Nobody wants dry, frizzy, and damaged hair. It’s not a good look and doesn’t exactly scream “I love myself and deserve the best” which - newsflash: you should. There’s a difference between distressed and Distressed.
Now, we get it, knowing how to stop natural hair breakage can feel like a challenge. And while strong, glossy, and healthy natural hair is always the goal, sometimes, you will be faced with dry hair that is prone to breakage.
While dry and damaged hair is problematic, natural hair breakage can absolutely be prevented. Stick with us as we dive into everything you need to know about natural hair breakage and highlight the best 5 tips on how to stop breakage in natural hair.
- What is Natural Hair Breakage?
- Signs of Natural Hair Breakage.
- What Causes Natural Hair Breakage?
- 5 Tips to Avoid Natural Hair Breakage.
What is Natural Hair Breakage?
Natural hair breakage is when the hair shaft becomes brittle and dry, resulting in the ends snapping off of that hair shaft. This then gives the hair a ragged and damaged appearance with hairs that are different lengths. From coily hair to straight hair, every natural hair type is at risk of breakage.
Signs of Natural Hair Breakage
Think you may have natural hair breakage? Here are the common signs to watch out for:
- Your Hair is Dry and Rough: Gone are the days of having hair with a luscious sheen and a soft feel. Now, you are stuck with hair that feels dry and rough to the touch. This is the most obvious sign that you are dealing with damaged and broken hair.
- Your Hair Isn't Growing: No matter what you do, you feel as though your hair has not grown beyond a certain length in ages. When your hair is damaged, it becomes prone to breaking which then prevents your hair from growing.
- You Find Broken Hairs: Whether it's on your pillow in the morning, in the shower, or all over your clothes, you seem to be finding hairs everywhere. This hair loss is not a result of normal hair loss, but rather due to damaged hair. Seeing an increase in short, brittle, and broken hairs is a sure sign of natural hair breakage.
What Causes Natural Hair Breakage?
Knowing how to stop natural hair breakage starts with figuring out what is causing your hair to break. From what you’re eating (or not eating) to your stress levels to how you consistently style your hair, there are plenty of potential culprits behind your dry, split, or damaged hair.
Let’s take a look at a few of the common external and internal causes behind natural hair breakage so you know exactly what not to do.
External Causes:
- Not moisturizing your hair (always moisturize!)
- Using harsh products to clean your hair.
- Rough detangling.
- Not trimming your hair consistently.
- Wearing the same hairstyles.
- Always using high heat hair styling tools.
- Chemical treatments.
Internal Causes:
- Vitamin deficiencies.
- Stress (yes, this is your excuse to take a break).
- Not drinking enough water.
5 Tips To Avoid Natural Hair Breakage
While it’s normal and common to experience breakage in your natural hair, that does not mean this is a problem that you have to continuously deal with. No one has time for that. That’s why we’ve highlighted our top 5 tips for avoiding natural hair breakage.
1. Keep Your Hair Moisturized:
The best way to achieve healthier hair and prevent hair breakage is to ensure that you are moisturizing your hair. Without taking steps to maintain the moisture in your hair, your hair will become dry, split, and damaged.
Hair doesn’t naturally generate its own moisture, meaning that you need to take steps to hydrate your hair to keep it moisturized and healthy.
Here are our favorite ways to increase the moisture in your hair and avoid breakage.
- Moisturizing Conditioners: Keeping your hair hydrated starts with always using a moisturizing conditioner after you wash your hair. For dry hair, always opt for conditioners that include natural oils, such as olive oil, coconut oil, or shea butter. These natural oils are ultra-hydrating and offer your hair the much-need moisture it requires to become strong again.
- Deep Conditioning Treatments: If you are currently struggling with damaged hair, include a deep conditioning treatment in your weekly hair routine. Using a deep-conditioning hair mask or a leave-in conditioner at least once a week will stop hair breakage and encourage healthy hair growth.
- Steam Treatments: Hair steaming is an exceptional way to boost the moisture in your hair. The combination of heat and moisture in hair steaming allows for deeper moisture absorption, resulting in healthier hair. For increased effectiveness, run a few drops of natural oil or a leave-in conditioner through your hair when using your hair steamer.
2. Cut Down On Heat Styling
If you are looking to stop hair breakage and achieve healthy hair, you’re going to need to cut down on using your blow dryer, curling iron, or flat iron. Don’t worry, there are other ways to look fire.
Heat styling tools are problematic as they cause you to apply intense heat directly to your hair. This intense heat exposure results in a loss of moisture, which can lead to dry and damaged hair. By limiting how often you use your styling tools on your hair, you can easily avoid natural hair breakage.
Don't worry, this does not mean you need to sell your favorite styling tools. Just make sure that when you do style your hair with heat, you use a heat protectant to protect your hair and maintain moisture.
3. Detangle Gently
Dry and damaged hair is prone to becoming a tangled mess. This can lead to you frantically detangling your hair, which can often result in more hair breaking.
Detangling your hair is not the problem, rather it’s how you are detangling your hair. If you ensure that you always take a gentle approach to detangling your hair, you can reduce the breakage and start building the strength of your healthy natural hair.
Follow these top ways to detangle your hair gently and avoid breakage:
- Use Your Fingers: The best way to prevent breakage is to finger detangle. If you need to detangle in a hurry, you can also gently pull a wide tooth comb through your hair.
- Always Detangle Wet Hair: Detangling dry hair is a major no-no. When your hair is dry, detangling it can lead to more breakages. To avoid this, make sure that you are always detangling your hair when it is wet. You can do this in the shower with a shower-detangling brush and a small dollop of your moisturizing conditioner.
- Use Detangling Products: If your dry and damaged hair needs a little help while you are detangling, you can always use a detangling product. Detangling products are designed for different hair types and can make detangling easier and gentler on your hair.
- Start at the Bottom: Have you ever started detangling your hair from the root and ended up with massive knots at the tips? Detangling gently from the base of your hair strands to the top will reduce your hair breaks.
4. Wear Protective Styles
The way you style your hair can either cause breakage or prevent natural hair breakage. If you are looking to avoid breakage in your hair, then you should opt for wearing protective hairstyles.
Protective styles are hairstyles that protect your natural hair from damage that can be caused by hair products, rough detangling, tension or intense direct heat from hair styling tools. Protective styles work by keeping the ends of your natural hair safely tucked away, thus preventing any damage.
The other bonuses to wearing protective styles are that they can allow your natural hair to retain moisture and promote hair growth, allowing you to enjoy healthier hair.
Here are a few of our favorite protective styles for you to incorporate into your hairstyle repertoire:
- Box braids.
- Twist hairstyle.
- Cornrows.
- Crochet Faux Locs.
5. Grow Your Confidence with Crochet Faux Locs
While you can repair your damaged hair to achieve strong and healthy hair, this can take a while. Since we know you want to look strong and confident 24/7, even while you’re repairing any damages, crochet faux locs are the perfect solution.
Crochet faux locs are temporary hair extensions that are attached to your natural hair. From twists to braids to dreadlocks, you can have any hairstyle you can imagine with crochet faux locs.
They are effortless, long-lasting, and versatile, making them a fun way to showcase your personality with your hairstyle while you are nurturing your natural hair.
The best part about crochet faux locs is that they can actually assist with preventing damage to your natural hair. As a protective hairstyle, crochet faux locs ensure that your natural hair is protected, they ensure moisture is retained, and allow for your hair to grow, giving it the TLC it deserves.
