| The human hair doesn't simply grow out of the skin | | | | reproducing hair strands. |
| like it had immeasurable organic resources. Hair is not | | | | Hairs actually emerge at the surface of the scalp in |
| like fresh grass that you can just cut, cut, and | | | | groups. These groups are composed of more than |
| expect that nothing would happen. Upon closer | | | | three hair strands at a time. Then eventually, these |
| examination, it would be revealed that the business | | | | hair strands find their own place on the scalp and |
| of growing hair is more complex that it looks. | | | | begin to mature, until their cortexes are fully-grown. |
| The Dermal Papillae | | | | How Healthy is Your Hair? |
| As you might have already come across in other | | | | We could adjudge health by looking at the amount of |
| references, the dermal papillae are actually the hair | | | | organic reproducibility there is. Terminal hairs on the |
| 'originators'. This is because it is in these biological | | | | scalp under normal conditions are continually |
| sites that hair cells are continually reproduced and | | | | protected by non-terminating papillary processes. |
| transformed to the hair shaft, as we know it. | | | | Young adults and males who are not suffering from |
| What happens when the dermal papillae are | | | | male-pattern baldness have at least 90% of their |
| destroyed? In certain cases, like second-degree burns | | | | terminal hairs under the anagenic phase. |
| and failed attempts at a hair transplant, the dermal | | | | How Long Does Hair Grow Each Month? |
| papillae's basic structure might be altered for good. | | | | For something composed of mostly dead cells, human |
| Does this mean that these sites will halt in producing | | | | hair grows surprisingly quickly. The estimated rate for |
| hair cells? | | | | hair growth has been aptly estimated at 0.44 |
| Fortunately, the answer is a resound "no". The human | | | | millimeter a day (about 1/2 inch a month). Some |
| body is so efficient in repairing and regenerating itself | | | | healthier scalps have faster growth rates, while some |
| that damaged dermal papillae are actually regenerated | | | | experience an inverse condition: the growth is very |
| and re-activated when the skin reverts to some | | | | slow. |
| condition of normalcy. | | | | How long does hair stay 'alive' (in the anagenic |
| Will the hair look the same after such situations? | | | | phase)? Fortunately for us, we shed our hair every |
| Unfortunately, the answer to this question is still a | | | | five months. This means that damaged terminal hairs |
| "no". This is the basic problem of very basic hair | | | | would be replaced by healthier, more robust hairs. |
| transplantation methods. Usually, when these biological | | | | What happens when the telogenic phase begins? |
| sites are cut from the underlying tissue, the hair | | | | Again, under normal circumstances, the old hair shaft |
| produced becomes irregular, fuzzy and thinner than | | | | is simply pushed out by the newcomer (the new hair |
| normal. | | | | shaft). In male patter baldness, the hair falls out but |
| How Hair Erupts from the Skin? | | | | is never replaced by new hair shafts. This is what |
| Do hair strands emerge one by one? Nature decided | | | | modern science wishes to explore further: can certain |
| that this would be too organically taxing for the | | | | devices stimulate the scalp once again into producing |
| primordial cell reproducers, so the human body was | | | | new hair? |
| able to devise a more efficient method of | | | | |
