Saturday, May 29, 2010

How Hair Growth Cycles Affect Your Hair


How Hair Growth Cycles Affect Your Hair

An understanding hair growth cycles is important especially if you are experiencing issues with slow hair growth. A variety of factors can impact the health of your hair. Medication, diet, stress, and improper care can all take their toll on your hair’s growth.

You need to understand hair’s structure, growth process and what can affect the process if you want to prevent hair loss. Did you know that hair is one of the fastest growing parts of your body? Additionally, hair is actually a protein called keratin. That’s why it is very important to consume enough protein in your diet.



Hair’s structure has three different layers. Thick hair has an inner layer called the medulla. The cortex is the hair’s middle layer and creates texture, color, and strength. The final outer layer is called the cuticle and helps protect the hair. Hair is enclosed in follicles and grows out at the root.

There are two layers of skin that nourish hair. First is the root layer and beneath that is the dermal papilla. The bloodstream transports nutrients from your body to the hair’s root. The root is the only living part of the hair so it’s critical that you nourish your scalp and body properly in order to keep hair looking and feeling healthy.

Did you know that you have between 100,000 and 150,000 hairs? Hair growth occurs in three stages: anagen, catagen, and telogen. 90% of hair is in the growing phase while the other 10% are in the resting phase.

During the anagen phase hair is actively growing. Men have a shorter anagen phase than women do. And the anagen phase last longer on the scalp than on other areas of the body. It is normal for a small amount of hair to fall out during the catagen phase. When hair is not growing and before it falls out, it is in the resting phase which is known as the telogen phase.

The shortest stages of hair growth are the catagen and telogen phases which only last a few weeks while the anagen phase lasts around 5 years. Losing hair is very normal and the average hair loss per day is 100 hairs. This becomes noticeable only when you’ve lost more than 50% of your hair.

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