If your hair is breaking off, you might see it everywhere: in your brush, on your pillow, and down the drain. What caused all this? Hair damage causes breakage. It’s good to know how hair damage happens, so you can seek alternatives to keep your hair intact.

Hair damage happens when the protective layer of the hair, the hair cuticle, becomes worn in places and the more delicate hair shaft becomes exposed. When this happens, breakage can occur.

When breakage starts, it means many more hairs are barely hanging on. Unfortunately, many hair styling practices are inherently damaging. Let’s count the ways.

1. What Is Bleaching, and Why Does It Cause Hair Damage?

Anytime you color your hair a lighter color, bleach is used to remove the existing color first. That’s whether you go from dark brown to light brown, or from dark brown to bleach blonde. Bleaching works by breaking down the protein in the hair to remove color.

When that happens, the hair is damaged internally. It also raises the hair cuticles, making hair more porous, which contributes to external damage. The more bleaching happens, the more damage occurs.

A sneaky way bleach damages hair is through highlighting. Normally, to bleach darker hair blond, salons advise several sittings so as not to damage the hair drastically all at once. With highlighting, however, small sections of the hair are thoroughly bleached in one sitting. So many people suffer from breakage and hair damage after adding highlights to their hair.

2. How Can Straightening Hair Damage It?

Whether you straighten your hair with chemicals or heat, the hair shaft stretches until just before the breaking point. The protein inside the hair actually becomes elongated, so you can imagine how much stress this puts on the hair.

If the hair is wavy and close to being straight, the hair structure won’t suffer much damage. But the outer hair cuticles will lift because of the heat. This can cause missing parts of the outer shaft of the hair.