During a recent chat with my hairstylist friend and all-around-curl-guru, Jasmine Santiago, I made an offhand comment about how difficult it is to grow out kinky curly hair, because it's so prone to breakage.

'That's actually a total myth,' she stated, while I sat my ass down. 'It's something I hear from my kinky-curly clients all the time: "I can't have long hair," and "kinky hair doesn't grow," but it's just not true.'

So where does the misinformation come from? 'Kinky hair just isn't taught in beauty school,' she says. 'Even the majority of black women in this industry are only recently learning about natural hair textures, since most women grew up with relaxed hair, so there's a lack of knowledge from the gate keepers about how to keep it healthy so it can grow out.'

Luckily, it's a completely possible and do-able thing, says Santiago. 'There's really no reason why someone with kinky, coiled hair can't grow it as long as they want, as long as they know what to do.' So to get you started on your long-hair journey, we cherry-picked the 4 best need-to-know tips, ahead.

1. Cut It Off

I know this sounds counterintuitive, but fight the urge to skip this step. 'You need to get a haircut every three months, no matter what, or you'll never get longer lengths,' says Santiago. 'Those kinky hair textures are drier and tangle up quicker, so you need to keep those ends clean on a quarterly basis to help prevent them from splitting and breaking off shorter. Don't even think about trying to stretch it to four months—set a reminder, and get your butt into the salon.'

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2. Don't Be Afraid To Wash It Too Often

'You wouldn't believe how often I have to tell my clients to wash their hair—it's one of the biggest misconceptions I fight on a daily basis,' says Santiago. 'Most black women believe that washing their curls will dry them out, so they only rinse them once a week or every other week, which actually causes severe brittleness and breakage.'

'If you're wearing a wash-and-go style, you need to be submerging that hair in water, fully saturating it, and slathering it with both a conditioner, like Aussie Moist Deep Conditioner, and an oil, like Carol's Daughter Black Vanilla Pure Hair Oil, every single day,' says Santiago, noting that yes, even if you spent three hours on those two-strand twists or bantu knots, you still need to rinse and condition it daily. 'Kinky curls dry out incredibly fast when they're worn in wash-and-go styles, since the curls are stretched out and exposed to air, so they need to be rehydrated every single day, no matter what.'

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If you're wearing a protective style, though, you've got a bit more leeway, needing only to wash your curls once a week. 'No protective style should ever last more than two weeks without you washing it, or your hair will dry out and break,' says Santiago. 'But even though you're not rinsing it daily, you need to be misting it daily with an oil spray for hydration.' Our pick: Ouidad Mongongo Oil Multi-Use Curl Treatment or Madam C.J. Walker Beauty Culture Oil.

'Regardless of how you wear your hair, you need to wash it with a cleansing conditioner once a week,' says Santiago, who swears by Pantene Pro-V Truly Natural Hair Co-Wash, and As I Am Coconut Cowash Cleansing Conditioner. 'And unless the product specifically says cleansing conditioner or co-wash, avoid it, or it'll dry out your curls.'

3. Add More Moisture

In case you haven't figured out the key to growing out your hair, yet, it's basically just water and moisture. So, you know, the same with any other growing organism. 'Each time you fully wash your hair, which should be once a week, you need to be using a cleansing conditioner, a regular conditioner, an oil, and a bunch of moisturizing styling products,' says Santiago, who recommends using Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Curl Enhancing Smoothie on damp hair before protective styles, and Hair Rules Curly Whip on damp hair for wash-and-go styles ('you can air-dry or blow-dry with it, and it stays clear').

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4. Try A Protective Style

Yeah, yeah, yeah—you knew this was coming, but protective styles really are the best way to grow out your hair fast. 'Look, you can spend a year trying to grow out your hair with wash-and-go styles, and yes, if you follow these steps, it will feel silkier, look healthier, and grow longer,' says Santiago, 'but you can also do weekly protective styles for the next three months, until your next haircut, and get the same length in a quarter of the time.'

No matter which route you take, Santiago promises you'll notice a difference pretty quickly. 'I think, if you actually adhere to these rules every single day, you'll notice a major difference in your hair within a few weeks,' she says. 'You're going to notice that your hair doesn't shrink as much, that it doesn't tangle, that it looks shinier, and that it's actually growing. Because your hair isn't incapable of getting longer, it just needs a little help, first.'

From: Marie Claire US