About Your Hair
It's normal for your hair to fall out, notes the Mayo Clinic. Most people lose, on average, between 50 and 100 hairs on a daily basis--a modest number--considering there are around 100,000 hairs on the human head. The hair on the head and other parts of the body is comprised of two parts; the follicle, which extends under your skin and the shaft, which is what you see growing out of your scalp. Hair shafts themselves are not actually living, states the American Hair Loss Association (AHLA), but are made up of a type of dead protein called keratin.
How Hair Falls Out
The AHLA states that hair growth occurs in phases. The anagen phase is the time when hair is actively growing. There's also the catagen (degradation) phase and the telogen (resting) phase. The anagen phase of hair growth can last between two and eight years, after which there's a two- to four-week period of follicle degradation. The hair then goes into the resting phase for another two to four months. Hair falls out when the next anagen cycle begins and a new hair begins to grow. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, around 90 percent of your hair is growing at any one time, and each hair grows roughly one centimeter per month.
Hair Loss
Hair naturally thins during the aging process. Hair loss becomes noticeable when the amount of hairs that fall out exceed those that grow back. The medical word for hair loss is alopecia, of which there are many types. Pattern baldness, or androgenetic alopecia, is hereditary and usually affects men, although it can also occur in women. Other specific types of alopecia (which can be permanent or temporary) can result from inflammation, autoimmune disease, too much hair styling or an emotional or physical shock, notes the Mayo Clinic. Hair can also fall out due to poor diet, disease (lupus or diabetes), use of certain medications or treatments (such as chemotherapy), hormonal changes, scalp infections, harsh chemical treatments to the hair (such as bleaching and dying), or a mental illness called trichotillomania, which causes people to pull out their own hair.
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