Are you struggling with how to grow your African American hair long? Don't worry - you're not alone. During my twenties, I spent years trying a variety of different things to achieve my goal. What kind of girl doesn't want to have a few more feminine hairstyle options up her sleeve?

I didn't realise that growing long African American hair is simpler than most hairstylists would have you think. I'm here to share 3 sensational tips that I've learnt over the years. I'm not going to tell you that these 3 tips will fix everything overnight, but it's a step in the right direction. And once you start moving in the right direction, you pick up a momentum - before you know it you'll have long, strong and healthy African American hair to enjoy.

Wash your hair as little as possible. Yes, really!

Most women fall into a routine of washing their hair on a schedule, despite the fact that their hair could go a couple more days without a wash if they paid more attention to it. Or they follow the advice of product labels, written by the manufacturers of the haircare products they're using. Neither of those are a good thing. You should wash your hair as little as you can, depending on your hair length, strength, and how it's treated.

For example, if you have a head of hair which is only treated with very natural haircare products, and isn't exposed to harsh chemicals, leave it longer than if you don't. If your hair is naturally prone to breakage, let it alone for an extra day or two than normal. You'd be surprised at how big an effect this can have on your hair - washing too often dries it out, and that can contribute towards the breakage issues that women growing African American hair experience.

Trim small, and regularly.

Trim your hair ends approximately every couple of months, or sooner if you see split ends starting to appear. The key here is to get rid of any part of the hair follicle which is going to weaken the hair shaft in the long term... and whilst it might sound counter-productive to tell you to cut it more, the fact is that African American hair suffers from breakage much more than other kinds of hair, as I've already explained.

Here's a little something extra - I'm giving you another tip because not a lot of women realise the importance of giving our hair some pampering now and then!

Conditioner, conditioner and more conditioner.

Ideally, you should be using a moisturising conditioner or treatment after every single wash. Maybe you already do. But you should also be deep conditioning your hair every couple of weeks too - during summer, unless you're out in the sun all day, you might be able to get away with once a month. However, when it starts to get windy and wet, make sure that you're pampering your hair with deep conditioning treatments now and then, so that the extra protection it needs is being taken care of.

I don't have a specific brand to recommend; I generally just use whatever my local market has in stock - as long as it doesn't have silicones or sulfates in them. You could also look into making your own hair treatments at home. I have done this in the past when I have time and want to give my hair some extra loving care - but it's not totally necessary. The important thing is to give your hair some extra attention every couple of weeks, and you should start to see an improvement for yourself soon!