A Guide to hair growth cycle

A hair grows from the follicle, or root, underneath the skin. There are many facts regarding hair. Whether it about its growth and about falling down. A hair growth cycle gives you an insight. Hair is made up of two part. A hair follicle and a shaft. The follicle further has two-part, bulb and papilla. Papilla carries blood to the hair follicle and nourishes it to make hair healthy. The hair shaft is the part which is visible on your head. A hair shaft is a strand of hair which is made up of cuticle and a hard protein called keratin. It's important to understand the hair growth cycle in order to recognize and understand the hair problem you are facing. The hair growth cycle consists of four stages. Anagen, catagen, telogen and exogen phase.

Anagen Phase:
The anagen phase is the beginning of the hair growth cycle and last approximately 2-7 years. It results in new hair growth.

Catagen Phase: It is a very brief phase of hair growth cycle. It lasts generally 2 to 3 weeks. During this phase, the hair stops growing and detaches itself from the blood supply and become club hairs.

Telogen Phase: This phase is also known as the resting phase as it allows new hair to grow underneath the existing hair. It lasts about three months.

Exogen Phase: This phase starts when the telogen phase ends. The resting hairs fall outs or sheds and you see hair come out in your comb or in the shower. It is normal to experience shedding of hairs up to 100 hairs a day and if you experience more than the usual hair to fall out do consult a hair loss treatment specialist.

Once the hair growth cycle is done it starts over again. Hair loss and the hair thinning problem arises when hair growth cycle got disrupted. This disruption can be because of metabolic imbalances, illness or improper nutrition.