The Beauty Denominator

Lets talk a little about hair and the hair growth cycle today. The study of hair is called Trichology, but we will not get very technical here. Every one of course knows that the hair is an appendage of the skin and is basically composed of a protein called keratin, which is found in horny growths which also includes the nails and skin. Average hair composition is as follows:

• Carbon-50.65%
• Hydrogen-6.36%
• Nitrogen-17.14%
• Sulfur-5.0%
• Oxygen-20.85%
• Dark hair has more carbon and less oxygen and the reverse is true for lighter hair also the lighter your hair the dryer it will be.

There are 3 cycles:

• Anagen: Which is the first cycle growth and that is baby hair- 1 to 3 years old
• Catagen: Which is the second cycle growth and this last until the age of 12. You’ll see alot of hair loss during this stage, but it’s normal.
• Telogen: Which is the permanent replacement stage .

The hair is divided into 2 main parts and that is the hair root which is beneath the skin surface and is encased inside the follicle and the hair shaft which is the part you see above the skin surface.

The structure of the hair root consists of 3 main parts:

• Follicle: which is like a tubular structure within the scalp or skin and usually always has 1 or more oil glands attached to it. This follicle encases the hair root. Each strand of hair has it’s on follicle. They do not go straight in, but rather at an angle so the hair on the outside grows in a natural flow which we call a hair stream.
• Bulb: This is a thicker club-shaped structure which is at the lower part of the hair root. The lower part of this hair bulb is hollowed out so that it will fit over and cover the papilla hair.
• papilla: This is a small cone shaped elevation at the bottom of the hair follicle which fits into and is covered by the bulb.The hair bulb receives it’s nourishment through the papilla. The papilla is home to the blood and nerve supply and if it stays nourished and healthy then your hair will continue to grow and renew it’s self. If your hair were to be pulled out at the hair root you could still regrow hair there, but if the papilla is ever destroyed you will not grow hair again in that spot.

Growth, Fall, and Replacement is the natural steady cycle of the hair. I was taught that the average life of a hair is between 4-7 years give or take depending on whom is teaching, but it can be influenced by health, heredity, sex, age and the type of hair you have.
If you have normal healthy hair it will usually grow at a rate of a half inch a month. it grows fastest between the years of 15-30 and less between the years of 50-60. The hair on your scalp grows faster for women than men. Nutrition, heath, hormones, and time of year also have a huge influence on your hair growth.

You will probably shed between 75 to 150 hairs per day and this is a normal process to make way for new growth, but if it seems to be a lot more than that then you may possibly have a scalp or hair problem that needs to be checked. Did you know that the eyebrows and lashes are replaced every 4-5 months?

The average head is around 120 square inches and usually there would be 1,000 hairs to the sq. inch, but the number of hairs on your head varies with the color of the hair, blonde is around 140,000, brown-110,000, black-108,000, and red-90,000.

I think that is enough knowledge for today about trichology- the study of hair. Believe me there is a lot more to learn about hair care and what the professional needs to know about the structure, texture, shape and conditions of the hair and scalp in order to make informed decisions to help you the client.