Kayla Young
Do you currently have long luscious locks or are you rocking out that short hairstyle? No matter what length of hair or what hairstyle you have, have you ever wondered about hair growth?
Have you wondered why cutting the hair doesn’t hurt or ruin it? It can still grow no matter how many times you’ve cut it!
So does hair grow from the root or the tip? To answer this briefly and directly, hair grows from the root.
In this article, we’ll be talking about the hair structure, how it grows, and a little about the hair growth cycle. Â
Contents
The Different Types Of Hair
Take a closer look at your body, there are various areas in the body where hair can be found. Hair grows around the body for protection.
Your eyelashes and eyebrows are there to protect your eyes (interestingly, they stop growing at a certain length). Similarly, the hair on the scalp also helps protect the head from the rays of the sun.Â
Apart from that, the hair helps regulate body temperature. When you feel cold, it can stand up to help keep warm air close to your body.Â
Did you also know that there are different types of hair?
Vellus Hair
There’s the vellus hair, which is thinner and shorter hair that can be found all over the body. Vellus hair on the face is known as peach fuzz, and is commonly removed by dermaplaning.
Terminal Hair
Then there are also the thicker and longer Terminal hairs. Examples of such are the hair on your head, eyebrows, eyelashes, pubic hair, chest hair, and others.Â
The amount of hair according to the different types will vary from one to another. In children, most have vellus hair. Men are most likely to have more terminal hair as compared to women.
Understanding The Hair Structure
Hair has different parts. The one that you see is called the hair shaft. It is usually the part that is sticking out of the skin.
There is also the hair root part, which is found in the deeper skin layers. The hair root is in the hair follicle and a sebaceous gland is connected to it. This gland is responsible for releasing oil to help moisturize the hair.
To make the hair stand when you feel cold, it is connected to an arrector pili muscle as well. There are also nerves at the hair follicle which is why you can feel pain when hair is pulled or you can sense that the hair is moving.Â
Have you ever pulled out a hair from the root, you will notice that it is slightly rounded. That’s the shape of the hair root. The hair root is also connected to the blood vessels which provide it with nutrients so it grows longer constantly.
Does Hair Grow From The Root Or The Tip?
So how does the hair grow? Is it from the root or the tip? Well, hair constantly grows from the hair root.Â
This is easily seen in people who dye their hair, and then let their natural color roots show.
New hair cells are regularly formed in the bulb of the hair where it sticks together and hardens. From this, a strand of hair is produced. As time goes by, more and more cells attach, harden, and are pushed out.
The rate of hair growth is about 1 centimeter a month. However, there are some hair strands like those of the eyelashes or eyebrows that grow slower.
Do you also wonder about having straight or curly hair? Well, that will depend on the shape of the hair shaft on a cross-sectional view. Those that are rounder in shape are straight and those that are more of an oval shape are going to be curly.
When it comes to hair color, that will be dependent on the melanin content of the cells that hardened to form the hair. The amount of melanin will vary from one person to another and could also change throughout your lifetime.Â
As you would expect, there would be less melanin in the hair as people get older, which is why older people get white hair, and blonde hair gets less blonde.Â
No matter what hair you have, hair growth will always be from the root. That is also why your hair can continuously grow even if you cut the tips.
No matter what hair you have, hair growth will always be from the root.Â
The Hair Growth Cycle
There are 3 phases when it comes to the cycle of hair growth. They are known as the anagen, catagen, and telogen phases.
When the hair is continuously forming new cells, the hair is said to be in the anagen phase. This is the phase where the hair grows actively.
The catagen phase is a short period that can also be considered a transition period to the next phase. In this, the hair stops growing and the blood supply is detached.
Lastly, there is the telogen phase or the resting phase. This is the time when new hair can grow underneath the older hair that was detached from the blood supply. After some time, the older hair strand could fall out.
What Does Hair Trimming Do For Your Hair?
Have you ever heard someone say that you should trim your hair to make it grow faster? If our hair grows from the root, wouldn’t it be better if we focus on the root for hair growth rather than the tips, which are dead cells?
The hair indeed grows from the root but there is a positive effect of trimming the ends for hair growth. Although it doesn’t increase the rate of hair growth, it can help you achieve or maintain your long hair.
Trimming the hair consistently helps remove the split ends, which could start from the tips and then travel up the hair strand. Trimming will lessen the risk of damaging the hair in this manner.
Additionally, the tips or ends of the hair are usually the weaker part of the hair. Removing them can help make it easier to detangle your hair so you don’t pull on it and possibly break it.Â
