What Is the Best Product to Stop Hair Breakage?

What is it about healthy hair that we love so much? Maybe it’s the fullness, the elasticity, or the strength. After all, there are more than 100,000 strands on a healthy head of hair, each can stretch nearly 30% longer when wet, and a hearty fiber can support three ounces in weight.

On the other hand, when your hair is unhealthy and dry, a simple run-through with your comb can snap it in half. Hair breakage can indicate weakened keratin, lack of moisture, and other issues. When the chemical bonds that once kept your hair fibers in one piece are damaged, you are left with brittle, broken strands. Is this the end of the line for your once-beautiful locks?

To give your tresses a second chance, read on to discover the best product to stop hair breakage in the first place.

What Is Hair Breakage?

Losing hair is a problem, no matter how you look at it. To determine a solution to breakage-related hair loss, however, you need to consider what is happening when your hair breaks.

Hair breakage is not the same as hair shedding. Losing up to 100 hairs a day due to shedding is normal because of the natural growth cycle of the follicle. As the follicle completes its active growing phase, the hair strand growing from it will fall out with a small white bulb attached to the end — this is your hair root.

A hair that breaks, on the other hand, is separated at some point along the strand rather than at the root — this occurs when your hair shaft cuticle (outer layer) cannot protect the medulla and cortex (inner layers) the way it should.

What Causes Hair Breakage?

The presence of a disulfide bond within each hair fiber gives your hair its elasticity and strength. These strong bonds play a critical role in holding together the keratin protein within your hair's cortex.

Vibrant hair relies on a healthy cuticle with compressed scales keeping your strands protected. When these scales are torn or damaged, your hair dries out, separates, and the disulfide bond breaks.

Several factors can weaken and eventually break these bonds; however, the prime culprit is probably age-related. As you age, your hair biology changes along with the rest of you. The sebaceous glands near your hair follicles slow down and produce inadequate sebum oil to protect your strands and nourish your skin.

In addition to aging factors, the following might be adding to your hair breakage heartache:

• Your diet — Your scalp needs plenty of antioxidants, vitamins, zinc, iron, and folic acid to grow hydrated, elastic hair. As you get older, it can become more challenging to obtain these nutrients from the foods you eat, so consider supplementing with Better Not Younger’s Significant Other Hair Fortifying Vitamins.
  
  
• Your hair color — Hair dyes use ammonia and hydrogen peroxide to penetrate your strands and seal in color. These chemicals strip away your lipids and protective sebum, leaving your scalp and hair exposed to oxidative stress and vulnerable to the irritating effects of harsh styling products. The more bleaching you do and the less time you wait between coloring appointments can amplify your hair’s breakage potential.
  
  
• Your hair accessories — Hair ties and metal hair accessories can strain your cuticle and scalp. Use cotton covered rubber bands and avoid tight hairstyles, which can lead to further damage and even breakage.
  
  
• Your shampoo — Shampoos with sulfates can strip away sebum and leave you with raised cuticles that can dry out your hair and cause breakage. Use a sulfate-free shampoo like Second Chance Low Suds Repairing Shampoo for Dry-Damaged Hair and be sure to condition afterward.

Try a Restorative Butter Masque to Rebuild Your Tresses

While nothing can reverse hair breakage once it happens (hair glue anyone?), there are things you can do for your hair and scalp to stop it once it occurs. Start by snipping off your split ends and using products formulated to bring your troublesome locks back from the brink.

Better Not Younger’s Hair Redemption Restorative Butter Masque can diminish damage by rebuilding your brittle, dry hair with a combination of restorative plant-based butters including:

• Avocado Butter — The avocado is a natural emollient and sunscreen, and butter made from this fruit's flesh is rich in fats, amino acids, and vitamins A, B, and E. Avocado butter penetrates your hair shaft to moisturize and nourish dry, damaged hair.
  
  
• Cupuaçu butter — Cupuaçu butter contains polyphenols to confront free radicals, phytosterols to hydrate your scalp, and fatty acids for protection and improved elasticity. It is full of lauric and stearic acids and has exceptional moisture absorption capabilities, allowing it to deliver hydration and smoothness to your hair.
  
  
• Macadamia ternifolia seed butter — Macadamia seed butter permeates your strands and follicles more effectively than mineral oil, which accumulates on your scalp over time. The macadamia oils bind to your hair shaft and infuse it with calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, and fatty acids. Macadamia seed butter is also antioxidant and squalane-rich, safeguarding your hair and scalp from environmental damage.
  
  
• Mango butter (Mangifera Indica) — Mango butter is produced from the seed kernels of the Mangifera indica tree and contains oleic, linoleic, and stearic fatty acids. This essential fatty-acid-combination balances oil production, softens your tresses, and protects your scalp from oxidative stress.
  
  
• Murumuru Butter– Murumuru butter is a rich emollient that provides deep hydration despite its featherlight consistency. It is rich in lauric acid, which readily bonds to your hair fibers and penetrates the hair shaft, increasing strength and reducing breakage.

Products to stop hair breakage

Over time, you may notice your once moist and tropical hair biome has digressed into an arid, desert landscape. What happened?

Age-related hair changes, chemicals, thermal styling tools, and damaging external friction fracture the chemical bonds that keep your strands in one piece — resulting in hair-layer separation and breakage.

Better Not Younger’s Hair Redemption Restorative Butter Masque takes on the root cause of your brittle strands, fortifying both your hair and scalp with nourishment and hydration to vitalize and invigorate your locks. Feel free to drop by our product page and check out our full line of hair care solutions designed exclusively for aging hair.