What is hair?
Strands coming out of the body through the skin are called hair which grows all over the skin except eyelid and the palates of the hands and legs.
Where does it grow from?
It grows from a tube in the dermis layer of the skin. The tube is called follicle.
What is the structure of a hair?
Its cross-section shows three layers:
1) Medulla: It is the innermost part where there lie detached cells in an opaque space. Everyone’s hair does not possess it.
2) Cortex: It is the middle part which is made of keratin (the protein that hair is made of).
3) Cuticle: It is the outer part of the skin. It is a keratin layer.
Why is hair black or of other color?
The hair color comes from melanin which is a black pigment produced by metabolic activity of some superficial cells. A pigment is the coloring matter found in various tissues of the body. The more melanin one possesses, the more black or brown one’s hair is. Those, who have less melanin, possess blond or red hair. The aged people losing melanin have grey or white hair.
Why one’s hair is differently shaped?
Follicles from where it grows are responsible for its shape. Follicles are structured in some specific ways to form the hair-shape curly or straight. A curly hair has medulla, the innermost part, whereas smooth and bright hair dispossesses it. Follicles also determine if ones hair will be thick or thin.
Where does its nutrition come from?
Blood vessels pass just below the follicle. There is a connection of hair root with the blood vessels which provides the hair follicle the necessary nutrition to keep it growing.
Why does the hair not grow continuously?
The part of hair we see from outside is called shaft. The cells of hair shaft lose their nuclei. The cell division process mitosis cannot happen here. So the hair cannot grow more outside the body. And this is why one feels no pain when one’s hair is cut.
What is the hair made of?
The hair is made of keratin which is protein formed by a number of long chains of amino acids. Each chain is made through the formation of poly-peptide bonds of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and sulphur. A hair is grown up with the growth of these poly- peptide chains.
What are the parts of a hair?
A hair has three parts.
1) Bulb: The swelled part of a hair near the blood vessels is called the bulb. It is the bottom part of a hair.
2) Shaft: The part of a hair which we see from outside is called shaft.
3) Root: The part between the bulb and the shaft is root. It lies in the skin.
How does a hair grow up?
A hair bulb takes nutrition from the blood vessels passing just below it and produces new cells which grow up through the hair root and becomes adult. This process is called keratinization. The adult cells then lose their nuclei and come out as a keratinized threadlike protein.
Why is a hair shiny or greasy?
Almost every hair has a sebaceous gland, sometimes called oil gland. The gland produces oil which makes the hair shiny. Sometimes the glands produce a lot of oil making the hair greasy.
What is the life circle of a hair?
The life circle of a hair has three phases:
1) Anagen: It is the period when a hair grows. It lasts about 2-6 years. About 90 percent hairs always continue their growth.
2) Catagen: It lasts for a few weeks.
3) Telogen: It is the last stage of a hair. It lasts 2-4 months. It is called resting phase. In this phase some hairs fall off and new hairs grow from the follicles of falling hairs. If this phase lasts long, the hair loss becomes huge.
What is hair loss?
One possesses 100,000-150,000 hairs out of which 70-100 hairs usually fall off the head daily. In the vacant space new hairs grow so as to make up the loss. If fall of hairs is more than 100, which happens due to physical problems being discussed later and hence total loss is not compensated, we call this extra loss hair loss or alopecia.
What is the main cause of hair loss?
In medical science hair loss is blamed on heredity and androgen which is a hormone that controls sex characteristics of males. Actually its main root is di-hydroxy testosterone or DHT which is a combination form of the 5 alpha reductase and the male hormone, testosterone. 5 alpha reductase is an enzyme which constitutes the homone, androgen. The whole process of constituting DHT from androgen is called metabolism of androgen in the body. This DHT is the natural metabolite of the human body that is the main reason for hair loss.
How does DHT cause hair loss?
Dermal papilla, whose cells divide to form hair follicle, lies in direct contact with blood capillaries of the skin and mostly responsible for the nutrition of hair. It carries the nutrients from the blood to the hair follicle to maintain the hair grouth. The DHT reaching dermal papilla prevents the nutrients to pass to the hair follicle by depressing the flow of blood and the consequent result is that the hair turns shortened and fine. It also sets telogen, the resting stage, lengthened and the anagen, the growing stage, shortened leading the hair to fall off.DHT is also forms a wax around the hair root to make the skin greasy. In medical science such hair loss is termed as androgenic alopecia. Blood test may show the DHT level under control. But it may also cause hair loss due to one’s severe sensitivity to DHT.
How many kinds is the hair loss?
The hair loss is of two kinds.
1) Anagen effluvium: When someone takes different drugs and chemotherapy, hair begins to fall. This is called anagen effluvium.
2) Telogen effluvium: A hair reaching its telogen phase stops growing and one day it falls. It is called as telogen effluvium.
What are the internal causes of hair loss?
· Physical debility: Anemia, excessive loss of weight, indigestion, malnutrition, smoking, agrypnia (sleeplessness) etc.
· Depression, hyperpraxia (excessive thinking), dysthymia, ( mental distress)
· Diabetes polycystic ovary,
· Urethritis ( Inflammation of urethra)
· Long time ingesting anti-productive pills,
· Pregnancy,
· Menostasis (suppression of the menses),
· Excessive dieting for weight loss,
· Taking excessive vitamin A
· Sometimes hair loss may happen 2-5 months after pregnancy,
· Violent attack by fever,
· Pills for arthritis, gout, antibiotic, mental fatigue, high pressure taken for a long time.
What are the external causes of hair loss?
· Fungi: Infection by fungi usually occurs at all ages. When the skin on the head is infected by fungi, hair falls off.
· Sometimes the skin of the head is swelled and feels pains from which hair loss results.
· Favus: The skin is thickened and infected area becomes yellowish. The hair of infected area begins to fall off.
· Gray patch: Hair from backside of the head falls creating round vacant space.
· Black dot tenia: The hair of infected area breaks and the roots become black.
· Sometimes the root of a hair becomes granular (like grains) and red. The bulb of the follicle swells and turned into a vesicle (small blister) causing itching. It is called aminate folliculitis.
· The infection due to the head lice causes itching on the head skin and hair loss. This is called pediculosis capitis.
· Dandruff causes itching and hence hair loss.
· Lack of vitamin E
· Zink crisis
· Long standing leucorrhea
Besides, using hair drier, heat, chemicals, colours and applying straining, ironing, colouring cause hair loss. Excessive heat, wearing helmets, caps, etc and the hair root being wet for a long time cause hair loss.
What do we usually do to cure hair loss?
What are the problems arisen by the above process?
What can we do for hair loss?
o Attend upon your health.
o Live a healthy life.
o Take hair friendly food
1) Take balanced diet having protein, starch, fat, vitamin and minerals in proper amount. Food menu must have vegetables, fruits, salad, etc. Lack of vitamins and minerals causes hair loss.
2) Take salt a bit. Excessive salt keeps the hair root wet and softened which enhance hair loss.
3) Drink a lot of water which carries wastage out of the body.
4) Take physical exercise which keeps the blood circulation moving.
5) Keep the liver well by taking liver cure such as sour vegetables, herbs, etc.
6) Keep the stomach free from disorders such as indigestion, constipation, etc.
7) Sleep sufficiently.
8) Avoid alcohol and smoking.
9) Keep hair clean and free from dandruff and pediculi (the head lice).
10) Keep your towels, pillow covers, combs, brushes, etc clean.
The main physical disorders causing hair loss to be cured.
1) Depression
2) Fungi
3) Liver problem
4) Menostasis (suppression of the menses),
5) Constipation
6) DHT hormone
7) Dandruff
8) Pediculi (the head lice) and other parasites
9) Lack of vitamin E
10) Zink crisis
11) Long standing leucorrhea
Depression
