FAQ | Help my hair is breaking!

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Below is an anonymized (by myself) email I recently received and I thought I would share it with you. I have the permission of the person in question to use her question for a post:

Q: "Recently I have noticed that my hair breaking quite badly.  I do not use heat on my hair, other than a hooded dryer when I do a deep condition or oil treatment.  I do use combs to detangle as I cannot master finger detangling.   Is there any advice you could give to stop/prevent this?   I also noticed that although I wear a satin scarf at night and also trim my hair regularly it is splitting and has a lot of single stand knots.  Would you suggest that I big chop and start again?"

A: Thank you for emailing me. I would advise first and foremost to put the scissors down.  Lol!

Next, if hair is breaking, the first thing is that it is usually weak, aka protein-deficient. The best move for that is a protein treatment. An at-home treatment is simply adding an egg to a handful of your regular conditioner in a small mixing bowl. Apply to your hair and leave on for 20-30 minutes without heat (or eggs will cook, oops) before rinsing it out.  Another alternative is an avocado and coconut milk deep condition treatment.

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You only need half an avocado and about 100-200mls of the milk with a couple of tablespoons each of an oil of your choice (like olive oil) and honey. Leave this on for 30 minutes  before rinsing. You can use your hood dryer over the conditioning cap. I have a video of this on my YouTube channel, Lolascurls.  You can freeze any left over mix for next time.

Alternatively, buy medium protein treatments like Aphogee 2 min keratin or Hair Mayonnaise from any brand can be bought in the shops. The Aphogee 2-Step is a hard-core protein treatment but you have to ensure you follow with a moisturizing conditioning treatment after such a protein treat to soften up your hair again.

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After the first treatment,  style your hair and look at the ends. I recommend doing a mini-trim or dusting (you look at the ends of your hair in twists and trim off just above any splits you see). I never cut more than half an inch at a time as I can always repeat another time in a different style without loosing patience or length.

Repeat a regular gentle protein treatment like the mixes above every 2-4 weeks to ensure your hair is strong then you can reduce this to when needed (every few months).

Hair gets older at the ends as it gets the longer so it needs more moisture and pampering with the daily wear and tear it has seen. My own ends act up every 6 months and I have to just pamper them and snip any splits too.  Your hair will respond.

So, have you experienced breakage recently? What are you tips for getting it under control? Thanks for reading!

Later, ladies and gents!
*Lola*