The neverending bad hair day

Those of you who know me will be familiar with what seems to be my never-ending quest to grow my hair long and the many lengths I am willing to go to to try and achieve this. After a particularly horrendous trip to a new hairdressers in 2010 to have my hair coloured, I was beginning to look more Worzel Gummidge than Alexa Chung and I’ve been struggling to get my hair into an acceptable condition ever since. The trouble began when I went for a full head of highlights at a salon that admittedly I’d never been to before but had been recommended to me by a friend. I don’t know about you but I feel worse about a trip to the hairdressers than about a dentist appointment, particularly when it’s with someone new, my hair is my crowning glory, it needs to be treated with care. To cut a long story short the somewhat inexperienced (or so it seemed) stylist left the foils in for far too long resulting in my hair becoming a fried straw-like mess for many months afterwards, messing with my confidence and meaning that regardless of my fruitless growing attempts, large chunky layers had to be cut in to combat the frizz. To put it bluntly, I was devastated. I feel like such a girl admitting this but having a bad hair day has a drastic impact on whether or not my day is good or bad, and following the hair colour from hell I was left with a bad hair day, every day of my life. 2011 saw me try many tactics to coax my hair to grow past the dreaded shoulder length stage, with little success. Ironically it’s now probably the healthiest it’s been in a long time but still, no growth, or not much anyway (bear with me, I’m being dramatic). Therefore I’ve decided that 2012 WILL be the year that my hair finally grows: I will have long flowing locks like the likes of Delightfully Tacky by the end of the year, I am certain.

*Delightfully Tacky, aka the hair of my dreams

Two weeks in and change is already afoot. After a documented trip to Boots where I spent far too much on haircare products, the barnet is already in much better condition, volumised and somehow looking longer after only a few days (miracles do happen). Having really thick hair that seems to cling onto even a hint of product or residue, it’s taken me a while to find what I consider to be the holy grail of hair growth/strengthening/conditioning-without-weighing-down products that are going to enable me to finally get my hair to grow. Here are my pick of the bunch:

*Alpecin, that's right, we've reached desperate times

Herbal Essence Clarifying shampoo and conditioner: I need to use a clarifying shampoo to stop my hair feeling weighed down but at least with Herbal Essence I get a great smelling product too. Using most other shampoos lead to me having to wash it pretty much every day which, due to the heated appliances needed to give my hair some sort of style, defeats the object of trying to improve the condition and get it to grow. I hate you bitches who can just wash and go.

TOP TIP: If you find your hair clings on to conditioner residue, weighing it down and making it seem greasy no matter how long you rinse for, try conditioning first, THEN washing. Seriously, changed my life.

VO5 Plump it up, amplifying blow dry lotion: This product is a miracle worker. It protects my hair from heat, gives it volume, banishes frizz and doesn’t weigh it down. Exactly what I’m looking for.

Boots own brand serum: Cheap and cheerful, does what it says on the tin and you only need to use a tiny amount to smooth split and dry ends. There are so many serums on the market but I always find myself coming back to this, it works just as well as the big brand products and won’t break the bank, great for a girl on a budget.

(And finally…….if you’re looking to achieve volume (like me) I cannot sing the praises of a barrel brush enough. Pay attention at the hairdressers and try and blow-dry your hair in a similar way, massive hair in no time. Can’t manage that? Spray dry shampoo on the roots and rough up, added volume in no time.)