Leslie Correa is a nationally renowned hair designer and hair chemical specialist, (Color, Perms, Relaxers) he has devoted the past 24 years perfecting his craft in the art of hair design. He has devoted his career to knowing how to refine the best qualities of your hair and bringing out its natural beauty. Based in New York and traveling to work with some of Europe's and America's highly recognized design teams, Leslie takes a realistic approach to hairstyling and has developed a personal design style allowing him to create looks that highlight a person's best features.

Trauma to Hair Follicles (Part 2)
Three Stages of the Hair Growth Cycle

These are the three Stages of the Hair Growth Cycle:
Everyone has approximately 100,000 hairs on there head. Normally, about 100 scalp hairs reach the end of the resting phase each day and fall out. New hairs grow at approximately the same rate that the old hairs shed. Eyebrows and eyelashes have a growing phase of 1 to 6 months. Scalp hairs have a growing phase of 2 to 6 years. Hair recycles itself every 2 to 6 years and is genetically programmed to grow and shed. Your hair follicle adheres to a genetically programmed schedule that includes growth, resting and hair shedding; then the regrowth of new hair. During its lifetime, a human hair goes through three stages:

Stage 1 - Anagen (Growing Phase) Scalp hair follicles enter the hair growth phase and synthesize hair for a period of 2 - 5 years at a rate of about 6 inches (15 cm) per year. Thus a hair 2 feet (60 cm) in length would be about four years old at the end, and only a month or so old near the scalp. In general, 85% of the scalp hair is in the anagen phase. Eyelash follicles, and the follicles for hair on your arms and legs, have a growth stage lasting only a few months; and the resultant hairs that they produce are short.
Stage 2 - Catagen (Transitional Phase) This is a short transitional stage. The follicle becomes physically smaller as the lower portions of the follicle are absorbed by the body, and ceases to make hair.
Stage 3 - Telogen (Resting Phase) a resting stage lasting two to four months, after which it sheds the hair shaft. Only 15% of your hair is resting at any one time. The hair follicle relaxes its hold on the hair shaft bulb, and the bulb of the hair shaft moves closer to the surface of the skin. Over time the hair shaft loosens and eventually the hair is shed. At the end of the resting stage, the old hair falls out, the follicle enlarges, and a new growth cycle starts and a new hair shaft begins to grow.

Part 3 of the series "What Actually Is Hair? "