This Is The Sneaky Reason Your Hair Won't Grow Past A Certain Point

You do all the right things. You commit to a nightly scalp massage, rub rosemary oil on your hairline, and have a mighty collection of hair-thickening shampoos—and yet, your strands still won't grow past your shoulders, collarbones, or whatever length you so desperately crave. Uh, what gives?

Well, let me point out that hair growth cycles are genetic (meaning, your hair might plateau at a certain length, and there's not much to do about it), but according to celebrity hairstylist Tom Smith, you might also be dealing with some sneaky micro-breakage. 

"Micro-breakage is the invisible damage that happens to your hair without you noticing," Smith writes on TikTok. "Even if your hair is growing from the roots, it might seem like it isn''t getting longer because of breakage on the ends." 

So your hair growth efforts are not futile: Your follicles are churning out new baby hairs; they're just breaking off before they reach the end of your mane. It's more common than you think! 

How do you know if you're dealing with micro-breakage, you ask? Just take a look at your shed hairs: "If the strands falling out are not as long as your hair's length and are much shorter, brittle, and broken into several pieces or split, your hair is breaking," celebrity hairstylist Annagjid "Kee" Taylor says regarding hair breakage. 

"Be careful with your hair," Smith writes, especially on the ends. Daily wear and tear—harsh brushing, towel-drying, and the like—can wreak havoc on your tresses and easily lead to breakage. You want to be extra gentle on those breakage-prone strands, protecting it from physical stressors. 

"Layer on serums and oils to keep [the ends] supple, and use strengthening treatments regularly," Smith adds. Serums and oils work to hydrate the strands, while strengthening protein treatments help rebuild broken hair bonds—and you want a healthy balance of both to repair micro-breakage. 

See, protein treatments are great for sealing down the cuticle, but if you overdo it, you may wind up with hair that's even more brittle and strawlike. (It's a concept called protein overload, and we explain it in more detail here.) 

Finally, it's important to consider an inside-out approach. "Positive reports also come from supplementation with biotin and other hair vitamins," Smith explains. Biotin, in particular, is involved in keratin production1 (aka, the main protein in hair), and deficiencies are connected to loss and breakage. Biotin deficiency2 in the U.S. population is rare, but some folks swear by the buzzy B vitamin for longer locks.