How To Strengthen Weak & Brittle Hair: 5 Tips

Everyone with hair on their head shares a common goal: to preserve the health of their hair. This goal is even more important for those who are aging. The aging process can sometimes lead to some not-so-fun impacts on our hair. And those side effects may eventually lead to hair that is prone to breakage.

But not to worry — we’ve got the information you need! Having a hair care routine that changes as you do can help strengthen weak hair and promote healthier hair — from the hair follicles, through the hair shaft, to the hair cuticles. Focusing on the entirety of what makes up healthy hair from the inside out is the best way to achieve strong hair.

To determine how to strengthen brittle tresses, we again need to take a look at our hair health as a whole. The health of our hair isn’t solely determined by our hair strands! Being able to go with the flow and face these changes head-on is what will separate us from the rest of the pack and truly help us age better.

If you find that your mane needs a little bit of love to strengthen brittle hair before the damage worsens, here are five tips on transforming your weak hair into hair that can stand up to aging.

What Causes Weak and Brittle Hair?

There are potentially one or many causes of weak hair strands. Whether or not you are contending with a few will simply depend on the individual.

Some potential causes could begin from the inside out: such as in the form of your diet or changes in hormones. Poor diet can lead to poor nail, hair, and skin health due to the lack of nutrients needed to maintain them. 

In fact, diet can even play a role in thinning hair or hair loss. While hormone changes from pregnancy, birth control pills, or menopause, these changes can lead to changes in the quantity and quality of hair growth. 

Even external factors like weather can have negative effects on your hair. In the summer months, you likely spend more time in excessive heat, the sunshine, or the pool. Each one of these can be damaging to your hair in excess, thus exacerbating weak hair that is already having a tough time due to aging. 

In winter, you’re likely spending more time indoors with a heater running. Your cozy heater could be pulling moisture out of the air as it heats. This has the potential to promote dry hair and lead to weak, brittle strands.

Haircare is another big culprit for weak hair. Things like heat tools that manipulate your hairstyles can cause severe damage that can dry out or even break hair. Trips to the salon in high frequency or even certain services can lead to brittle hair. 

Bleach can very quickly dry out hair and lead to tangles due to the hair being stripped of its pigment. When your hair is bleached, the cuticle of your hair can remain open if your hair wasn’t properly treated by deep conditioning. Open cuticles can mean more time detangling.

Even using the wrong shampoo and conditioner can lead to unwanted brittle hair and split ends. Shampoos and conditioners aren’t, as many expect, a one-size-fits-all. There are shampoos and conditioners designed with certain people and issues in mind. Take our hair quiz for personalized product recommendations to support feeling better, not younger!

How Do I Tell If My Hair Is Brittle?

If you’ve noticed that your hair has changed and feels more weak or brittle over time, there may be some easy fixes. Determining if your hair is weak is the first step to solutions.

Weak and brittle hair comes in the form of feeling dry, hair feeling thick at the root but thinner at the ends, your hair has lost its shine (appears dull), it gets tangled more easily, and there is more shedding or hair fall. 

Damaged hair that comes in the form of frizz, split ends, or dryness can also point to hair that has been weakened by age or other factors. For those with brittle hair, one or more of these may apply to you. So what can be done?

Five Tips To Strengthen Weak Hair

Weak hair doesn’t have to stay that way! In fact, strengthening your strands can be as easy as making some very minor changes. 

Here are five quick and easy ways to strengthen your hair and give your hair the boost it needs.

1. Use Special Shampoo and Conditioner

Use a shampoo and conditioner that was designed with your hair type, hair concern, or even age in mind. Some shampoo and conditioners are designed to help people with more oily hair, some provide more benefit to straight thin hair instead of thick curly hair. Picking the right shower routine can make a huge difference.

2. Don’t Overwash Your Locks

On the topic of shower routine, wash your hair as needed. While you’ll still want to shower daily, you don’t need to wash your hair every time. Washing your hair as few as two to three times a week is perfectly reasonable. 

This is because excessive washing can strip your hair of the natural oils that help protect it. And when we get older, we naturally produce less — so we need all the hydration we can get. Your hair is not equipped to withstand day after day of rinsing and washing.

3. Take Hair Vitamins

For those looking to improve their diets but are perhaps still not getting the results for their hair that they want, try supplements. The right supplement, designed for hair, skin, or nails, could be just what you need. 

Our bodies have a harder time absorbing all the nutrients needed for healthy hair as we age. These nutrients include biotin, vitamin D, and vitamin E. Always speak with your doctor before beginning a new supplement regimen. Once you get the “okay,” you can start reaping the benefits from a supplement specifically created with aging hair in mind. 

4. Use a Heat Protectant

Not only does a heat protectant protect your hair when styling, but it can also nourish your hair. Not all heat protectants are created equally; check yours to make sure it is designed to protect dry hair. With the right heat protectant, you can go beyond just protection and proactively provide your hair with more shine and control flyaways.

5. Support Your Scalp Health

Scalp massage and stimulation can help strengthen hair from its origin. By massaging and stimulating the hair follicles, you can potentially help unblock follicles. 

Make sure that when you shampoo, you wash your scalp thoroughly — almost as if you were giving yourself a scalp massage. This washes away buildup that can lead to dandruff if not rinsed away and can stimulate blood circulation to promote hair growth.

What Hair Products Can Make Your Hair Stronger?

Some distinct products really put the “care” into hair care, especially when it comes to strengthening aging hair that has become brittle or weak.

Perhaps you’re looking to swap out your shower routine for a shampoo and conditioner made for aging hair. Better Not Younger is thrilled to have what you need! Our Second Chance Repairing Shampoo and Conditioner are made to support strong hair as we age. With the combination of our shampoo and conditioner, you can moisturize and revitalize weak and brittle hair.

Supplements can help replenish what you may be lacking in your diet to make your hair look its best. Our adorable heart-shaped gummies in our Significant Other Hair, Skin & Nails Supplement could be just what you need. 

This supplement provides extra nutrients that your body loves to help produce healthy, natural hair. Vitamins A and B and biotin are included and can encourage healthier hair. 

A good heat protectant will prevent your hair from being damaged. A great heat protectant will go beyond and prevent your hair from becoming brittle by nourishing it. Our No Remorse Heat Protection & Taming Spray does just that. 

With heat protection up to 450 degrees, you can nourish and hydrate the strands of your hair and tame some frizz while you’re at it. This heat protectant goes the extra mile with the inclusion of vitamin E. 

With scalp stimulation, you can do a lot of good for your hair follicles. Healthy hair follicles lead to healthy hair that is strong! With the addition of a product made to replenish and re-energize your follicles, you’ll feel like a superhero. 

That’s where our Superpower™ Hair & Scalp Duo can help. Not only does the applicator massage and stimulate your scalp, but the added serum applied through it goes straight to the follicle. By providing our award-winning serum directly to the roots of your hair, you can support healthy and strong hair.

Aging hair is more prone to dryness and thinning, paving the unfortunate road to hair that is brittle and weak. But with these five tips and product recommendations on strengthening your hair, you can take the high road and flaunt hair that is well-cared for and healthy as you age better.

If you’re still unsure where to start, take our personalized hair quiz today for recommendations on caring for your hair at every stage! 

Sources:

Diet and hair Loss: Effects of Nutrient Deficiency | PMC

Hormonal Effects on Hair Follicles | PMC

The Mechanism of Hair Bleaching | Semantic Scholar

Mechanical Stimulation of the Scalp Improves Blood Circulation | Science Direct