Growing out your hair in the lead-up to your wedding is something that many (even most, we might guess) brides do. Makes sense: The more hair you have, the more ways you can wear it.
Obviously there’s a zero-effort way to get longer hair: Don’t cut it. Of course, if your wedding isn’t until 2016, the end result, with that method, will be hair that looks like it ran into a weed-whacker in a dark ally. Not pretty.
But if you’re willing to put in just the smallest of efforts, your hair can be long and healthy—and strong and shiny too—on your wedding day. Here’s our two-part plan.
STEP 1: THE HAIR-GROWTH COCKTAIL
My personal hair-growing experiment started post-baby, not pre-wedding: Mine was dull, falling out, and what was left wasn’t growing. Sexy. (Here’s how having a baby can wreck your hair.) So I asked Petra, my personal beauty guru who was also dealing with new-mama hair, for the fix. Her suggestion: beauty writer Amber Katz’ hair-growth cocktail. (Not-a-doctor warning: Check with your M.D. before trying the meds that follow, obviously.)
You’ve probably heard of hair-growth supplements, like Viviscal, which Gwyneth Paltrow swears by. Amber tried taking the recommended daily dosage, two pills, but had much better results when she made this “hair-growth cocktail” part of her daily routine:
- 1 Viviscal Extra Strength (that’s half the suggested dosage)
- 7,500 mcg biotin
- 400 mcg folic acid
Every few weeks, she’d swap the cocktail for “supplement stunt-doubles,” such as Keratin Booster, MD Nutri Hair, or Phyto Phytophanere, so she wouldn’t get immune to either’s results. (I’m not sure if that’s possible, medically speaking, but I followed her expert advice and ordered the Keratin Booster.)
The results, for both of us, were life-changing. Or at least hair-changing. Amber reported that hair had “grown much longer, glossier, and thicker.” And my stubbornly gross post-baby hair sprang back to life. I have more hair than I did pre-kids. Not, like, double the amount, but my ponytail is unquestionably thicker. My hairline, which had been grade-A janky, has returned to normal. (Read: no longer patchy.) And my hair now grows at a weedlike pace. Also, my eyebrows, which have always been super-wimpy, appear to be the teeniest bit filled out.
My nails, famously weak, have seen improvements too. They’re growing faster and breaking less. My thumb nails, weirdly, are particularly strong and seem thicker, not in a bad way.
Amber spoke with a derm, Dennis Gross, M.D., who noted said that growth supplements only work if your diet is lacking in whatever they supply. I tend to eat really well, but perhaps mine was. Either way, I’m thrilled with the results and still popping my pills religiously.
The two downsides: In the beginning my roots were a bit more greasy. Not, like, oil-slick-can’t-leave-the-house-slimy, but I had to up the frequency with which I was washing my hair. (Every other day, for a while, instead of every third or fourth day, which I prefer. And I was back to my old wash schedule after three or so months.)
Also, the hair on my head wasn’t the only thing growing in faster. (See also: eyebrows, above.) My underarm hair, which had basically been nonexistent after a few months dedicated sessions with the Tanda Me Smooth laser, was suddenly up to its old tricks. (You know, growing.) But after a few more sessions with the Me Smooth, it seems to have been scared back into submission.
STEP 2: THE FANCY-PANTS HAIR-DRYER
There’s no sense in growing long, strong hair if you’re just going to fry it with a crappy hair-dryer. Petra has always raved about “investment” hair-dryers, her favorite being the Ultra Chi Pro Low EMF Ceramic.
CHI Turbo Low EMF Professional Hair-Dryer With Diffuser from Walgreens, $109.22.
I kind of didn’t trust the Chi when it first turned it on, since it’s quiet and also ultra light, compared with the ancient clunker I had been using. Considering those factors, I didn’t quite believe that it was going to be the performance beast that Petra promised, but it dried my hair in probably half the time. (Seven minutes, maybe? My hair’s super-fine.) I’m not going to claim to know blow-dryer science, but Petra said that having an “ionic” one was important. The Chi is also low-EMF, which is supposed to reduce frizziness.
I’d say that after a month of consistent use, my hair seemed shiner, and over time, the ends have been looking less fried. Yes, this is all with a few months of hair-growth-cocktail’ing too, but credit for anything below, say, the four inches closest to my head goes directly to the Chi.