About Hair Growth

FORMED BEFORE BIRTH, the hair follicle is the base where each hair grows. The root of the hair is located in the hair follicle. This is where the blood supply reaches the root of the hair. Hair grows in cycles. Each hair follicle undergoes repeated cycles of active growth and rest. There are three stages in the hair cycle: catagen phase, anagen phase and the telogen phase.

The catagen phase is where the hair follicle begins to disintegrate and the hair shaft falls out. Next is the anagen phase or the growing stage. A person's hair is mostly in this phase. Finally, the telogen phase or the resting stage. This is when the new hair grows and pushes the telogen hair out. You mostly see these hairs when combing or brushing your hair. Average growth of a hair is 7 years and the average resting stage is 3 months.

Once a person reaches physical maturity at age 18, he or she has at least 100,000 hairs on their head. Under normal conditions, the average person will loose 25 to 100 telogen hairs per day as well as grow 25 to 100 telogen hairs per day. Baldness occurs when the normal growth stage begins to slow. As one gets older, the percentage of hairs in the resting stage increases. On average, 5% of the hair follicles are in the resting stage before the age of twenty. 20% of twenty-year-olds show hair loss, 30% of thirty-year-olds show hair loss and so on...