Hair Loss Basic Understanding

Before solving a problem one must understand the problem. Hair loss is the most common medical problem. Millions of people all over the world are struggling in the endless battle to stop their hair loss. How ever, most of them did not spend a couple of minutes learning what exactly the meaning of hair loss is. Read the following lines to learn the basics about hair, hair loss and hair loss treatments.

Did you know that an average scalp has about 150,000 hair follicles and hair – more than 90% of them are continuously growing.

What is hair?

Hair is the fastest growing tissue of the body. It is made of keratins which are a type of proteins. Each hair strand includes three layers: the medulla (the inner layer), the cortex and the cuticle. Hair grows from roots – Those roots get the vital ingredients to the hair growth by the blood. The roots are a living tissue but the visible hair strand is a dead tissue. Therefore, any hair loss treatment should take care of the scalp and roots and not of the hair strands.

How does the hair grow?

It is natural to loose hair. Actually, we all loose about 100 hairs a day. We start noticing that we suffer from hair loss only after losing more than 50% of our hair.

The phases of the life cycle of hair are:

Anagen – In this phase the hair is actively growing. This phase lasts about 5 years.

Catagen – In this phase the hair falls out. It lasts about 3 weeks.

Telogen – In this phase the hair is resting. It lasts about 12 weeks.

What are the causes of hair loss?

There are various conditions that may cause hair loss from heritage to stress. For each cause one may find different hair loss treatments. Hair loss treatments include anything from the FDA approved hair loss drug called Propecia or Rogaine to natural hair loss treatments as Rogaine to hair transplant surgeries.

By: Paton Jackson