How Hair Grows (cont)

Terminal hairs are the long hairs that grow on the head (as well as the arms, leg and torso of many people). Follicles with sebaceous glands (oil glands) produce them and it is in people who have a genetic disposition to baldness that the hairs in these follicles will gradually become thinner and shorter until they look like Vellus hairs. Most people suffering from hair loss will still be able to feel these Vellus hairs on their scalps.

Generally a person will have a mixture of Vellus and Terminal hairs (and ‘in-between’ hair) on their head until they reach puberty when the hair will thicken and sometimes darken. This hair will then see you through adulthood and beyond.

The hair follicle

A hair follicle is a tiny cup-shaped pit buried deep in the fat of the scalp. The follicle is the point from which the hair grows. It is well supplied with minute blood vessels, and the blood passing through them nourishes the growing region. The temperature around the follicle is normal body temperature, and is not affected by cold or hot weather.



The structure of hair follicle while it is in the growing phase [Source Color Atlas of Differential Diagnosis of Hair Loss by David A. Whiting and F. Lester Howsden, Fairfield, NJ: Canfield Publishing Inc.]

All this, of course, is assuming that a persons hair is healthy, well looked after, and that the person is not predisposed to genetic baldness or disease.