The best healthy hair tips for healthy hair growth

Over the years of growing out my dry and damaged locks to healthy, hip-length curls I learned a ton about healthy hair. This is a list of my best healthy hair tips for healthy hair growth. Follow them and get on your journey to your best hair ever!

Disclosure: Some of the links below are so-called provision links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I can earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Healthy hair tip No 1: Protect your hair over night

Healthy hair tip number 6: When the sky is dark and beautiful like in the picture it's time to protect your hair during the night.

We endure stresses throughout the day and rest in the night. For our hair, it can be the other way around!

Even if we don’t notice it, we are quite active during the night. We roll from on side to the other and back. All this means quite some mechanical stress for our hair. Rubbing on a cotton pillow? Not the best thing if you want to avoid hair damage!

Doing a couple of small things to protect my hair during the night reduced my split ends and “white tip” hairs dramatically!

My nightly hair protection

Mulberry Silk Pillowcase for Hair and Skin Standard Size 20″X 26″ with Hidden Zipper Soft Breathable Smooth Cooling Pillow Covers for Sleeping(Haze Blue,1Pcs)

The first thing I did was to get a silk pillowcase*. I also recommend this to avoid dryness wrinkles on your face.

And the second thing was to not let my hair loose but to put it away safely overnight.

This can either mean a loose top-knot or a loose braid. If I go for the braid, I wrap it in an extra silk cloth. (Because my braid is longer than my silk pillow by now! Progress!)

Or I simply wear my beloved Slap*. It doesn’t get any easier than that!

Healthy hair tip No 2: Don’t wash so often

Image of a woman with long hair, she's facing away from the camera, hands dug into her hair

No, I am not telling you to walk around with greasy hair every day. But you definitely don’t need to wash your hair every day either.

Washing your hair too often strips it off the natural oils that keep it supple. It also causes a vicious circle.

When your scalp feels dry every day after your wash, it will try to recreate the natural balance. Meaning, it will produce even more sebum. So now your hair gets greasy even faster.

So the best way to get healthy hair is to let it do it’s own thing and not disturb it too much.

What you eat can also have an effect on sebum production. And so do the products you use on your head. Which brings me to healthy hair tip number 3!

Healthy hair tip No 3: Use the right products

Healthy hair tip number 3: Pick the right hair products, like this hair soap bar in the picture

Of course we can’t talk about the best hair tips for healthy hair without mentioning the products you use.

Your hair products can make or break your hair health. The big brand shampoo that leaves your hair squeaky clean? It might really not be the best choice for healthy hair growth!

Some products make it look like your hair is doing great – while it’s really not! Others are way too aggressive for your scalp – and our environment.

A good hair product is as natural as possible with as few ingredients as possible. Kinda like good food!

Healthy hair tip No 4: Hair-friendly tools & techniques

Healthy hair tip number 4: Use the right hair styling tools. Not like the blow drying lady in the picture.

People have told me so many times “My hair could never grow as long as yours. It simply breaks before it reaches that length.”

And then moments later I see them aggressively brushing. Scratch that, I see them yanking a metal bristle brush through their hair.

My dear friend!

Your hair isn’t just breaking like that. You killed it!

So this is one of the most important healthy hair care tips:

Whenever you do things with your hair, no matter if it’s styling, brushing or washing: make sure to be careful.

Treat your hair like the precious material it is, not like a doormat. (Or something. Is a doormat the opposite of precious material? Anyway. You know what I mean.)

Use hair-friendly materials in your hair tools. Wood, horn, any natural material is better than metal. Even if you ignore all the other tips for hair growth, pay extra attention to this one!

Healthy hair tip No 5: Wash with care

If you want your hair to be healthy and durable, treat it like a cashmere sweater. Not like an old, washed-out T-shirt. (There, I knew I had a fitting comparison.)

When it comes to washing this means using lukewarm water rather than hot. It means carefully massaging your scalp and washing out your shampoo. No crazy rubbing.

It also means ideally detangling your hair before the wash. Wet hair breaks and overstretches much easier than dry hair.

Healthy hair tip No 6: Stay away from the heat

Number 6 of the healthy hair tips: Stay away from heat styling. See that hot fire in the picture? That's what your hair feels like under the curling iron.

Heat styling is one of the worst things you can do to your hair. No matter how much “heat protection” spray you use: heat styling and healthy hair don’t go together. Avoid it whenever you can. All those straightening and curling irons? Put them away!

I don’t even blow-dry my hair, but let it air-dry. But then again I am on a mission to find out how long my hair can grow naturally. You might not have such high goals. Nevertheless, I recommend using the lowest temperature setting on your blow-dryer.

Related: How to dry hair without heat

Healthy hair tip No 7: Rethink your detangling tools

I quickly touched on this subject in healthy hair tip No 4 already. If you want healthy hair, a brush with metal bristles is a really bad idea.

And the longer your hair gets, the more you’ll have to detangle. So this is also one of my favorite long hair tips: get hair-healthy detangling tools!

Wooden hair tools

Instead, opt for combs from natural materials.

Louise Maelys Hair Comb Wooden Wide Tooth Comb for Curly Hair Detangling Sandalwood Comb

I personally really love my wooden horn comb*. I’ve used it for years and have no intentions of changing. (You can get one just like it here!*)

If you feel like a comb is not enough for you, consider a brush with wooden bristles like this one*. They can massage the scalp and don’t have the sharp edges of the metal ones.

The Tangle Teezer

Tangle Teezer The Original Detangling Brush, Dry and Wet Hair Brush Detangler for All Regular Hair Types, Panther Black

Another option is the Tangle Teezer*. Many people swear on it to get rid of even the most stubborn knots. But some people also report increased split ends from using it.

So use it with caution and see how your hair reacts! You can order a Tangle Teezer here*.

I personally don’t use my Tangle Teezer too often, as I mostly wear my hair naturally curly. And brushing curls destroys their natural pattern. (You can read more about getting the best curls of your life with the curly girl method here!)

But whenever I straighten my hair, I love using it. And yes, I straighten my hair without heat. It’s possible!

Healthy hair tip No 8: Heatless “shape-shifting”

No matter if your hair is curly or straight as can be: You don’t need heat to change your looks!

For all my curlies: Look up hair wrapping techniques on Youtube. For me, this works not only to keep my hair straight but also to straighten it. But I have to do it on dry hair, otherwise it doesn’t work as well.

For the lissotrichous: Find countless “heatless curls” tutorials on Youtube. For you, it will probably make sense to try the techniques on damp hair. My best friend’s hair is straight and silky and without that little boost, no curls will ever stay!

Healthy hair tip No 9: Keep yourself healthy

Healthy hair tip number 1: Keep yourself healthy. Eat like a rainbow, like that fruit bowl in the picture.

When we think about getting healthy hair, the first thing that comes to mind is the next best hair product. But hair health is mostly determined long before our locks even grow out of our scalp.

If you want to get healthy and strong hair, your most important duty is to make sure you are healthy yourself! This starts with a healthy hair diet.

So one of the best tips for healthy hair is to make sure you get all the nutrients you need.

Many vitamin deficiencies will show through hair loss. Hair is not necessary for the body to survive. So before sacrificing more vital things like blood production, our body will give up our hair when in a scarcity situation.

What we eat also determines how fast and strong our hair will grow. So if you need strong hair tips: eat protein rich and healthy!

So start planning your meals, include enough protein in your diet, and you’ll notice the effects on your strands!

Also important for general health – and therefore hair health – are the usual things. Work out regularly, drink enough water, keep your hormone levels balanced.

A free water tracker printable to help you stay on track with your daily water intake.

Healthy hair tip No 10: Cut out the damaged hair

A hand holding hair scissors, hair wrapped your hair around a finger, split ends sticking out.

It’s not true, that cutting your hair makes it grow faster. Split ends will not stunt your hair growth either. But, cutting out damaged and split hair is still important for healthy hair.

First of all, damaged hair is not healthy anymore and cannot be healed. So getting rid of the “broken” hair is the only way to overall healthy hair.

Second of all, damaged hair tangles much easier, making combing and brushing very hard. And potentially causing even more damage.

So do yourself a favor and get rid of the damaged hair regularly.

Healthy hair tip No 11: Protect your hair during the day

If your hair is at shoulder-length or longer, it constantly brushes against your clothes. Imagine yourself, getting hit constantly. At some point you would bruise, right?

Well, so does our hair. Just it doesn’t temporarily bruise like we do. It breaks or splits.

To minimize this daily damage, you can give your hair a break. Wear it up every now and then! Simple updos make you not only look more elegant, they also give your hair tips a much-deserved break.

At home, you could also throw a silk towel over your shoulders. This way your locks don’t need to fight rough textures like cotton.

Healthy hair tip No 12: Keep your hair moisturized

Monoi Tiare Tahiti Scented Oil With Vanilla

A big game changer for me was using hair oils. When our hair is moisturized and supple, it can deal with much more. If it’s super dry on the other hand, it breaks super easily.

Oil can help us to keep our hair moisturized. So putting a little bit(!) of oil into your tips every day can go a long way to get healthy hair!