3 Simple Hair Styles to GROW FLOOR LENGTH HAIR

I can't believe nobody talks about this.

The biggest secret to growing long hair isn't a product, it's literally how you style it, and today I will show you three simple styles that can transform your hair growth progress in minutes, and for exactly 0 dollars.

Just think about it - the ends of your hair are the oldest and most fragile part of your hair, and they can easily fray with friction or exposure to the elements.

So when we are constantly wearing our hair loose day to day, it can literally be like taking sandpaper to your growth progress.

Thankfully, the solution is quite simple, costs nothing, and only takes a couple minutes per day.

Today we will be learning how to create three simple protective styles that can work for most lengths of hair to minimize breakage and help you grow longer hair over time.

What is a protective style?

A protective style is simply one that keeps your hair ends protected from the elements, and up and off your body. This keeps your hair away from constant damage, which in turn minimizes breakage and maximizes length retention.

So let’s learn three simple styles that work for nearly every hair type and many different hair lengths.

But first, let’s cover something really important that you need to know…

Protective Styles Caution

Before we jump into the tutorial we need to mention a couple of things to be aware of. 

Why? Because protective styles need to be done properly in order to actually help instead of hindering your hair growth journey.

1st Caution

Protective styles should NEVER be done on wet hair. After washing or wetting your hair, wait until your hair and scalp are completely bone dry before putting them into any kind of hair style or braids. As tempting as it can be to get our damp hair out of the way, this prevents the moisture from evaporating from your hair and scalp, thereby trapping moisture for too long which can increase the chance of fungal or bacterial imbalance in your scalp. This can lead to dandruff and ultimately hair loss.

Keeping your actual hair strands too wet for too long can cause them to become the hair strand equivalent of overcooked spaghetti - more mushy and less strong.

2nd Caution

Whatever style you do, make sure that it is not pulling tightly at your hairline, or concentrating the weight of your hair in one small area. A clear example of the kind of style to avoid would be a very tight ponytail. Not only will this create excess tension at your edges which can lead to permanent hair loss around your edges, but the ponytail itself is also concentrating all the weight of your hair in a half inch wide circle on your scalp, which will put too much tension on that one spot.

Now please don’t overthink this, especially if your hair is shorter. But if you feel pain from a style being done too tightly, please take it down as soon as you can. As your hair gets longer, you will learn ways to fasten your hair that evenly distribute the weight. 

Really quick let's talk about how to prep your hair for a protective style and some

tools and clips you may find helpful. 

Hair Tools and Hair Prep

Really quick let's talk about hair prep for finer or straighter hair types that can't hold a style. First of all, doing these styles on hair that is not freshly washed will help, because your hair will have a little holding power. 

Also using some kind of texturizing hair pomade or spray can help your hair hold a style. This may be a commercial option you find at your drug store, or something simple and natural like epsom salt hair spray. 

To make all of these styles, you will need detangled, dry hair. 

Tools you may need to create or neaten up your styles are any combs that you prefer, or a boar bristle root brush like this one. These can be used to create partings or to neaten up the sides of your style after it is made. 

For hair fastening clips, let's give some examples. You don't need all of these, just one or two types that work for you. 

Satin scrunchies are really nice to have because they are gentler on the hair. 

Some clips you may find helpful: Bobby pins, a bun donut, hair sticks or a hair fork, a claw clip, or a holdi-locks hair fastener.

Again, pick your favourite type of fastening and stick with that. My favourites for my go to styles are hair sticks, but this will be different depending on your hair type, hair length, and what styles you prefer. 

Now, let's start with a few variations of the basic hair bun. It’s a classic style for a reason.

Hair Buns

Regular Bun

A bun, believe it or not, can work for all hair types, starting at shoulder length and beyond. I’m going to show you a few variations.

You can fasten the bun up high or at the nape of your neck or anywhere in between to create different looks to accommodate a hat or helmet, for example. All summer, if I used a hair bun, it was at the nape of my neck to accommodate my sun hat. 

When styling a regular hair bun, just be sure you aren’t pulling too tightly.

Don’t fasten your bun with only an elastic - for instance, by folding your ponytail in half.  Rather, use a few bobby pins all around the outside perimeter of the bun, or use hair sticks if your hair is long enough.

In the video for this article, I demonstrate the hair sticks method and the Holdi-Locks method.

In the video, I demonstrate this on my longer hair. But for shoulder length hair, you can first put your hair in a pony tail, ideally using a satin scrunchie, and then use a tool like the Holdi-Locks to wrap your hair around and then clip the two ends of the Holdi locks together. 

The Holdi locks was invented by a really nice lady with fine, slippery hair who worked as a technician and needed a way to keep her long hair securely fastened. 

This can give you the look of a perfectly coiled, much larger bun than you could otherwise get with shorter hair, and very secure without the need for a bunch of bobby pins.

You can finish off by putting a scrunchie around the entire bun, or using a couple bobby pins if you need them. 

Zero-Tension Hair Hun

You can see on many historical updos from the days when women were wearing protective styles daily, that they would often separate out the front edges of their hair from the rest of this style. Not only can this make the style more flattering to the face and create more volume. but it also protects the hair edges from being pulled back too tightly and weighed down by the rest of the hair.

I like to section out the front parts of my hair and do a french roll on either side of my face, before joining these sections into the rest of the hair bun and fastening with bobby pins at the back.

Braided Bun

If your hair is long enough, my personal go to quick style that can look simple and elegant, is to fasten either one braid or two into a bun by coiling them around each other and fastening them with hair sticks. This is my personal go to style as a busy mom because I nearly always sleep with my hair in two braids, so in a pinch I can just put those braids up into a bun and it only takes me  about 30 seconds.  If your hair is shorter, you can fasten a braided bun with bobby bins or a claw clip (one large or a few small). 

French Twist

When I was about 9 or 10 and my hair was shorter and my mom's was as well - no longer than shoulder length - my mom and I would both do our hair in a french twist when we went to church. It is simple, elegant, very quick, and can work for different hair types and lengths, including as short as shoulder length hair. In fact, it is easiest to do a french twist on shoulder length hair.

If you have shorter hair, you would simply grip your hair near the nape of your neck, and then gently start pulling it all upwards towards the top of your head, while twisting it to one side. This upward and side twisting motion creates a twist that is evenly attached to your head as it goes up, distributing the weight of your hair evenly. At this point, you would just use a barette clip at the top, or a french twist comb stick into the side of the style, or even a large claw clip. In my case, I need to coil up the extra length of hair into a bun at the top and fasten that.

Now for one of my favourite styles: 

Milkmaid Braids

Milkmaid braids are a very cute and elegant style that can work for hair as short as collar bone length. You can see milkmaid braids in many Italian Renaissance portraits of long haired women, though they would fasten them with a method called hair taping, which uses a ribbon instead of modern bobby pins.

You need to start by having your hair in two braids. If your hair is shorter, you would start the braids up very high, near your temples. 

You would then pull the braids up to the top of your head and gently fasten with bobby pins, opening up the bobby pin and catching some of the braid and some of the hair on your head.

You will know your hair is long enough for this style if, when you bring the braids up to the top of your head, they are long enough to just pass over your centre part onto the other side.

If you hair is longer, you can start with the braids lower down, and pull each braid up around the opposite side of the head that the braid started from, and fasten them at the top with bobby pins. The longer your hair, the more of an overlap between the two braids you will have. 

Remember that finding just one or two protective styles that you wear even a couple days a week can help to minimize breakage of your hair ends and improve your length retention. There is a reason why cultures all around the world have used protective hair styles throughout history!

Let me know if you plan on trying any of these styles, and which ones work for your hair type and length. If you are already a protective style pro, we would love to hear your advice in the comments! See you in the next article!