The Best Products and Techniques for Strengthening Breakage-Prone Hair

There’s good breakage (coffee breaks, tax breaks) and bad (heartbreak’s just never pleasant). For better or worse, most breaks are a part of life. But the hair kind? That doesn’t need to be.

1. Think in twos.
Peanut butter and jelly, Batman and Robin, oils and silicones — one of these duos is less famous than the others, but oils and silicones are a perfect one-two punch for treating breakage, especially on curly hair. “Curly hair is so prone to breakage and damage because each strand becomes weaker at the pinch points where the hair twists,” says cosmetic chemist Kelly Dobos. Adding moisture always helps, but hair masks and deep conditioners with natural oils and silicones fully coat and protect each fiber. “These ingredients work well in combination because silicones spread quickly to smooth down flyaways, while the oils take longer to penetrate and strengthen hair. It’s a perfect mix for a mask,” says Dobos, who likes Aveda Damage Remedy Intensive Restructuring Treatment and Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask.

2. Bulk up.
Your hair is made of protein (keratin), so the more keratin you put back onto your hair, the stronger it will be. Look for leave-in conditioners and masks with hydrolyzed keratin, which subs for damaged natural proteins in your hair, says cosmetic chemist Ni’Kita Wilson. (Try Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair Deep Conditioning Mask.) Products with wheat protein fill in the little gaps in weakened strands, and baobab protein fortifies the hair while conditioning. (Try Sexy Hair Tri-Wheat Leave In Conditioneror Moroccanoil Mending Infusion.) Small saturated fatty acids (aka oils) have the ability to penetrate each strand to add and retain moisture, says Neil Sadick, a dermatologist in New York City, who likes coconut, palm, argan, and avocado oils for preventing breakage. (Try Garnier Fructis Damage Repairing 1 Minute Hair Mask or Nunzio Saviano The Cream.)

3. Don't Stress.
In clinical research, Sadick found that stress can really damage your hair. Everything from final exams or a big moving day to grieving a loss can lead to micro-inflammation of hair follicles that makes hair weaker as it grows out and even causes you to shed more than usual. “Increased levels of stress hormones — mainly cortisol — disrupt the hair cycle,” says Sadick. A study from Carnegie Mellon University showed that just 20 minutes of mindful meditation for 14 consecutive days can lower your cortisol levels during stressful times. And speaking of hormones, when you’re about to start your period, your hair becomes less resilient: “The changes in your hormones can thin new hair, and thinner hair is more prone to breaking,” says Daliah Wachs, a family practitioner in Las Vegas. “Try to avoid tight hair ties, like elastics, that week, which could put extra stress on the hair.”

4. Tuck it in.
It takes a while to rehab damaged hair, but you can disguise it in the meantime. Naté Bova, a hairstylist at Warren Tricomi Salon in New York City, recommends working on your braiding skills: “You can hide breakage on the length of your hair by tucking it into a loose braid, or you can use a crown braid to disguise broken ends along the hairline.” If braids aren’t your style, hairstylist Vernon François recommends something much simpler. “A great way to disguise breakage is by pulling hair into a ponytail or bun,” he says. Smooth your hair back with a hydrating styling cream to get broken hairs and flyaways fully in check while giving your hair a dose of the hydration it needs. “It works for all hair textures, and it’s a clean, classic look with minimal effort,” he says. (Try Vernon François Styling Cream.)

5. Cover the damage.
​When you wear your hair down, “lightly pat a hair oil with silicones over problematic areas to weigh down flyaways,” says Xavier Velasquez, a hairstylist at Serge Normant at John Frieda Salon in New York City. (Try Ouai Hair Oil.) “Use your fingers or comb it on with a toothbrush, like hairstylists use backstage.” (It’s the perfect size for targeting frizz and flyaways.) Breakage tends to be less noticeable on curly hair because the broken ends can get hidden in the coils — “lightly diffuse hairspray all over by spraying it from arm’s length away to set the breakage into your curl pattern,” says Velasquez. (Choose an alcohol-free formula, like Herbal Essences Flexible Airspray Alcohol-Free Hairspray.) Changing up your usual part also covers breakage on the top, adds Bova.

6. Take a risk.
Cut it all off. Stay with us here: There’s no better way to get your hair back to square one than starting totally fresh. Bova says she especially likes this idea for people trying to grow out relaxer. “Have an adventure. Post a video of yourself on social media cutting all your relaxed hair off inch by inch. I’ve seen so many of these online, and it’s just so liberating,” she says. “You can grow it out and cut an inch of the damage off every three months, but you’ll need blowouts or braids in the meantime to hide it, and those things create their own damage.” You can also get extensions — “fake hair is great because you can blow-dry it, curl it, and it doesn’t matter.”

7. Institute a cooling-off period.
There are plenty of ways to style your hair without burning it into submission. “A good way to avoid over-blow-drying is to rough-dry your hair first to get a good amount of the moisture out and then smooth it with a boar-bristle brush,” says Rachel Bodt, a colorist in New York City. Be extra careful around your hairline: “The hairs there are so baby fine, you need to tread lightly with heat or they’ll continuously break,” says Velasquez. “A lot of women don’t use the nozzle attachment, but if you do, you can switch your blow-dryer to the low setting and still smooth your hairline — and the rest of your hair — without full heat.” Hairstylist Lacy Redway recommends cooling it on the hot tools once in a while. Cutting your hot-styling sessions down to twice a week can really help, and going cold turkey for a couple of months gives new hair a chance to grow in stronger. “You can always use braids or bendy rods to give damp or dry hair texture with- out heat,” says Redway. Or twist damp hair into a bun before bed to defrizz curls or give straight hair a soft bend overnight, says Bova. “Secure it with bobby pins instead of a hair tie to avoid getting a crease.”

8. Steal a colorist's rehab plan.
If you need to get scared straight, talk to a reformed bleach addict, like Bodt. Going from super dark brown to brunette with blonde highlights made her hair weak, for sure, but the extra strain from styling tools is what did her hair in. “I snapped my whole hairline off by styling the front pieces excessively. I was blow-drying way too much and never used a barrier between the heat and my colored hair,” says Bodt. Once the hair broke off, she took a break from heat styling and coloring for a month or so. “Then I started shampooing my hair just two or three times a week so I would have to blow-dry less often,” she says. She installed the T3 Source Showerhead — it filters out hard-water minerals that make hair less pliable — and started using R + Co Acid Wash ACV Cleansing Rinse, an apple cider vinegar rinse that gets rid of mineral buildup, every two weeks. “I noticed an immediate difference in the texture, color, and overall health of my hair. It used to get darker and more brassy as time went on, which was making me bleach and color it more.” Nowadays, Bodt uses heat protectants, like Kérastase Nutritive Nectar Thermique or R + Co One Prep Spray. And when she colors her hair, she uses a bonding treatment, like Olaplex, to make the dye gentler. “It locks in moisture and strengthens hair so it doesn’t break,” she says.


This first appeared on Allure