Does growth actually stall?

[k_hepburn]

It is acquired wisdom here at the LHC that our hair can go through growth spurts. Your hair may stop gaining length for months at a time, then "start growing" again. A question I've been asking myself recently, reading a few threads that reported lack of growth, is whether this actually means that all of the hairs on your head actually stop growing for a certain period, that is, no new hair length being produced AT THE ROOTS. Or does it simply mean that you are hair is falling out or breaking off at such a rate that it won't achieve any increase in overall length.

My impression from following the discussions on this board is that people seem to separate the issues of hair loss / breakage, and growth stall, implying that the notion is indeed that the hair ceases to grow. But, given that I get a good look at my hair re-growth every two to three moths (also known as skunk stripe - to those who are familiar with dyeing greying hair :D ), I find it somehow hard to believe that the total of your hairs can actually stop growing for a period of moths, if not years. How does that work, biologically? Has anybody observing a stall in hair length actually ever tested whether the hairs have actually stopped growing at the root - for example by dying a strand a noticeably different colour, then seeing if it grows out?

After all, when hair reaches terminal length, it certainly doesn't stop growing - it simply has reached the length it can reach before falling out. Does that mean that a growth stall too actually is the hair falling out at a given length, then, when the heir starts growing again, this means that somehow it's life span is increasing.

Hair(y) scientists to the fore, pretty please!

katharine

[lora410]

What happens to me is part of the hair stops grown and then the other area go trough a spurt. Like my hair on top isn't budging ,but my longest layers are going hog wild :lol:

[nithya_cbe]

I had long hair which was near the tail bone. right after my first kid it thinned very badly. So i went to hairstylist and cut it to a bob. Very short. That gave some volume and it helped for me to look better for work. But right after that i was feeling miserable for having cut my hair.

I always loved long hair. I started growing it back but it just stopped growing right after shoulder length. Possible that my diet, rest and stress was all really bad. I was breastfeeding for a year and half.
I think due to all that there was no growth.

But now i had my second baby and suddenly it started to grow in length. I actually started taking good care and it has been better now.

[Ohio Sky]

I think it has to do with the cycle. We know each hair has it's own growth cycle, and then falls out. I think when you go through a "stall" it's because the longest hairs are hitting the end of their cycle, while hairs that have already been shed and are growing back are indeed still growing.

[Shermie Girl]

So not a scientist. This is just from my own experience with my own hair.

I definitely had a drastic slowdown/stall of growth in the Winter of '06-'07. Between December of '06 and about May of '07, my hair only grew about an inch and a half or so. It wasn't breakage, as the slowing of growth showed at my roots, as well.

My hair made up for it, tho. It bounded from the stall point, between BSL and waist to nearly tailbone by the time I chopped it early this year.

[dor3girl]

It is acquired wisdom here at the LHC that our hair can go through growth spurts. Your hair may stop gaining length for months at a time, then "start growing" again. A question I've been asking myself recently, reading a few threads that reported lack of growth, is whether this actually means that all of the hairs on your head actually stop growing for a certain period, that is, no new hair length being produced AT THE ROOTS. Or does it simply mean that you are hair is falling out or breaking off at such a rate that it won't achieve any increase in overall length.

My impression from following the discussions on this board is that people seem to separate the issues of hair loss / breakage, and growth stall, implying that the notion is indeed that the hair ceases to grow. But, given that I get a good look at my hair re-growth every two to three moths (also known as skunk stripe - to those who are familiar with dyeing greying hair :D ), I find it somehow hard to believe that the total of your hairs can actually stop growing for a period of moths, if not years. How does that work, biologically? Has anybody observing a stall in hair length actually ever tested whether the hairs have actually stopped growing at the root - for example by dying a strand a noticeably different colour, then seeing if it grows out?

After all, when hair reaches terminal length, it certainly doesn't stop growing - it simply has reached the length it can reach before falling out. Does that mean that a growth stall too actually is the hair falling out at a given length, then, when the heir starts growing again, this means that somehow it's life span is increasing.

Hair(y) scientists to the fore, pretty please!

katharine

I think you already know the answer to this one as you dye your hair. Hair is always growing--but it falls out & breaks at unpredictable intervals. Hormonal changes make for more noticeable growth & loss--but hair is always growing (or I wouldn't have to keep shaving my legs)

[Altocumulus]

I'm pretty sure mine stalled when my hypothyroidism was at its worst this past winter (based on the length of my roots). I wasn't getting zero growth, but it was much, much slower than usual. I usually have a fairly consistent growth rate.

[orangeeyecrayon]

this is what i learned in cosmotology school....

every hair on your head goes through three stages, the growth phase which can last any where from 5 years to 10 years, than a shedding phase (obviously the shortest phase cause it takes like two seconds for the hair to come out and lastly a resting phase which is about 3 months.

about 90% of your hairs are in the growth phase at any given time.

i supose if you happen to have hairs that have not shed and the hair proceded into the dormant phase (or if you have several pholicals with double hairs where only one sheds kinda deal) than that individual hair will not grow for several months untill that pholical goes back into the growth phase.

if the majority of your hairs happen to be in the dormant phase than i supose a stop in growth could occur.

and it does seem very possible becuase since it is a cyclical change with diffren lengths there will be times when there is a large number of hairs in the dormant phase.

[dor3girl]

I think it has to do with the cycle. We know each hair has it's own growth cycle, and then falls out. I think when you go through a "stall" it's because the longest hairs are hitting the end of their cycle, while hairs that have already been shed and are growing back are indeed still growing.

I went to beauty school & this is exactly how they explained it. Each individual hair has a life of about 3-7 years. So how you treat your hair & how often you trim can contribute to how long your hair will actually grow based on your genetics and diet.

[Ohio Sky]

I went to beauty school & this is exactly how they explained it. Each individual hair has a life of about 3-7 years. So how you treat your hair & how often you trim can contribute to how long your hair will actually grow based on your genetics and diet.

Wooo! I'm not crazy! :silly:

[Darkhorse1]

I always found it interesting how some people could just not grow long hair. A good friend of mine tried, and she said once her hair got to BSL, it just stopped growing. Thing is, she had/s very curly hair, so I wonder if she just got bulk rather than length? Whereas for me, my hair grows like a weed, but it's slowed down. My hair seems to grow faster in the spring/fall. I know by how frequent I need to trim my bangs/fringe. It's kinda neat.

[Riot Crrl]

I have no idea how this thing is supposed to work, haha. I've had a month that didn't measure any longer but I dye my hair and I know I got regrowth. I didn't check in the back though so maybe only the front grew.

Edit:
A good friend of mine tried, and she said once her hair got to BSL, it just stopped growing. Thing is, she had/s very curly hair, so I wonder if she just got bulk rather than length?

If it was really very curly, perhaps when stretched it could have been up to tailbone or beyond. Maybe it was approaching terminal.