Historical Hair Care Grew My Hair to Hip Length! Here's How

I have been practising historical hair care for the past 6 years, and it grew my hair to hip length! This after having a chin length hair cut and having never been able to grow very long or healthy hair my whole life (up until now!) In this video I will be explaining:

*My hair history and how it's led me to the methods I now use
*The unusual hair detangling method that has helped to retain hair length
*How historical hair care drastically differs from modern hair care in its attitudes and results
*How not using conventional shampoos has helped my hair to grow (and thrive)
*The natural, homemade concoctions I use in my hair. Hint: I only use products in my hair that are edible
*How historical hairstyles actually helped to grow long hair. Hint: it's about length retention

Have you ever looked at those historical photos and paintings of women with surreally long hair, and then looked at the many thousands of people today who desperately desire long tresses, but their hair simply refuses to grow past a certain point, and wondered . . . maybe those historical women knew something we don't?

When I chopped off my hair to chin length 6 years ago, it was time to drastically rethink my hair routine. Previous generations clearly knew how to grow long hair - and I was ready to figure out the secret, even if it meant throwing out everything I'd been taught about modern hair care.

This routine dramatically differs from almost all modern hair care routines, especially those typically recommended for people with curly hair like me! (ie. "curly girl method")

Throughout this video, I will refer to "hair growth" synonymously with "length retention" (ie. avoiding breakage). For 99% of people, their hair is always growing, but if their hair care practices are constantly breaking their hair off at the ends, they will never see that growth. This was my own experience before beginning my current historical hair care routine. Keep watching to see how I changed that!

Use code "KAT10" at checkout to receive 10% off your order!

⏰ Time Stamps ⏰
0:00 - Intro
1:01 - Why Historical Hair Care?
1:33 - Who is This Video For?
2:19 - What's Up With Historical Women's Ultra-Long Hair?
5:40 - The 4 Main Sections of this video
6:23 - My Hair History
7:34 - My Experience With the "Curly Girl" Method
13:29 - Historical Vs. Modern Hair Care
20:15 - My Historical Hair Care Tenets
20:22 - Dry Finger Detangling
21:12 - Problems with Wet-Detangling Hair
24:13 - Historical Women (Mainly) Dry-Detangled Their Hair
25:24 - Historical Boar Bristle Hair Brushing
26:46 - My Personal Dry-Detangling Approach (for curly hair)
29:34 - "No Poo" Method - Rare and Gentle Hair Washing
31:54 - Rhassoul Clay Hair Washing
33:40 - Minimal Hair Product Usage
34:54 - Hair and Scalp Oiling
37:42 - Protective Styles
40:47 - Weekly Hair Routine Demo
40:52 - Dry Finger Detangling
42:25 - Daily Protective Styling
44:51 - Pre-Wash Oil Treatment
46:04 - Clay Wash Recipe and Routine
50:24 - Finished Hair Results
51:02 - Conclusion

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[KatherineSewing]

Use code "KAT10" at checkout to receive 10% off your order!

[cheetodust]

Summary: 

1. Night before hair wash, finger comb and put oil throughout scalp and hair; braid and cover while sleeping.
3. Use Rhassoul clay to wash hair 1x week - Full recipe at 46:00
3. Use oil (like jojoba oil) on dry hair and finger comb. Wet hair is more fragile and prone to breakage.
4. Wear protective hairstyles throughout the week to prevent breakage and damage, like buns and milk braids. 
Demonstration of routine starts at 40:50

[yellowsky.]

My grandfather used to tell me about how his grandmother had beautiful long hair. Her routine was that every night she would flip her head over and brush her dry hair for 100 strokes, trying to spread out the oils from her scalp to the ends. She would sometimes have my grandfather brush her hair for her. Brushing his grandmother's hair ended up being a very fond memory for my grandfather. I had forgotten about that story until you began talking about the historical methods of brushing :)

[brandiewhite]

My great aunt always kept her hair in a bun. After breaking her hip, I would stay the night with her sometimes to help her out. The 1st time that she took her hair down to brush it before bed, it fell down around her face in thick silver waves. She was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen! I'll never forget it!

[annalisa]

Every man who loves women, should feel good about helping her brush her hair. It’s a supremely bonding activity together… I spent the 80s teaching men how to do simple little tasks to charm and benefit women. I still get occasional letters of gratitude 🙏 💜💖💜💖💜

[amayalewis]

Your hair care routine is literally what black women do for gentle maintenance and care of our naturally curly-kinky hair. Goes to show that regardless of hair type, all natural hair needs the same basic care to reach its full potential. I enjoyed your video very much!

[lightsinthesky]

The happiness in my heart that I feel as a black girl hearing other people with coarse or curly hair talk about how they learned to care and love it, and hearing people talk about curly hair like it isn't a defect is so strong. I wish I could go back in time and show young me videos like this.

[maitreyik.r.]

In India, most of us in our 50s and 60s grew up with minimal hair washing (typically once a week in the water-plenty regions and less often inn the dry regions), oiling hair on a daily basis and oiling well the night before washing. We also brushed our hair a lot and those with curly hair detangled with fingers first and later followed up with wooden or ivory combs with spaced teeth by twisting the entire length and gently detangling little by little from the end, taking care not to break the hair. We used Coconut oil, Castor oil. In some other parts of the country, they even used sesame oil. My grandmother had thick knee length hair and my mother thigh length and even I had longer than hip length and thick and healthy with a lot of bounce. My grandmother used the paste of fenugreek seeds or home made curds (in those days it had cream) in the scalp and left it on for half an hour or more to condition the scalp and soften the hair. Also, till I was 30 years old, I used only shikakai (kind of a pod) powder or soapnut powder or the nuts soaked in got water and the juice taken out or even a combination of the two to wash the hair. Hair was never combed when wet. And yes, we were not allowed to leave hair open loose but braid it and most older women put it up in a bun during the day while doing household chores. I have never had split hair. Most hair oils contained various herbs, hibiscus, brahmi, gooseberry etc. Some even used chick pea powder (besan in Hindi, available in Indian stores abroad) to wash hair although that is quite messy and needs many rounds of finding. But it is a great facewash and bodywash for oily hair. My hair slowly turned brittle and dry after I started shampooing, stopped oiling regularly and later dyed my hair. It has taken me more than a year of going back to the traditional regime to make my hair regain its natural gloss and softness. I still use shampoo but wash my hair once in a month or so. I brush it a lot instead. Just reducing shampooing helped improve the quality.

[ninochkalove]

My Grandmother was from Russia and had gorgeous black hair. She never shampooed it- She would part it all the way to one side and rub witch hazel down the part.She did the to the whole of her head. At night she braided it to protect it and in the day wore it in a chignon. I'll never forget brushing her hair out as a little girl- I was in awe of her hair.

[shalinibiswas]

I am Indian with hip length hair as of right now, and just, wanted to say that the oiling method is still very much a staple for most people and for some it even serves as bonding time with family. My mom used to oil my hair weekly and tie it into braids and i feel like that was the moment when we had our most heart-to-heart conversations . But since she got ill she hasnt been able to do that at all and i got lazy and only did it intermittently. Watching your video has really made me want to start oiling my hair regularly and maybe, who knows, self care may help uplift the mood overall. Also Indians tend to wash our hair weekly or biweekly and use combs or fingers to detangle and it definitely helps to be gentle with your hair in order to prevent breakage. Great video, love it!

[Psalm_.]

Katherine,
Please don’t be discouraged by ANY of the surly, snarky, bitter comments here. I’m black, and I found your description was very similar to one that a black lady used, whose video I watched just before watching yours!
There probably ARE a lot more similarities to black and white hair care than people realize.
The market has likely exploited women of ALL colors!!!

[dinamcintosh]

Welp, you pretty much summed up natural hair care in the Black community, lol! Pretty amazing, actually. Every single step that you described and demonstrated, is a part of my own natural hair care regimen. I make every product that I use on my hair. My clay washes tend to be a bit more elaborate but that's because I love to incorporate ayurvedic powders into just about every treatment that I use on my hair. My hair, too, is longer, and healthier, than it's ever been. I didn't intend on watching an hour long video but I was so intrigued and excited by how our hair routines are, virtually, the same, I couldn't stop watching! The way cosmetic and personal care products are marketed, one would think our treatments and techniques would be worlds apart. To think, we could have been sharing hair tips, all along! Great video and I can't wait to share it in my FB hair groups 💕

[Lollikittey]

I had a baby and did NOT want to care about my hair. I stopped dying, heat styling and washing often. I added oil often and braided to get it out of my face... It grew past my belly button. I think we are just supposed to do way less and oil more.

[irumkhan]

1. Wait till fully dry and finger Dry detangle instead of wet. Results in less breakage when using fingers.
2.straight or wavy: use Boar bristle brushing at night to distribute oils and remove buildup
3.jojoba oil is a light use and helps when used for regular detangling
4. rasool clay instead of shampoo
Braid x2 at night

[panatypical]

Wow, I'm glad this popped up in my recommended feed. I'm a 71-year-old man who has worn his hair long most of his adult life. I started losing it in my twenties and had lost more than half of it. 7 years or so ago in desperation I moved into a place where there's no hot water because I just needed a place to live. With just cold water or having to heat water up I stopped washing my hair so much, and I saw that some of my hair was coming back. I'm a white man with light brown wavy hair. It's still light brown, graying was never a problem. But my hair started growing back, and it's mostly full now. I brush my hair twice daily, and there's always a lot in the brush, so that you'd think I should have been bald decades ago. What it showed me is that our bodies, including our skin and hair, grow not only from the inside, but from the outside. Over washing your hair can cause you to lose it. And your hair is absolutely gorgeous. I would love to put it in a ponytail for you and give you a big smile.

[devp]

I grew up seeing my mom take care of her knee length long hair which were wavy and so thick no rubberband would fit around it ! Every night she would finger comb her dry hair to get the tangles out and then brush them sometimes applying and massaging in coconut oil in the scalp. And braid the hair. The weekly hair wash routine would include profusely oiling the scalp and entire length of hair with coconut oil mixed with drops of essential oils to enhance hair growth. This would remain in the hair over night and the next morning she would wash her hair with a tea made of boiling soap berries ( called as Ritha in India), amla, orange and lemon peel and most importantly Shikekai in water. She would strain this boiled and cooled mixture and wash the hair with the tea and rinse with water ! No shampoo was needed. The soap berry or Ritha has a property of creating foam naturally if rubbed between your palms . The lemon, amla and shikekai are a mild cleanser and mildly acidic just like apple cider vinegar to keep the scalp dandruff free and orange peel kept it smelling great ! Sometimes she would treat her hair with Hibiscus petals and Henna tea to give a natural dark color and use multani mitti ( clay) paste in water as a conditioner for her hair.
Another natural skin cleanser my friend would use instead of soap due to her skin sensitive was a paste of ground chick pea flour( besan) in water and curds( yogurt) or buttermilk . Massage the whole body with this paste and rinse off with water! She always had glowing skin

[CarmenElRose]

I like you so much so I'll tell you the key to old times hair care: it's too never wash it with shampoo, never ever from birth. I did this with my daughter. She has fantastic hair. It never ever gets oily. It looks like it had been freshly washed every day. And even if I put couple of drops of oil on it to detangle, it actually somehow absorbs that oil within a day and comes back to looking great. She's almost 4 and it's been the best decision I've ever made as a mom.

[anniejane]

When my great grandmother moved from Ireland to London she became a servant. My great grandmother had beautiful long hair, it was so beautiful that her evil employers cut it all off. They also took away her name because they said the name 'Hannah' was too nice for a maid. I wish we had more tv shows about servants and the Working Class than all the tv shows about the upper class like Downton Abbey.

[ladyw]

My aunt wore her hair floor length her entire adult life. She always wore her own special updo during the day and took it down at night and wore two braids to sleep. She always said she washed it every Friday. Her hair was always so healthy and it never appeared dirty and never had a bad smell. Her hair was slightly wavy and of medium thickness. It was a beautiful dark brown with auburn highlights and she had very little gray hair when she died. I wish I knew more about how she cared for her hair—I feel sure she brushed it daily and probably used some kind of oil because it was so healthy. She lived to be 90 years old—she passed away in 2009.

[mariaakader]

I have a daughter with really curly hair. She is only 8 and needs my help to wash, comb and maintain her hair daily. I was always dreading it and I even wanted to cut her hair short as I just didn't know what to do for her. Iwatched your whole video so I can teach my daughter how to care for her hair. So thank you for this video from bottom of my heart.