🌿Holistic Hair Growth: 14 Ways to Get Long and Strong Hair (Naturally!)
little-known hacks for luscious locks.
If you’ve been around the ol’ block and followed on instagram for awhile, you’ve likely noticed a phenomenon fondly known as the #KateChop.
Basically, I grow my hair super, duper long, and then…… abruptly CHOP it.
In fact, I just cut it even shorter just yesterday—
And, to be honest, the reason I’m so reckless with chopping my hair is that I know how to grow it back fast when (and if) I want.
Let me explain—
In-between these drastic Kate chops, I will purposefully grow my hair.
And I’m talkin’ LONG.
Because while I love my current short hair era (hair-a??), I also enjoy my hair when it’s grown out.
(I have this very convenient tendency where I want my hair either VERY long or VERY short, but I absolutely loathe the in-between stage. Makes life interesting🤪)
So, during my “long hair” phases, I try to grow my hair as fast as possible to get through the dreaded middle stage. I’m talkin’ scalp treatments, altering my hair routine, taking specific supplements, and doing my best to keep it shiny & healthy while growing it as quickly as humanly possible.
And I’ve learned a lot from doing this drastic “grow out” experience multiple times!
For example, when I purposefully grew out my hair last year, I was kind of shocked at how long & strong it got! Here’s a random screenshot from about 6 months ago:
Due to my relentless cycle of chop-grow-chop, I've gotten many questions over the years about how I grow my hair out so fast.
And, first things first— as with everything, genetics 100% play a role. I do think I have some decent hair growin’ genes.
….But that’s not the only factor ;)
Because there are some EXTRA health habits and some lesser known, holistic things that have absolutely boosted my hair growth.
Because, sure, my DNA set me up for longish hair, but it never used to grow *this* fast. For example, when I grew out my hair in high school, it took far longer to reach the same length— and my hair was way more damaged & dull.
Fast forward about a decade and a half (and A LOT of insights on healthy, lifestyle, and holistic hacks along the way), my hair now grows like a weed.
And I can’t deny that a few key changes to my health, nutrition, & hair routine were the reason.
So today we are going to recap some of the things you can do if you have brittle hair, dull hair, or just simply hair you wish would grow faster. Here’s what to do to get those locks growing and enter your Rapunzel era.
(and PS— we are going far beyond the typical advice to ~avoid heat~ and use silk scrunchies. Like, duh. We are gettin’ WEIRD, folks. But it works.)
1) Pumpkin Seed Oil
As I mentioned, I want to give you some UNIQUE hair growin’ hacks that you may not be familiar with. To kick things off, I want to share about pumpkin seed oil.
Just listen to this— there was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial that showed that men with hair loss who took 400mg of pumpkin seed oil for six months experienced a 40% increase in average hair count— that’s honestly BONKERS. Another study from 2020 found that pumpkin seed oil performed comparably to minoxidil 5% (more commonly known as, extra-strength Rogaine).
I haven’t personally tried this, but I just thought this was a lesser-known, cool option that came up during my research for this post. Could be a great option to chat with your doctor about!
2)
As far as supplements for hair growth go, there's nothing better than…