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7th may 2008
Alex
Wilson
You may or may not be aware, but your hair is
the fastest growing tissue that is in your
body.
It is made up of proteins that are called
keratins. Each piece of hair has 3 layers; the
medulla (inner layer) the cortex (middle layer)
and the cuticle (outer layer.)
The medulla is only present in thick hairs,
while the cortex determines the colour,
strength and texture of the hair, and the
cuticle protects the cortex, it’s no wonder
that baldness is such a complicated
subject.
Almost everyone knows that our hair grows from
the roots, but what they do not realise is that
it is the roots of our hair that are alive, and
these are covered in follicles. Below our roots
is a layer of skin that is known as the dermal
papilla.
The dermal papilla is fed by the bloodstream,
the reason for this is because the bloodstream
carries nourishments which are essential to
hair growth, lack of these nourishments can be
one of the contributing factors towards
baldness.
What you will find at the end of your hair is
actually just dead tissue, it is important to
take care of our bodies and scalp as these are
vital in the hair growth and maintenance of our
hair.
It is the hormone called androgens that may
cause hair to reduce in size, which will result
in thinning of the hair or eventually baldness.
On average, your scalp contains 100,000 -
150,000 hair follicles and hairs and 90% are
constantly growing with 10% resting at any
time.
FACT - it is thought that bone marrow is the
only other thing in our body that grows faster
than our hair!
Similarly to hair being made from 3 layers, it
actually grows in 3 stages as well! These are
anagen, catagen and telogen. The first stage
(anagen) is where the hair is actively growing
(this lasts longer for women than men.)
The 2nd stage being catagen is where the hair
falls out, (not actually causing baldness),
it is natural for everyone’s hair to fall out
(this is estimated at approximately 100 hairs
per day and most people do not realise they are
losing hair until about 50% is actually lost),
this is only temporary before the follicle ends
in the telogen stage.
This stage is simply where the hair rests and
will be the 10% that rest as mentioned
above.
Timescales for these 3 stages are as
follows:
Anagen = Approx 5 years
Catagen = Approx 3 weeks
Telogen = Approx 12 weeks
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