Hair Breakage and You: 5 years from now!

Read here about how hair breakage can create drama-filled Friday nights.

What are your plans five years from now for your hair? I know that’s a question you usually hear about investments, savings or career paths. But hair? Am I serious? Actually, yes, I am. Do you have a plan for your hair’s health five years from now? My plan is to grow my hair to its longest possible length, eliminate all the damage and moisturize and care for my ends and hair every day.

Fulfilling these goals starts with gentler hair care. In part one of this article, I talked about split ends. In part two, I discussed Trichorrhexis Nodosa. Now it’s time for Trichoclasis. What all of these types of hair breakage have in common is the harsh hair care techniques that cause them such as:

chemical hair straightening

heated hair straightening

harsh brushing

vigorous combing

harsh shampoos

excessive sunlight

other forms of weathering

Trichoclasis involves a splintering of the hair strand so it literally looks like it has broken clean in half. And while a suspension of harsh hair care practices is recommended, whether you cut your hair or not, the hair will snap off, because it is literally hanging on by a very thin piece of hair thread.

See a picture here:

Any type of hair breakage that affects one of your hair strands is unhealthy for your entire head. Five years from now seems far, but imagine that you change your routine. Your hair could be different…very different.

Now five years ago, if I would’ve read this, I know exactly what I would have said: “Sorry, I’m not giving up my FHI flat iron unless you pry it from my cold dead hands.”

However, five years ago, if I would have adopted my current routine, my hair probably would’ve been waist length now. I wasted time and would often exchange a couple of nights of gorgeous hair for a trim (really a cut no matter what the stylist told me) and six months to a year of growing out all of the damage that I committed against my hair. If you find yourself exchanging nights of gorgeous hair for months and years of rebuilding it, think again. Don’t waste any more time like I did.

References:

Dawber, R. Diseases of the Hair and Scalp. Oxford,

Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1998 p. 251

Scott, D.A. (1988) Disorders of the Hair and Scalp in Blacks

Dermatologic Clinics, 6(3), 387-395.

Do you know the type of hair damage Trichorrhexis Nodosa causes? Click here to find out.