11 Ways You're Causing Hair Breakage

Hair breakage can make having a good hair day even harder—but it’s easy to avoid if you take care of your hair the right way. This means more than just using high-quality products on your hair, though. Preventing hair damage or hair breakage can even come from changing up your diet, taking on new habits at the salon, and eliminating stress (easier said than done, we know). But when you do all these things and more, you’re not just preventing hair breakage—you’re giving your locks the chance to really thrive and be the luscious face-framing tresses you truly want. Keep reading for 11 hair breakage causes and their solutions.

1. Brushing Your Hair Too Aggressively

Not only can roughly dragging a brush through your hair cause a lot of breakage, but it can especially be harsh if you’re doing this while your hair is wet. Instead, use a wide-tooth comb to gently work through your strands. The tines on wide-tooth combs don’t pull on the strands quite so much and instead leave enough space for larger pieces of your hair to glide through.

Now this is not to say a hairbrush has no place on your vanity. Hairbrushes are totally fine if you use them gently and carefully and don’t rip them through tangled hair. The brush has the ability to quite literally rip your hair apart, which is especially concerning if you already have thin, aging hair.

2. Rough Towel Drying

You may think that towel drying your hair wouldn’t be an issue, but if you’re too rough, you can cause quite a bit of hair breakage. When your hair is wet, it’s very vulnerable, and towel drying it can lead to breakage and even pull some of the hair out. Try to avoid vigorously towel drying your hair after a wash—and also tying it up in a towel. Instead, be gentle about it or avoid the towel altogether and let your hair air dry.

3. Too Much Heat Styling

Heat styling can wreak havoc on your hair if you’re not careful. First of all, when you blow-dry your hair, you don’t want it to be sopping wet, as it becomes more prone to damage. Instead, let hair air dry a bit before using the dryer. It’s also a great idea to use heat protection before you dry your hair with a product like the No Remorse Heat Protection & Taming Spray. The ​​blend of vitamin E and nourishing oils in this heat protection spray will protect your hair while you blow-dry and also when you use a flat iron or curling iron.

Speaking of those hot tools, you should always make sure your hair is completely dry before using them. Putting hot tools on wet hair will almost certainly fry it. There’s a reason you hear a sizzle when you do that! Putting hot tools on wet hair also produces steam from the moisture in your hair, which could actually burn your scalp. 

4. Using Hairstyles That Are Too Tight 

It may be tempting to pull your hair back into a ponytail to get it out of your face, but doing that can really harm your strands if you pull too tightly. Some hair ties, especially when tied too tightly, can rip out and break hairs. Instead of these super-tight styles, try tying your hair a little more loosely. If really keeping your hair off your face and neck is the goal and you need that tighter tie, though, consider using a scrunchie instead of hair ties. Having made a comeback as of late, scrunchies are made to be a little more gentle on hair and will cause less damage.

5. Not Getting Regular Haircuts

Cutting your hair frequently removes all the dead split ends and keeps your hair refreshed and strong, regardless of the length of your hair. When the damaged ends are left on your hair for too long, they’ll spread and create more damage. Those split ends will continue to travel up the strands and cause more breakage, so by getting regular trims to control the length of your hair, you’re preventing more hair damage.

6. Not Using the Right Hair-Care Products

Using hair-care products that have caring ingredients in them will not only prevent breakage but also nourish your hair fully. This starts with your shampoo and conditioner while you wash your hair but also includes specialized products specifically designed to protect hair. The Wake Up Call Volumizing Duo of shampoo and conditioner are both gentle on hair but give it body and bounce, all while preventing breakage. In fact, the shampoo is clinically proven to reduce breakage by 95% and by 98% when used with the conditioner!

Better Not Younger’s Hair Redemption Restorative Butter Masque can also help strengthen damaged hair with its combination of butters—including avocado, cupuaçu, macadamia ternifolia seed, mango and murumuru—that glide onto the hair to nourish it back to health.

7. Over-Washing Your Hair

Over-washing your hair can dry it out and weaken it, which can lead to breakage. A good rule of thumb is to wash your hair every two to three days so you aren’t stripping out the natural oil from the root and hair shaft that keeps your hair nourished. In between washes, opt for a dry shampoo to keep your hair in shape and to protect the natural oil.

8. Too Much Stress

High levels of stress can unfortunately impact even your hair. Studies have shown that elevated stress levels reduce hair growth and can even weaken the strands, leading to hair loss and damage. While decreasing the stress in your life can be easier said than done, it’s a factor in your damaged hair that you may not have considered. 

9. Lack of Moisture

When your hair gets too dry, it can break, it’s as simple as that. Dry hair tends to be brittle hair, so it’s important to make sure you’re bringing moisture to the strands from roots to tips. A moisturizing shampoo can help bring that moisture back if you’re noticing breakage. It will also lock the moisture in and keep further damage from happening.

10. Over-Processing at the Salon

Some salon products, if not used properly, can stress your hair shaft out to the point of breaking. Bleaching your hair is especially harsh if the hair isn’t protected and treated with gentle, knowledgeable hands. If you have a hairstylist you love who always treats your hair with kindness, then you may not have to worry about this, but if you’re seeing someone new or trying something different, just chat the process through with them and make sure they’re going to take care of your hair the way it should be. Your hair shouldn’t be put through a number of processes in one sitting, especially if bleach is involved, and if you are getting a double process, there should be a hair-strengthening step involved to make sure your hair doesn’t get damaged from all the products.

11. Eating the Wrong Foods

Your diet is an important part of having healthy hair. Eating enough vitamins and minerals will help your hair grow, plus it will keep it strong. Vitamins like A, C, D and E are all important, plus zinc, biotin, iron and B vitamins. Eating fatty acids, like those found in seafood, will also help keep your hair from breaking. If you’re not eating foods that are full of these vitamins, a daily multivitamin can help. Better Not Younger’s Significant Other Hair, Skin & Nails Supplement + Retinol Boost also has vitamin A, biotin and folic acid in it to help strengthen your roots, which could help diminish damage.

Hair Breakage Is a Fixable Problem

Though hair breaks are frustrating, this is a problem that’s reversible. Hair breaks, much like thinning hair, can usually be traced back to a root cause that’s manageable, whether it’s how you dry your hair or what you eat in a day. Using Better Not Younger’s collection of products designed to promote healthy hair, by moisturizing, strengthening roots and showing some love to brittle locks is exactly what you need to repair damaged hair and bring it back to life.

Tell Us: How do you care for your hair to avoid hair breakage? Share in the comments below!