I comb pretty much every day. What I try to do is do the minimum amount of combing I can to look halfway decent. I tend to wear my hair out a lot so I have to comb otherwise I look homeless.
When I do comb, I dont go from root to tip. I just focus on small sections at a time and try to minimize breakage as much as possible. I do honestly belive that, even though I'm retaining most of my length, I'd be much further off if I bunned or styled protectivel daily.
If I only combed once or twice a week, my hair wouldn't make it. The tangles would outlast the level of patience required to deal with them. Alas, I would only move backward in my progress.
But if you're worried about loss via combing, you can try some alternatives such as finger styling or combing every other day instead of every day.