Are you constantly getting little hairs that stick out all over your head, around your hair line or little tiny curly ones throughout your hair? This is caused from breakage. As you probably know there is no cure once the hair shaft is already broken, but lets go through some causes and solutions and see if we can help in the future.
First of all your hair shaft has an inner layer called the medulla. Inside that layer of your hair are your bonds, the bigger the hair shaft the tighter the bonds, therefore the more bonds you have. You can think of these as bonds as looking like stairs if your hair shaft is bigger and a ladder if your hair shaft is smaller. Having a bigger hair shaft does not mean you have thick hair, it would mean you have coarse hair. It would be slightly less bendable and probably more bouncy. Having a smaller hair shaft does not mean you have thin hair either. Your hair would be considered fine and would probably be a little limp. The only way to make these bonds bigger or closer together is by changing your genes. Sorry about that, but there are solutions and we will get to those in a minute.
How strong your hair is and how much pressure it can hold is called tensile strength. The more bonds and the stronger they are the better your tensile strength. The way to check it is by pulling one hair shaft, just stretch it, don't pull it out of your head. Grab it with two fingers about mid shaft and then use your other hand with two fingers at the bottom of the hair shaft and pull slowly. Your hair should stretch and go back to where it was like a rubber band. You can do this on wet or dry hair, if your hair is wet it could stretch to 50-80% it's original length, if it is dry it may only stretch about 30%. That is why when you get your haircut, your hair should either be all wet or all dry or your cut will be uneven. It would be the same too if they pulled in one area and didn't in another. If it doesn't then you have no tensile strength if it does than you are on your way to a better hair shaft already.
Things that can cause you to loose tensile strength are perms, colors, styling products, bad shampoos, bleaches and a bad diet. Remember your hair shaft grows from the inside out, so everything you put in your body will effect your hair. I can actually look at a head of hair and tell what kind of diet someone has or if they are a drug addict or alcoholic. I have even been able to see when someone is getting sick and needed medical attention. You can tell a lot from someone's hair.
If you passed the tensile strength test and you still have breakage here are some causes.
1. What causes the most breakage in hair is pressure on the hair shaft. For those coarse haired people a little pressure is ok, but for fine haired people a little pressure can snap your hair right off. If you have tensile strength your hair should hold up, if you don't then it could snap. I am sure you have heard before not to put your hair in a ponytail or clip if you want it to grow. But the truth of the matter is that your hair grows from the inside of your body not the outside, so no matter what pressure you use, your hair is still growing. I am sure you have heard too that if you don't get it trimmed it won't grow, but again, it grows from the inside. However, for fine haired people who have less bonds and bonds that are farther apart the problem with breakage is that your bonds may be missing in some areas. So if you put your hair in a ponytail and that ponytail holder is sitting on a spot where the bond is missing, you end up with a snap in the hair shaft. This would be the same with clips, barrettes, headbands and bobby pins. Anything that adds any weight or pressure to your hair shaft.
How can you fix your tensile strength and replace missing bonds? Well, there are two ways. There is products that you can use on your hair that will give you like a band aid to hold it together if you are missing links. But the best way to build a good hair shaft is from the inside out. Vitamins like Biotin, E and B-Complex are very good for your hair. Some people say to take prenatal vitamins, all this is doing is giving you enough vitamins so that your body gets what it needs and then there is enough left over for your hair. Prenatal vitamins do work, however, there are vitamins that you can overdose on and cause more problems. If you take prenatal vitamins be sure to check with a physician, nutritionalist or books on types of vitamins and the amounts that you should not exceed. So prenatal may be too much. Drink water, eat right and take your vitamins and your hair shaft will thank you.
