Hair Loss Articles

What Is Normal About Hair Loss?

It is important to note that shedding of hairs is a natural process with anything from 100 to 300 hairs randomly shed each day. In this article we'll look at two distinct aspects of normal hair loss. Firstly, we'll examine what is actually involved in the hair growth cycle. Secondly, we'll assess the natural progression of hair loss over time.

Hair is composed of long, twisted keratin fibers that are protected by a coating of keratinized cells. Just below the surface of the skin lies a cluster of active cells known as the dermal papilla and it is from here that the hair grows into its follicle.

This growing fiber eventually hardens and grows out from the scalp. At this stage the hair fiber is dead with only the root tip containing living cells.

In a little more detail, the hair growth cycle, consists of three distinct stages:

1. Anagen stage - a phase of growth that can last between two and seven years. On average, each hair grows about six inches (15cm) per year.

2. Catagen stage - a phase of transition that lasts roughly two to four weeks. At this time the hair shaft detaches from the dermal papilla and moves up within a shrinking follicle.

3. Telogen stage - a resting period that lasts about three months allowing the hair to detach itself from the follicle before falling out. After this, the cycle repeats itself unless other factors intervene to prevent repetition of the cycle.

Clearly time has a role to play in the development of hair loss for both men and women. Humans are born with varying amounts of soft and fine body hair. Through time some of this hair becomes stronger and develops further characteristics such as colour and texture. Up to the onset of puberty the hairline is characterized by a low spread across the forehead. For men, this continues only for a few more years.

As men progress through their twenties the hairline takes on a more mature look typified by recessions to the frontal temporal regions and accompanied by slight thinning elsewhere. This concave appearance doesn't necessarily equate to premature balding as it is all a question of degree.

The Norwood Scale is an extremely useful tool in developing a hair growth strategy as it allows you to establish your own degree of hair loss in a way that is understood by physicians and other hair loss experts. More importantly, it can help to set your mind at rest and allow you to differentiate between normal hair loss that does not require remedial action and more extreme loss that calls for immediate action.

You can assess the extent of your own hair loss by following the link below.

Richard Mitchell is the creator of the myhairlossadvisor.com, website that provides information and guidance to those suffering from premature hair loss. Please go to Normal Hair Loss to learn more about the issues covered in this article.

Related Links:

Are There Really Vitamins For Hair Loss?

Hair Loss In Women A Devastating Occurrence

Everything You Wanted To Know About Hair

Latest Hairloss News

About.com Hair Loss
Get the latest headlines from the About.com Hair Loss GuideSite.

• Fiancee Goes Bald By Choice to Support Girlfriend in Chemo
  27 Aug 2008 at 8:11am
  Donna Ullrich of East Lansing is bald by chemotherapy. Her fiancé, Gavin Gardi also of East Lansing bald by choice, in sympathy. You have to love a guy like that....
  
• Braiding Poses Risks to Hair
  26 Aug 2008 at 8:22am
  Braiding has been popular forever, and whether you're getting cornrows, or ever-popular Bo Derek beach braids, you should know that tightly braiding the hair at the scalp can lead to...
  
• Hair Loss May be Side Effect of Going to War for Women
  25 Aug 2008 at 8:10am
  A study of Air Force women deployed to Iraq indicates that most of them report a variety of persistent symptoms, and hair loss is among them. Find out more now....
  
• Gail Porter is Britain's "2nd Favorite Baldy!"
  24 Aug 2008 at 7:46am
  Americans may not know her, but in the UK, if you think "bald" you think Gail Porter. Porter is a TV celebrity in her late 30s who has gone completely...
  
• Shear Genius Helps Alopecia Patients
  23 Aug 2008 at 7:45am
  Episode 5 of the hairdressing reality show Shear Genius had the hair stylists using customized wigs to create a fashionable cuts and styles for prematurely balding women with alopecia. I...
  
• New Finasteride Treatment Helps Balding Men "in Recession"
  22 Aug 2008 at 7:31am
  Hair loss doctor Alan Bauman says that one sign of the economic recession that no one (but him, of course) is talking about is that we're going to see more...