How Your Hair Grows

Normal hair growth occurs in three cycles, these are called Anagen, Catagen and Telogen. Every hair that we grow passes through these three stages.

man looking at hairEvery one is a totally different stage of activity

First Phase -Anagen

The growing stage, the Anagen phase should usually last for about 1000 days,this can vary though and there have been cases of it lasting for 6 years. It is during this stage that the hair cells quickly multiply, during this process the hair grows in both length and diameter to its maximum length

Second Phase -Catagen

The Second Growing Phase or ‘Catagen’ is also called the transitional phase, usually lasting one to two weeks, this is the period when the hair actually stops growing before entering the final stage.

Third Phase -Telogen

The Telogen stage is the last or the ‘off stage’, lasting up to 6 weeks,this is when the hair literally remains static or stays dormant. After about 6 weeks this phase comes to its end and new hair starts growing again in the Anagen phase which forces the old hair out

At any given time, at least 85 – 90% of all the hair on your head is in the Anegan or growing stage with the rest usually split between the transitional and resting stage.

Baldness

In the cases of Common baldness, Male pattern baldness or Hereditary hair loss , the body’s genes and hormones effect the follicles and cause them to shrink. This shortens the growing stage and lengthens the final resting or Telogen phase. because of this the hairs become become short and thinner. They will gradually deteriorate until they are no longer visible to the naked eye and the hair follicles eventually close and shut down totally!