needs protein or moisture?
I know when my hair needs protein when my hair tends to shed. A lot of ladies experience different things when they need protein but that's how I know when I need protein. When my hair needs moisture it feels a dry or my hair doesn't have a lot of elasticity and that shows when you hair is just try.

According to Kimaytube (a natural Youtube vlogger), water is the best moisturizer. She does co-washing / rinses helped her retain more length. Do you agree?
Yes I agree from my personal experience since I am relaxed. My hair is wet three times during the week when I do shampoo washes, co-washing and deep conditioning. Also doing this hydrates the hair, it keeps the scalp clean with aids to healthy hair. Healthy hair starts within the scalp. Since Ive been getting my hair wet in some kind of way whether it being a shampoo or co-wash it has benefited my hair along with many other ladies who are on hair journeys.

Ladies with neck length hair may find it challenging to do protective styles outside microbraids and plaits. Braid outs, twist outs, buns etc all work better with long hair. What would you recommend to someone with short or medium hair?
I would suggest trying half wigs, phony ponys, and bantu knots. I've seen a lot of ladies do some of these things as protective styles while growing out their hair. I do believe its all about being creative to find a style that suits you.

Watch ulovemegz on Youtube