How to Stop Hair Breakage

Most hair breakage comes from small everyday habits, so small changes can help stop it. Here are six simple steps, from wash day to your weekly mask, that help you keep more of your length.

By Babba Rivera, Founder, Ceremonia
Updated October 28, 2026 · 6 min read

Woman brushing her long hair with the Brush de Pelo

TL;DR

Hair breakage usually comes from everyday friction, heat, tension and dryness. To stop it, wash and condition gently, detangle with a soft brush, blot dry with microfiber, turn down the heat, loosen tight styles and add a weekly repair mask. Broken strands can't grow back together, but these habits help keep new breaks from happening.

Those short, frizzy pieces at your crown. The little hairs on your bathroom floor that snapped off instead of shedding from the root. Ends that feel more like straw than silk. That's breakage, and almost everyone deals with it at some point.

The good news is that much of it is preventable. Below is the six-step routine we swear by, plus what to do for strands that are already damaged.

What causes hair breakage

Hair breakage happens when a strand snaps somewhere along its length instead of falling out from the root. That's the simplest answer to what is hair breakage: hair that keeps growing but breaks before it can get long.

The most common hair breakage causes are things we do every day without a second thought. The American Academy of Dermatology keeps a helpful list of habits that damage hair, and most of them show up in a normal week:

Rubbing shampoo into your lengths instead of your scalp
Skipping conditioner after you wash
Rubbing wet hair dry with a regular towel
Tugging a brush through tangles
Hot tools used often or on high heat
Tight ponytails, buns and braids that pull at the same spot

Color, bleach, relaxers, sun and pool water add to the load. Dry hair snaps more easily too, which is why moisture shows up in almost every step below.

Hair breakage treatment for damaged strands

No hair breakage treatment can glue a snapped strand back together, so the goal is to make damaged hair smoother, softer and less likely to break again. Knowing how to treat hair breakage you can already see starts with where it shows up.

What you see	What helps	How often
Split, frayed ends	A small trim	When ends look thin
Dry, rough lengths	A deep conditioning mask	Once a week
Frizzy broken pieces	Leave-in on damp hair	After every wash
Dull, brittle ends	A few drops of hair oil	On dry ends, daily

A trim is the cleanest fix for ends that have split all the way. Between cuts, a mask and a light oil help reduce the look of split ends and keep the rest of your length smooth. For more on masking, read our guide to a weekly mask for hair breakage repair.

If your hair is suddenly coming out in clumps, thinning at the part, or still breaking with gentle care, see a board-certified dermatologist. Something besides your routine may be going on.

How to prevent hair breakage

Learning how to prevent hair breakage mostly comes down to doing the gentle things often. The six steps above do the heavy lifting, and a few small habits around them keep your hair from sliding back between wash days.

Swim often? Pool water is hard on hair, so dermatologists suggest wearing a swim cap and rinsing your hair right after you get out, then washing and following with a deep conditioner.

Give these habits a few weeks, then watch for fewer short pieces in your brush and ends that feel softer.

The steps

How to stop hair breakage in six steps

1
Step 1 of 6

Wash gently & condition every time
If you want to know how to stop hair breakage for good, start here. Each step covers a moment when hair snaps most, from the shower to the ponytail.
Shampoo the scalp, condition the ends
Massage shampoo into your scalp with your fingertips, then let the lather rinse down through your lengths. No scrubbing your ends together. Follow with conditioner every single time you wash, because hair that skips it gets drier and tangles more.
Our Guava Protect & Repair Wash Duo is a sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner made for damaged and color-treated hair, powered by superfruit guava and aloe vera.
- Shampoo on the scalp only
- Conditioner from mid-lengths to ends
- Lukewarm water, not hot
2
Step 2 of 6

Detangle with a gentle brush
Work from the ends up
Start at your ends and work up in small sections, holding the hair above each knot so you don't pull at the root. Go slowly. Yanking a brush through a tangle is one of the fastest ways to snap a strand. Straight hair is easier on a brush once it has dried a little.
If you're shopping for the best hair brush to prevent breakage, look for smooth, wide-set bristles that glide instead of grab. Our Brush de Pelo bamboo brush was developed with thick hair in mind: its bamboo bristles gently detangle without snagging or breaking strands, while the rounded tops stimulate blood flow to the scalp.
- Hold hair above the knot
- Add a leave-in for slip
- Curls & coils: detangle while damp
Tip Brush to style, not to count strokes. Hair never needs 100 strokes a day.
Step 3 of 6

Dry with a microfiber towel
Squeeze & blot, never rub
Rubbing wet hair with a bath towel roughs up every strand right when it's most fragile. Wrap it or squeeze it instead, pressing the water out section by section, then let your hair air dry when you can.
Our Hair Towel is soft microfiber that absorbs excess water without creating frizz or breakage, and your hair dries faster than it would with a traditional towel.
4
Step 4 of 6

Turn down the heat
Less heat, less often
Hot tools are a big one. Air dry when you can, use the lowest setting that gets the job done, and keep a flat iron or curling iron on each section for as little time as possible. Dermatologists suggest heat styling once a week or even less.
On the days you do use heat, mist on a protectant first. Our Guava Rescue Spray detangles, protects against UV and heat, and prevents frizz, so one spray covers a lot.
- Air dry when you can
- Lowest setting that works
- Heat protectant every time
5
Step 5 of 6

Loosen tight hairstyles
Ease the pull on your roots
Tight ponytails, buns and braids pull on the same spot day after day, and that tension leaves short broken pieces around your hairline and part. Wear your hair loosely pulled back, and switch up where you tie it.
Skip bare elastics. The Ceremonia Scrunchie is oversized and 100% satin, made to reduce hair breakage and minimize hair dents.
- Looser ponytails & buns
- Change the tie spot often
- Give braids & extensions a break
Step 6 of 6

Add a weekly repair mask
Give damaged ends extra care
Once or twice a week, swap your regular conditioner for a deep conditioning mask. Smooth it through your mid-lengths and ends, leave it on for 5 to 10 minutes, then rinse well.
Our Guava Repair Mask is clinically proven to reduce breakage by 25% after 2 uses, based on an instrumentation study. Packed with superfruit guava and agave, it deep conditions color-treated and damaged hair to help prevent further breakage.
Tip Rake the mask through with your fingers or a wide-tooth comb so every strand gets coated.

Pro tips

Do

Tie hair loosely with a satin scrunchie
Detangle with leave-in for extra slip
Space out color, bleach & relaxer visits
Cover up in strong sun & rinse after the pool

Avoid

Brushing just to brush
Rubbing hair dry with a bath towel
Pulling hair tight in the same spot daily
Booking color & a relaxer on the same day

FAQ

Hair breakage questions

01 What does hair breakage look like?

Breakage looks like short, uneven pieces sticking up along your part, crown or hairline, plus ends that feel rough, frizzy or thin. If you're wondering what does hair breakage look like in your brush, check the strands. A shed hair comes out whole, with a tiny white bulb at the root. A broken hair is shorter and has no bulb at all.

02 Can broken hair be repaired?

Not truly. Once a strand snaps or splits, it can't grow back together. What you can do is keep the rest of your hair smoother and stronger so it breaks less: trim split ends, condition after every wash, use a weekly repair mask and cut back on heat. New growth starts out undamaged, so gentle care from day one helps it stay that way.

Keep reading