Extreme Hair Breakage less than an inch from the end! Am I alone?

[Katie6699]

I did some previous 'extreme' damage to my hair by chemical straightening, bleaching, dying. That was 4 years ago, and my hair became so short and in such awfull shape Now, its still breaking, even though I haven't chemically straightened, dyed, or anything for 3 years. At one point, it got a little longer, perhaps with the products I was using (not sure), and then reverted back to its horrible short length! This happens often. Now, my hair isn't dry, feels so soft and silky, but tiny tiny pieces are covering the bottom of the bath, and my clothes I've waited years for the long, lucious hair that I dream of, and I'm still waiting now! I do have trims (the ends nipped off), but it starts breaking shortly after, and hasn't got longer than the bottom of my neck. This is my last hope! Products I have tried:

• Kerastase Bain de Force/Force injection/Ciment Thermique
• Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayonnaise
• A load of shelf intensive treatments
• Olive oil
• Joico K-pak Products.
• Aphogee..

I do straighten/blowdry and always always use a blowdrying milk, and heat protector spray. I can't stop the straightening (I don't straighten excessivly like I used to), as my hair is curly and soooo short now. Although it appears to be in better condition now than it was 3 years ago, the hair either side of my parting on the top of my head has broken of to less than an inch in length! It looks ridiculous, and so i have to sweep hair over to a sort of side parting to try and hide it!!! This has neverrr happened before...I'm dispearing

People are starting to notice the bad shape of my hair and awfull length. Does anybody have a miracle breakthrough that may help me? Ive been taking biotin and prenatals for 4 months. Any ideas would be amazing.... I feel like crying sometimes when I look in the mirror.....Am I alone?

[ktani]

I did some previous 'extreme' damage to my hair by chemical straightening, bleaching, dying. That was 4 years ago, and my hair became so short and in such awfull shape Now, its still breaking, even though I haven't chemically straightened, dyed, or anything for 3 years. At one point, it got a little longer, perhaps with the products I was using (not sure), and then reverted back to its horrible short length! This happens often. Now, my hair isn't dry, feels so soft and silky, but tiny tiny pieces are covering the bottom of the bath, and my clothes I've waited years for the long, lucious hair that I dream of, and I'm still waiting now! I do have trims (the ends nipped off), but it starts breaking shortly after, and hasn't got longer than the bottom of my neck. This is my last hope! Products I have tried:

• Kerastase Bain de Force/Force injection/Ciment Thermique
• Organic Root Stimulator Hair Mayonnaise
• A load of shelf intensive treatments
• Olive oil
• Joico K-pak Products.
• Aphogee..

I do straighten/blowdry and always always use a blowdrying milk, and heat protector spray. I can't stop the straightening (I don't straighten excessivly like I used to), as my hair is curly and soooo short now. Although it appears to be in better condition now than it was 3 years ago, the hair either side of my parting on the top of my head has broken of to less than an inch in length! It looks ridiculous, and so i have to sweep hair over to a sort of side parting to try and hide it!!! This has neverrr happened before...I'm dispearing

People are starting to notice the bad shape of my hair and awfull length. Does anybody have a miracle breakthrough that may help me? Ive been taking biotin and prenatals for 4 months. Any ideas would be amazing.... I feel like crying sometimes when I look in the mirror.....Am I alone?

Welcome to LHC!

You need to understand that no conditioner can repair hair damage, no matter how expensive or how well one can penetrate hair. None of them, period.

Now, that does not mean that they cannot help strengthen hair, while damage grows out but you have to also stop or lessen the things that cause hair damage; heat, being rough on your hair with rough edge tools, excessive brushing and combing, and chemicals, without using some things to help at the same time.

The protective heat sprays can be great but a lot of people, including me at one time use way too much product. That can create its own issues. You can get build-up that causes even more problems, split ends and of course breakage. In spite of the hype, you do not need to spend a small fortune on a single hair product. You just need to find ones that are hair friendly (don't cause too much build-up that make removing residue difficult), and that work for you at the same time.

You can explore gentler shampoos and do not be afraid of lighter, cheaper conditioners that wash out of the hair well. There are oils that can strengthen hair. Coconut oil is one and it has been proven to penetrate hair the best. Still, overuse of anything is not good. Some people wash their hair with conditioner and others with herbs.

Start with where you can help stop the problems, before they start. If you need to blow dry, use less heat. If you brush your hair, use softer less rough bristles. Be gentle with your hair. I use catnip tea and shampoo to cleanse but that is my routine. You may prefer another but do not give up or be hard on yourself either. This is a learning curve.

[HairColoredHair]

To me it sound like your hair need moisture and lots of it. Curly hair especially loses tons of moisture by simple virtue of it's shape. Maybe try SMT (Snowy's Moisture Treatment, a mix of conditioner, honey, and pure aloe. You can leave out the aloe and it's still quite moisturizing.) Perhaps try CO (Conditioner Only washing) or refer to the Curly Girl book, which many curlies find very helpful.

Advice for splits and gentle handling: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...le&articleid=8

And, I hate to say it, but the blowdrying and straightening is probably quite a bit of your problem. Heat will always cause damage, no matter how much 'protectant' you use...

[andrea1982]

Welcome and Hugs! Have you been to the doctor? Sometimes brittle hair can be caused by underlying medical conditions.

Nightshade has written a really good article about hair damage, it's in the articles section.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...e&articleid=79

I'm wondering why the hair on either side of your part is breaking more than other areas.. is that an area you were going over with straightening iron lots?

A lot of curlies like you find that giving up shampoo and washing with a sillicone free conditioner really helps.
Here's a link to an article about it : http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...e&articleid=18
There's a book by Lorraine Massey called "curly girls" that describes lots of great tips for curlies. You may also want to check out naturallycurly.com.

If you dont have any medical conditions, the culprit could be heat styling. For most people, it is just bad bad bad! Some people are able to use flat/curling irons to limp their hair through awkward short stages, but if you hair is breaking off within an inch of length this may not be possible for you. Could you invest in some headbands/barrettes/scarves and leave your hair in it;s natural texture? I've seen many beautiful people with short curly hair. In a minute I'll edit this post to add links to some articles.

You're not alone! There is lots of great support here!

[jivete]

My hair used to do that too. I used to think as it got longer it would just start self-trimming and it was inevitable. It never got longer that just between shoulder and APL.

In order to get it this long, I had to quit everything and I do mean everything. No heat, no dye, going from daily washing to every other day, using tepid water... Not only is my hair longer than it ever has been, it's thicker too. I went from a 2" circumference to a 2.5" circumference. I do still get some breakage on the ends, but nothing like I used to.

My guess is that if you want long hair, you may need to embrace your natural texture and stop using heat. I finally embraced mine and people tell me my hair looks better than ever.

[kdaniels8811]

My hair used to break off, too, just like you are describing, bunch of 1" or 2" pieces all over my head. What I did - stopped using all heat. Stopped washing my hair every day. Stopped using expensive shampoo, wearing my hair down, brushing. There is lots and lots of advice on this site, the trick is to try one thing for a month and see if it makes a difference. Then try one more thing. But stopping the heat styling is probably the most effective thing you can do. The hair products cause buildup, which causes breakage, also. The less, the better - check out the CO (condition only) thread. Good luck on your hair journey!

[Unnamed]

My guess: Protein overload is causing breakage (most of that list is protein I think). The big fix: Moisture, and lots of it.

I get little pieces (mostly 1/2") long breaking off the ends from too much protein. Moisture and avoiding anything with protein in it (or that retains protein, like coconut oil) stops this breakage cold for me, and would seriously be the first thing I'd try if I had little pieces breaking off.

The COing that a couple of others mentioned would probably be good! I'd think CO also might help the curls behave a bit even if short short. And SMTs (basically conditioner, honey, and aloe) are a great for a moisture treatment.

For the blowdrying, if you have to do it, do it on cool. And really, really try backing off on the straightening if possible if not completely. They're not helping any, and might even be making the issue worse (or even causing the breakage is backing off the protein doesn't help). Heat protectant sprays really aren't going to help if it's causing your hair to break off. It's better just to avoid it completely.

If your hair is long enough...french braid it, or even double french braids to contain it. There's a thread for shorties around that might have more good ideas...I used headbands and clips to grow out a permed (and repermed) pixie, but I was 10, didn't use heat styling, and hadn't thought about french braiding. A little bit of oil or aloe might hold back any pieces that don't stay in the braids.

Another possible source of breakage could be from a brush. Some people's hair breaks off at the sight of a brush (I'm one of them), and so it might be an experiment to try--just comb/pick/finger combing.

There's no miracle fix: Just moisture/backing away from the protein, and backing away from heat (by either embracing the curls, or trying to contain them until you can).

[myotislucifugus]

I notice a lot of folks are mentioning moisture, which I agree with (if you aren't cone free, I suggest aussies 3 minute miracle) however what about the rest of your hair routine. You use heat products which will damage hair, see Nightshade's article, but what about combs and brushes? Do yours have seams? If you brush, maybe you shouldn't. Try a wide tooth wooden comb. Do you use snaggy cheap barettes? Pony tail holders with metal? Really thin pony tail holders? Do you dye your hair?

In addition to moisture, maybe it is mechanical damage. It's worth a shot. I totally sympathize with the frustration of hair breakage. Good luck.

[Fractalsofhair]

Your hair sounds like mine, except mine isn't curly. Really, the curl is what you need to accept. My hair has severe damage from daily blowdrying. For 1 month! You'll need to cut off the damage. I like using cone free products, Alaffia makes an WONDERFUL rich natural conditioner and a pretty good shampoo. Blow drying is much less harmful than straightening. You can put your hair in a ponytail to "relax" the curl till your next wash. You can get a curly pixie and let that grow out. One of my friends has one and it's adorable on her! Brushing curly hair tends to be a bad idea, I suggest combing instead. Also, you can simply cut the hair that is spliting and no other hairs. I suggest also going for a good style and keeping your hair up on bad hair days. Oiling my hair with coconut oil helps a lot, as does coconut milk washed out. My hair is having severe breakage from 1 gentle bleach(didn't even lighten my hair and the color washed out in a few weeks!), and blowdrying. I really hate to say it, but the heat styling is a no no for my hair, ever or at all. I can use a semi permanent dye occasionally, but even that is pushing it. Gel and oils may be your friends, along with leave in conditioners, which is what is often recommended for curly hair.(My boyfriend has somewhere in the range of 3b-4a hair, so VERY curly, and when it was shorter, it was a fro literally) He needs to start using conditioner, his hair would be waist/hip(inbetween) if he had straight hair, and it's not growing any longer. It's a little longer than his shoulders when it's curly, so I'm still working on figuring out a good method for him!) Welcome to the board, and good luck with your hair.

[Deborah]

I think you need to accept those curls. There is nothing wrong with shiny, healthy curly hair. As long as you continue to use heat or chemicals via the blow-dryer and even worse, via the straightening, you will continue to damage your hair. All the products in the world cannot overcome the damage you are doing.

Short and curly can be very cute. If you want good and healthy hair, that is probably what you will have to accept, and even learn to love.

Once it is all healthy, you can then grow to your heart's content, and have the long, beautiful hair that you want.