If your hair has sat at the same length for a year or more, a standard wash day isn't going to shift it. You need a routine built specifically around protecting the ends — because the ends are where length is being lost.
This is that routine. Four steps, once a week.
The short answer
Cleanse gently rather than stripping. Deep condition every single week, not occasionally. Style the hair stretched so coils don't tangle into each other. Seal the ends with something heavy enough to last several days. The ends are the oldest, driest, most fragile part of your hair and every step here exists to protect them.
Step 1 — Co-wash instead of shampoo
Shampoo strips the small amount of moisture your ends are holding onto. A co-wash cleanses with conditioning agents instead of detergents, so the hair comes out of the wash still soft.
Purify Me Moisturizing Co-Wash Cleanser replaces shampoo on most weeks. Use a proper shampoo every third or fourth wash to clear build-up, because co-washing alone eventually leaves residue.
Step 2 — Deep condition, properly, every week
This is the step that does the most work and the one most people treat as optional. A repair masque left on for twenty minutes under a cap restores flexibility to strands that have gone brittle — and flexible hair bends instead of snapping.
Fix My Hair Intensive Repair Conditioning Masque through the lengths and ends, cap on, twenty minutes minimum. The warmth trapped under the cap matters; it helps the treatment get in rather than sit on top.
Detangle during this step, with the masque in, ends upward.
Step 3 — Style stretched, not shrunken
Here's a connection people miss: shrinkage causes tangling, and tangling causes breakage. When coils contract, individual strands wrap around their neighbours and knot at the ends. Keeping the hair elongated as it dries keeps strands separated.
Don't Shrink Flaxseed Elongating Curling Gel holds the hair stretched while it dries. Apply to soaking wet hair in sections, smoothing downward rather than scrunching upward — scrunching encourages shrinkage, which is the opposite of what you want here.
Step 4 — Seal the ends and keep sealing them
A leave-in evaporates within a day or two. A butter stays. Seal It Up Hydrating Sealing Butter worked into the last few centimetres — and only the last few centimetres — keeps the ends pliable for days.
Re-apply to the ends midweek. This is the single highest-value four minutes in the whole routine.
The part that isn't products
No routine survives bad habits. Three things matter as much as anything above:
- Detangle once a week, not daily. Every comb pass costs strands.
- Satin at night, always. Cotton is abrasive and absorbent.
- Trim the splits. They travel upward if you don't. Twice a year.
Common questions
How long before I see length?
Three to six months. Breakage stops fairly quickly, but you need new growth to accumulate before it's visible. Photograph your stretched hair against a wall now and repeat every eight weeks.
Can I co-wash every week?
Most people can. If your scalp starts feeling coated or itchy, work a clarifying shampoo in every third wash.
Is deep conditioning weekly too much?
Not for hair that's breaking. If it starts feeling mushy or overly soft, alternate a protein-based treatment with a moisture one.
Why does the sealing butter only go on the ends?
Your roots are young hair with scalp oil reaching them. Butter at the root weighs hair down and can clog the scalp with no benefit.
Will this stop shedding too?
No — shedding is different from breakage. Losing 50 to 100 hairs a day with a small white bulb at the end is normal and healthy. This routine addresses hair snapping mid-strand.
The four products
The Length Retention Pack is these four together — co-wash, repair masque, elongating gel and sealing butter.
For the full picture on why hair breaks, read hair not growing? It is probably breaking, not stalling. Or browse the full Aunt Jackie's range.
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