How to Grow Out Your Hair -- BeautyRiot.com

So, You Cut Your Hair Too Short -- Now What? #1

By Sara Spruch-Feiner

Beauty editor confession: Hair is not my strong suit. While I pride myself on my knowledge of the ins and outs of skincare and have even learned to kontour like a Kardashian, I confuse my hairsprays from my texturizers from my volumizers. That, mixed with a bit of recklessness and I tend to be the kind of girl who tells my hairstylist to “Do what you want! You’re the expert!” It’s served me well, most of the time, and by no means do I think we should live in fear of taking a little bit of a risk when it comes to our look -- it’s hair, and it will grow back.

But, a few months ago, in the midst of a flurry of ~*life changes*~ I got a haircut. This was the one that took things a little further (well, shorter) than I intended. I thought I could rock it, I’d had a lob going on anyway, how different could it be? But I felt ... awkward. When I debuted my new look, my well-intentioned boyfriend ... laughed! Some girls can hardcore rock a bob, but I quickly realized perhaps I wasn’t one of them. Even worse, my hair is slow to grow.

A few months passed and I gathered what little bunches of hair I could into fake ponytails (in spite of the fact that one of the reasons I’d thought going short could be cool would be that it would stop me from always, and habitually having my hair tied up). Still, even the best blow-dries left me looking matronly, and air-dried no frizz serum left my thick hair smooth and sleek and I simply didn’t have enough hair to rock the beachy waves I wanted my summer to be full of. Alas, it’s happened to the best of us. Here’s what to do when you’re growing your hair out. I’ve learned that it doesn’t have to be miserable ... promise!

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As I saw it, there were essentially three possibilities. The first: Learn to work with what you’ve got. The second (which can be done in tandem with the first): Help your hair in its growth process -- especially, if, like mine, it’s a slow one. And the third? To go all out, and get the very hair you thought you didn’t want (that is to say: extensions).

Short Styles Can Be Just As Chic

All pinned up.

First up, I head to Cutler salon in SoHo where I chatted with the very chic Micki Charles, who assures me that short hair can have just as many styling options as long hair, and also warns me to maybe never cut my hair amidst aforementioned ~*life changes*~ again. (Okay. Noted.)

Aesthetically, Micki and I are very much on the same page. We like hair that looks, as she puts it and I nod eagerly in agreement: “Lived in -- not greasy. There’s a huge difference.”

When you’re growing out a bob-esque cut, like me, Charles notes, it requires “very slight maintenance, because the back part of your hair grows faster, so it gets back-heavy.”

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For styling, Charles suggests Japanese hair pins: these magical little better-than-bobby-pins that work like sewing needles for your hair to essentially stitch up a messy, yet out-of-your-way updo.

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She creates my style in approximately 45 seconds. It’s best to create this look with lived-in hair. Two days after washing will create optimal texture.

However, you can simply fake it on clean hair with Redken’s Wax Blast 10, the only spray-wax I’ve ever seen. Given that Charles is using this on my just-washed hair, I can attest to the power of this stuff.

02 Beautyriot Logo What to Do When Your Hair is Too Short

Here you can see my updo, with the little braid on one side of the crown of my head added on.

Braids around the forehead make for a great look too, and while a simple braid on one or both sides of the crown of your head is a great way to elevate your short-do you can also pile them on top of your messy pinned-updo.

When I leave Cutler, I feel so much cuter than I did when I walked in, I’m almost disappointed that later the same day I’ll be taking out my pins and adding 18 inches to my nonexistent mane.

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Side view of my pinned-updo.

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Micki and I liked the look even when only one side of the updo was complete.

Give Your Hair a Helping Hand

Viviscal Extra Strength, $49.99

Thankfully, there are ways to help our body along in giving us the hair we desire. The top choice tends to be Viviscal, a dietary supplement that works to nourish from within by supplying nutrients to the hair follicle. The pills, which you take two times a day for a recommended three months are comprised of a potent combo of marine complex AminoMar, Biotin, Zinc, Vitamin C, Horsetail Extract and Iron.

Biotin helps the body metabolize carbs, fats, and amino acids build proteins -- and are thus essential to the hair’s structure. Vitamin C from Acerola cherries, is a powerful antioxidant that helps to absorb more iron into the blood, which in turn promotes hair growth. Finally, iron helps make red blood cells which bring oxygen to cells in the body -- including hair follicles. If your hair is thinning, or you’ve experience hair loss (and you wouldn’t be alone -- it happens to one out of two women) Viviscal helps to thicken and strengthen the hair, regardless of it’s length.

And on the OPPOSITE Side of The Hair Spectrum

Walking into RPZL takes every blowdry bar you’ve ever tried and makes it look, well, basic. When you sit at the “gorgeous bar” (as they call it) and look around your sleek white surroundings, matched by Leonor Greyl products on lucite trays, custom, delicious rice crispy treats and iPads loaded up with a full newsstand of magazine options, the thought of sitting for three-hour extensions (which without their ultrasound technology takes more like five hours), seems not only do-able but downright pleasant.

There are three kinds of extensions to choose from -- clip-ins (which you take out before bedtime, but can learn how to put in yourself whenever you want), tape and keratin. RPZL’s new technology allows for keratin extensions with no heat damage and they last up to three months.I go for clip-ins.

The process is quick. My hair is washed with the most divine shampoo I’ve ever smelled (I’ve literally been thinking about Leonor Greyl’s Shampooing Au Miel for a week), dried and the clip-ins are put in place. Because they’re made of the highest-quality Remy hair, my stylist is able to curl the hair and give it a bit of a natural wave for me to leave the salon with

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Here I am just after my stylist has put her finishing touches on my hair. I am literally in shock at the 180 transformation in hardly any time.

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This is what's called a #RPZLfie, taken at the salon. As you can see, I literally don't know what to do with all my newfound hair.

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Just a half an hour later, I clearly start to think I'm really cool, and thus begins the half-day of my life in which I take the most selfies I will ever take in any given period.

This type of dramatic change isn’t for everyone, but if you ever feel that you simply need long hair for a day, clip-ins might be your new best friend. The best part? You don’t need to live in NYC to experience the salon’s custom-treatment. With their Headmaster’s Choice option, you can upload a selfie and the salon’s experts will pick match your color to the right clip-ins for you.

When I (reluctantly) leave RPZL, I barely recognize myself with my new (and very temporary -- I am not quite handy enough to clip them in myself) 18 inches of hair, I can tell you that hours later when I unclip them before falling asleep, I almost cry. What is it they say about not knowing what you wanted ‘til it’s gone...?

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The package that my gogeous-in-an-instant locks come in.

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Literally pouting before taking the clip-ins out -- and, ya know ... taking one more selfie....

So, You Cut Your Hair Too Short — Now What?

So, You Cut Your Hair Too Short -- Now What?