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"I've been natural for years and my hair has been the same length!"
“My hair is always breaking off at the ends!”
“My hair just won’t grow no matter what I do!”
Have you ever said any of these before? You are definitely not the only one.
Breakage is a cycle that if not dealt with, will never allow you to see any results.
So let’s tackle the root cause! Why is it then that afro-textured hair suffers the most breakage when compared to other textures?
It starts with the hair cuticle.
The hair cuticle can be described as overlapping scales of keratinocytes (Keratin!) think of it like tiles on a roof which are mainly made from proteins and fats. [1]
Afro textured hair has a thinner cuticle than others; Asians tends to have the thickest cuticles, Caucasians have slightly thinner and Africans have the thinnest.
It is then not a surprise that our texture of hair does not typically achieve long length and breaks very easily.
It is this hair cuticle that is one of the contributing factors to the fragile nature of Afro hair. Even within Afro-textured hair types, not all cuticles are made the same and this is where porosity comes in (we will tackle this later!).
Hair can “break” off for many reasons including:
- Dryness
- Brittleness/weakness
- Poor detangling habits / over manipulation
- Natural shedding due to the hair cycle
- Excessive shedding due to genetics, aging, postpartum changes etc.
But it's not all bad news, there are ways of preventing and avoiding these causes.Let’s tackle these causes one by one to cover all bases and enable you to see results!
We will tackle each reason per email communication/blog post so stay tuned for the rest.
Do you suffer from breakage? Comment below your haircare issues and we will answer!
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References
Olivia Johns —
I need help growing my hair. It’s dry and I don’t know how to style it. My hairs been the same length since 4 years ago
Mia Sullivan —
Hi, I have been natural since January 2010. I have the same length at neck length. I can’t seem to grow past it. I have done day’s, leave in conditioning overnight, sleeping with silk scarf religiously. I have seen some growth, and a bit of hair strength, but I still see hair loss, other than normal shedding. I even went on a 60 day challenge, my hair grows a 1/2 inch every month, I’m sure of it. I must admit, I get angry with my hair and even stretch it when manipulating it but it always seems to start reverting, especially at the ends, it will start to knot up and get kinky. I’mco convinced I won’t be successful at this hair growth stuff, but I will try! What do you think?
Regards,
Mia S.