Cosmopolitan: Expert-Approved Tips to Achieve Your Longer-Hair Goals
Always fantasizing about mermaid-length hair, only for it to snap into a million split ends before even grazing past your shoulders? (Ugh, same.) The unfair reality is, growing longer hair comes with the risk of more breakage. Preventing this comes down to the right haircare routine, and trichologist (or hair-issues and scalp specialist) Bridgette Hill of Paul Labrecque Salon and Skincare Spa, celeb hairstylist Jonathan Colombini, and L’Oréal VP of scientific communications Rocio Rivera, PhD are here to explain exactly how to find yours.
Seasonal color changes, hitting the heat tools, and throwing your hair into tight ponies and top knots are all part of your hair rotation, and Hill says that’s okay—so long as you’re giving your strands long breaks and taking measures to protect them. She suggests giving hair some relief with heatless styles made with tension-free accessories, like saturating loose braids with a leave-in to create beach waves.
If you must reach for your wand/iron—we get it!—Hill emphasizes prepping hair with a heat protectant. When it comes to color, she recommends a look that can go longer between touch-ups, like balayage—which often even looks better with time.
