Hair
How does hair grow?
- Hair grows from a root at the bottom of a follicle under the skin.
- The blood in the scalp goes to the follicle and supplies oxygen and nutrients to the hair root.
- As the hair grows, it will push through the skin and pass the oil gland.
What causes hair growth?
- Although genetics and nutrition plays an important role for hair growth and cycle a lot depends on the chemicals hair is exposed to.
- While there is no magic formula for instant hair growth, proper care and right products boost the health and growth of hair.
What is the average hair growth?
- On average hair may grow anywhere between 0.5 to 1.7 cm per month.
- Males may find that their hair grows faster than females.
- Other factors include genetics, age, health and etc.
What are the stages of hair growth?
People are born with around 5 million hair follicles. Around 100,000 of these follicles are on the scalp.
- Each follicle contains a hair root, which is made of cells of protein.
- As blood circulates around the body, it delivers oxygen and nutrients to the protein cells, which need to multiply.
- As the protein cells multiply, it builds hair, which pushes up through the skin.
- By the time the hair is long enough to come through the skin, it is dead. New hair grows underneath it which pushes the dead hair out.
- Not all hair follicles are in action at the same time.
What causes straight or curly hair?
- People with oval shaped follicles have very curly hair, while those with round follicles have straight hair.
What causes soft and shiny hair?
- As the hair grows out of the skin, it passes through an oil gland.
- The oil in the oil gland lubricates the hair to stay soft and shiny.
How much hair fall is normal?
- 50-100 hairs every day is part of the normal hair growth cycle.
What causes hair fall?
- Although poor nutrition and genetics plays an important role, prolonged usage and exposure to chemicals and unhealthy/dirty scalp contributes to hair loss.
What causes unhealthy and dirty scalp?
- Although pollution, stress and unhealthy eating habits lead to poor scalp health, the major contributor is buildup of chemicals/products around the hair follicles, caused by the over use of shampoos, sprays, conditioners and etc.
- This buildup clogs hair follicles, leading to breakage, dryness and eventually hair loss.
How often should hair be washed?
- Daily washing of hair can strip the hair and scalp of natural oils leading to scalp itchiness/dryness, hair breakage and eventually hair loss.
- Infrequent hair wash allows harmful buildup of chemicals, products and excessive oils around hair follicles which stops hair growth and new hair.