First thing you should know is that hair breakage is most likely not a product issue, but a technique issue. So if your hair is breaking, the first thought in your mind shouldn’t be how you would look for a product to fix the issue, but to take a look at what you might be doing wrong. Here are some causes of breakage, and stopping them will lead to less breakage.
1. Over-manipulation of your hair. When you style your hair too often, and don’t allow it rest, it can lead to increased breakage, because contrary to what many think, black natural hair is very fragile. So don’t do an updo on Monday, twist on Tuesday, twistout on Wednesday, bantu knots on Thursday, flat twists on Friday… I am sure you get the idea by now. Leave your hair alone.
2. Having your hand in your hair. You know that thing we sometimes do when we are bored, reading a novel, watching a movie, or engaging in any task that might not require our two hands, that thing where we just turn our hair to toys and playing with it, or husbands and boyfriends and start fondling it, rolling it, caressing it? Yes, that one. Stop it! Lol.
3. Not moisturising regularly. Hair that is not moisturised is dry. Hair that is dry is susceptible to breakage. No story. Even if your hair is in extensions, no scratch that. Especially when your hair is in extensions, you should moisturise. Extensions have the tendency of drying out the hair, so it is your prerogative to moisturise often, so you won’t suffer so much breakage during take down.
4. Not sealing your ends. Your ends are the oldest part of your hair. The longer your hair, the older your ends, so it is advisable that you take extra care of the by sealing them often after moisturising. Even when you have to manipulate, your hands can just glide down without you hearing those evil snaps.
5. Combing your hair dry. I really don’t know how some people do this successfully, but if you have a black belt in the art of combing hair dry, let’s just say you can say goodbye to the goal of having waist length hair. In black natural hair, there is a potential breakage point at every corner where hair strands curl or coil. Combing your hair dry means you are trying to force the comb through those potential breakage points. It’s like a clash of the titans, and trust me the comb wins the battle most times.
6. Improper detangling. You might wonder why this would affect breakage. But if you don’t detangle properly, shed hair will be trapped in your hair, and after some time, they start snagging off some strands of hair in your head. This leads to massive breakage. I have had this issue in the past, and trust me, it is not pretty. Our hair is really more fragile than you imagine.
7. Fixing extensions too tiny and tight. I am sure you have heard this over and over again. This not only causes hair to break, but leads to increased shedding and alopecia. If you must fix extensions, make it loose, especially around the edges, don’t have it in for too long, and don’t manipulate it too often.
8. Romancing and embracing cottons. If you must use a cotton pillowcase at night, at least use a satin bonnet or scarf to cover your head. This will prevent the cotton from drying out your hair or rubbing harshly against your strands, and leading to breakage. In short, anything that dries out your hair is not good for it.
There are a lot more causes of breakage that I did not mention, such as using the evil blue combs, zips and buttons of your clothes while pulling them off, earrings snagging, using heavy butters and oils on fine strands, etc. The important thing is that you identify what you are doing wrongly, and try to stop it.
Do you have any other tips for us about this breakage issue? Let us know in the comment section.
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