The Phase That Makes You Want to Cut It Again
You made the cut — either by choice or by necessity — and now you are living with it. The pixie or buzz that looked intentional at first is now in the uncertain territory between short and medium, and nothing about it feels right. The back grows faster than the top. The sides flare out. The length you need for versatility is not there yet. You have considered cutting it short again just to restart from something that looked deliberate. The grow-out process is genuinely one of the most psychologically testing experiences in a woman's hair journey — more challenging than many people expect.
Why Some Women Grow Out Faster Than Others
Hair grows at roughly 1.25 centimetres a month, and that rate is set mostly by genetics, age and general health. It is not something you can meaningfully speed up from the outside, and the products that claim to are making a promise nobody can keep. What you can change is how much of that growth you keep. At a centimetre and a bit a month, every snapped end is weeks of waiting undone — which is why a grow-out is really an exercise in retention, not acceleration.
Managing the Awkward Stages While Growing
The first awkward stage requires strategic styling to manage the unevenness. Light texturising products and deliberately tousled styling can work with the mixed lengths rather than against them. During the second awkward stage — the shoulder-length phase — hair quality matters enormously: well-conditioned, shiny, strong hair at this length looks intentional and healthy; damaged, dry hair at this length looks like an accident in progress. This is why condition matters more than usual during a grow-out: at these lengths there is nowhere for damage to hide.
What Actually Helps You Keep the Length
Be ruthless about heat. The lengths you are growing out are the oldest hair you have, and they have to survive months more of styling before they reach the length you want. Every straightening session is borrowed against that.
Detangle on conditioned, not dry, hair — and from the ends upward. Keep the trims small and purposeful: a micro-trim every couple of months removes split ends before they travel, and costs you far less length than the breakage would. And condition the ends more than the roots, because the ends are the part that has been through the most.
None of that makes hair grow faster. It just means more of what grows stays on your head, which over a two-year grow-out is the only variable that really moves.
What we make
Tasic Pure Oils makes Coco Aloe Mist Spray — a light leave-in mist of coconut and aloe. Australian-made in small batches, with no sulphates, silicones, parabens or palm oil.
Spray it through damp hair before combing. It is there to help the comb move, which is where most breakage happens. Have a look at it here.
References
• International Journal of Trichology, Vol. 11 (2019): Scalp circulation and hair growth rate optimisation
• Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Vol. 133 (2013): Anagen phase duration and growth rate determinants
• Journal of Cosmetic Science, Vol. 54 (2003): Effect of oils on protein loss and hair damage
