Causes of Hair Breakage
Compare your hair to a cashmere sweater. How long would that sweater last if you constantly were to wash, shampoo, comb, brush, color, tint, bleach, tease, straighten, curl, roll, pull, twist, and twirl it? What if you constantly exposed it to the sun, wind, rain, snow, and sleet and to extremes of heat and cold? How about if you wore it swimming in polluted lakes and streams and chlorinated pools? And then you got it steamed, ironed, sprayed, flipped, oiled, wound, feathered, swirled, dipped, stripped, frosted, perfumed, frizzed, fuzzed, matted, braided, and waxed, and then blown dry by 1500 watts of hot air? How long would it last? A month? A week?
Your hair goes through this and more. Yet, barring certain diseases and conditions, it lasts a lifetime.
Taking good care of your hair, however, can make a big difference in how it looks during its “lifetime.” Healthy-looking, attractive hair requires consistently good care and conditioning, good diet, and good exercise. It requires keeping stress and emotional tensions to a minimum. (Remember, I did not say healthy hair; I said healthy-looking hair. How can something that’s dead be healthy?)
Many young women (and, increasingly, men) consult a dermatologist because they’re concerned about a change in the growth or appearance of their hair. More often than not, the change is the result of abuse, rather than disease, causing the hair to break off easily.
What causes breakage of hair? Often, it is related to physical damage. Here are some factors that can physically “injure” your hair:
* Using brushes with sharp bristles
* Using metal or plastic combs
* Braiding your hair tightly
* Winding your hair too tightly
* Using brush rollers
* Back-combing
* Repeatedly wetting and blow-drying your hair
* Other forms of repeated manipulation of your hair
* Wearing tight hats, caps, and headbands
Chemical injury is probably the most common cause of hair breakage. When the outer keratin layer of the hair shaft (the cuticle) is repeatedly exposed to chemical attack from bleaches, hair straighteners, permanent hair dyes, thioglycolate wave solutions, etc., the hair develops a stiff, strawlike feel, making it more susceptible to breakage.