Hair breakage can be the bane of people's life, especially if you are unaware of why this problem happened in the first instance. I get asked this question and having spoken to a few natural hair sisters, this seems to be a problem. I have decided to shine some light as to why you may be experiencing it and what you can do to overcome this problem.
Let's get into it......!!
Winter has fast approached us and if you have not considered checking your ends to see if they need a serious trim, well there is no time like the present.
Advice 1: Trim Them Ends
When doing this yourself you only need to remove the ends that look dead so do not go crazy now I like to twist my hair to spot if there are any untidy ends that need removing , trimming your ends helps to reduce chances of it becoming dry and brittle. So you should be looking to trim at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch every two to three months, but in my opinion, trim when necessary, you know your hair and you will get to know when your ends need seeing too.
Tip: Do not allow split ends to spiral out of control, split ends can travel up the hair shaft which means that you are having to cut off a lot more of your ends!!
Advice 2: Do not brush your hair wet!!
Are you one like me when you was younger and had natural hair that your mother maintained for a while until you were old enough to deal with it yourself. Remember your mother always saying to you, "Do not brush your hair wet!", and when you asked why? They never really gave a good reason, it was just that advice and that's it! Well, natural hair is fragile as it is and even more when it is in its wet state.
So imagine this, you reach for the brush to brush out your hair when hair is wet, so each stroke to the hair causes your hair to stretch and stretch and stretch to the point where hair snaps. This is not what you want.
Tip: Reach for the comb to help detangle your hair if necessary or better still you can use your fingers which in my opinion is better because you can feel for any knots or tangles plus it reduces hair breakage significantly so you get to see some hair growth.
Advice 3: Add some Protein
Conducting a protein treatment is something your hair needs if you are experiencing severe breakage, depending on how much breakage you are getting will determine how often this treatment is needed. Protein treatments are great in helping to strengthen your hair, but just a word of warning too much of something is not a good thing. If you conduct this treatment too often you will start to experience dryness in your hair.
Tip: It is best practice to alternate your protein treatments with a moisture rich deep condition to help balance strength and moisture in your hair. This in return will help to prevent breakage .
Advice 4: Factors that contributes to breakage
So we looked at what you can do to help prevent breakage, and so I have some factors as to why you experience this problem, and this will hopefully shed some light as to what you should do to stop the problem from happening again.
1. Pulling hair too much can cause stress and breakage to your hair so ease off and take your time with your hair remember natural hair is fragile as it is. Try to wear more protective styles to create less manipulation to your hair!
2. Styling your hair wet with a brush as mentioned before will cause your hair to break due to the constant stretching of your hair in its weakest state.
3. Flat ironing your hair daily or far too often will not only cause heat damage to your hair, but it will dry our your strands and exacerbate breakage, if heat is something you cannot live without, then try using a cooler heat setting on your hair and always use a heat protector and press your hair once rather than several times. My best advice is to leave heat out altogether or use occasionally not too often!
4. Colouring and bleaching your hair will cause your hair to become dry and brittle if you need to add colour do it the natural way to help highlight your hair but do ensure that you deep condition regularly to help keep hair moisturised.
5. Skipping trims, as mentioned beforehand trimming is necessary if you want to maintain healthy long hair, it is necessary to include this process in your natural hair regimen, do not skip this as you will regret this later on. This will help to prevent breakage!! and produce healthy hair growth.
6. Hands up for those that do not sleep with a satin pillowcase or a scarf, because if you cannot be bothered, you will see the consequence of not doing this. When you start to sleep on cotton pillows, what your hair will be doing is each time you move around on it, the friction caused between the pillow and your hair will cause your hair to break.
When I walk in from outside and I know I am not venturing out, I moisturise my hair and put my headscarf on my head so I do not forget later on.
7. Are you eating healthy? Are you eating or taking your vitamins that consist of protein, because your hair is made up of protein to help your hair stay strong, it is important to have the right amount of protein and balance this, you do not want to over do it!! So the required amount that your body needs.
So if you do any of the above, my words to you is to look to change the way in which you maintain your hair, in order to prevent breakage.
Remember consistency is always key to everything you do and you won't see a difference straight away, but you will start to notice when being consistent over a period of time.
I hope this has helped if you like this post do give it a thumbs up and if you would like to keep updated on what's happening on all things natural then do sign- up to receive my newsletters.
Love you all!
Claudine x
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment