Is it weird

[lacefrost]

to have breakage at bsl (or around 25 inches)?

I ask cause last time I had breakage was at shoulder length while having chemically straightened hair. My hair is longer than that now and virgin so I'm curious?

Is it trim time? I'm trying not to trim in 2011 but will if need be.

About my hair routine: I generally wear it in a braided or twisted (rope braided) bun. The past 2 times I've done my hair I blow dried damp hair on low and cool until 65% dry and then twisted it. I've noticed the breakage before ever blowdrying before. It's only the fine strands in my hair that's breaking, the coarse are split-free as usual. I try to shampoo only once a week and make sure to deep condition and oil regularly.

Any advice/help would be much appreciated!

[christine1989]

It sounds like you are doing pretty much everything right. If it is breakage then I can only guess it could come from the hair being twisted/braided too tight. I only have a few fine strands but when I do a tight updo they are always the ones to break.

[jojo]

Hi,
At your length I started to notice more hair breakage and damage. My hair is of a completely different texture but what it did have in common is that your ends are older and older hair is more likely to break. Think of a rope, a new rope has its fibres tightly packed together, but as the rope ages the fibres become looser and will fray at the bottom; this being similar to the hair shaft.

You say you wear your hair up this is an excellent start. I am guessing you are probably past apl and near if not bsl. At this length hair also can catch on handbag straps and backs of seats etc. What is your wash routine? for your hair type id highly recommended CO (conditioner only) washes or CWC (condition, wash, condition) to add moisture. Curly hair is prone to dryness and therefore breakage. So as a rule moisture is what it needs. Oils are good for helping hair retain moisture, if you don't already use oils coconut, jojoba extra virgin olive oil are a good starting point.

I also oil my ends before bunning and of course although you are growing your hair, id advocate regular 3 monthly trims. Damaged hair still grows from the roots, but will break and your length will stay the same.

Also look at how your styling your hair, buns are great but be careful not to do them too tight or it adds friction and can cause breakage, also look at what you are securing the buns with; sticks or scrunchies are the safest.

I have 80% baby fine hair and keeping my ends healthy can be frustrating at times, but I now realise after nearly 6years of growing, once I see no growth; its breaking off as quick as its growing so i have a trim. You say some of your hair is fine, id treat all your hair as though its fine to help prevent breakage. Growing hair is easy, it does it without any effort, its keeping onto those ends which can be difficult. your doing all the right things as I can see, maybe a smt or other deep conditioning may help if you are not already doing this.

[lacefrost]

My hair is at BSL, maybe a bit past.

I'll try to maybe loosen the braids and twists. I'm not sure if I'm doing it too tight but I'll loosen it and see what it does.

I do CWC and only shampoo (with a shampoo bar) once a week. And my hair is pretty much always up. And I try to put something moisturizing in it everyday.

I am still gaining length. I gained at least an inch between March and April. Like 1 3/4. So I am still gaining length. And the amount that breaks is like 1/4 of an inch or less. But I guess I'm paranoid. My hair has never been so long and this is the first time it's started breaking since I cut out the last of the perm damage.

Maybe I'll baby my hair and dc it extra for a bit and see what happens.

[jojo]

BSL is a common length to start getting breakage. I would imagine to get a decent rope bun at your length and thickness, you would have to twist pretty tightly. I am thinking this is where your problem lies. Maybe a cinnamon bun with little twisting may help with this.

Ive twisted buns too much without realizing it in the past and have experienced the same. What are you securing your buns with? a sock bun is also a very gentle bun too.

I honestly do think apart from the twisting, your routine sounds good, unfortunately its just one of those things long hair gets regardless to how kind you are to it.

[Intransigentia]

Do you put an elastic on the end of your braid before you bun it? Even if it's metal-free, a tight elastic in roughly the same spot every day can cause some wear and tear.

[Anje]

It's an extremely normal length for people to get breakage who wear their hair loose, because it's where chairs tend to rub. However, if you're wearing it up or unstraightened, and your hair shrinks as much as your pictures seem to indicate, I think chair rub probably isn't a concern here.

Do be aware of whether your hair is rubbing on your shoulders or anything else.
See if you can do your braids and twists without securing them. It seems to me like many folks with natural hair are able to accomplish this (whereas my hair just unbraids itself).

Are you using a satin or silk pillowcase or covering your hair with those materials at night? It might be worth it to limit the rubbing on the oldest ends of your hairs. It also reduces tangling and how quickly hair starts to fuzz out of styles tat are left in a few days.

[Firefox7275]

Is it simply that it's a long time since your last trim? The ends of hair is obviously the oldest but they also take a battering - they seem to get knotted most, have to deal with braid elastics, forced into submission if they stick out and played with if you are bored. Maybe make up some Fox's Conditioning Cream and keep it next to your bed?

[lacefrost]

I twist a lock of my hair. I couldn't possibly put all my hair into one rope bun! My hair would rebel! So I have about 30 (or more) ropes which I don't secure at the end. Since my hair is curly, it just stays. And then I'll put it up into a bun. I do use an elastic because sticks don't stay in my hair. I'm not sure if a hair fork would work? Or something else? Elastics are the only ones that work so far. Any suggestions for that?

Oof, I'm not sleeping on a satin pillow case. . .That's prolly part of the issue.

If I leave my hair loose it will rub on my shoulders. I try not to do that.

[Firefox7275]

You might try wrapping the end of your braid with satin ribbon? Terry pony bands (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/8-Small-Black-Baby-Hair-Terry-Ponios-Bobbles-Elastics-/260691693940) seem more gentle than even no snag elastics, but they are a little bulky so not always practical. I find this type of beak clip (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180654663103) easy to use, they have teeth so good staying power in my hair. However I don't have a massive amount of hair so you might not find them large enough. You could try a stick barrette, the Flexi-8 (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=17757) seems to be well thought of and come in various sizes.

[QMacrocarpa]

I don't think it's weird to have breakage at your length-- I recently started noticing a lot of broken-off ends in my tangle teezer at about 23" and when I looked at my ends I saw quite a few splits in my (virgin) hair. So I trimmed. I'm a little bummed to be minus an inch of hair but I'm glad not to be seeing lots of broken-off bits all the time now, and I think I should be good to grow for several months before I need to trim again. At your growth rate you'd regain the length of a trim in no time!