Curly fine hair - breakage?

Something I've noticed in the last few months - my hair is somewhere between 2B and 2C (looks better when fully dry). Here is a strand still fully in the gel cast, like 80% dry, and I can clearly see significant breakage half way down. My hair has always been fine so I have layers, but I haven't before noticed such a big density difference between scalp hair and length hair. Is there a way to offset this besides never using heat and doing deep conditioning? I really want to grow it long. Thank you!

Something I've noticed in the last few months - my hair is somewhere between 2B and 2C (looks better when fully dry). Here is a strand still fully in the gel cast, like 80% dry, and I can clearly see significant breakage half way down. My hair has always been fine so I have layers, but I haven't before noticed such a big density difference between scalp hair and length hair. Is there a way to offset this besides never using heat and doing deep conditioning? I really want to grow it long. Thank you!