Hair breakage is inevitable. It happens to all of us. A sudden change in your regular day-to-day life can cause your hair to break. As you may already know, weak hair is prone to breakage. Changing your hair care routine can also lead to hair breakage. Today, I want to teach you how to tell the difference between shedding and hair breakage. I am also sharing some tips on how to stop breakage and grow your hair strong.
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How To Tell The Difference Between Shedding and Hair Breakage
When it comes to my hair, I can deal with the shedding. But it is the hair breakage that upsets me. I have a head full of hair, so shedding is actually good for me. For the first time since I became natural, my hair was shedding and breaking a lot. My hair started to shed and break from the time I started to detangle until after I was done washing my hair. It shed some more when I was applying my leave-in conditioner and braiding my hair.
The Difference Between Shedding and Hair Breakage
SHEDDING:
- Very normal if you are not losing more than 150 strands per day.
- There is a bulb at the end of the strand.
- Sometimes means that you’re experiencing new growth.
- Black tea can help minimize it, but will not stop it.
BREAKAGE:
- Not a normal part of the growth cycle.
- Can be caused by improper handling of the hair.
- Protein/Moisture imbalance.
- It can take a while for the breakage to stop
I believe the reason for my hair breakage is protein overload. I tried a homemade deep conditioner to which I had to add 1 egg. I have 4b/4c hair. I need more moisture than I need protein. Now I have to baggy my hair to get my protein/moisture balance back. So this is mistake number one for me since I became natural in June of 2012.