Keeping your hair looking flawless can feel like a full-time job. When you aren’t battling split ends and flyaways, other issues like dryness and heat damage have a way of popping up to take their place. But one thing that can feel particularly frustrating is not being exactly sure what’s going on with your hair or how to tackle it. This can be especially true for frizz and breakage.
If you’re experiencing dry hair with excessive frizz that seems increasingly difficult to control, you may be wondering if there’s an underlying cause like damage or breakage. So how can you be sure? Find out what experienced hairstylists and trichologists have to say about determining the difference between frizz and breakage.
What causes frizz?
“Frizz can be triggered by humidity, dryness, damage, or lack of moisture within the hair strand,” says Kimberlee Blakely, hairstylist, trichologist, and Senior Director of Product Development at Marc Anthony. “These conditions cause the hair fibers' cuticles to become disturbed and raised, leaving the hair feeling and appearing fuzzy and rough, lacking smoothness, and making curls look less defined.”
Frizz can also be described as the personality of your hair, says Cataanda James, trichologist and Dippity-Do Curly Hair Expert. Most people with wavy and curly hair types experience frizz due to the structure of their strands, which make it difficult for oils from the scalp to travel from root to end and cause these hair types to experience more dryness. This can trigger the cuticle to lift and search for moisture from the air, making the hair appear frizzy.
What causes hair breakage?
“Broken disulfide bonds are a primary cause of hair breakage,” James says. “When these bonds are broken, the integrity of the hair is compromised, causing it to split and eventually snap off.”
Multiple habits and circumstances can lead to hair breakage over time. “Over manipulation of the hair, certain deficiencies within the body, dehydration, and trauma,” are just some of the causes, James says. “When your hair is experiencing breakage, your hair never seems to grow, but the reality is it's growing from the scalp but splitting up the shaft. Length retention is impossible with breakage; it's like your hair is cutting itself.”
What is the difference between frizz and breakage?
The difficulty in discerning between frizz and breakage is that they can look the same. Frizz “results from damage to or poor alignment of the protective cuticle layer” of the hair, says Good Housekeeping Beauty Lab Director Sabina Wizemann. She notes that this can be due to the shape of the hair (if you have natural curls) or from stressors like brushing, bleaching, or styling with heat. “When the cuticle is raised or uneven, moisture can more easily penetrate the hair fiber, causing it to absorb water, swell, and change shape. This disrupts the alignment, leading to frizz,” she adds.
On the other hand, “breakage presents itself as frizz, showing up as flyaways,” says James. It’s also worth noting that flyaways “can be caused by broken hair (so it is shorter and sticks out), and by new hair growth, or by hair affected by static or moisture (frizz),” says Wizemann.
When breakage appears on your head as frizz, “the differences aren't easily distinguished because you're experiencing a bad case of the frizzies and short strands,” James adds.
Another indicator of breakage versus frizz is that breakage “involves structural damage to the hair fiber itself, with fractures in the shaft and cortex,” Wizemann says. “This damage typically accumulates over time rather than occurring out of the blue (except if hair is exposed to extreme force). It often begins with severe cuticle wear, which exposes the cortex and leads to microscopic tears, separation of keratin fibers, or fracture. Split ends occur at the hair tips when cuticles are worn away and expose the cortex, causing the fiber to separate into multiple strands, whereas breakage, the snapping of a hair fiber into two pieces, can occur anywhere along the shaft.”
The main difference is that healthy hair can experience frizz, but one tell for whether or not your hair is damaged is where the frizz actually shows up. “Breakage is commonly noticed in the hairline due to overstyling and excessive manipulation,” Blakely says.
Other signs of breakage include split ends, excessive shedding of short pieces of hair, easily tangled hair, reduced shine and elasticity, and hair feeling dry or rough to touch. “If your hair feels weaker after heat styling, coloring, or tight hairstyles, that can also point to breakage,” Blakely adds.
How to manage frizzy hair
“Consistency is key when it comes to minimizing both frizz and breakage,” Blakely says. “The goal is to support the hair barrier while keeping the cuticle smooth and protected from daily stress.”
There are products out there that can help you achieve that goal. Blakely recommends “products that hydrate, strengthen, and protect the hair at the same time,” like a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner to keep strands hydrated, strengthening treatments or masks weekly, and heat protectant before hot tools.
For specific breakage concerns, “bonding and strengthening formulas are especially helpful because they reinforce weakened strands and improve elasticity,” she says.
James adds that keeping up with a deep conditioning regimen can also go a long way with nurturing your hair. “For added protection and deep nourishment on damaged hair, use a deep [conditioning] treatment after cleansing with curl shampoo, apply a plastic cap, and apply heat under hooded dryer, steam cap, or steamer,” she says.
