How to Prevent Hair Breakage: Causes and Treatment

What is breakage in hair?

While it is normal to shed between 50 to 100 hairs each day, hair breakage happens when the hair is weakened and breaks off from the hair shaft. This may just be your ends, but if your hair is overprocessed or under constant strain, you may even experience hair breakage at the crown. Signs of hair breakage include:

• Brittleness and hair snapping
• Split ends
• Dry, frizzy hair
• More flyaways
• Dull appearance
• Coarser texture
• Frequent tangles

What causes hair breakage?

To repair broken hair, it can be helpful to diagnose the cause of your breakage so you can refine your hair and lifestyle habits accordingly. Below are some common reasons for hair breakage.

• Overprocessing: bleaching, colour-treating, perming, and chemically relaxing can weaken the hair.
• Excess heat styling: straightening, curling, blow-drying, and other heat styling methods can dehydrate hair strands and lead to breakage.
• Improper hair products: depending on your hair type, some shampoo formulas (particularly those with sulphates) can be too harsh and dry out the hair.
• Environmental stressors: continual sun exposure, low-humidity conditions, excess use of indoor heating, and exposure to salty or chlorinated water can all make hair dry and brittle over time.
• Poor hair habits: overly tight hairstyles, sleeping with your hair up, rough brushing, and abrasive towel-drying can all put strain on the hair follicles.

How to prevent hair breakage: 7 expert tips

To kickstart your journey to repair broken hair, we recommend a targeted hair care routine that strengthens weakened hair – like the Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser range. That said, it’s just as important to give your strands a chance to rest in between chemical treatments and heat styling. Below, you’ll find our top hair breakage treatment tips – along with preventative measures to keep your locks strong and healthy.

1. Switch to a strengthening shampoo and conditioner

In healthy hair, cuticles lay flat on the hair shaft in a scale-like pattern. When the hair is damaged, these cuticles lift and keratin – an essential structural protein – leaks through. This makes hair weaker and more prone to breakage.

The Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser collection is enriched with our keratin repair complex to refill lost keratin and repair broken hair.

The Damage Eraser Keratin Treatment Shampoo works by sealing cuticles and improving resistance to visibly transform your hair. Pair with the Damage Eraser Conditioner for Damaged Hair to smooth and nourish strands while minimising split ends.

2. Use a targeted hair treatment

Our next hair breakage treatment tip is to add treatments to your hair care regime. Treatments can deliver nutrients to your strands and support the strengthening benefits of your shampoo and conditioner.

Designed as either pre-shampoo or post-shampoo treatment for weakened hair, the Damage Eraser Keratin Filler Rinse-out Treatment helps reinforce the hair fibre using a blend of marula oil and our keratin hair repair complex.

Like the other hair care products in the Damage Eraser collection, this treatment improves shine, resilience, manageability, and texture on all hair types to minimise further breakage.

3. Cut back on heat styling

As much as heat styling allows us to experiment with different hair styles, it’s also one of the major reasons for hair breakage because it can dehydrate strands: leading to brittleness, frizz, flyaways, and split ends.

We recommend avoiding heat styling where you can and opting for heat-free styles – like embracing your natural hair texture or switching to your trusty heatless curl tools. When you do reach for a heat styler, always use heat protectant.

Our Damage Eraser Keratin 10-in-1 Leave-in Spray nourishes weakened hair while offering heat protection up to 230°C. Simply spritz onto wet or dry hair through the lengths and ends before styling.

4. Take a break from chemical treatments

Learning how to prevent hair breakage means eliminating chemical processes that can damage your hair. Even salon-provided chemical treatments can still weaken your hair, but opting out will allow your strands time to recover while your strengthening hair products do their work.

Where possible, take a break from bleaching, colour-treating, perming or chemically straightening your hair – your locks will thank you for it!

5. Nourish your ends with hair oil

Hair oils are particularly effective at hydrating dry ends and smoothing the appearance of frizz and flyaways. Consider a lightweight oil with nourishing ingredients that won’t weight down your strands.

The Triple Nutrition Marvelous Oil Hair Elixir is a three-in-one oil enriched with a trio of hair-loving oils – avocado, olive, and almond – to bolster shine and strength.

You can use this product in three ways:

• As a pre-styler on damp hair before blow-drying.
• As a finishing oil on the ends of dry hair.
• As an overnight leave-in oil on wet or dry strands.

6. Get trims every few months

One of the most effective hair breakage treatment tips is to get regular trims at the salon. When split ends are neglected, they can split further up the hair shaft and break at a higher point – giving your hair a dull, raggedy look with reduced volume.

Most professional hairdressers recommend getting regular trims every three months to minimise split ends and promote stronger, healthier-looking locks.

7. Be gentle with your strands

Our final piece of advice for how to prevent hair breakage is to be gentle with your hair when brushing, combing, drying, and styling to avoid unnecessary strain on the hair follicles.

Here are some of our key takeaways:

• Never brush your hair when it’s wet (its most vulnerable state) and use a wide-toothed comb instead.
• When combing or brushing, start at the ends and gently make your way up to your roots – this prevents tugging and knotting.
• Towel-dry your hair with a microfibre towel to minimise friction.
• Embrace silk pillowcases and scrunchies to curb frizz and tugging.
• Avoid excessively tight updos and opt for soft styles that won’t place traction on your hair.

Once you have integrated these hair breakage treatment tips into your routine, you can work on getting shiny hair and improving dullness.