How to Reduce Hair Breakage

Strong, healthy is hair is attractive, and many of us like long, silky hair. A major frustration of wearing longer hairstyles is hair breakage. No one wants damaged hair that breaks. If you can’t seem to keep long hair healthy looking and free of breakage, don’t worry because you’re not necessarily destined to wear shorter hairstyles. There are some things that you can do to prevent your hair from breaking.

Treat it Carefully

You must treat your hair carefully to help prevent breakage —always be gentle. Don’t brush it when it is wet —opt instead for a wide tooth comb. Let it air dry, whenever possible. If you do use a hair dryer, use a low setting. When using heated styling tools use a thermal protectant to keep heat damage minimal. Avoid tight hairstyles that put physical stress on your hair. To give hair less friction while you sleep, use a silk pillowcase.

One of the things that I must watch out for is my shoulder bag. So often I’ll just fling my bag over my shoulder. The problem is that when my hair is longer, it easily gets trapped under the strap and tangled. Things that seem simple may need a little more attention, if long hair could get in the way.

Unless you really need to, don’t wash your hair every day. If your hair is dry use a moisturizing shampoo that will help keep hair hydrated.    Look for ingredients that moisturize and soften hair, like fatty alcohols, jojoba oil, and vitamin E. Also look for products that are fortified with protein that will help strengthen hair. Stay away from chemical processes, like perming and straightening, because they can make your hair dry and brittle, allowing it to break easily.

Treatments

Aside from physically preventing your hair from breaking, it’s important to have hair that is strong and doesn’t break easily. Use conditioner after each washing. It will keep hair hydrated and allow combing to be easier, with less chance of tangling. Keep hair moisturized and conditioned with weekly deep-conditioning treatments. Look for treatments that have protein or keratin added to strengthen hair. One of my favorites is Giovanni Smooth as Silk Xtreme Protein Hair Infusion. It is contains shea butter, soy protein, and macadamia nut oil. It rejuvenates damaged and over processed hair, leaving it moisturized, smooth, and soft. Use it after shampooing, leaving it on the hair for about 10 minutes, then rinse.

Hot-oil treatments with olive, coconut, or castor oil are also great for keeping hair conditioned and nourished.

Regular Trims

Get regular trims to your hair to get split ends cut off. This will not only remove the damaged, brittle ends, but keep hair healthy and tidy looking.  Keeping the ends of your healthy will reduce the amount of hair breakage.

updated 3/26/14