Long (very long) story short (literally), my hair is naturally blonde but I took to dying it all manner of colours, and then eventually settled on dying it blond-er. Then one day I realised this was a bit pointless, seeing as my hair is blonde anyway so I painstakingly grew out my roots, see?:
Check out that two-tone hair!
(Me and my friend Jeremy at Electric Ballroom in London's Camden Town this Summer)
Once they'd grown out a fair bit (a lot), I cut my hair all off. Yes, myself. I did an alright job of it (my hairdresser would probably disagree) and have had short hair in the past but I really dislike it at the moment and am just waiting for it to grow to feel like me again. It will gradually lighten back to its natural blonde; the roots always grow out darker.
Me on Central Pier in Blackpool a couple of months ago (about a week after the chop)
However, the silver lining to this story is that my hair is growing faster than I've ever known it to, because I've learned a few little tricks along the way.
Turns out there are little things you can do to promote hair growth, and here's a quick rundown of them:
1. Vitamins
Yes, I was sceptical too - but I started taking some hair vitamins with the idea that if they didn't work, I'd stop taking them... but it honestly seems that they ddo. An apparently 70-odd% of women agree with me. The ones I used are available for £15 for 30 at Boots here, but there are more expensive ones on the market too. There's also a whole range of products to stimulate and aid hair growth; you can have a quick browse through some here.
I also take Perfectil skin, hair and nail vitamins occasionally in place of a normal multi-vitamin; these are less specifically geared towards hair but may well work in a similar way.
I was a little worried that these vitamins would make my hair grow faster ... elsewhere, you know... not just on my head... but that doesn't seem to have been a problem, I don't have to pluck my eyebrows any more often and I don't look like Mr Miyagi yet.
2. Massage
Wanting your hair to grow is a great excuse to give yourself a nice relaxing head massage every time you wash your hair or every night before bed. (Why not both? More often still?) The key to hair growth is to stimulate the flow of blood to the capillaries in your scalp. Come to think of it, it's a better excuse still to blackmail an obliging other-half into helping you out.
3. Eat
Apparently, certain foods can improve your circulation, including to your scalp, and promote hair growth. These include yoghurt (yumyumyum - I've taken to having it with fruit and honey in for breakfast), almonds (I just scatter them in salads, mostly) and green tea (not everyone's -ahem- cup of tea, but since travelling to China I do have the odd cup occasionally, especially seeing as it's great for your general wellbeing.)
So if, like me, you are just waiting for your hair to grow, take some solace in the fact that there is something you can do that may well help. Perhaps it's just a placebo effect, an illusion, but it sure makes me feel better. And when my hair has grown about 2 inches in the last 4 weeks, I feel better still.
Lastly, for a quick fix (for special occasions perhaps), I've been considering these extensions from Babyliss; I've never worn extensions before and haven't tried these yet so I can't really comment but I was impressed by the detailed instructions on the site, and by the fact that they use realistic but synthetic hair. I just don't agree with sticking another person's hair (that they've had to sell) to your head. Gives me the heebie-jeebies.
So bye for now, and may your hair grow long and thick and luscious ASAP!
Ciao for now,
Charlotte
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