Dryness and damage feel identical in the mirror, so most people treat the wrong one. They reach for a heavier conditioner, get a day of softness, and watch the same short, snapping pieces come back by the next wash.
Conditioner works on the cuticle, the outer scale layer. It smooths and it coats. What it cannot do is reach the bonds inside the strand that hold hair together, and those bonds are what bleach, heat, colour, friction and a tight ponytail quietly take apart.
Once enough of them break, hair loses its elasticity. It stretches and does not spring back. That is when you see frizz that will not sit, ends that split faster than they grow, and length that stops moving.