4 Briefings About Thinning Hair Pt 1: The Hair Growth Cycle

One of the most common questions I hear is, “What sort of hair loss do I have?” There is a huge amount of information available, and hair loss is a very complex subject.

The following is the first of 4 short articles about the basics of hair loss, to give people a better basic understanding of the mechanisms behind hair growth and hair loss, possible causes, and treatments that might work for different types of hair loss. The next three articels in the series will follow soon. They will cover DHT and Androgenetic Alopecia, Other Forms of Alopecia and causes of Hair Loss, and Prescription Treatments for Hair Loss.

Hair Loss & Hair Growth, The Hair Growth Cycle and how it changes in people with thinning hair.

The average human scalp contains between 100,000 and 150,000 hairs. These grow from the follicle or root, underneath the skin. The follicles are fed by blood vessels at the base of the follicle, giving each one the nourishment it needs to grow. Each hair goes through a growth cycle independent of the other hairs on the scalp. A diagram showing the whole process is available here Hair Growth Cycle

In people without thinning hair, approximately 90% of the hairs on the head are in Anagen, the growth phase, while the other 10% are in Telogen, the resting phase. A very small percentage at any one time will be in Catagen a transition phase between the two.

The Anagen phase lasts between 2-6 years, after which the hair goes through the brief Catagen transition phase, and enters Telogen, which lasts from 2-4 months. After the Telogen phase, the hair falls out naturally and is replaced, returning the hair to the Anagen phase. Some hair loss is a normal part of the hair growth cycle - on average, 50 - 100 hairs are lost from the scalp daily, but with Androgenetic alopecia as many as 200 hairs can be lost every day, some forms of Alopecia can cause even more severe hair loss. You barely notice normal hair loss as hair falls out in the shower, at night, or through the day, and 50 hairs aren’t noticeable. It’s only if you start really looking, or if your hair loss is higher than average such as in Alopecia, that hair loss will become apparent.

The reason many hair re-growth products like Minoxidil and Nanogaine cause temporary increased hair loss, known as, “Shedding,” is because in order to return 90% of hair to the Anagen phase, they must go through the Telogen phase quickly and then start in Anagen, this time with healthier, longer lasting hair growth.

Part 2: DHT & Androgenetic Alopecia, coming soon.

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