My Top 5 Tips to stop Shedding and Breakage

Helllloo Ladies! How's your healthy hair journey going? Are you accomplishing your goals, is your hair showing much progress?  Well I hope so!  But if not,  today I'd like to offer a little insight to help you along the way. Hair breakage is something many of us face when trying to grow and maintain our best hair.  It can be really  frustrating doing all you "know" to do only to get less than acceptable results. If you are going to have the best hair of your life breakage is something that you will have to get under control first.   When there is unexplained breakage and questionable shedding, not knowing what to do can further thwart your efforts to grow and maintain healthy hair.  Below are my top 5  proven methods to bring breakage and excessive shedding to a screeching halt! 

  

1. Pay Attention: The best way to thwart excessive breakage and shedding is to nip it in the bud before it gets far gone. Pay attention to what's going on with your hair as you handle it on a daily basis, or weekly, however often you are manipulating your hair. Try not to mindlessly go through your hair without watching the sink, your comb, or your hands.  Inspect to see if there are many short broken pieces.  Check for single strand knots, or if your hair seems to be shedding more than normal from day to day or week to week. When you pay attention early, you can adjust what you are doing as it's happening before breakage manifest its self in a large way!  Example: as I finger comb or take a detangling comb through my hair,  I watch my sink to see if anything is popping off. If I see a short piece of hair right away I can determine why that just happened and correct it. Most of the time it was because there was a single strand knot that just popped off and took a piece of my ends with it!  Or it was because I was yanking through my hair  rougher than I realized. I then immediately adjust what I am doing.  I either move slower or take my scissors and snip any knots I see or feel before combing through it.  I always have my scissors close by when going through my hair. That way, if I come across a single strand knot I can snip it instead of just ripping it off which can lead to split ends, more knots, and additional  breakage.


2.  Strengthen your hair: This really is my first tip, but unfortunately most people don't think of this step until after their hair is showing signs of breakage or excessive shedding. As I said, you want to stop all of this before it starts. Protein deep conditioning sessions and or Ayurvedic (Henna,Cassia, Amla etc.) treatments is a great way to strengthen your hair so that it will resist breakage. I strengthen with protein conditioners twice a month and with an Ayurvedic powder treatment every two months.


3. Keep hair moisturized: By moisturize I mean use water, or using a water based product before using an actual oil to seal. When consulting with my clients I  learn that many of them believe that oil alone is an acceptable sole means of moisturizing their hair. It is not. Oil is a lubricant and aids in making hair soft to the touch and  shiny etc. But it is not moisture. Feel your hair on a daily basis to assess your moisture level; this will help you determine how often you should moisturize. Everyone can have a different schedule. By simply touching your hair every day to assess moisture levels you can avoid dry, crunchy, or stiff hair.  Bottom line: Dry hair breaks!  Try not to handle your hair when it feels too dry because you will more than likely get some breakage.  (Bonus: keep heat and  chemical dye usage to a minimum, these things promote additional dryness. If your hair is already prone to dryness you are asking for a hard time in this area.)

4. Be Gentle: I know you hear this ALL the time. But sorry, it is true.  The health of our hair is preserved in the way it is being handled. Just like delicate clothing you can not bunch, wrinkle,overly stretch, or use too much heat if you want your clothing to last. Our natural hair is not as tough as it looks. All of the curls,coils, and kinks make it easy to snap or break when there is too much force applied. Sometimes we don't know our own strength, I am a witness! Work with your hair in smaller workable sections that are moisturized and pliable. Use products like natural oils or leave in conditioners to soften before you handle.

5. Protective style your hair: This tip is very crucial when dealing with our hair. I  personally experience the best success with my hair when I wear my hair protected. I know as grown women most of us want to wear our hair loose and out, in its full glory all the time. But truth is: Most of our hair can not handle that and continue to progress.  This can be controversial for so many naturals. Face it, no one wants to be told they can't wear their hair like they want and keep it healthy. We women always want the best of both worlds. Now if you can  get away with that and still show amazing progress lift your hands and say thank you Lord, because you have been blessed in that area! lol. But for the rest of us frequent protective styling is the best way to see continual progress in  health and in length retention. There are many ways to protect your hair.  Find one that fits you and your lifestyle. Twists and or  braids is what I typically opt for, and occasionally I wear  buns.  You can go a week at a time, weeks, or months depending on what you choose. But the less you handle and go through your hair the less breakage you will have, and the more length you will retain.  


There you have them! My top 5 tips to stop excessive shedding and breakage. Of course there are other things to consider like hormones or medications.  But these 5 basics have never failed me!

So what do you do to keep breakage and shedding to a minimum?


Well, until we meet again!  Keep it Healthy and Happy!

Want to Re-Grow your Hair?

I often run into women who have experienced extreme breakage and damaged to their hair and scalp. The biggest culprit for these women is hair that has been ripped out due to tight weaves and braids. Others suffer from breakage due to hormonal issues, chemicals, side effects from medication,or horrible hair care practices.

Traction Alopeica

  Whatever the cause of hair loss it can catapult you into an overly anxious state!  

Result of tight braids

If you want to stop the breakage and balding cycle the first thing to do is to identify what could be causing your problem. And stop it! Yeah, I know if it were that easy to figure out you probably would not be reading this post. But I have found when we slow down and think about our hair care practices we can figure out what is causing the breakage or hair loss. You can identify the cause, reverse it, and get your healthy hair back! 

Healthy Growth

Below are some tips to re-grow damaged broken hair: 

First identify the cause of your breakage or stunted growth: Frequent heat styling, poor diet, chemicals,dry hair,rough detangling, tight weaves and braids can all be the culprit of your broken damaged hair.  If you want your hair to stop breaking and you are currently doing any of the above things you need to stop asap!  ( I don't know any other way to say it ) Hormones or medication can also be culprits and a lot trickier to adjust. If you are on medication please research all of the possible side effects of your medication to find out if it could be causing hair loss. Only you and your doctor can decide if its something that you can refrain from taking. If medication is the cause you could have a harder fight but its not impossible, you learn what you're dealing with, and adjusting your diet and hair care regimen can definitely help lesson those side effects! 

 If your hair is dry and breaking it will not retain length. If you are constantly wearing styles that pull at your hair follicles aka too tight styles, your already weak hair will continue to break.  I know many women run to braids and weaves when their hair is not "acting right"  and that is the last thing they should do. 

Do frequent strengthening and deep conditioning  treatments on your hair to increase the integrity of your strands. You can use several different treatments like Protein, Fenugreek seed powder, Henna, and deep moisturizing treatments to stop breakage and strengthen your hair. 

If you wear weaves and braids. Don't wear weaves or braids while you are trying to re-grow your hair. Hair that is already weak does not need anything pulling on it and adding additional tension. Get your hair in a healthy state first. The best protective style to wear while doing this are natural styles with your own hair, if its not too severely broken to do so, or wear wigs. These styles offer the least amount of tension. 

Get a consistent hair care regimen, It has been proven, our hair responds to consistency! This is probably the best advice that I can give you.  Please resist the urge to jump from product to product and switching up every time some new trend or miracle growth product  enters the market. Stick to a simple regimen of  cleansing, deep conditioning, moisturizing, and protecting. You will also want to add to your regimen a monthly strengthening session( for example Henna, Protein  treatments, and other Ayurvedic treatments)  You should also add frequent scalp massages with stimulating growth oils like Rosemary, lavender, Bhringrachj, or Vatkia oil. Keep your manipulation low,  be consistent!

Patience is a must, once we decide to change our regimen make all the right choices we want to see results like the same day! It reminds me of how quickly we like to see weight come off after a couple days of  healthy eating and exercise. It just doesn't happen that quickly! When trying to re-grow your hair you have to be patient. Keep this in mind, hair typically grows at a 1/4 inch to 1/2 an inch per month.  If you are doing everything right and your follicles are producing hair the way they should you're gonna have to wait atleast 1 to 2 months before you see ANY noticeable growth. So don't watch the pot boil. Just be consistent with your regimen and the growth will come. 

*This topic of hair loss and  regrowing hair is diverse. There are many scenarios that can be addressed. For the sake of time I've only addressed the most common causes of hair loss and possible solutions. If you feel your situation  is beyond what I've mention, for example Alopecia Areta or severe Traction Alopecia you will need to see a Dermatologist or a Tricologist.  These are doctors with specific medical training in this area. They should be able to cut to the chase, and let you know if your hair follicles will re produce hair. 

Well until next time, keep it happy and healthy!!