What the hair growth cycle teaches about hair growth

 

There are three stages of hair growth that you need to know and understand how each stage works.

Let’s peel back all the layers and understand how hair grows and whether it is these stages as to why we may encounter any hair problems we may have that hinders the growing stages of hair. To me, it is very important to understand the hair growth cycle in order for us to pinpoint and understand many of the problems we can encounter with our hair.

Did you know that your hair grows on the scalp about half a millimetre a day, that is about 6 inches per year, hair growth loss is not a seasonal thing or cyclical it happens at random stages. There are three stages of hair growth that you need to know and understand how each stage works, and they are called catagen, anagen, and telogen.

Let's start with the catagen phase known as the transitional stage, in this phase, 3 percent of all hairs are in this stage at any time and it lasts for about 2-3 weeks. It is at this stage you will find that hair growth slows down and what happens is the outer root sheath shrinks and attaches to the root of the hair that forms "club hair".

What is "club hair"?

A club hair is a hair that’s formed during the catagen phase of hair growth, but it is hair that stops growing, it is hair that has been cut off from its blood supply but you will not see it come away from the scalp until it sheds. The shed hair will be pushed out when the actively growing anagen phase takes place and newly growing hair pushes the dead hair out.

The shedding process happens when hair goes into the telogen phase known as the " resting phase" where a certain amount of hair gets shed and then the whole process starts again where hair enters back into the anagen stage.

The anagen stage is known as the active or growth phase, most hair grows and remains in this stage for about 3 to 4 years. New hair gets formed and pushes the "dead hair" known as the "club hair" out of the follicle allowing hair to grow approximately 1 centimetre every 28 days.

Any imbalance in the body for instance doing a restrictive diet or triggered conditions such as metabolic imbalances, illness, or improper nutrition, you will experience problems with hair growth, and the hair growth cycle gets disrupted preventing the hair to stay in the anagen stage ( the growing stage) long enough, you will not experience hair lengths that you desire and instead, you will experience hair loss.

Telogen Stage is known as the "resting phase" this is where your hair follicle rests and the club hair becomes completely formed. ( Remember what was explained about "club hair). This is when your hair is released and falls out, this phase is known as the shedding stage where only a certain amount of hair gets shed and not all of your hair. Each hair follicle goes through the growth cycle at different times to prevent all your hair from falling out at once. This stage can last around 3 months and accounts for 10-15 percent of all hair.

HAIR GROWS ON AVERAGE HALF AN INCH A MONTH

Let me just summarise the above points:

1. Anagen Phase is where your hair grows around half an inch a month. Hair in this stage lasts around 3 to 4 years so you will see the full length of hair averaging at 18 - 30 inches. Not everyone will experience this hair growth due to metabolic imbalances, illness, or improper nutrition so the hair growth cycle has been disrupted and you will not see your desired hair length.

2. Catagen Phase known as the transitional phase is where the hair enters this stage at the end of the anagen for 10 days. Growth stops and the outer root sheath shrinks and attaches to the root of the hair. This is the formation of what is known as a club hair.

3. Telogen Phase called the "resting phase" is where your hair gets released and falls out, the hairs follicle remains inactive for 3 months, and the whole process restarts. Although I used the expression "fall out" this phase is called "shedding" and only a certain amount of hair gets shed in this phase. So the whole cycle starts again in this sequence.

What are the causes of diffuse hair loss?

If you're not experiencing desired hair growth, then these problems are contributors to this factor. Being on a calorie-restricted diet, stress, childbirth, nutritional deficiencies, etc any traumatic events on the body or imbalances can contribute to this problem. What happens when you experience temporary hair loss is that more hair follicles go into the telogen phase at the same time that leads to hair loss. You can seek medical help to pinpoint the cause of the problem, once you have gotten to the root of the problem you will experience less hair loss and more hair growth.