breakage

[glitterati]

I've just noticed that I have *tons* of breakage in my hair, and I'm realizing that the shorter hairs that I'm losing are in fact breakage and not hairs shed from the roots like I had thought. It sucks bc some of the broken hairs (that I pull out) are 2-3 inches long!

Is there anything I can do to combat all this breakage? I'm pretty gentle with my hair - I never use elastics (even coated ones) in my hair and wear my hair up most of the time. I *do* shampoo weekly with an SLS poo, but nothing else gets rid of the gunk of my scalp. I do weekly oilings, have never colored my hair or anything like that, and always thought my hair was in pretty good shape.

Would a protein heavy conditioner help? I've heard that protein is good for breakage, but also that protein causes breakage, so I'm not sure...

any help would be awesome :)

[Riot Crrl]

Take one of the shed hairs, pull it until it breaks. If it snaps immediately, it needs moisture without protein. If it stretches a long way and then snaps, it needs protein followed by moisture.

Probably if you don't notice it stretching before breaking already, I'm guessing it's the former condition.

[Dvips]

I'm sorry if these are thing that you've already thought about...

If you use a comb to detangle, is it seamless? Or might you be better off finger-detangling before combing at all?

If you use a brush, you may want to stop for a month and see if there is a difference.

Do you detangle your hair wet, damp, or dry? Perhaps you should try whichever you are not?

Is the majority of the breakage in the area where you put your hair up? Sometime wearing an updo in the same spot for days in a row can cause damage.

Hmmm... that's it, off the top of my head.

HTH!

Dvips

[spidermom]

Personal research turned up the idea that hair doesn't like to be washed in hot water, so I'm cooling down my washes in hopes of creating few splits. Maybe this would help you, too.