Have you ever been frustrated with your hair breakage?
You are not alone. Hair breakage is a common problem that gets in the way of length retention, softness and having strong and healthy strands. Whether it’s from heat styling or improper maintenance, the good news is that there are some easy ways to prevent this from happening in the future.
Hair breakage can be caused by all sorts of things. Whether it’s from poor heat styling or just improper maintenance, the good news is that there are some easy ways to reduce breakage and make your hair healthier overall.
Keep reading for 10 tips for growing stronger, longer natural hair!
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What is Natural Hair Breakage?
Before we can even begin to digest what natural hair breakage is we first need to be able to understand the difference between hair breakage and shedding.
While losing any amount of natural hair can be pretty scary, shedding is not something that you ever need to worry about. Shedding is a natural part of your hair growth cycle. It’s when you lose large amounts of hair at one time that you should be concerned.
In fact, shedding up to 100 hairs per day is pretty normal because it means that healthy new strands are emerging from your scalp! So don’t worry about this unless it starts happening at a much faster rate.
Hair breakage is very different to shedding because hair breakage signifies that your strands are breaking off at the point where they emerge from your scalp or somewhere else along the hair strand.
When this happens, you will start to notice your hair not growing as much or what seems like stunted hair growth. Remember hair grows every day but it’s up to you to retain the growth that you get.
What Causes Hair Breakage?
There are many different reasons as to why your hair could be breaking, some of them being more obvious than others.
Some of the most common reasons for hair breakage are heat damage, over manipulation of your hair or improper maintenance.
How you take care of your hair on a daily basis will affect how healthy your hair is and how it will eventually grow or not grow.
Some other reasons for hair breakage that may not be as common could be down to dietary deficiencies. Not getting enough of your daily nutrients can cause the hair to become brittle and prone to breakage.
Let’s not forget about stress, which can be a contributor when it comes to natural hair breakage due to how much strain it can put on the scalp and in turn negatively impact the hair growth cycle.
How To Tell if You Have Broken Strands of Hair
Working out if you have broken strands of hair is pretty simple because you can see it by eye.
To work out if you have broken hair, you should look for hair that is thinner at the bottom in comparison to the root. Remember that the oldest part of your hair is at the bottom and this area tends to be the most fragile. Towards the root is going to be much healthier and stronger.
As you look at your strands you should be able to see if the strand begins to look more fragile towards the ends. If it does that is likely to be hair breakage.
There are times when broken strands will also fall out as opposed to shedding, which means they are usually much shorter than normal strands of hair.
Broken strands of hair will not have a “bobble” on the end of it as a shed hair does, that is how you can easily spot the difference between a shed hair and a broken one.
Can You Repair Broken Hair?
Absolutely not. Any hair product claiming that it can is simply not telling the truth. Once a hair is broken, it is broken, that is the end of it. There is simply no way to reattach it back to your head.
The only thing you can do at this point is to locate the source of the problem and try to rectify it.
10 Tips And Tricks On How To Prevent Hair Breakage
If you have been experiencing hair breakage there are a few things that you can do to help resolve the problem.
First of all, you need to find out why your hair is breaking. Once you have identified the cause of the problem then you can work on fixing it and reducing the amount of breakage that you experience in future.
1. Try Low Maintenance Hairstyles
When you have hair breakage or weak hair it is a good idea to try low manipulation hairstyles. The less you touch your hair the better because that means there are fewer opportunities for something to go wrong.
Pulling your hair up into a bun every single day will do you no favours. You are more likely to cause tension to your hair and end up with lost edges.
Hairstyles like twist outs or even protective hairstyles might be better suited to you for a period of time.
2. Change Your Hair Products
Yes believe it or not the products that you use for your hair can also affect how your hair behaves. Try to look for products that are less harsh to your hair and don’t contain things like parabens, sulfates and silicones.
You need to look for brands that are natural or organic, these will be less likely to affect your hair negatively.
If the products that you currently use include those things I suggest trying a different product line or brand. You might not realise it but some styling products can also contain alcohol which can be very drying to your hair leading to breakage.
3. Keep Your Hair Well Moisturised
Moisture is key when it comes to growing healthy hair as dryness causes breakage. Having the perfect balance of moisture is imperative to your hair growth. Make sure also to not over moisturise your hair at the same time.
4. Try A Hot Oil Treatment
A hot oil treatment has long been known for its ability to help grow the hair longer, stronger and healthier. When you massage your scalp with oils rich in natural fat and vitamins it can have a massive positive effect on your hair.
5. Reduce Stress
Stress can be a difficult one to control as you may not even realise that you are stressed. Unfortunately, stress can cause your hair to break so make sure you give yourself a break sometimes and find some activities to do that help to make you feel relaxed.
6. Trim Your Ends When Needed
I say it all the time but trimming the ends of your hair is so important. Natural hair is prone to becoming dry and breaking. When that happens your hair can split (split ends).
It’s so important to trim your hair regularly (when needed) to get rid of split ends that lead to breakage. You do not want split ends to travel even further up the hair shaft!
If you are going to self trim make sure that you use professional scissors like these.
7. Reduce Your Usage of Heat
Heat damages your hair when used on a regular basis. Heat is not the only reason for hair breakage but it can be one of the causes that you need to look into.
If you need to use heat, try and keep it to an absolute minimum so that your hair doesn’t become over-processed. You can also use a heat protectant if you really need to use heat on your hair.
8. Deep Condition
Deep conditioning is an important part of hair maintenance that many people miss out on. Deep conditioning is important because it helps to replace the natural fat and moisture that’s lost from blow-drying and everyday moisture loss issues.
A really good deep conditioner to try is the Shea Moisture Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Masque; it is so good for your hair. You can use this as a treatment as well as a conditioner and it’s also great for moisturising dry natural hair. I recommend that you give this product a try if you are someone with natural hair that dries out easily!
Try deep conditioning regularly (every week or every other week) to help reduce hair breakage.
9. Try Protein
Have you heard of protein, moisture, balance? Well, the 3 things go together hand in hand. There must be a perfect balance if you want your hair to thrive.
If you have only been giving your hair deep conditioning treatments perhaps it’s time to consider a protein treatment too.
Protein is great because it helps to strengthen your hair.
Protein is extremely important so that your hair is strong from root to tip (unlike with moisture which moisturises the outside of your hair shaft). Be sure to either get a protein conditioner or a deep conditioner containing protein to help prevent your hair from breaking.
10. Clarify
If everything else fails you, be sure to try to clarify your hair. Clarifying your hair gives you a whole new fresh start and that maybe exactly what your hair needs. Remember that healthy hair first starts at the roots so it’s a good idea to get your scalp fresh, clean and free from buildup.
You can use a clarifying shampoo like this one to do it or you can do a simple apple cider vinegar rinse (ACV) using this.
Why You Should Care About Your Hair’s Health?
Having healthy hair means that you can grow your natural hair long and healthy.
Natural hair has huge growth potential if it is treated in the right way. If you want your hair to thrive then these are some really good tips for you.
Final Thoughts On Hair Breakage
In this article, you have learned some of the different ways to reduce natural hair breakage.
If you have been suffering from hair breakage then the above points are a great place to start. There’s no point in waiting until tomorrow to start, start today and plan your new hair maintenance routine to help you get the healthy hair you have always wanted!
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