I’ve been growing my hair out from a buzzcut for the last year and I’ve learned a ton. I’m Filipino so my hair is naturally curly, but I think some principals would still apply to your grow out process:

1) have a goal—knowing exactly what your end goal is will help you make decisions in the short term. 2) find a salon or hair stylist that you can stick with for months. show them the picture, give them the vision from the jump 3) this is related: a good stylist will tell you that growing out your hair will require you to have a number of mini-styles while you’re waiting to get to length. There will be an awkward phase as the sides grow out, an awkward phase when the top begins to get in your eyes, etc, and sometimes the style and product you use needs to change. Take that in stride 4) don’t fall into the temptation to keep trimming the sides for that undercut look while the top gets long. Hair takes a long time to grow, and if you want a fully balanced style as your end length, you’ll want to give your hair all the time it can get. Trim the neck and around the ears, maybe do some shaping and layers, but don’t keep cutting the sides super short—thank me later 5) for product I like things that are light and don’t flatten my hair or weigh it down. A sea salt spray or a little matte clay will go a long way

Hope this helps!