Experiencing breakage

[sarahthegemini]

Despite being much more gentle with my hair, washing less and generally being kind to it, my hair still breaks. I see broken hairs in my comb sometimes (wooden wide tooth comb, and I always pull apart tangles gently) sometimes broken hairs wrapped around my scrunchies and even the shed hairs I see look very short. I do inspect some of the short hairs and I think I see a bulb at one end and a tapered end at the other but I'm still convinced the majority of the short hairs are broken.

Any ideas what's causing this? I wonder if my hair is just very fragile.

[Anje]

It might be fragile, but it's worth pointing out that most of us shed hairs at all kinds of lengths. I'd be thrilled if I only shed out the longest hairs.

I did try switching from my tangle-teezer back to pure combing with a wooden comb for a month or two, and noticed increased breakage and splits. It's definitely one of those individual things, but for me, the TT is my gentler option, even though I'm not convinced it's completely non-damaging either. It might be worth trying that out, if you're willing to experiment with something different.

Obviously, there's also past hair history. If your length was subjected to harsher treatment, you can pretty much expect it to be more fragile until all that old hair has been trimmed away.

[Ocelan]

I agree with Anje and I also break my hair with widetooth combs. TT works for me too and I do have a lot of past damage which I'm slowly growing out. I've been using my TT for 2 years now, pampering my hair and keeping it mostly up, but the years of dyeing and hard handling are still showing. I still get beakage, white dots and splits. I would only worry if there are no root bulbs seen in most of the hair you shed and they fall off in small bits when you comb. Atleast I shed a lot of short hairline (and other) hairs all the time since they just won't grow longer.

[Weewah]

I stopped using my wooden comb because it felt like I was tugging on my hair, I love my tangle teezer much more. Also are you still growing out past damage? No matter how nice you are to previously damaged hair is still gonna keep breaking til you grow it out.

[Crumpet]

TTs don't work well on me, but as with most LHC advice YMMV! Definitely test out some new approaches and see what works for you. As others have said though, it could just be old damage working its way down.

[ErinLeigh]

Sarah, did you ever move? Are you dealing with new water or anything? It seems that you are having a few issues that have been bothering you. The piecey ends, scalp changes after the wash and now the breakage. Could you have moved to an area with harder water?

If it isn't the water, you may want to review your products to make sure you aren't leaning too far one way or the other on the protein/moisture balance. Sometimes the changing season can throw a solid routine for a loop causing a need for some small adjustments. Hmm what else. Are you using products that give good slip? With fine hair the strands tend to stick together to here and there, or 2 strands will wrap around each other, so when touched or combed the pieces are subject to breakage. Are you using cones or oil or anything to give a small amount of coating/protection against friction? Maybe dropping the second conditioner after the wash is leaving hair with less conditioner coating to help that comb thru? Another thing to consider is if you are handling hair too often in general. Too much manipulation in wash or in daily life by toying with hair or something? For some it may not be issue but if there are the tiny tangles any additional toucing is just extra opportunity for small pieces to break off. I am a complusive comber/"readjuster" and it never fails I will hear a little tiny hair suffer from my touching. I am just throwing ideas of course. I get bummed seeing you have these little things popping up on you right now especially after you trimmed and everything to start fresh. Hopefully it sorts out soon.

[MINAKO]

I know there are many reasons why hair could break or snap, but the only thing that stopped the problem immediately when i had breakage issues was Kerastase Vita Ciment Vials. Serious improvement on my hair after just two uses. Good luck

[sarahthegemini]

It might be fragile, but it's worth pointing out that most of us shed hairs at all kinds of lengths. I'd be thrilled if I only shed out the longest hairs.

I did try switching from my tangle-teezer back to pure combing with a wooden comb for a month or two, and noticed increased breakage and splits. It's definitely one of those individual things, but for me, the TT is my gentler option, even though I'm not convinced it's completely non-damaging either. It might be worth trying that out, if you're willing to experiment with something different.

Obviously, there's also past hair history. If your length was subjected to harsher treatment, you can pretty much expect it to be more fragile until all that old hair has been trimmed away.


I agree with Anje and I also break my hair with widetooth combs. TT works for me too and I do have a lot of past damage which I'm slowly growing out. I've been using my TT for 2 years now, pampering my hair and keeping it mostly up, but the years of dyeing and hard handling are still showing. I still get beakage, white dots and splits. I would only worry if there are no root bulbs seen in most of the hair you shed and they fall off in small bits when you comb. Atleast I shed a lot of short hairline (and other) hairs all the time since they just won't grow longer.


I stopped using my wooden comb because it felt like I was tugging on my hair, I love my tangle teezer much more. Also are you still growing out past damage? No matter how nice you are to previously damaged hair is still gonna keep breaking til you grow it out.


TTs don't work well on me, but as with most LHC advice YMMV! Definitely test out some new approaches and see what works for you. As others have said though, it could just be old damage working its way down.

Thanks guys. I don't have any serious damage, perhaps some mechanical damage tho from when I wasn't so kind but I'm sure the majority of that is gone. I would prefer not to use a tangle teezer, simply because I mainly only use my wooden comb on my scalp area (I literally just flip my head upside down and use the comb on the underside of my scalp to create a bit of fullness) I rarely use the comb on my entire length. I could try just shuffling my roots with my fingers tho instead of the comb. I think that could work.


Sarah, did you ever move? Are you dealing with new water or anything? It seems that you are having a few issues that have been bothering you. The piecey ends, scalp changes after the wash and now the breakage. Could you have moved to an area with harder water?

If it isn't the water, you may want to review your products to make sure you aren't leaning too far one way or the other on the protein/moisture balance. Sometimes the changing season can throw a solid routine for a loop causing a need for some small adjustments. Hmm what else. Are you using products that give good slip? With fine hair the strands tend to stick together to here and there, or 2 strands will wrap around each other, so when touched or combed the pieces are subject to breakage. Are you using cones or oil or anything to give a small amount of coating/protection against friction? Maybe dropping the second conditioner after the wash is leaving hair with less conditioner coating to help that comb thru? Another thing to consider is if you are handling hair too often in general. Too much manipulation in wash or in daily life by toying with hair or something? For some it may not be issue but if there are the tiny tangles any additional toucing is just extra opportunity for small pieces to break off. I am a complusive comber/"readjuster" and it never fails I will hear a little tiny hair suffer from my touching. I am just throwing ideas of course. I get bummed seeing you have these little things popping up on you right now especially after you trimmed and everything to start fresh. Hopefully it sorts out soon.

Thanks Erin, I actually haven't moved yet (13 days to go!) I seem to be having a few issues going on right now (in regards to the piecey-ness, there has been improvement :)) But it is stressing me out a tad. This breakage has been going on for a while tho, I think since I started paying attention to how my hair responds so I can't say it is due to skipping my RO conditioner, altho I will keep that in mind if my ends start breaking too, I will re-introduce it. My hair still feels very slippy and generally feels very good, as you know I'm still dealing with my hair recovering from clarifying, it feels in good shape tho so I'm totally at a loss.

I think the main change I can introduce is using my fingers to fluff some fullness in rather than combing, hopefully that will make a big change.