I’ve never really been able to grow my hair out before, like having lengthy mermaid locks that actually looks healthy and vibrant. When my hair was at it’s absolute longest — some point in 2013 or so — it looked fried and the furthest thing to healthy. Between using a flat iron daily, a blow drier 2-3 times per week, and adding color for a balayage 3 times per year, every year since I was 14… my hair was ROUGH. Prime example is the photo above, which was taken right after a 2″ cut and another balayage…
And then at some point last May (2017), I got inspired just to start fresh. I walked into a swanky hair salon, and talked to a stylist for a while about a plan for recovery. I was told to STOP with the color treatments, flat iron, and blow drier. Oh, and get regularly scheduled trims — which is something I’ve never really done. Ever. That day, the stylist cut off as much as I could bear to handle (that equated to only about 2″ by the way), and I vowed to follow the plan. And over the next several months, something interesting happened: I slowly began falling in love with my natural god given hair. 
THE RECOVERY PLAN
STEP 1: NO MORE COLOR
The beauty about having a balayage is that you can stop at anytime, there are no outgrown roots to constantly touch up. You can let it grow out naturally, and that’s exactly what I did. Sure, I miss having golden locks at my ends, but honestly, it’s nice to finally embrace my natural brown hair. The color is nearly grown out / cut / faded away completely at this point. I haven’t seen my hair without color since I was 12 years old, and it’s a very welcome change! Dark brown hair seems to suit me (at least IMO).
STEP 2: REGULAR TRIMS
I’ve made it a point get a trim every 13 weeks, like clockwork. We don’t take off much, maybe less than 1/2″ but we clean it up and even it out. In the past, anytime I’d get a trim, there would be so so so much damage that anything taken off wouldn’t help. And the cycle would repeat since I’d add even more heat damage in between. It felt like it would never get healthy. It felt like it was never getting longer. It sucked. Until now.
STEP 3: NO MORE HEAT
I orginially thought that giving up the blow drier would be the most challenging part. But once I learned how to manage my natural hair, which products work best with it, and how to style it, I honestly can’t imagine slaving away with a blow drier ever again. And I wish I had learned this when I was a teenager. I didn’t realize until this past year how much I love my naturally wavy hair and it’s actually pretty easy to manage.
Do you want to know the ironic part? For the past 15 years, I would use a blow drier, round brushes, flat irons, and about 45 minutes worth of valuable time to achieve a look that I already had naturally but didn’t realize. Yep! Kind of ridiculous, huh?
STEP 4: REGULAR WASHES
Since I used to spend so much time on my hair after I washed it, I would try to preserve blow-outs for as long as possible. Stretching washes to every four, five, or even six days. Which is disgusting, especially given how often I workout, and… well, summer. But now? I wash nearly every other day, and it feels SO MUCH BETTER. I also love how little time I spend with my hair. There are some mornings I’ll wash it, and before it’s even dry, I’ll leave the house. Which is a concept I NEVER could have grasped even just 2 years ago.
How I Currently Style My Hair (Almost) Heat-Free
The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, because around the time I decided to retire my blow drier, ‘air drying’ became a thing around the internets. I took some notes, and now want to walk you through what I do to on a regular basis to style my hair (almost) heat-free.
- Wash with Fekkai shampoo and conditioner, every two or three days
- When I get out of the shower, instead of wrapping a heavy towel on my head, I opt for a tee-shirt. Which is far less damaging to wet hair (and finally gives me a use for all those 5K / 10K tee-shirts).
- After it’s been drying in a tee for maybe 10-15 minutes, I spray it generously with It’s a 10 Miracle Leave-In Product.
- Then I brush it out with a non-damaging wet-brush.
- After I brush it, I do not touch it AT ALL until it’s 85% dry.
- Once my hair is nearly dry, I use a few drops of Argan Oil on the ends to smooth it over. Then I twist it into a loose bun with a no-crease hair tie.
- If my cowlicks look a bit crazy (sometimes they do), I’ll take a flat iron to them to calm them down, but that is all the heat I use on my hair.
- Once my hair is 100% dry, I’ll comb my fingers through it to loosen up the waves. Usually a few hours later, the waves are pretty relaxed and looks as if I spent 45 minutes with a blow drier and flat iron. I’m a happy camper these days.
- I still sleep with my hair in a loose bun with non-creasing hair ties.
- For in-between washes, I’ll use dry-shampoo ONLY if I need it, but I’ll spray it with DryBar’s Volumizing Hair Spray (Texas Tea) almost daily to give it a bit of extra umph.
- Note: sometimes my hair doesn’t always dry right, sometimes it looks kinky and just plain awful. But honestly? I don’t care anymore [emoji shrug].
FIFTEEN MONTHS LATER
15 months of (nearly) heat free hair has done wonders, and totally given me long, strong, and healthy hair. It doesn’t always air-dry perfectly, sometimes the waves look super weird, but honestly? It’s all good. It’s also so refreshing to finally embrace my god given natural color from root to tip.
My hair feels and looks thicker, fuller, brighter. It’s so low maintenance and feels a million times more natural. I’m so happy with the growth, I’ve never had it this long while simultaneously looking so healthy. It’s kind of amazing how much it’s grown in 15 months after following the recovery plan. I do treat myself to DryBar appointments for fancy occasions, such as weddings, or anytime I have an event that requires a Rent the Runway dress (photo above!), and of course, I get blowouts after every trim. And every single time I leave the salon or DryBar, it’s such a joy to see how long and full it is!