Breakage is unavoidable but can be minimised 🤸🏾‍♀️. A hair strand can break under tension, loosing some of the length of that strand with the rest of it remaining on your scalp. The difference between breakage and shedding is that hair that’s been shed still has the tiny white bulb at the end of the strand, and whilst broken hair are shorter, shed hair is the normal length of your hair.

The main reasons hair break is due to environmental stress (putting tension on your hair) and low elasticity (hair that isn’t stretchy or elastic breaks easily under tension), so by addressing either of these, you can reduce hair breakage. Here are 5 ways to help you do just that and please share your tips in the comments below 🙌🏾

Check out these 5 tips 💥

#1 Less Manipulation
To nurture healthy hair and avoid breakage, it’s important to handle your hair with care and manipulate less. You may also consider protective styles such as braids, twists, buns, bantu knots, cornrows or head wraps to give your hair a break from excessive touching, combing and environments.

#2 Minimise Heat Usage
Continuous use of heat can lead to heat damage and breakage as heat sucks the moisture out of your hair. If you absolutely need to use heat, then make sure it’s not excessive and always use a heat protectant. Alternatively, for a similar look, you can wrap your hair at night or use satin-covered rollers for curl and volume.

#3 Avoid Towel Drying
To avoid snagging and pulling on your hair don’t use regular towels to dry your hair, use a microfiber towel or even a t-shirt to minimise breakage.

#4 Moisturise & Seal
Dry hair is more brittle, breaks easily and makes it harder for you to retain length. You should therefore ensure your hair is moisturised to increase elasticity. A true moisturiser has water listed as the first or second ingredient, if it’s not or not listed at all, then that product will unlikely moisturise your hair. Once you’ve moisturised, make sure you seal it in with a good oil such as shea butter, castor oil or avocado oil.

#5 Deep Condition & Nourish
Due to penetrating the hair on a deeper level, deep conditioning has longer lasting, nourishing effects than you daily conditioner. A weekly deep condition will help reduce and prevent breakage by providing moisture and nutrients to your hair, resulting in stronger and more elastic hair. There are two types of deep conditioners, moisturising ones that contain humectants that attract moisture and are absorbed into hair, these can be used on a weekly basis. The other type is protein deep conditioners, or also referred to as treatments, these helps strengthen and increase elasticity of your hair and should only be done every 2-4 months, depending on the condition of your hair.