Hair Growth Cycle - Understanding Hair Growth

The growth of hair occurs in repeated cycles. Each individual hair strand has its own growth cycle independent of the surrounding hair. Each cycle comprises three distinct stages.

Here’s a look at what actually happens in each phase…
Anagen Phase During this phase hair cells rapidly multiply to produce new hair from the follicle. On an average, over 85% of all hair is in the Anagen phase at any one time. This growth phase can vary from 2 to 6 years depending on the individual and sex. The length of this phase will determine how long the hair will grow.	Catagen Phase By the end of the Anagen phase, hair enters an intermediate phase where the hair stops growing and the base of the follicle moves upwards towards the scalp. Lasting for about 2 to 4 weeks, during this phase the hair follicle shrinks to about 1/6 of its normal length.	Telogen Phase Lasting about 5-6 weeks this is a phase when a new hair begins to grow from the follicle. A new hair gradually grows towards the surface and the old hair is naturally shed in the process. At any given time over 10-15% of an individual’s hair is in the shedding phase. By the end of the telogen phase, hair emerges from the same opening and a new growth cycle or the anagen phase begins all over again.

Our hair goes through a natural cycle of growth and fall and as part of this process, we lose a certain amount of hair after our hair has completed its period of growth. The fact is that there is no fixed numbers of hair lost that can be considered abnormal. Excessive hair loss simply means losing more hair than you naturally lose. A Trichologist (medical hair expert) can check this, by calculating your A/T ratio (i.e. ratio of growth to ratio of fall). The A/T ratio, in normal hair is 80:20; any deviation in this will lead to hair loss or excessive hair growth.

created by bcwebwise