How does hair grow?
Ans: Hair follicle is a punch like depressed tunnel in the skin. Hair follicle occupies a space in superficial part of skin (epidermis) and deeper part of the skin (dermis). Hairs are in 3 phases: a) Active growth phase (called anagen phase): It lasts for several years. At any given time about 85% of our hairs are in this phase. In this phase, hairs have abundant melanin, b) Regressive or catagen phase: In this phase, hairs stop growing but these hairs do not shed. About 3-4% body hairs are in this phase at a given time. This phase lasts for two weeks. Resting phase (telogen phase): In this phase, hairs fall out and new hairs begin to grow. This phase lasts 5-6 weeks. Approximately 10-13 per cent of our body hairs are in this phase at any given time.
Hair forms in a pouch-like structure below the skin called a hair follicle. What we see as hair is actually the hair shaft, which is the keratinized, hardened tissue that grows from this follicle. Humans have more hair follicles per square inch of skin than most higher primates, including chimpanzees and gorillas. Because most of this hair is fine and pale (called vellus hair), it usually isn’t visible to the naked eye. Consider this: the forehead has more hair follicles than any other part of the body. The thicker, fully pigmented hair most people consider “real hair” is called terminal hair. This hair is found on scalp, eyebrows, legs, backs, underarms, and genital areas. This is the hair the LightSheer diode laser treats. Everyone’s hair grows differently, depending on age, weight, metabolism, hormones, ethnicity, medications, and other factors. But all hair goes through three distinct growth phases: 1) Active growth phase (called the anagen phase), which lasts up to several years.
Hair is made at the base of a hair follicle. There are a thousand hair follicles on your head. Not all of them are working at the same time. Only about 80% of your follicles are producing hair at any one time. The rest of the follicles are asleep or dormant. When dormant hair follicles start working again, they push out an old hair while making a new one. You could lose 50 to 100 hairs in any day. Some of us lose more than that–and don’t get them back again! Fact Monster/Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
This will tell you when to worry about hair loss. The normal hair growth cycle Anagen stage This is the hair growth cycle; it usually lasts between two to seven years. It is estimated that the hair grows at the rate of five to six inches every year. Catagen stage This is a short transition period when the hair shaft becomes detached and moves upward within the follicles. This lasts for two to four weeks. Telogen stage This is the resting phase. It is when the hair detaches from the follicles preparing itself to fall out. This period lasts from three to four months. Hair shedding This is the most dreadful, but still normal, part of the hair regrowth process. At any given time, 10% of the hair is in resting phase. Thus, this 10% will shed. This is the reason why you see hair strands in your brush or the bathroom drainer. It is normal to shed 100 strands of hair daily. When to worry about hair shedding? As mentioned, shedding 100 strands a day is normal. Therefore, it is appropriate to wo
