Alright y’all. You’ve probably heard it all before. The internet is full of tricks and hacks to grow your hair - from collagen supplements to rice water. Take it from a professional stylist who has fine, thin hair that is super prone to breakage who continues to grow her hair (me, hi 👋🏻). I also have quite the track record of growing my clients’ hair.

So here it goes.

*PS. the video says 7 but it’s actually 6, oops .. covid brain got to me

1. Less washing, more conditioning

Most people over-wash their hair. I see this a lot with people who work out: they suds their hair with shampoo twice and then condition Every. Single. Day.

Working out produces only sweat, not oil. Shampoo has surfactants that are meant to strip the scalp and hair strands of oil and debris.

If your hair is already clean and there is no oil to remove, you may cause your scalp and hair to become drier than needed, causing damage and breakage over time.

Your best option is to keep your ends hydrated and conditioned by using conditioner only.

That’s right - rinse your hair with water and apply a small layer of conditioner. Rinse out, and watch your hair feel better overall.

A great option if you have to cleanse your hair is to use Hairstory New Wash: the cream cleanser that cleanses your scalp and hydrates your ends without stripping your natural oils.

2. Use a high quality leave-in treatment

This one is probably one of the most overlooked parts of having nice hair. A high quality leave-in treatment (or two) can transform your hair.

Brands like Kerastase, Kevin Murphy and Unite infuse your hair with all the goodness of UV protection, hydration, strength with protein and heat protection. This is a step you don’t want to skimp out on. It’s essential that you invest in a great leave-in treatment.

3. Don’t brush your hair when it’s wet

For those of you with fine, brittle or tangly hair, brushing your hair while it’s still wet can be a recipe for breakage. Wait until your hair is completely dry — after you’ve applied your leave ins — of course, to brush it through.

Brushing your hair while it’s still wet causes it to become elastic and snap easily. You won’t even notice until you dry your hair and see all the breakage.

4. Use your hair mask consistently until you see a difference

Wondering how often you should be applying your hair mask in the shower? Apply your mask every time you wash your hair until you start to see a difference in your hair texture.

Once you start finding that your hair is feeling a lot healthier than it used to, you can start to taper off your usage.

I like to think of it like you’re taking medicine: go high dose first and then low. Once your hair is nice and healthy again, you can use your mask once a month.

5. Ask your stylist to do Olaplex Step 1 & 2 plus toner

This is my secret sauce to growing fine, thin hair. Olaplex adds amazing strength to the hair and creates new bonds inside the hair shaft so it will feel very strong and unbreakable.

Using it with a toner like Redken’s Shades EQ will make the hair shiny and beautiful.

6. Consider getting extensions

One of the most common side effects of getting hair extensions is the incredible hair growth that happens naturally and quickly. Clients are always raving about how long their natural hair feels when they take out their extensions.

This is generally because your natural hair has had time to relax and is not being brushed, tugged at and heat styled as much.

Extensions are a great way to get your hair to grow without even feeling it.