Life Cycle Of A Hair

Every individual hair grows from a bulb shaped structure which resides deep inside the hair follicle. Hair follicle continuously generates hair from birth to (sometimes) throughout the life. Each hair has life span after that it falls out spontaneously and follicle rest for a while and then again starts to generate a new hair. This is called hair cycle. Each hair cycle has three distinctive phases.

Life cycle of a hair

The Hair Growth Cycle

 There are three distinct stages in a life cycle of a hair. These are..

Anagen - The growing phase

Catagen – The intermediate phase (transitional phase)

Telogen – The shedding phase (Resting Phase)

 Anagen Phase – Growth phase

 This is the phase actually when the hair growth occurs. About 85% of total hair could be found in this phase and this phase may last from 2 years to 6 years; in an average of 1000 days.

In Anagen phase hair grows rapidly and the length of this phase is the determining factor of hair length, longer the Anagen phase the longer will be the hair.

Catagen Phase - The intermediate phase (transitional phase)

 End of the Anagen starts the Catagen phase which last about one to two weeks. In this phase hair growth stops and hair follicle starts to shrink and a part of it starts dying.

 Telogen Phase – The shedding phase (Resting Phase)

 It is a resting phase when no growth of hair is observed but it stays attached to follicle and dermal papilla takes rest. This phase lasts about 5-6 weeks and almost 10-15% of total hairs are always found in this phase. At the end of this phase the hair follicle enters again to Anagen (growth) phase and new hair begins to form.

If in the mean time old hair has not been shed the newly growing hair pushes the old one from hair follicle and natural hair loss is observed.