Breakage Vs Shedding Part 2 (The Moisture/Protein Balance)

So, I'd been talking about the difference between shedding and breakage and I think I gave shedding it's fair share of attention in Part 1 so it's time for breakage to take center stage! Before I continue though it is important to stress this point:

There is no single product alone that will fight breakage! Breakage is multi faceted - therefore regardless of whatever is being touted as the latest 'anti breakage' serum/lotion/cream/potion; you need to first determine WHAT is causing your breakage before going on a spending spree, donating your money to companies for products that will not address your particular breakage issue!!! 

Okay, seeing as I've gotten that off my chest, let's proceed :)

Breakage could be caused by a number of reasons and I will start with what I think is a major one:

1. Moisture/Protein imbalance:
Our hair strands are made up of Keratin ( a fibrous structure of proteins containing several amino acids), water and lipids. The keratin structure controls the strength of the hair fiber which is why most (if not all) products targeted towards breakage contain some sort of protein. However, not all breakage is due to a lack of protein within the hair's fiber.

Breakage Vs Shedding Part 1.

When I first started my hair journey back when I was still relaxed, I didn't realize there was a difference between shedding and breakage - I classified it all as breakage and my! did I regularly have bits of long and short hairs everywhere: on the bathroom floor, on the bedroom floor, bits in the sink and in my deep conditioner/moisturizer. It was a little annoying but thankfully I soon figured it all out.

The first thing I came to realize was that not every single strand of hair that had come out of my head was due to breakage - some of it was actually shed hair. The basic rule of thumb is that if the hair that has come out is long and has a white 'bulb' on the end then it is shed hair, if it's shorter then it's hair that has broken off mid shaft or at the end of the shaft.

Our hair goes through 3 basic growth phases: Anagen (growth), Catagen (rest) and Telogen (shedding) and all 3 occur concurrently (or simultaneously), so one strand maybe in the Anagen phase while the next strand might be in a Catagen phase.