“What’s your advice on getting my hair to stop breaking…I wash with sulfate free shampoo once a month and co wash once a week. I use coconut oil, lacio lacio leave-in and roller set and flat iron once a week – I pass over the hair one time to make it straight…I do a protein aphogee or redken extreme protein treatment – I just trimmed all of my ends….and I still loose 10-15 hairs everyday :( in your experience is there anything I should do to stop breakage in its tracks…?” – elaina (not pictured)

elaina, elaina, where do i start? first i’m going to ask that you please step away from what you are doing right now and let’s examine what’s going on. you have a whole lot happening in your routine and it’s very evident to me why your hair is breaking. you are committing one of the cardinal natural hair sins – fighting with your hair and not listening to it – yes it talks :). don’t think so? well, let’s examine what’s going on in your routine so we can pinpoint this breakage.

i wash with sulfate free shampoo once a month and co wash once a week

it’s great that you use a sulfate free shampoo which is gentler on curls than sulfate shampoos. co-washing once a week is also great. just be sure that you are using a moisturizing conditioner that is free or has little protein. i’d suggest aburey organics honey suckle rose or white camilla (i use this and am in loveeee!) or a cheapie drugstore brand like aussi moist or herbal essence hello hydration.

i use coconut oil, lacio lacio leave-in and roller set…

coconut oil is a tricky thing. on my hair, my strands rebuke it like a spawn of evil unless i mix it with something else. many a natural have found that coconut oil’s effect on their natural hair is similar to a protein treatment. it makes their hair hard and stiff. that’s understandable seeing as coconut oil as a pre-poo or treatment helps hair strands retain protein – meaning that it helps the cuticle of your hair – which is protein – stay in tack and not break off.

lacio lacio contains concentrated amounts of silk proteins. now many curly haired women find that silk protein leaves their hair softer than say keratin protein or wheat protein, but it’s still a protein and protein included in hair products means that it will contribute to the “strength” of your hair. for kinky haired girls like us, protein use or the overload of protein is a risky line to walk because kinky hair and protein has to live in a happy balance even more so than many other curly textures of hair. still with me? okay, let’s keep going.

i do a protein aphogee or redken extreme protein treatment

i’m pretty sure you already know where i’m going with this. your hair has PROTEIN OVERLOAD and it’s telling you this by BREAKING OFF. it may not feel like it to your touch, but inside your strands – in the cuticle where all your products get sucked – your hair is wayyyy too hard and does not have enough moisture in it. your are killing your strands.

many naturals think that strong, healthy hair means coating their hair with protein, but i believe that strong, healthy hair means a BALANCE between protein and moisture. you are not giving yourself enough moisture at all. i’m not sure if you wet your hair during the week or do steam treatments, but you have got to find that balance that will stop your strands for snapping.

…and flat iron once a week

stop. yes, stop flat ironing your hair. that’s killing it even more with not enough moisture and too much protein. your hair is dying and if you are not careful, you’ll end up with heat damaged hair like otise experienced (click to read her story). one of the biggest things one has to get used to when going natural is to not fight with your hair. going natural means embracing your texture. if you are planning to press every week, then what’s the point? think about it, you are basically treating your hair as if it’s relaxed. i did this same thing and could not.grow.my.natural.hair.healthy.past.my.shoulders for years. (read my story here). you are going to have to learn to embrace your hair. learn to moisturize it, baby it and stop using heat less a few times a year on it. if you need to stretch your hair always, always, always prep it with a heat protectant first and ONLY use a blow dryer set on COOL.

so how do you fix the problem, you ask?

first, learn about the key to moisture: water. water is what moisturizes hair and there is nothing that can do it better. you also need to ALWAYS follow up with a creamy leave-in conditioner and seal with an oil. i suggest jojoba oil or extra virgin olive oil. give the coconut oil a rest for at least a couple of months. jojoba oil is the closets oil to pure scalp sebum – the oils our scalps naturally produce and extra virgin olive oil is a oil that seals in moisture well without leaving your hair greasy.

for a step-by-step guideline on total moisture for kinky hair read: how do i properly moisturize (very coarse) natural hair?

2nd, stop doing any protein treatments. you should only need to do protein treatments a few times a year if that. most kinky haired naturals don’t need protein treatments but if you do, more than 2-3 times a year is a sign that something is going wrong in your routine that you need to fix. and speaking of routine, be sure to check the naturals coveted list of products that are tried and true products that you should try out and add to your routine.

3rd, learn to embrace your curls and kinks so that soon enough your blow dryer and flatiron are collecting dust. if you must use heat, prep with a heat protectant and use a dryer set on low COOL and/or your iron turned no higher than 300. if you break these rules, then your hair will continue to break. ask me how i know. oh, wait you already are. ;)

i still loose 10-15 hairs everyday

on average, everyone looses about 100 hairs a day but that’s from shedding not breakage. once you get your hair breakage under control, please be sure to check out the difference between shedding and breakage so that you’ll be able to tell if your change in routine is working to bring your hair back to life.

hang in there and start working on babying your hair back to life and you will see results. don’t fight with your hair, just let it be and treat it like it should be treated and you and your hair will be happier for it.

what say you ladies? have you ever overloaded on protein treatments and heat styling? how did you find your way back to healthy hair?

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