From super-easy styling tricks to game-changing cuts and nutrient-rich foods, here's how to have the hair you always wanted, but never knew how to get.

Longer Hair:
Remember Rapunzel? Once her braid was long enough, she tossed it down to the prince and girl was outta there. Today, she'd be in trouble. Between dye jobs, stress, and styling, growing hair can be a beyotch. To the rescue: these accelerators and illusionist tricks.

In-Shower Secret
Shampoo matters! "Hair follicles are only 1.25 mm below the surface of the scalp, so cleansing ingredients really can reach them," says Elizabeth Cunnane Phillips, a hair scientist at the Philip Kingsley Trichological Clinic, in New York. Look for formulas enriched with vitamins E and B5, zinc, iron, and copper — they increase keratin production, the building block of hair.

Right Hue for You
"Hair that's slightly deeper at the roots and lighter at the ends not only looks on-trend but also creates the illusion of length," says colorist Charles Baker Strahan.

Thicker Hair:
Precious few are born with luscious, shampoo-ad hair. Steal these tricks and transform fine, limp strands into sexy volume.

In-Shower Secret
"The same ingredients that make your skin amazing can work wonders with your hair," says Dennis Gross, MD, a dermatologist in New York City. Two of his top picks: peptides, which stimulate hair growth, and salicylic acid, which sloughs the scalp, so debris doesn't block follicles.

Game-Changing Treatment
There's fine hair, and there's thinning hair — a condition that affects a whopping 30 million women in the U.S. It preserves the hair you have and helps spur new growth.

No-Fail Styling Trick
"Dry shampoo and volumizer are nonnegotiables," says Baker Strahan, "They temporarily increase the width of strands plus help them stand up at the root."

Cure-All Cut
A cut — specifically one that involves long layers as well as a few around the face — is actually key to a fuller look. "Layers create a stacked effect, allowing more air and movement and therefore fullness between sections," says celeb stylist Adir Abergel.

Right Hue for You
Fake natural-born thickness with thin highlights. "Bleach causes individual strands to expand, so they feel and look thicker," says Baker Strahan. "The mix of light and dark pieces also creates more depth — key to the full-body look."

Source: Cosmopolitan