Hair Growth and Hair Plant Roots

 Hair is not found on the surface of the skin only, it goes deeper than that. In order to understand how to take better care of our hair, we also need to understand what it consists of, its growth stages and rates, and what affects it. Hair plant roots are an important part of the hair and play an essential role in growth. If the roots somehow disintegrate, then there will be no growth in it. androgenetic hair loss

Hair strands are made up of keratin, which is a scleroprotein. Each has a root that is contained in the follicle. A follicle is a component of the skin that is responsible for growing hair. The follicle is connected to the sebaceous gland that is responsible for producing sebum or oil. Sweat glands and hair muscles also form part of the structure of the follicle. Hair muscles called arrector pili which makes the hair stand at a perpendicular angle. Found at the foundation of the hair follicle is a papilla which consists of connective tissue. The papilla is encased in the matrix of the hair. This is the part of the hair responsible for cell divisions. It consists of epithelial cells which are an integral part of the plant roots and hair fibers. The matrix also contains melanocytes, cells responsible for the production of hair pigment.

Hair grows in stages. The rate of growth tends to vary with age. The growth stage is termed the anagen stage. This stage is active for different periods of time for the different sites of hair growth. During this stage, the plant root cells rapidly divides in a process called mitosis. After every 56 days, the hair would have grown about an inch long. The length of this stage depends on the site of hair growth. On the head, it can last up to seven years whilst on the face it can last up to seven months. After the anagen stage, the hair goes into a stage called the catagen stage. In this stage, the hair will either regress or curl forming a club hair. This stage is very short, lasting up to a month. After this stage, there is the telogen stage when the hair follicle goes into resting. The club hair here has fully developed.

The every day hustle of our lives can sometimes be overwhelming. Americans are considered to be workaholics - working long hours under loads of stress. Although stress may seem like just a state of mind that will eventually pass, stress actually has proven effects on your health and how your body functions. Stress can be both negative and positive, and can often keep us alert and prepared to yield danger. Negative stress can have huge impacts on your overall health. There are normal responses to stress and abnormal responses - it's really all how you deal with this upset in your life.

Abnormal responses to stress can result in physical issues, such as weight loss or weight gain and even hair loss. When you begin to lose your hair from stress, it can be very traumatic and even affect your self-esteem. It's important when you experience hair loss from stress to not stress more. This can cause the hair loss to happen more rapidly for some people. Hair loss is very common, and if you can catch it early enough, you can offset the process and avoid more invasive procedures later on such as visiting Los Angeles hair restoration clinic for a hair transplant procedure or for medical therapy such as Propecia. So how much stress is too much? It's important to know your own limit. When it begins to affect your daily life and your health, it's time to evaluate how you handle stress and ways you can change it. Three hair loss conditions can be stress-related:

Many people fail to realize how greatly stress affects one's physical health. In some cases, stress is beneficial, because it encourages some people to remain focused, motivated to complete task and fulfill goals. Some individuals need stress in order to function at maximum efficiency. However, there are also negative sides of stress that can not only be harmful but lead you down a destructive path physically and emotionally. Stress, if not dealt with properly, could eventually lead to sudden mental and physical illnesses and conditions. Often, our hair is one of the first places affected when dealing with stress.

Sudden hair loss due to stress is called Telogen Effluvium. Telogen Effluvium occurs when sudden or severe stress causes an increase in the shedding of hair thus causing the hair follicles to be pushed prematurely into the resting phase. Sudden hair loss can be noticed 2 to 3 months after a stressful event has occurred. While it is normal to lose up to 100 hairs per day, stress related hair loss can increase hair shedding to as much as 300 - 400 strands of hair per day and one can lose up to 70% of scalp hairs. In most cases the sudden hair loss is temporary and the hair recovers quickly. However, in some cases the sudden hair loss continues until the underlying cause of the stress is fixed.

Identifying the cause of one's sudden hair loss and treating it naturally, is the best way to recover from stress related hair loss; but it is not always the easiest thing to do. In some cases, stress has become such a major and vital part of one's daily routine that it can be very difficult to separate oneself from the need for it. Statistics show that over 80% of people are overstressed, in some capacity, and may be suffering from some health condition because of it. Most Americans live such busy lives and suffer from the weight of responsibilities with jobs and family that we allow our health habits to fall. Sudden hair loss is not a direct side effect of stress, but it comes as a result of an unhealthy diet and lifestyle caused by the reality of stressful conditions in our lives. Therefore, it is very important for every individual suffering from sudden hair loss to understand what causes stress, how it affects one's health, and how to either get rid of or cope with one's stress.

Having healthy sleep habits and relaxation rituals are a very important part of eliminating stress. If you set aside at least 20 minutes each day in a quiet room to relax your mind and focus on good thoughts, you will notice a change in one's attitude toward stress. You can also use this time to pray and meditate on bible scriptures. Finding some time during your day to quiet oneself can be very therapeutic in producing an effective and appropriate response in stressful conditions. Proper sleep is also important in coping with stress. Everyone knows how much sleep they need, but too much or too little sleep can affect one's health in different ways. An abnormal sleep pattern can cause skin deterioration and sudden hair loss.

According to the Medem Medical Library, approximately 25 percent of men begin balding by age 30 and two-thirds by the age of 60. There is a 4 in 7 chance of getting the baldness gene with both parents contributing to their offspring's likelihood of hair loss although recent large studies conducted in 2005 and 2007 may indicate the maternal side will be a greater contributing factor. So it is strange how little is known on the causes of hair loss in men by the general public. "It's because you used to use too much hair gel when you were young!"

Other misconceptions surrounding hair loss include it means the man has higher testosterone levels, perhaps propagated by balding men themselves to give their condition a positive spin, however as your about to find out it is not testosterone which is responsible for the hair loss but in fact a derivative of it. So unfortunately a bald head does not prove that you are testosteronally charged sex machine, however you can still tell the ladies that if it helps, lets just hope they are not reading this!

The most important structure of a hair follicle is the dermal papilla, which is responsible for hair growth. The cell of this dermal papilla divides to form new hair follicles and as it is in direct contact with the blood capillaries of the skin it also derives nutrients for hair follicle growth. When DHT reaches the hair follicles and dermal papilla, it prevents proteins, vitamins and minerals from providing the needed nourishment to sustain life in the hair of these follicles. With this, the hair follicles tend to reproduce at a slower rate and this in turn either shortens the growing phase of the hair follicles or lengthens its resting stage.

Hormones are one of the main reasons of hair loss. The male hormones collectively known as androgens have by far the biggest impact on hair loss. Most important male hormone, testosterone is indirectly related to hair loss in men. A man who has the essential genes for hair loss, a small amount of this testosterone is produced by some of the hair roots into a derivative called dihydrotestosterone that is actually responsible for hair loss.

When dihydrotestosterone is produced, it is present in the surface sebum (grease), which is secreted through the sebaceous glands in the skin tissue. In these circumstances, the dihydrotestosterone enter the follicle (the hole in the scalp from which the hair has come), when a hair is shed and inside there it reacts chemically. What it really does is to miniaturize the hair root and follicle. As a result, new hair will grow through the finer. When the new hair is a fine new building after Dihydrotestosterone miniaturized follicle and the hair root, and even more after your hair is even finer. This process continues until the hair is so thin that it might not be there at all, and if this happens all over the area, so a thin man, of course, on this surface and thus the hair loss occurs.