If you’ve noticed brittle hair with split ends, you should make sure that you learn how to prevent breakage further. With this article, you’ll find out everything you will need to know about hair breakage and how to prevent it.
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In this article:
- What Is Hair Breakage?
- What’s the Difference Between Hair Fall and Hair Breakage?
- What Are the Common Causes of Hair Breakage?
- When Is Hair Breakage Not Normal?
- Which Illnesses Have Hair Breakage as a Side Effect?
- Does Hair Breakage Grow Back?
- How to Prevent Hair Breakage?
How to Prevent Breakage and Other Concerns About Hair Breakage
What Is Hair Breakage?
If your hair is breaking off right at the shaft, then that is considered hair breakage. Hair breakage is usually caused by mishandling of the hair in some way, or poor condition resulting from too many products and heat styling.
In some cases, it might be due to an underlying illness.
What’s the Difference Between Hair Fall and Hair Breakage?
The difference between hair fall and hair breakage lies in where the breaking off of the hair happens.
If the hair breaks or falls off right at the root, then it is considered hair fall. On the other hand, if your hair snaps off right in the middle or near the ends then that is considered hair breakage.
Avoiding hair fall and preventing breakage are two different things altogether.
What Are the Common Causes of Hair Breakage?
If you mismanage hair care and poorly handle your hair, then hair breakage is bound to happen. Therefore, it’s crucial that you find out what the common causes of hair breakage are.
Here are some of the common causes of hair breakage that you should avoid.
1. Heat Styling Your Hair Too Often
Being a big fan of heat-styled hair may have its drawbacks. If you rely on your blow dryer and curling iron too much, then your hair is bound to react negatively sooner or later.
There has been a study that showed heat styling your hair doesn’t keep your hair healthy. Thus, you should avoid doing this as much as possible (or work on figuring out hair styles that lessen your reliance on heat).
If you’ve been noticing more hair breakage than normal, than avoid heat styling your hair until you’ve figured out a new hair care plan.
2. Chemical Treatments on Your Hair
Aside from heat styling, chemical treatments are also not good for your hair.
Applying bleach and all sorts of strong chemicals on your hair are definitely not going to prevent breakage in any way.
Try not to color your hair too often. Give your hair the break it deserves before you go into any other chemical treatments for it.
RELATED: 10 Healthy Hair Tips For Strong, Shiny Hair
3. Lack of Moisture
A simple lack of hydration can be the reason why your hair is breaking off too easily. If your hair is too dry, then you may want to check out how you wash your hair.
Deep conditioning your hair with the right kind of hair masks are a big help when it comes to hydration. You can even make hair masks by yourself at home.
Also, make sure that your usual shampoo and conditioner fit your hair type as well.
Some shampoos work for straight hair while some are better for curlier hair types. Knowing your hair type will help you figure out the hair products that will help you moisturize the hair.
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4. Having an Improper Diet
If you’re not eating right, then you might be affecting the health of your hair as well.
You should incorporate more food with protein and biotin in your diet because these are said to help make your hair grow faster and stronger. Eggs are just some of the many foods that you should eat to help grow your hair faster.
5. Stress
Stress is also a big reason why you might be experiencing more hair breakage. This might be especially true if hair breakage has only occurred in recent times.
Figuring out a solid stress management plan won’t only help you prevent breakage, but it will also affect your overall health and well-being, too.
6. Not Cutting Your Hair Often Enough
Another reason why your hair might be breaking off is that you haven’t been trimming your ends consistently. Split ends are much more prone to breakage so if you don’t address them, you’re left with hair shafts that break easily.
As much as possible, visit your stylist, a salon, or a barber every so often. Every eight to 12 weeks should be fine.
Going to the salon to cut off the ends of your hair isn’t just something that you do for a quick beauty boost. It’s also so you can promote healthy hair growth.
When Is Hair Breakage Not Normal?
There is no specific way of measuring normal or abnormal hair breakage Thus, it’s best that you go off of your specific experience and hair pattern.
You can’t completely expect to never have hair breakage ever. However, you should at least make sure that you have a good and consistent hair care routine to prevent chronic breakage from occurring.
Usually, hair breakage doesn’t mean there’s anything serious to worry about. Although that is most often the case, it’s better to be safe than sorry and go check with your trusted physician instead if you notice extreme changes with your hair.
Which Illnesses Have Hair Breakage as a Side Effect?
Although hair breakage is usually borne out of simple mistreatment of your hair, it can also be caused by some health conditions and other illnesses. Here are some of the illnesses that can affect the health of your hair:
- Lupus: This autoimmune disease can make hair more brittle, making it more prone to breakage.
- Heavy Metal Poisoning
- Thyroid Issues: Both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism can lead to hair breakage.
- Pituitary Gland diseases
- Syphilis
- HIV
- Sarcoidosis: This disease causes scarring and inflammation to occur all over the body which can affect the hair as well.
There are more illnesses that may have hair breakage as a side effect. If you feel like this may be the case for you because you’re experiencing other symptoms, then it’s best that you consult with a medical professional for your own well-being.
Does Hair Breakage Grow Back?
Hair breakage can grow back, depending on the cause. It’s going to take some time for it to grow but looking for different ways on how you can grow your hair faster might speed the process up for you.
How to Prevent Hair Breakage?
Hair breakage is a sign that your hair isn’t as healthy as it should be. Therefore, it’s also a sign that you should reevaluate your hair routine.
There are plenty of things that you can do to properly take care of your hair to prevent breakage.
One of the things that you should do is make sure that you condition your hair often. Also, make sure that you do it gently.
Don’t be too frustrated with your hair and pull on it too much, whether it’s through the use of hairbrushes or with your hands.
Another way to prevent breakage is through your diet. Having a balanced diet is a habit you should develop even without the hair breakage issue.
Taking care of your mental health is also part of having better hair. After all, too much stress can affect your hair health as well.
Hair breakage is an unfortunate affair for everybody, but hopefully, this article has helped you figure out how to address it.
Learn tips from professional to prevent hair damage in this video from Ann Le:
A simple way of improving the condition of your hair is by taking care of your overall physical well-being. As long as you take care of yourself, your hair will be in a better state overall.
What other questions do you have about hair breaking and how to prevent breakage that wasn’t answered in this article? Leave a comment down below to let us know!
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