Sudden discovery - please help if possible

Hi,
I have fairly thick, wavy hair.
I wash it every third day or so and often straighten with ceramic irons. I use a good leave-in conditioner. My hair feels to me to be in fairly good condition, though that could be the conditioner.

However, I just made a scary discovery. When examining the fronts of my hair I noticed a few hairs had 'curly' ends. When pulled ever so gently, they snapped, but only to about 2cm from the ends. I've noticed such curly bits before, and usually when I wash they are straight again, (or have they all snapped off, I wonder?!) There isn't that many of them. I have hair slightly longer than shoulder length, the fronts are shorter. Seems to me this problem is only really on the fronts, though I haven't really looked that much at the back. Of course, it could be heat damage, but I'm not sure - I did have a botched bleach job done a year ago, no noticeable damage at the time but the bleach overheated.

Are such curly bits just dry, brittle ends, or something more sinister? (eg signs of severe damage?) Is the curliness just blow drying heat causing them to snap, that would smooth out if rewashed?

Please help, I'm scared! My hair does feel OK, which is what seems so odd.

OK, it's definitely breaking....what do I do?
It doesn't look like split ends