Hair Growth
Learning how and why our hair grows is essential when faced with impending baldness or thinning hair. We have on average around 100,000 individual hairs on our scalp, but actual hair growth only occurs in 90% of these hairs at any one time. The other 10% of hair is in the resting period. Hair growth lasts from 2 to 5 years, and when the hair stops growing it falls out naturally. For this reason we lose from 50-100 hairs each day, which is perfectly normal.
The hair growth phase is called the ‘anagen’ or growing phase. Each hair can grow as much as one centimeter a month, and more quickly at the top than at the edges. Luckily for us, all the hair we have enters this phase at different times, otherwise everyone would be bald every couple of years. Mind you, maybe that would be a good idea. The hair that we can see is called the shaft. These grow from something called the follicle. Kind of like a tulip bulb, only smaller. Actually, hairs are nothing like tulips because the tulip stem is alive whereas hair shafts are actually quite dead.
The second phase of hair growth is the ‘telogen’ phase, where each hair basically kicks back and relaxes for about 3-5 months. During this period the hair stops growing but doesn’t fall out. This happens in the ‘catagen’ phase, when the hairs reach the end of the cycle and naturally fall out. Obviously, we can help or hinder this process so it is a good idea to develop a healthy attitude regarding our hair. Such actions as shampooing, diet and brushing can have a positive or negative effect.