Long hair tips: ideas for styling and maintaining long hair

Long hair tips

• Pay attention to your ends. The end of each strand is the oldest part of your hair, and the most prone to dryness or damage. The longer your hair, the older the ends. Make sure they’re conditioned and moisturized.

• Get a trim every few months. It may be hard to talk yourself into losing any length when you’ve spent time growing your hair out, but it doesn’t have to be a big cut. As mentioned above, the ends of your hair can easily become dry or damaged. Get them snipped to leave healthy hair behind.

• If your hair tends to look lifeless or greasy, even though you wash it frequently, it may be a victim of over-washing. If you’re washing every day, try cutting back. Think of the time you’ll save; washing long hair takes a while!

• Another advantage of not washing on a daily basis: it’ll open up more options for how to style long hair. A ponytail will be able to keep its shape even if your hair is freshly washed, but a lot of easy hairstyles for long hair – buns, for example – will hold better if you haven’t washed your hair in a day or two.

• When you’re brushing, it can be tempting to pull the brush straight through from scalp to ends, but you’ll end up ripping through tangles and causing damage. Brush out the tangles at the bottom first, slowly moving the starting point of each stroke higher up.

• Brushing long hair in the morning can be a nightmare, but it’ll be easier if you brush before bed as well.

• If you want easy hairstyles for long hair, the ponytail is perfect. It’s quick, it’s practical, and it offers plenty of room for variation. Check out this list of ponytail styles to try.

• Bun-based long hairstyles for women look more elegant than the average ponytail, while still being simple to do.

• Braids take a little more time, but they tend to be striking. They’re also a great way to disguise hair you haven’t had time to wash in a while.

• The most simple hairstyles for long hair, of course, are the ones where you’re just wearing your hair down. If your hair’s too out-of-control to be allowed free rein, smooth it down with a heated straightening brush.

• For a more dramatic transformation of your loose hair, try using straighteners to straighten your hair, or to give yourself glorious waves. To keep your hair happy and healthy, use heat protectant and a straightener designed for split end prevention.