If you’re like most people, you’re probably not aware that your hair has a growth cycle. You know when it gets too long and needs a cut. You can tell when it’s starting to thin or fall out.
But did you know that your hair has four stages of growth with weird names like anagen, catagen, telogen and exogen? In this post, you’ll learn about the telogen phase of hair growth, the condition known as telogen effluvium and how telogen effluvium’s most common symptom is hair loss.
Telogen — The Third Phase of Hair Growth
While anagen is the active phase and catagen the transitional phase of hair growth, telogen is the resting phase. For most people, about five to 15 percent of your hairs are in this phase and they last about 100 days on your scalp. About 25 to 100 telogen hairs are shed every day, which happens when anagen hairs push them out. Even though this growth and replacement happens all the time (it’s happening now), you likely have no awareness it’s occurring.
Telogen Effluvium
It’s important to remember, as noted above, that it’s completely normal to lose hair in the telogen phase of growth. It would be bad if it wasn’t happening.
However, the problem comes when you start losing excessive numbers of hairs in this phase. This is the condition called telogen effluvium. How does this happen?
In general, there usually needs to be some shock to the system that would cause this to occur. Typical shocks include:
Traumatic birth (as a baby)
Chronic illness
Surgery
Accident
Unhealthy diet
With any of these shocks to the system, you will have an increase in hair follicles that no longer produce hair. In other words, while the normal process is for telogen hair to be replaced by anagen hair, telogen effluvium happens when that process stops. The follicles become dormant and no hair replaces the hair that’s falling out. This leads to hair loss.
While this is the process happening under the surface (so to speak), telogen effluvium usually feels like and looks like hair thinning. Sometimes you can have sections of your scalp that go bald, but that usually does not happen. It also usually doesn’t go along with a receding hairline. Instead, it’s a thinning of your hair across your whole scalp.
Acute and Chronic Telogen Effluvium
Finally, there are two types of telogen effluvium: acute and chronic. The acute version is usually a one-time occurrence. The shock to the system will cause a bunch of hair loss, but you’ll be able to get the hair back if you address the trigger. If it’s a bad diet, a good diet will probably solve the problem.
The chronic version is also caused by some physiological stressor, but it’s something that will be with you for a long period. Your hair will thin, then it will grow back and after a while, it will thin again.
Contact Custom Hair Tampa Bay Today
If you can tell your hair is thinning or you’re experiencing hair loss, there are steps you can take to help yourself. Contact Custom Hair for a consultation by clicking here.
Photo Credit: makamuki0 Via Pixabay
Sources:
https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/hair-loss/science-hair
https://www.verywellhealth.com/telogen-phase-1069283
https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/hair-loss/effluviums