Is all hair breakage equal?

[blasianbeauty]

For instance, is breakage from relaxing any better or worse than breakage from using heat, transitioning, stretching relaxers, or being natural and experiencing breakage due to tangles, etc. What brought this to mind is that I'm on a long relaxer stretch (currently on wk 18 of with a 26 week goal) and as I was just gently combing my hair, I have some breakage/shedding due to my new growth. So I started thinking well...what's the point of stretching...my hair will experience breakage from relaxing as well...might as well touch up now since breakage/shedding is inevitable. Anyhow...do you think that one form of breakage is better/worse than another?

 

[newflowers]

Good ponderation. I think all breakage is equally bad - damage, dryness, tangles, ralaxer, blow drying, flat ironing - the reasons are many, but the end result is the same. I admire your 18 of 26 weeks, I'm in 15 of 16 and can barely stand it. I have spent more time deep conditioning and working to prevent breakage than had I just relaxed at twelve weeks. I wonder what is the attraction of this personal challenge.

 

[that_1_grrrl]

I think it may have to do with how easy it is to reverse the problem. I am not sure though, so I will bump for someone with more info.

 

[LaidBak]

Hair on the floor is hair on the floor.
But I offer that shedding is better than breakage because its natural to lose a certain amount of hair a day. So I'd rather see 100 shed hairs after I wash than 100 broken hairs.

 

[JustKiya]

Hair on the floor is hair on the floor.
But I offer that shedding is better than breakage because its natural to lose a certain amount of hair a day. So I'd rather see 100 shed hairs after I wash than 100 broken hairs.

Exactly. Shedding is good - it insures the cycle of hair continues - it means your hair is still growing. Breakage though? That's nothing but lost inches.

Of course, some things are easier to change the root cause of - if it's breaking because it's overprocessed or over bleached, or burnt, you're going to have to wait for it to grow out, and so to me, that's going to be worse damage. Damage from too much protein/dryness can be repaired without having to grow out all of the hair, so that's a much lighter damage, in my mind.

 

[newflowers]

Exactly. Shedding is good - it insures the cycle of hair continues - it means your hair is still growing. Breakage though? That's nothing but lost inches.

Of course, some things are easier to change the root cause of - if it's breaking because it's overprocessed or over bleached, or burnt, you're going to have to wait for it to grow out, and so to me, that's going to be worse damage. Damage from too much protein/dryness can be repaired without having to grow out all of the hair, so that's a much lighter damage, in my mind.

That's a very good point - it is easier to reverse the causes of some breakage.

 

[blasianbeauty]

Good ponderation. I think all breakage is equally bad - damage, dryness, tangles, ralaxer, blow drying, flat ironing - the reasons are many, but the end result is the same. I admire your 18 of 26 weeks, I'm in 15 of 16 and can barely stand it. I have spent more time deep conditioning and working to prevent breakage than had I just relaxed at twelve weeks. I wonder what is the attraction of this personal challenge.

Thank you! Well, I personally like to stretch because if I relax too often it makes my hair thin out. I remember years ago when my sis would relax my hair every 8 weeks the next year I lost a lot of hair and it looked dreadfully thin. I also don't like the idea of overlapping, thus making the hair weaker. But to get back on topic, I really do wonder if it's better to just go on and relax sooner than planned to combat the breakage.

 

[girlyprincess23]

I know I will never stretch past the point of breakage again and that for me is 16 weeks at the most. I mean with all the benefits of stretching leaving your hair to break off at the demarcation line is not worth whatever added security an extra 6 weeks or so is going to get you. Also with 12-16 or 18 weeks of new growth i'm sure a competent stylist could manage to not overlap with that amount of new growth. Also you could also cover your previously relaxed hair in protectant before you go (like I do, this has helped me with the thinning a LOT as I experience the same thinning after relaxers) and finally if you really wanted to get to week 26 for the surprise you could always get braids it's the best low mani/ protective style there is in my world and you wouldn't have to worry about the breakage at the demarcation line because it will be wrapped up in the braid and not able to move and therefore break. That is what I do when I stretch. HTH

 

[blessedandlucky]

how do you distinguish between breakage and shedding?

i think that short hairs = breakage and long hairs=shedding...did i read that somewhere?

does anyone know??

 

[silvergirl]

hair with bulb at the end is shed hair.. you can still get long strand breakage. and you can have short shed hair