The Origins of Hair 

By week 22, a fetus has developed all of its 5 million hair follicles, of which, 100,000 of those follicles reside on the scalp. This is the largest number of hair follicles a human will ever have, since we do not generate new hair follicles anytime during the course of our lives.  Density of scalp hair is reduced as we grow from childhood to adulthood because our scalps expand as we grow.

Hair Loss

Hair loss, including thinning & breaking, is the most common scalp problem. Most people lose from 50 to 100 hairs per day. Hairs gradually thin as people age, although not all people are affected to the same degree.

Hereditary thinning or balding is the most common cause of thinning hair. Hair loss can also occur due to stress (from sickness, major surgery or simply overwork), hormonal imbalance (e.g. after childbirth, overactive or underactive thyroid gland) or poor nutrition.

It is important to have a program using preventive treatment even before excessive hair loss is observed.

Hair Follicles

Hair has two distinct structures - the follicle itself, which resides in the skin, and the shaft, which is what is visible above the scalp.

At the base of the follicle is the papilla, which contains capillaries, or tiny blood vessels that nourish the cells. The living part of the hair is the very bottom part surrounding the papilla, called the bulb.

The hair shaft is made of a hard protein called keratin and is made in three layers. This protein is actually dead, so the hair that you see is not a living structure.

Hair Growth Cycle

At any given time, hairs will be in one of 3 stages of growth & shedding:

1) anagen - active growth phase lasting 2-6 years

2) catagen- transitional phase when growth stops, lasting 2-3 weeks. 3% of hairs are in this phase at any one time.

3) telogen - resting phase lasting about 3 months. Accounts for 8% of all hairs. 25-100 telogen hairs are shed normally each day.

As we age, the growing phase of the hair follicles becomes shorter and hair follicles shrink. This results in shorter hairs with thinner hair shafts. In time, new hair growth stops. This is due to a diminished supply of blood vessels and nutrients to the follicle due to aging. The cells of the bulb on the scalp divide every 23 to 72 hours, remarkably faster than any other cell in the body. Strong hair growth therefore requires energy supply and a large flow of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and amino acids for the follicle to actively synthesize new hair.

Treatment