shedding vs breakage..can you tell the difference?

[Eyvonne7131]

Someone once told me that shedding is lohg strands of hair while breakage are short uneven strands...can anyone verify if this is true?

 

[Nonie]

That's one way to look at it but the long ends you shed also have a bulb at the end. In other words, it's the entire strand coming out of your scalp and it will be about as long as your hair is. Think of it as the follicle in your head just spitting out the hair including the bulb.

Long strands of hair could also be breakage, like what happens when your relaxed hair breaks off at the point where it meets your growth. Then the hair that comes off would be all straight. When you shed and you have growth, the hair you shed will have both textures on it, ie so much of it straight then a wavy part just before one end. It's not always easy to see the bulb so it'd be hard to tell the difference if your hair was newly touched up. But I think if the hair you see falling is about as long as yours then you can assume it's your entire strand, hence it's shedding. But since you have about 50-100 (give or take) hairs to look through, you should be find that bulb and tell the difference.

 

[pressncurl]

Broken strands can also be long. Here's how to tell:

Look at the tips of the strand to see if you find a white hair bulb. Bulb = shedded hair; no bulb = broken hair