Question about breakage vs. new hairs

[Pear Martini]

:DIs there a way to tell the diffrence between breakage and new growth? I have a lot of "new" or "shorter" hairs coming out from my part and I am wondering if they are broken or new growth.


Thanks LHC!

[Ravenne]

The only way I'm aware of is that new growth hairs will have a tapered end where as broken hairs will be blunt or split.

[GuinevereMay]

What do the ends look like? Are they split or have white tips or dots on them? Do they look broken?

[Gumball]

The ends of new growth will taper to a point, just like fresh grass, while broken hair won't. It will have a blunt end to it, just like mowed grass. :)

[Pear Martini]

I guess they are somewhat tapered and do not have white dots

[GuinevereMay]

I'd say that's probably new growth, then.:cheese:

[Rapunzal2Be]

I have a question about this:

At my temples I seem to *perpetually* have baby hairs.

I have very fine hair, so it is hard to really be sure, but the ends look tapered and healthy, not blunt or split or a white dot, so I tend to think it is new growth. However, they never seem to grow past three or four inches long.

I know that the temples are a common first area of breakage and shedding during stress, and I've been under a lot of stress the past year or so, so it's not surprising to me for either to have happened to me.

But my question is - what can I do (if anything?) to help these hairs either grow longer than 4" or not break off at that point (if that's what is, in fact, happening)?

I wear my hair up a lot - in a bun held with a satin scrunchie or a beak clip, but these temple hairs don't even really reach far enough to be held, so I usually slick them down with AVG when styling. I do brush my scalp nightly with my tangle teezer and/or a boar bristle brush, but my hair does not get tangled or knotty, so I don't *think* it's getting broken by that. In fact, along my hair line I'm getting noticeable new growth -where I had none before - which I attribute to the scalp brushing.

[Gulbahar]

I have a question about this:

At my temples I seem to *perpetually* have baby hairs.

I have very fine hair, so it is hard to really be sure, but the ends look tapered and healthy, not blunt or split or a white dot, so I tend to think it is new growth. However, they never seem to grow past three or four inches long.
Don't worry! That's completely normal and definitely not breakage. I have these baby hairs as well - they often look like little horns. :rolleyes: Since switching to washing methods that are good for my scalp the hair in those places got a little longer and stronger. Some strands even now start to be "normal", but I guess I always will have a bunch of fine short hairs at the temples.
Some people have success growing them longer by massaging the scalp there with an oil mixture with essential oils. You could try that.

[TrudieCat]

This is all very good information - thank you! I too have those fine shorter hairs at my temple and they are so so annoying. I was wondering if they were broken hairs from sleeping on a cotton pillowcase, but it sounds like they are just normal. I have always had them.

[Squeak toy]

Any more suggestion for telling if it is new growth or breakage on fine hair. It is so thin I do not know if is tapering.

[Gulbahar]

Any more suggestion for telling if it is new growth or breakage on fine hair. It is so thin I do not know if is tapering.
Well, unless you did something really, really bad to your hair lately to cause such amount of breakage (like several heavy bleaching sessions etc.) I'm pretty sure it's new growth. Absolutely everybody has those fine hairs in between. They just don't stand out as much on everybody's head.

[Jenn of Pence]

This is a good question that I've wondered myself many times. I'd also read that the tapered ones are new growth, but mine are so frizzy and unruly that I wasn't sure...I guess since it's not yet old growth it's just misbehaving like any rebellious youth :p.
I do have an experiment to test what a broken hair might look like. All you've gotta do is rough up some naturally shed hairs and see what the damage looks like. If you're like me, you'll have a large test set to draw from ;)

[Rapunzal2Be]

Don't worry! That's completely normal and definitely not breakage. I have these baby hairs as well - they often look like little horns. :rolleyes: Since switching to washing methods that are good for my scalp the hair in those places got a little longer and stronger. Some strands even now start to be "normal", but I guess I always will have a bunch of fine short hairs at the temples.
Some people have success growing them longer by massaging the scalp there with an oil mixture with essential oils. You could try that.

Thank you! You've set my mind at ease! (And mine look like horns at times, too - they can be so unruly!)

I just recently stopped putting conditioner on or near my scalp, and have found that my shedding is greatly reduced. That, coupled with starting to use diluted shampoo, will hopefully improve the quality of my hair and scalp. I'll try the scalp massaging, too!

Thanks :D