Mechanical Breakage and Heat Damage
The way you handle your hair every day can protect it or break it.
Mechanical damage — friction and pulling
Mechanical damage comes from how you handle the strand: combing too hard, combing dry tangled hair, pulling with tight elastics, or rubbing hair against a cotton pillow at night. Each of these chips the cuticle and weakens the strand.
How to avoid it: detangle with your fingers or a wide-tooth comb, starting at the ends and working up, and do it on wet hair with a slippery conditioner. Stop using tight elastics. Sleep on a satin or silk pillowcase, or wrap hair in a satin scarf — this greatly reduces friction.
Heat damage
Flat irons, hot blow-drying, and hot combs can boil the water inside the strand and break down the keratin structure. Once heat breaks the protein, the damage is permanent — the strand does not return to how it was.
How to reduce it: use heat less often. When you do, apply a heat protectant first and keep the temperature as low as possible. Let hair air-dry when you can. Heat is not forbidden — but it should be used with care, not every day.
Key takeaways
- Detangle wet hair with conditioner, starting at the ends, with a wide-tooth comb.
- Sleep on satin/silk and avoid tight elastics to reduce mechanical breakage.
- Heat damage is permanent — use heat less often, with protection, at low temperature.