What to Know About the 4 Phases of Hair Growth
And the science-backed ingredients, lifestyle solutions, and more that can affect them.
Fifty percent of women are expected to experience some form of hair loss or thinning by the time they reach 50 years old. While genetics is a major player, other factors can disrupt or support hair's natural growth cycle, affecting how it both looks and feels. Understanding how your hair functions optimally can help you better understand what's actually going on when you lose a few too many strands—and then develop a routine that gets to the root of the problem instead of just masking it.
Here, Mamina Turegano, a board-certified dermatologist based in Louisiana, helps break down each phase of the hair-growth cycle and shares her proactive approach to achieving stellar strands.
The four phases of hair growth
1. The antigen (growing) phase
"The antigen phase is when the follicle is in the process of producing hair, and the stage in which most of your hairs currently exist," says Turegano. About 90 percent is in this growth phase right now. How long your hair stays in this initial phase is especially telling of how long you can—or cannot—grow it. People who are able to grow very long hair (to the bottom of the back and beyond) "genetically have an extremely long antigen phase," she notes. "For most it lasts about three to five years, but for those with hair that is able to grow long, this phase can go on for up to seven years." Read More..
