Hi Curlies! If you’re experiencing an increased amount of breakage, you should reconsider the hair accessories you’re using, as some of them might be causing breakage.

Since my last post was about braiding curly hair I figured I could write a post about how some hair accessories can be damaging by causing your curls to break easily. When choosing some new hair accessories, keep in mind that hair accessories with a metal part in them may cause your curls to break. I have some hair ties and other accessories with a metal part in them (like the black bow you can see in the picture above) or like my embellished hair tie:

Note the metal part of the hair tie.

The embellished part isn’t bad for my curls, because it only interacts very little with my curls. However the metal part of the hair tie is in constant contact with my curls, and thus is constantly rubbing against the curls causing them to break.

To prevent breakage, try to avoid hair accessories including any metal parts

I really try to only use those hair accessories often which don’t have any metal parts in them. In the first picture you can see a variety of hair ties (different colors and sizes) and my favorite hair clip without any metal. Using non-metal hair ties isn’t always easy – I seriously can’t remember how many small hair ties just broke when I tried to wrap them once more around my ponytail. So now I’m always taking one extra hair tie with me! Of course it’s ok to every now and then use a hair accessory including some metal, just try to avoid them as often as possible to give your curls a rest.

Another thing to keep in mind if you’re dealing with a great amount of breakage is to only pull your curls back loosely and to finger-comb them gently. Pulling them into a really right ponytail won’t only destroy your curls’ natural pattern but might also cause your curls to break.