Hair Breakage happens… We’ve all dealt with at one time or another.

See also: 5 Ways to Prevent Breakage in the Middle of Your Head

See also: 5 Ways to Treat & Regrow Edges

First, let’s discuss what causes breakage

There are 3 common types of breakage:

• Mechanical/manual (breakage from combing or manipulating)
• Physical (breakage caused by heat appliances or physical elements such as winter air)
• Chemical (breakage caused by chemical treatments such as relaxers, Brazilian blow outs, or Keratin Treatments.

1. Stop The Breaking Behavior

Once you’ve narrowed down the cause of your breakage stop what you’re doing to cause it.

If you notice more breakage or any hair loss, assess your routine and eliminate the breaking behavior. What’s important to remember is anything in excess can be damaging. This includes your regular maintenance. The key is to pay attention and be mindful of how you’re hair looks and feels.

2.  Learn the Best Ways to Handle Your Hair

As my hair gets longer, I have to make gradual changes to care for it.  That means preventing breakage by sometimes pre-pooing (pre-shampoo treatment) with coconut oil, using olive & coconut oil for an oil rinse, and shampooing in twists or plaits.  Experiment with extra measures to minimize breakage in your hair.

3. Deep Condition Regularly

I deep condition almost weekly to add an extra boost of moisture and breakage prevention.  After deep-conditioning with any one of these 5 deep conditioners, you’ll notice less breakage and shedding.

4. Detangle Damp Not Wet Hair

Hair is its most fragile when wet. If you have highly textured hair that tangles easily, it’s best to lightly mist hair and detangle with a wide tooth comb before shampooing.

Shampooing in plaits or jumbo twists also prevents tangles and breakage, especially for type 4c.  Read more on detangling damp vs. wet

Read: 10 Things Keeping Your From Long Hair

5. Trim Those Dead Ends

I know if seems counterproductive when you’re trying to grow your hair. But removing split ends is the only way to prevent further damage on other parts of the same strand where split ends are present.

Whether you “search and destroy”, “dust”, or allow a professional stylist to trim it, it will help keep it in optimal shape and decrease breakage.

6. Choose The Best Detangling Tool

There are tons of detangling tools and some are better than others when it comes to detangling with little or no damage at all.  Tools like the Tangle Teezer (Tangle Teezer has been nicknamed the ‘Shredder’ by some.)  The best detangling tool regards of hair type is a seamless wide-tooth comb.  NHR Contributor, Latoya swears that this $20 comb is worth every penny.

7. Moisturize As Needed

Hair needs the perfect balance of moisture and protein to remain healthy or breakage free.  Here’s a great visual demonstration on how that works.  Hydrated hair is not easily broken. If you notice popping of hair strands, that’s a good sign that moisture is needed.

8. Don’t Over Do It With Moisturizing

There is a such thing as over-moisturizing. Your hair will feel spongy especially if you deep condition overnight, practice baggy or greenhouse effect too often. You can remedy this by incorporating a protein-based deep conditioning treatment. You can read more about Protein Deep Conditioners.

9. Pay Due Respect To Your Scalp

A healthy scalp is essential to growing healthy hair.  Cleansing your scalp at least bi-weekly and keeping your scalp moisturize can prevent hair loss and scalp irritation. 4 Must-Have for Your Scalp.

10. Give Your Ends Extra TLC

Your ends are both the oldest part of your hair and the most fragile.  They need a little extra attention.  Make sure you have your ends covered by applying the product from ends to roots.  This is especially important when using the LOC method to moisturize hair.