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Hair Growth Stages

Hair Growth Stages

Hair can only be destroyed in the Anagen stage. That is why while doing laser hair removal it is imperative to commit to treatments once every 4-6 weeks for 4-6 times. If you miss one of these treatments, you will have to wait for any hair in that cycle to come around to the Anagen stage again. I hope the following technical descriptions will help you to understand the physiology of hair growth.

Hair Growth Cycle

Each hair follicle undergoes a cycle of activity. The hair grows to a maximum length, then hair growth ceases and the hair is shed and replaced.

The hair growth cycle has three distinctive phases:

Anagen: the period of active growth

Catagen: the period of breakdown and change

Telogen: the resting stage before resumption of growth

Anagan

The epidermal cells surrounding the dermal papilla form the germinal matrix or root of the hair. These cells are constantly dividing, and as new cells are formed they push the older ones upwards where they begin to change shape. By the time the cells are about one-third of the way up the follicle they are dead and fully keratinised.

Catagen

This is the end of the active growth period, and is marked by changes occurring in the follicle. The hair stops growing and becomes detached from the base of the follicle forming a club hair. The hair bulb begins to break down, resulting in the follicle becoming shorter. A small section of the outer root sheath remains in contact with the group of cells that formed the papilla. This period of breakdown or change lasts about three weeks. As the inner root sheath breaks down, the hair remains in the follicle due to its shape.

Telogen

The section of remaining root sheath still in contact with the papilla is known as the secondary or root germ. It is from this germ that a new hair can grow. The shortened follicle rests for about three months. After the telogen stage the cycle returns to anagen and the root germ begins to grow downwards and forms a new bulb around the dermal papilla. It is the lower end of the germ that forms the new bulb, producing a new hair. The upper part of the germ forms the new cells that lengthen the follicle below the club hair. The new hair may push the old hair out. Sometimes therefore you may see two hairs in the same follicle.