Root bulb or white dot?

[sarahthegemini]

Hi guys, basically whenever I style (*cough* attempt *cough*) I inevitably see a few 'shed' hairs. Probably about 7 or 8 if something takes me a few attempts. Some of them look short(er) and have no dot or bulb, most of them though have what looks like a root bulb. I am just wondering if anyone can explain the difference between a root bulb and a white dot? Just so I can be sure. They must be the root bulb because I can't imagine that every hair that falls is a broken one but I like to be certain.

eta: When I pluck my eyebrows, the end of the follicle is dark but on my shed hairs, it is lighter than my hair colour?

[Firefox7275]

I think the root bulb changes colour when it goes from growth phase (eyebrows) to dormant phase (naturally shedding hairs).

[Larki]

I often find shed hairs that have turned themselves upside down but still clung to the rest of my hair. :p I see them and think they're white dots, but instead they're shed hairs. And yes, my roots are white.

[woodswanderer]

Well, my root bulb has a somewhat sticky/waxy coating on the end. I would be able to stick it to a mirror at least temporarily. Try plucking an eyebrow hair out and it will be about the same.

[Stray_mind]

The root bulb is much bigger and lighter than the white dots in my hair. It has the shape simmilar to a.... Well... A bulb. :)

[Wosie]

I can feel the root bulb when I drag my fingers across the hair, a white dot I cannot feel.

[lapushka]

I can feel the root bulb when I drag my fingers across the hair, a white dot I cannot feel.

Yes. This. ^^ A root bulb hitches when you run your fingers over it. A white dot you can't feel.

[Madora]

The root bulb comes from inside the hair follicle. White dots are damage, a breaking down of the cuticles, which leads to split ends.

[bustang65]

So what do you mean by root bulbs? Like, there could be a root bulb in the middle of a hair in your length? I have white dots and split ends, but due to religious reasons, I leave them.

[cathair]

Root bulbs are bigger, rounder, and sometimes they even have a few skin cells attached to them (mmm lovely I know). If you run your finger and thumb down your hair, sometimes they will come off. White dots generally won't. I can't think how else to describe them right now. It would probably be very obvious under a magnifying glass.

[lapushka]

Root bulbs are rougher, and are at the end of the hair. White dots generally are in the hair, like about half an inch to an inch up the hair, sometimes they are higher up.

[bustang65]

Wow, okay. I have white dots usually about an inch from my ends, but never root bulbs! I know what roots look like when one gets pulled out or falls out, but that's at the scalp end of the hair, not the end. Hmmmm. Cools,

[tokugawa.miyako]

eta: When I pluck my eyebrows, the end of the follicle is dark but on my shed hairs, it is lighter than my hair colour?

The same is true with me; the roots of my plucked eyebrows are black and the root bulbs of shed hairs are white. I think that's normal?

[Wosie]

Wow, okay. I have white dots usually about an inch from my ends, but never root bulbs! I know what roots look like when one gets pulled out or falls out, but that's at the scalp end of the hair, not the end. Hmmmm. Cools,

Root bulbs can't be originated from anywhere else but where the hair grows from, i.e. the scalp (in this case). Some peeps are confuzzled about shed hairs, though; they're wondering whether the hairs with a white dot at one end is a root bulb or a white dot/'split end embryo'.