By Nadine Bells
(Thinkstock)
A recent Swedish study found women tend to lose the most hair in autumn. It’s all part of a strand of hair’s lifecycle.
A human hair grows for about two to six years. Scientists have discovered that at any one time, about 90 per cent of our hair is growing, while the rest is in the telogen stage — a resting phase — for two to six months before falling out. That hair follicle rests for about three months, and then another strand grows.
It’s normal for women to lose up to 100 hairs a day.
Researchers found that in a study of 800 healthy women, the highest proportion of hair in the telogen stage was in July. The stage ended — with hair shedding — in late October and beyond.
[See also: Are you eating right - for your hair?]
This autumn hair-loss pattern is likely evolutionary. We don’t need our hair to protect our scalps from the sun in the wintery months.
Hair is also a barometer for health.
'Hair cells are the second-fastest produced cells in the body after bone marrow, so hair is often the first thing to suffer from any bodily upset,' said Glenn Lyons, consultant trichologist at the Philip Kingsley clinic.
We don’t need our hair to survive — just ask Bruce Willis, who appears to be thriving nicely without it — so your body knows to prioritize other organs.
“If it’s a choice between your hair growing or keeping blood going to vital organs, the former will suffer,” Marie Claire reports.
“Hair is an incredibly sensitive barometer. It can even forewarn you when there are no other symptoms of illness,” said Dr. Hugh Rushton of the University of Portsmouth.
Hair loss outside of normal growth rhythms has been linked to a number of other factors, pointing to disruptions in health, medication use, nutritional deficiencies and crash dieting, stress, pregnancy and birth-control usage, thyroid conditions and infections.
So if a hairbrush with more rogue strands in it than usual is causing you to panic, talk to your doctor. Here’s a list of blood tests to request. No use stressing over hair loss — since stress might be partly to blame.
