Chapter 1: Hair-The Hero
A Hairty Welcome to my blog !
I am Dr. Shyamal Munshi. I have been in practice of cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery for the last 27 years. Hair transplantation procedures have remained one of the prime areas of my interest. HETRA Clinic is solely dedicated to the treatment of hair loss and baldness. HETRA means Hair and Transplant !
Our hair, due to its slender filamentous appearance looks very simple but in fact, like every structure of our body, is a fascinating element. The mysterious and magical story of hair can make going through Hairy Tale as interesting as reading a Fairy Tale! 😊
You will agree with the fact that Hair has attained a significance that is more aesthetic than functional. By virtue of size, shape, color or even by its mere presence, hair influences us all, not only at a social, but also a deeply personal level. Since childhood and throughout our life, haircare and hairstyle become life’s essential rituals, and this has remained a truth since time immemorial. The strange thing about hair is that it keeps growing at the places most of us do not wish it to grow, and does not grow at the place many of us want it to grow!
Nature bestows upon the scalp, ample hair to care for, style, pamper or flaunt. Human hair is very diverse, coming in a range of colors and textures. Just like we are different, our hair also varies in length, thickness, color, texture, shape and has different lifespans.
While considering hair loss solutions or hair transplantation, having a basic knowledge of hair can be very helpful to avoid confusion and make the choices that work best for you, especially in a world that is overflowing with information and marketing.
So……let us start with a few basics.
What is hair?
Hair is a slender filament of protein and is an accessory structure of skin. Hair is present all over body except the lips, palms and the soles of our feet.
Did you know we have three different types of hairs on our body?
Lanugo hair is fine, non-pigmented hair that covers the normal fetus. By the first few weeks of life, lanugo hair is replaced by vellus hair on the body and terminal hair on the scalp.
What is the difference between vellus hair and terminal hair?
If you look closely at areas of your body such as your ear lobe or forehead, you’ll likely spot tiny hairs. These are vellus hairs, also known as peach fuzz or baby hair. This hair is thinner and more translucent than other hair on your body.
Vellus hair is replaced with thicker hair in certain areas of your body during puberty. When this transition occurs, vellus hairs become terminal hairs.
The structure of terminal hair is different from that of vellus hair. It is stronger, longer, and more noticeable. Before puberty a young man typically has vellus hair on his chin and face, and above his lip. As puberty begins, these hairs become longer and stronger and change to terminal hair. This is when males develop facial hair like a mustache or beard.
Hair Follicle
Hair is made up of two separate structures. The hair follicle is the part below the skin, and the hair shaft is what you see above your skin.
follicle, is a tunnel-shaped structure in the epidermis (outer layer) of the skin. It is the living part of the hair from where our hair originates. Hair starts growing at the bottom of a hair follicle. The root of the hair is made of protein cells and is nourished by blood from nearby blood vessels. As more cells are created, the hair grows out of the skin and reaches the surface.
Sebaceous glands near the hair follicles produce oil, which nourish the hair and skin. The arrector pili muscles, also known as hair erector muscles, are small muscles attached to hair follicles in mammals. Contraction of these muscles causes the hairs to stand on end, known colloquially as goose bumps.
Hair color
Hair color is the outcome of the type and amount of a pigment called melanin in hair. An abundance of one type of melanin, called eumelanin, gives people black hair. An abundance of another pigment, called pheomelanin, gives people red hair. Moderate and very little amount of eumelanin result in brown and blond hair respectively. When there are fewer pigment cells in a hair follicle, hair will no longer contain as much melanin and will become gray, silver, or white as it grows.
The type and amount of melanin in hair is determined by our genes.
Hair shape
Straight hair follicles produce straight hair fibers, as all the cells in the follicle act in a coordinated fashion, leading to even hair growth. These hairs are round.
Curly hair grows from curved follicles. Curly hair includes a wide range of hair fiber shapes, ranging from twists and crimps, to waves and kinks. Curvy hair follicles are “S-shaped,” meaning that they have two bends.
In addition to the shape of the hair follicle, differences in cell behaviour during hair fiber production also contribute to hair shape.
In curly hair, the way that the cells divide and produce certain proteins is asymmetrical and correlates with the bends in the curved follicle. This results in a hair fiber with an elliptical shape.
Hair length and Hair growth cycle
Have you ever thought why does hair on the body, other than the head, only grow a certain length and then stop, and if you cut it (not pull it) it immediately grows back to the original length?
Does a hair think and know that it has been trimmed? Not really, but actually all grows out to a specific length. It is thought that these lengths are largely determined by your genes.
All hair grows in cycles having following phases.
Anagen: Growing phase (2-6 years)
Catagen: Transition phase (2-3 weeks)
Telogen: Resting phase (3 months)
Exogen: Shedding phase
In Anagen phase, a protein root down in your hair follicle starts accumulating cells that form the rope-like structure we know as hair. Your scalp’s blood supply feeds the follicle and allows it to divide into more cells. As long as the anagen phase lasts, your hair will grow longer and longer at a rate of about a half-inch each month. Hair length is mainly determined by the length of the anagen phase. The longer the anagen phase, the longer the hair will grow.
But the anagen phase can’t last forever, no matter how fancy your shampoo or oil is. The growth phase, which varies from person to person is probably genetic and lasts from two to six years.
This explains why some of us grow our hair to luscious lengths while others max out much sooner: A hair that grows for two years before stopping will be about a foot long, but one that can put in six years of growth could triple that length.
Unlike the hair on your head, the hair on your arms and the rest of your body have a growth cycle that lasts weeks, not years.
Following the Anagen Phase, your hair cycle enters a short transitional phase known as the Catagen Phase, which is the end of active hair growth. During Catagen phase individual hair is cut off from the blood supply and from the cells that produce new hair. Approximately 3% of all hairs are in this stage at any time. Telogen Phase is the he third stage of the natural hair growth cycle. It a resting period when strands remain in their follicles but are not actively growing. An estimate of 10-15% of your hairs are in the Telogen Phase at any given moment.
Exogen phase is the final stage of the Hair Growth Cycle, when individual hair strands are released from their follicles and fall out. Now the new anagen phase begins !
This may make you think that why don’t I lose most of your hair every few years and start all over? That’s because only about 3 percent of your follicles are going through catagen phases at any given time, while about 90 percent are actively growing and the rest are resting in telogen.
This is not the case in some animals where hair comes and goes seasonally or in phases. That’s why you (hopefully) don’t leave cluster of hair on your pillow in the morning when you get up and your dog sheds in clumps!
It's normal to lose about 100 hairs a day, no matter what age you are.
Hair numbers - Hair Distribution
Have you ever wondered how many hairs there are on your head?
A follicular unit can have 1–4 hairs with the arrectores muscle, sebaceous gland, perifollicular collagen, and nerves and vessels supplying the unit. A scalp is usually 500 square centimetre (50,000 square mm) in area, with a follicular unit distribution of 1/square mm. Each follicular unit has on average two hairs.
It is important to differentiate follicular unit density, which remains relatively constant at 1/square mm from hair density, which varies from 1.5 to 3/square mm (average= 2/square mm).
The number of hairs that someone has on their head can vary by individual. However, the average person has about 100,000 hairs on their head at one time. Studies found that on average there were between 800 to 1,290 hairs per square inch (124 to 200 hairs per square centimeter).
So the answer is there are between 80,000 and 120,000 hairs on our head.
Hair transplantation is about balancing destiny against density.
At HETRA , we are a diligent and dedicated team of expert and experienced technicians. We have transplanted hundreds of thousands of hair follicles and have a large number of highly satisfied customers to our credit. The hallmarks of the clinic are : Proper evaluation, Truthful advice, Systematic planning and Meticulous technique.
Contact us : Phone - +91 9825069291 , + 91 9327642216
Email - hetraclinic@gmail.com
Website - www.hetraclinic.com
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