How to wear long hair.

I’ve always wanted long hair, but for some reason I can’t ever seem to grow it out past shoulder length. Actually, I know what the reason is: I get bored and frustrated and think I don’t look edgy enough, so I cut it off. Not this time. No sir. The goal is to grow the hair long. Very long. Mid-back long.

Not that you’ll be able to tell most of the time, since I’ll be wearing it back in public. I’m a firm believer that if your hair is longer than your collarbone, it should be worn up if you’re older than 25 (and especially if you have an office job).

I have already started with wearing my collarbone-length hair up at work–I usually just put it in a simple twist with a clip, but that’s mostly because I’ve never worn long hair before and I kind of don’t know what else to do with it at this length, not to mention the fact that I am lazy like crazy in the mornings… I sometimes do wear it half-back or with a headband (I feel like it’s just barely still short enough to do this, although not for long), but really I feel most comfortable with it off my neck. My neck is one of my best features, so I might as well show it off…

When it comes to going out, I usually spend a little more time on my hair–I’ve been experimenting with Victory Rolls but am looking forward to getting a little more length so I can mess around with slightly more complicated styles, like messy buns and interesting ponytails… Styles that are a little too labour-intensive for just wearing to work, but worth the extra effort for a night at the cinema with a lovely date.

Speaking of lovely dates, I am most excited about having long hair for the boudoir. I think there is something inherently sexy about unpinning one’s hair before bed, or better yet, letting someone special unpin and brush out one’s hair. (Are you listening? This is a hint.)

Anyway, the point is that my hair is in a growing out stage. And it’s hit an ugly point. I’m getting frustrated with it and generally annoyed, so it’s time very soon to at least colour it and maybe get a tiny trim so that I don’t go hacking away at it and ruining a good year’s worth of work on growing it out. I’ve heard that prenatal vitamins help your hair and nails grow (they are meant to build a human, after all), but I don’t know how they would affect someone who wasn’t actually pregnant, and it doesn’t seem like a good idea to mess around with such things.

I need to go online and look for pictures of the hair I want, so I can more readily resist the temptation to cut it all off yet again… I need to find several styles that will look good with my coarse, thin hair and round face. If I pick that is about two inches longer than what length my hair is now, I can take the picture with me the next time I go to the salon. Even though my hair isn’t that length yet, the cut will be established so that growing it those extra couple of inches will happen a lot more gracefully.

Once my hair gets to the length I want it to be, I want to take good care of it… @heartovmidnight advocates not ever washing your curly long hair, just rinsing it every day and using conditioner on it, but mine’s more wavy than curly so I don’t think that would work for my hair texture.

I do know to not brush my hair when it’s wet, and to use a leave-in spray conditioner. (I used to use Infusium-24 in high school, do they even still make this?) My hair only gets washed every other day, and I do trim it every eight weeks to remove damaged ends.

I also need to remember, this summer in particular, to protect my hair from the sun and chlorine–this means hats and sunscreen hair cream.

What’s your advice for getting and keeping long hair! Feedback in the comments!