By Phemelo Segoe
Photo by Leighann Blackwood on Unsplash
Breakage is always one of the top 5 hair concerns for women and men who are trying to grow their hair. Breakage happens for a number of reasons, including hair being under moisturized or excessive exposure to heat and styling. Luckily, we have a few tips for you. But before we get into that, let’s first unpack what breakage is.
Breakage and shedding may seem like the same thing but they aren’t. Shedding is a process that our hair follows to make way for new hair strands. According to experts we lose anywhere from 50 to 100 hair strands a day and it’s nothing to call home about.
Breakage, on the other hand, is very different. Breakage happens when our hair strands shred. What do we mean by this? Well think about the structure of the hair cuticle. It’s made up of different layers, these layers are stacked on top of another so when these individual layers of hair fibers split from the rest of the pile, that’s what we call breakage.
So how can you identify breakage? When you don’t notice full hair strands on the ground but instead, little pieces of hair. That's what we call breakage.
So how can we combat breakage?
1. Cut split ends before they cause further breakage.
Split ends are sneaky and insidious. If you don’t trim them then you run the risk of allowing them to split down to your roots and causing excessive breakage.
2. Go gentle on your hair.
Stop aggressive brushing and combing! It’s just not healthy. Not for your hair and certainly not for you. Also rough combing doesn’t take knots out faster, it just makes it more painful.
3. Dry your hair before bed.
Sleeping with wet hair is a bad idea and it’s made even worse by the fact that it increases the risk of breakage. Make sure to air dry your hair before bed and then wrap it up! Rough fabrics create friction which leads to breakage.
4. Let loose a bit
Constant pulling on your strands into styles that are too tight leads to breakage. Plain and simple. Be kind not only to your tresses but your scalp too! Less pulling, more loving.
5. Reduce the heat
Heat styling is one of the main drivers of breakage because of how dehydrating heat is and just how little moisture heat leaves in our hair. This is why it’s important to go back in with a moisturiser after applying heat.
To happier hair days and less breakage!
Love MPL