Growth Vs. Length Retention

What's the difference?  Your hair is always growing at an average rate of about .5''/month.  This is an average, that is to say that some will get more growth per month and some will get less. Stress, diet, excercise, hormones, and genetics all play a role in how your hair grows.  Length retention is the most overlooked part of growing long hair.  The ends of your hair are the oldest and get worn out through, chemicals, heat, dryness, evironmental factors, etc.  So how can you hold on to the oldest part of your hair?

Protective styling is usually the first suggestion, but if you are just starting out, that may not be as feasible.  Protective styling is basically keeping the ends of your hair tucked away.  If your hair is long enough, buns and french rolls are easy to do and they look neat and show off your features.  Don't get caught up in the "granny bun", try side buns, double buns, cinnabuns, triple buns, etc to keep things interesting.  If your hair is not long enough to try any of these styles, you could keep your hair in two strand twists or plaits as a protective style.  Yes, we all want big, badass hair, but wearing it loose all the time, will lead to tangles, single strand knots, and the like which lead to breaking.  A major friend of protective styles are bobby pins or hair pins, the wavy kind like your gramma used to have.  They disappear into your style, they are really sturdy and non-damaging.  They can rescue any style on it's last leg.