My electrolyist has already explained to me the different stages of hair growth but I didnt quite understand and felt a lil dumb to say the least to ask her to repeat to me what she had already explained. Can anybody explain to me the stages of hair growth ie Anagen, telegen and catagen and tell me what it all means?
Thank you in advance <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
try our sister site www.hairfacts.com you will also want to put those words in our awesome search feature and see all the lovely post strings that will come up for you to read where those questions have been asked and answered many times before, in many different ways. One is bound to stick with you.
Hi Sorry to be a pain but I did look on the sister site and could not see anything which explained the hair growth cyle
This seems to be a common question that requires fine tuning the understanding frequently. I will copy the answer here, too bad we don’t have a sticky, or a Quick-FAQ’s page for stuff like this.
Obviously, hairs grow from nothing to something in growth phase, stop growing, and begin the process of being pushed out by the body in shedding phase, and in resting phase, they are either gone because they have fallen out of the skin, or the hair is resting at the top of the skin’s surface waiting for either something to make it fall out, or for the follicle to become active again, and a new hair to either push it out, or wedge it in the follicle further by squeezing past it.
The reason you might think you see nothing being gained in the early going is that you can’t see what has been done for months, or a full year. Take before, during and after shots to really appreciate what is going on here.
Think of your skin as a Grid. Think of this Grid as being 10 x 10 spaces in square form. If left to their own devices, the follicles in the first row, (1 - 10) will present hairs in spaces 1, 3 and 9. These hairs will cycle, and as they get ready to fall out, hairs in spaces 2, 5 and 10 begin growing, and brake surface just as hairs 1, 3 and 9 fall out.
Now it looks to the naked eye as if nothing has happened, because one saw 3 hairs in that area, and there are still 3 hairs in that space.
If one removes the hairs in spaces 1, 3 and 9, one will be targeting spaces 2, 5 and 10 when they come out in 6 to 9 weeks, and later, hairs will present in 4, 6 and 8. It takes a full 9 months for all these hairs to present. By the way, space 7 never grows hair in this example.
One should never have to treat a follicle more than 2 times. Three times is the most I can see, unless the practitioner is very bad or the client doesn’t show up on schedule. If the client is the problem, the practitioner might never actually get to treat that hair while it is in growth phase, if ever at all. (If you never come in during the months of November, December, and January, there are hairs that the practitioner will never, ever see, or treat, and you will always have those hairs in winter.)
So your skin Grid starts like this:
X = Hair and _ equals empty space
X_X_ _ _ _ X
X X _ _ X
_ _ X_X_X _
X_X _ _ _ _X
X X _ _ X
_ _ X_X_X _
X_X _ _ _ X
X X _ _ X
_ _ X_X_X _
X_X _ _ _ _X
Now, in 6 to 12 weeks, the Grid changes to this:
X X _ _ X
X_X _ _ _ _X
_ _ X_X_X _
X X _ _ X
X_X _ _ _ _X
_ _ X_X_X _
X X _ _ X
X_X _ _ _ _X
_ _ X_X_X _
X X _ _ _X
And it will change again in another 6 to 12 weeks. As you can see, there is the same number of hairs in the Grid, but their placing has changed.
In most cases, one’s electrologist won’t be clearing all these hairs the first time out, so one is chasing the Grid, looking to catch each hair as it comes out in growth phase, which gets easier to do as you clear hairs, because there are fewer left to present in the first place.
Does this help you understand how it is possible for the CLIENT to frustrate even the best electrologist by not coming in on schedule? Can you see why going long and frequent hours to start with costs you less in the long run, because you get more hairs in the growth phase, and have an easier time keeping up with the growing hairs as it comes in? Can you see how many people THINK their electrologist was failing them, when they just never really gave the practitioner a fair chance?