Hair Growth Cycle
In order to keep your hair growth consistent and healthy, it’s important to understand the various stages of the hair growth cycle. It consists of four key phases of hair growth – Anagen, Catagen, Telogen and Exogen. Read on for a breakdown of each phase, and get to know your strands a little better.
The Four Stages of the Hair Growth Cycle
Stage 1: Anagen – The Growing Phase
What is the Anagen phase of hair growth?
The Anagen hair growth phase is when your hair follicles are simply pushing out the hairs until they are cut or fall out at the end of their lifespan.
How long does the Anagen phase last?
The growing phase of the hair growth cycle lasts about 3-5 years for the hairs on your head, making it the longest phase in the hair growth cycle. In fact, for some people, one single head hair could carry on growing for over 7 years. However, hair elsewhere on the body (such as eyebrow hairs and pubic hairs) have a much shorter anagen phase. At any one time, roughly 90% of your hair is in the anagen growth cycle of hair.
Manage your stress
Stress can increase the amount of time your hair spends in the anagen phase, where hair isn’t growing, so try to minimise stress levels to keep your hair growing.
Stage 2: Catagen – The Transition Phase
What is the Catagen phase of hair growth?
The Catagen stage of the hair growth cycle is when the hair follicles shrink, which slows down the growth cycle of hair. The strands of hair lift from the bottom of the follicle but remain in place for the final days of growth.
How long does the Catagen phase last?
Once the anagen stage of the hair growth cycle ends, the catagen phase begins, and usually lasts around 10 days. Due to the stage being so brief, only around 5% of head hairs are in the catagen stage at one time.
Stage 3: Telogen – The Resting Phase
What is the Telogen phase of hair growth?
The Telogen cycle of hair growth is when hair actually stops growing but doesn’t fall out. New hairs also begin to form within the follicles that have released previous hairs during the catagen phase.
How long does the Telogen phase last?
The telogen phase of the growth cycle of hair lasts for about three months, and usually around 10-15% of your scalp hairs are in this phase at once.
Did you know?
Hair thinning and hair loss is caused when the hair growth cycle is disrupted. This can be due to illness and certain metabolic conditions, or even an unhealthy or restrictive diet. Ensure you’re consuming enough vitamins, iron, fibre and protein to keep your hair healthy and not disrupt the phases of hair growth.
Stage 4: Exogen – The Shedding Phase
What is the Exogen phase of hair growth?
The Exogen stage of hair growth is the beginning of the hair shedding cycle phase, where hair falls out – often encouraged by washing and brushing. It’s normal to lose 50-100 hairs each day during this stage.
How long does the Exogen phase last?
The exogen phase is an extension of the telogen stage, and roughly lasts from two months to five months.
How can Invati help the hair growth cycle?
A dry scalp damages hair follicles and prevents healthy hair growth, but fear not, our Invati Ultra AdvancedTM range is ideal for keeping your scalp healthy, and therefore your hair follicles. Take our invati ultra advancedTM fortifying leave-in treatment for example – this leave-in hair treatment adds resiliance to the hair cuticle to stabilize thinning hair fibres from to tip, protecting from hair fall due to breakage. Our invati ultra advancedTM exfoliating shampoo rich also nourishes and gently exfoliates with wintergreen-derived salicylic acid, removing oil and environmental residues that can clog pores. The whole range focuses on keeping your scalp and hair healthy for long-lasting growth and thickness.
