What is hair breakage?

[Wendyclaire]

Hi everyone,

This may seem like a dumb question but I see it all the time on this forum. Just what is hair breakage? Is it the length breaking off in the middle of the the length or at the crown? I have a lot of new growth all the time but I’m not sure what breakage is. What does it look like? Sorry if this is a dumb question!

[nycelle]

It's a piece of hair breaking off from any part of the strand.

When you brush or comb your hair, don't you sometimes see pieces that are shorter than your length? Those hairs are the pieces that broke off the strand.

[Nightshade]

This isn't a dumb question at all! There's a link to an older article (that I've since expanded) that talks about some of the kinds of damage and breakage with pictures of split ends and white dots.

But, to answer your question more directly, breakage is any place where the hair structure gives out no matter where it's located along the length of the hair.

[Wendyclaire]

Thanks so much!