Hair Breakage: how to prevent and rescue!
Today I wanted to discuss hair breakage. This is not a problem that everyone has experienced, but most people will at some point. To help you get the best out of your hair, it is helpful to understand what causes hair breakage? What does it indicate? And most importantly how can you prevent or minimise it?
Many people think that their hair is not growing any longer, but they have to keep getting their roots dyed. If you cannot notice a difference in length, it is more than likely you are experiencing hair breakage.
Hair breakage is a sign that you have seriously damaged the internal structure of your hair. Often before performing a chemical service, your hairdresser will carry out an elasticity test, which will inform you of the condition of your hair. The internal structure of a hair strand is made up of coils. When it is wet, it should stretch and spring back. When your hair is chemically treated, i.e permed or bleached, a percentage of the bonds are broken, weakening the hairs structural composition. Recently the hairdressing industry has had several massive breakthroughs in ways to help repair the hair shaft. The most widely heard of brand is Olaplex. Enquire if this is something your salon offers. It can be used in conjunction with the colour process, or as a standalone treatment. Although it is expensive, it has been scientifically proven to work.
"Let's just get something straight: Olaplex isn't just another hair conditioning treatment. In fact, it doesn't use the word *conditioning* - often just a buzzword for one-off high-shine and smoothness - anywhere in it's advertising. What it is, instead, is system that permanently rebuilds the damaged disulphide bonds in your hair that are broken during the chemical process. If you've over-bleached over the years, Olaplex allows you to rebuild the strength, structure and integrity of your hair; a 'reset' for your locks, if you will." (Glamour Magazine.)
Hair breakage is also caused by roughly brushing or combing through the hair or tying in a tight pony tail when wet. The hair is more stretchy and fragile when wet, and needs to be treat gently. This also means no rough drying with a towel, instead gently squeeze the water out, using a old t-shirt or kitchen towel. This means you will not be avoiding unnecessary frizz, breakage and damage!
A third cause for hair breakage is constantly wearing your hair in a certain style up. This puts your hair under constant tension, especially with braided styles, and can even result in alopecia.
Even if you do not dye or perm your hair, you may find even if you are gentle with your hair, that you always have more of a tendency towards split ends and breakage. This will probably be due to the type of hair you have. Fine hair is not as strong, and will break more easily. You may think you have thick hair. But it is the texture of individual strands, not the overall density of the hair, that determines the type of hair you have. For example, I have a lot of hair, but the strands are fine. When my hair is long, I need to have it trimmed regularly, or I soon start to notice split ends. If I didn't have the ends trimmed, the split end would travel up the hair shaft, meaning I would need a lot more cut off to remove it. Simply by having regular trims, I can have long and healthy hair, by keeping the split ends at bay,
If you are willing to invest a small amount of time, to treating your hair more gently, you will reap the benefits. The better condition your hair, the longer your hair colours will last, and the hair will look shinier too. Try following the tips above for a few months, and you will quickly notice a big difference. not only will your hair be a lot more manageable, I can guarantee other people will notice a difference too!
