Beauty Ideas» Life Cycle of Hair

My hair through the years

Rino Jasper — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:35:38 +0000

Most people don’t need to be told that the hair you are born with is not the same hair that you will grow old and die with. Consistency, color, thickness and how your hair feels to the touch will all change throughout your life.

So what causes our hair to go through all of these stages?

A number of things are responsible: age, stress, pollution, but most of all it’s down to hormones, and how they change with age.

Birth to 1 year: Hair in the early years can be fine, and sometimes barely there. Don’t fret: babies who are late bloomers in terms of the amount of hair they have can very well turn out to have thick hair, just as they can have very fine hair.

Toddler to teens: Children have ‘perfect’ hair in that it rarely gets oily and is abundant. This is the golden period! But when the hormones start to kick and sebaceous glands go into overdrive in the early teens, hair can begin to get limp and oily and is more prone to dandruff.
Adulthood & pregnancy: A healthy individual will not have many hair ‘changes’ from the mid-twenties to the late thirties. This is with the exception of pregnancy, when most women rejoice in the experience of having thicker-than-usual hair due to an influx of hormones. Post-partum, however, hair loss is common and sometimes severe, but generally grows back with time.
Fifties and up: Sebaceous glands are definitively on the downswing. This period is characterized by thinning hair in some women and in most men and, of course, graying hair. As hair grays it gets coarser and less soft to the touch.

An Easy Guide to Hair Growth

Rino Jasper — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:16:14 +0000

Our hair grows continually from the time we are born through old age. And just as children go through “growth spurts”, so does our hair—it grows, stops growing, falls out and the process begins anew.
The first part of the cycle, called Anagen, is what is known as the hair shaft’s growth phase. This stage can last from between two to eight years and it’s the space in time when the hair begins its journey from the bulb nestled inside the follicle to the moment it sprouts and grows as a visible strand of hair. During the Anagen phase a single strand of hair can grow up to an average of a half inch per month.
The next stage, or Catagen, is the time when the hair is “deteriorating”, in other words the hair bulb is no longer linked to blood supply and the follicle is shrinking in size. This is a relatively short period, and normally spans between two and four weeks.
After the Catagen period, hair takes a breather, so to speak, and enters Telogen, or the resting phase. During this cycle the hair is inactive, and is no longer growing. In fact, it’s getting ready to end its journey and fall out, and if pulled this hair will easily come out. Telogen lasts an average of three to four months.
But a hair actually falls out, or is pushed out, only after the Telogen phase. The cycle comes back to its starting point to enter the Anagen phase once again when a new strand begins to grow. In a healthy head of hair, around 50 to 100 strands in the Telogen phase fall out daily. Our hair mimics Mother Nature—the old makes way for the new!

Little Known Facts about Genetics & Hair

Rino Jasper — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:06:05 +0000

Which of my hair traits are due to my DNA?
Common hair issues, such as baldness, hair loss, and hard-to-manage textures are often blamed on genetics: “I’m losing my hair because my mother lost hers…” is a classic. So which issues can be attributed to genetic factors?

Hair loss can be passed down from generation to generation, but not only from the mother’s side of the family as the old wives’ tale dictates. If one of your parents suffers from hair loss you might too, but if both parents do, you’ll have more chances of having trouble in that department. While hair loss can be due to your genes, there are also a lot of other factors that could set it off, such as stress or an unhealthy diet. Don’t automatically blame the family!

Hair color is another factor that doesn’t follow any hard and fast rule. It is known that the gene for dark hair is dominant over lighter hair, but a baby can inherit a variety of shades from mother and father. And what’s more, if one parent has a recessive color gene, and it links up with the other parent’s recessive gene, two black-haired parents could very well have a blonde-haired child. The red hair gene, meanwhile, is now believed to be dominant over the blonde counterpart.

Hair texture is also genetically programmed. If a mother and father pass down the curly-hair gene, the child will most often than not inherit curly locks and the same is true for straight hair. If one parent has curly hair and the other straight, then the offspring will have a combination of the two. Genetic researchers have not been able to crack the code when it comes to why some people experience their curly hair going straight or vice versa.

The Lowdown on Hair Composition

Rino Jasper — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:03:40 +0000

Hair follicle

Cuticle (surface of hair)

It is common knowledge that our hair is a fair indicator of our general state of health, but what is it actually made of?

The main ingredient is keratin, a sulfur-rich protein which is also found in our nails, teeth and skin. Every strand of hair is therefore made up mainly of protein, 97% to be exact, and the rest is moisture. Protein is what gives hair its strength, while the 3% “moisture” hydrates it.

Each hair begins its journey in the follicle, a pouch-like formation buried inside the dermis layer of the scalp.

The hair shaft is made up of three main parts from the inside out—the air-filled medulla, which is the centermost section and can sometimes be absent in fine hair, the cortex and the cuticle.

The cortex takes up the bulk of the strand, making up 90% of its weight. This is the part that dictates the hair's elasticity, strength and, due to its melanin content, also its color. The cortex is made up of millions of hard protein fibers.

The cuticle, the outermost part of your hair shaft, is composed of a single layer of keratinized cells and is the hair’s protective sheath. Caring for the cuticle means shinier and healthier hair.

Hair tidbits

We are born with between 100,000 and 150,000 hair follicles at birth.
A strand of hair can “live” up seven years. (The only actual living part of the hair is the bulb underneath your scalp).
Blonds have an average of 140,000 strands; brunettes have 100,000 and 90,000 for redheads.
The average person loses 75 to 100 hairs per day.
Excess oil in the scalp can clog the follicle and prevent hair growth, while too little can mean a dry and flaky scalp.