Hair care & hair growth cycle

If you want to know something interesting about hair in a simple language, this post is for you. You can understand in easy language easily, the structure of hair, what is hair growth and why our hair become white in old age.


About hair


As you know that hair is a very important part of our overall face beauty. We spend lots of money in our whole life to maintain our hair style and for a good look of hair. We also use different types of hair care products on our hair.


But first of all, we must know about our hair before starting proper care. Before we start to know about caring for our hairs, we should know a little about the anatomy of hair. I will not tell you a complicated discussion. I will tell you in simple language about hair anatomy, how hair grows, what is hair growth and why they become white in old age.



Hair grows in the hair follicle that is located under the skin. Base of the hair follicle is the root. The portion of hair that we see outside skin is called the hair shaft. This hair shaft is made of three layers. The innermost layer is called medulla. It gives hair elasticity. The middle layer is known as the cortex. It gives hair its color, strength, structure and texture. Finally, the thin, transparent outer layer is called cuticle. It protects the inner layers.


Our hair is made of a protein which is known as keratin. A living cell division process runs in the hair follicle which grows the hair shaft and results in hair growth. The blood vessels nourish and supply hormones to the hair follicle for growth of hair. Our hair growth completes three phases or hair growth cycle.


Anagen phase we can also name it growth phase.

Catagen phase we can say transitional phase.

The Telogen phase we can describe as the resting phase.


Our hair growth is about one and half inches on average per month. Pigment cells produce melanin in the follicle to create hair color. As we age these pigment cells start to die and our hair color starts to become gray or white.


About hair growth




A hair passes through three different phases to complete the hair growth cycle. These phases are anagen phase, catagen phase and telogen phase. Anagen phase is also known as growth phase. 80 to 90% of hair may present in this phase at the same time. This part or phase may take two to six years to complete.



The second phase is catagen; it is also called transitional phase. This phase takes one or two 

weeks to complete. Third and last is the telogen phase. This phase also known as the resting 

phase and it lasts anywhere between five to six weeks. When the telogen phase comes to 

the end hair follicle re-enters the anagen phase. New hair starts to grow. We can divide a hair

into two parts. Hair root or hair follicle and hair shaft. The part which is visible is called the hair

shaft and the other is the hair follicle or root of hair, which resides under skin. Papilla is the

base of the follicle which contains lots of blood vessels to supply the essential elements to

cells.

In a previous post we have discussed the types of hair loss. Do you know that the normal hair growth cycle is 2 to 3 years? In normal condition a hair grows one centimeter per month. Usually, 90% of hairs on our scalps are in growing condition and 10% of hairs on our scalps are in resting condition. In the anagen phase of the hair growth cycle our hair grows 10 to 12 centimeters per year. But it is also observed that any individual hair may grow more.

Resting condition lasts for 3 to 4 months. After completing resting conditions such hairs fall out and new hairs start to grow in their place. This process results in normal hair shedding each day during combing.


But if you see more hair shedding daily during combing daily then it could be a hair loss problem. You should be always careful about it to prevent baldness.

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