Facts about hair

What is hair?
Hair is the slender, threadlike outgrowth from the skin of mammals. Some animals grow a dense profusion of hair known as fur or wool. Insulation from cold, protection against dust and sand, and camouflage are among the functions of hair. Each hair originates in a deep, pouchlike hair follicle, which contains the bulb-shaped root of the hair. The papilla, a net of nerves and capillaries that supplies the hair, extends into an indentation at the base of the root. Here, newly dividing cells force older cells upward where they die and harden into the hair shaft. The shaft has two layers, the colorless cuticle and the cortex, which contains pigment and the protein keratin. Hair is lubricated by oil from sebaceous glands in the follicle.

Hair growth: to shed or not to shed

There are three stages in the life of a hair:

Growth Stage
New hair cells form at the base or root of each hair's shaft. As new cells are formed, the older cells are pushed up and out through the follicle. When they are pushed out of the follicle, they die and become the hair that we see all over our bodies.

Resting Phase
Follicles produce new cells thus causing our hair to "grow" for a certain period of time and then they stop. It is during this resting phase that the hair shaft breaks and the hair falls out. Each individual hair follicle is on its own growth-phase pattern so normal, healthy hair does not fall out all at once.

New Phase
A period of regrowth when the follicle begins producing hair cells once again and new hair grows in.


How many hairs do we lose per day?
The numbers vary but it ranges from 50-100. This may seem like a lot of hair if yours is long. During the main seasonal changes, many people tend to shed more hair as the body's metabolism changes with the changing temperatures. Abnormal hair loss can involve many factors including heredity of baldness patterns, chemical imbalances from drug therapy, metabolic disorders, hormonal or psychological imbalances, or physiological problems with the scalp and hair shaft.


Why is arm hair shorter than hair on your head?
Arm hair follicles are programmed for a shorter growth phase of only a few months at a time and then they stop growing. The old arm hair falls out before new hair grows back in. The hair on our heads, however, is programmed to grow for many years and therefore may grow to great lengths.


Summer hair care
The sun is just as damaging to hair as it is to skin, so here are a few tips to protect your tresses while poolside or at the beach:
• The best protection is to wear a hat or wrap your hair in a towel or scarf while tanning.
• If complete coverage is not possible, be sure to apply a good leave-in conditioner with sunscreen in it while tanning. The sun's heat will activate the conditioner, softening your hair, while the sunscreen will prevent UV rays from causing damage to the strands.
• If your hair is color-treated, be especially sure to use a leave-in conditioner with sunscreen to prevent color fade and brassiness. After swimming, apply a quality clarifying shampoo whose main ingredient is E.D.T.A. This will neutralize the chlorine, preventing that tinge also known as "swimmer's green." And don't forget to condition. Chlorine is can cause severe dryness in hair.

Healthy hair check
How do you know if you have healthy hair? Here's a quick check:
Pull out one strand of hair from the scalp. (Give it a quick yank to lessen the pain.) Hold an end in each hand and tug in opposite directions. Hair is naturally elastic, so if your hair stretches as you pull it, it's healthy. If it snaps and breaks under little pressure, then it is not as healthy as it could be due to the loss of some of this elasticity. Put the spring back in your hair with a weekly dose of good protein deep conditioner or hot oil treatment.