Nornal and abnormal air loss...

It is important to note that shedding of hairs is a natural process with anything from 100 to 300 hairs randomly shed each day.

Hair is composed of long, twisted keratin fibres with their ‘root’ below the surface of the skin: the dermal papilla and it is from here that the hair grows.
This growing fibre eventually hardens when it grows out from the scalp. At this stage the hair fibre is dead with only the root tip containing living cells.

The hair growth cycle, consists of three distinct stages:

1. Anagen: phase of growth that can last between two and seven years. On average, each hair grows out of the follicle about six inches (15cm) per year.

2. Catagen: a phase of transition that lasts roughly two to four weeks. At this time the hair shaft detaches from the dermal papilla and moves towards the ‘exit of the follicle.

3. Telogen: a resting period that lasts about three months allowing the hair to detach and falling out. After this, the cycle repeats itself.

In case of baldness, follicles just remain in the Telogen stage...

Up to the onset of puberty the hairline is characterized by a low spread across the forehead. For men, this continues only for a few more years. But, as men progress through their twenties the hairline takes on a more mature look with a recession of the frontal temporal regions. This concave appearance cannot be considered balding (see Stage I in the below figure).

That’s why initially I thought that that my hair loss was normal at that age… However, after a few years of ‘cheap’ remedies (I might talk about them in a following post), it was clear that I was heading towards the Stage II…