Individual Hairs

[jdthinning]

Is there anyway of telling if a hair that sheds is a healthy hair just going through a growth stage or if its a thinning hair? I still see a white bulb at the end of the hairs that shed, is that good, bad, or impossible to distinguish?

 

[Dinzy]

The bulb just means that it is a hair shed while in telogen. Healthy hair should shed every 2-3 years so it will have a blunt end on it from when it was last cut. Thinning/male pattern baldness hair grows sloere and for less time so it will have the bulb at one end and be tapered at the other end. I shed thinning/male pattern baldness hairs that are up to 3 inches long and smore that are only 1/2 inch. The thing is, I don't know if that is good or bad. WHen I statred treatments I was shedding a lot of good hairs, now i am shedding more thinning hairs. It's possible that the thinning hairs will come back better each cycle and that I have halted the shedding of good hairs, but it is also possible that I am SOL and still loosing some pretty good hairs only to have them come back worse.

 

[Bryan]

Is there anyway of telling if a hair that sheds is a healthy hair just going through a growth stage or if its a thinning hair?

ALL hairs (healthy or not) shed because they're going through a growth stage. I suppose the only way to know for sure if a given "shed" hair is undergoing male pattern baldness is if it gets thinner (smaller in diameter) over its length (from the older end to the newer end, of course).

I still see a white bulb at the end of the hairs that shed, is that good, bad, or impossible to distinguish?

It's normal for all hairs, as far as I know.

Bryan

 

[Bryan]

It's possible that the thinning hairs will come back better each cycle...it is also possible that I am...still loosing some pretty good hairs only to have them come back worse.

How odd. People keep talking about "coming back better" or "coming back worse" the next cycle, as if growth and thinning only take place from one cycle to the next. Where, why, and how did that idea first get started??

Bryan

 

[Old Baldy]

Bryan: In the link I provide below, Dr. Sinclair indicates that some dermatologists feel the minaturization of the follicle occurs in one rest period (i.e., telogen period, well... maybe catagen/telogen period).

What are your thoughts on this theory or am I reading that area of Dr. Sinclair's article incorrectly?

The statement I'm talking about is under Figure 2, in the right hand column and starts with the sentence "Traditional models...".

http://www.morphollica.com/research/mal ... opecia.pdf

Btw, I wasn't able to find the D. Whiting study on minaturization cited in the footnote (I think footnote #43).

 

[Bryan]

Interesting. That contradicts what Dr. Proctor has said: individual hairs can sometimes be seen gradually growing thinner, or enlarging in response to treatment. I'll put that referenced study on my "Get List".

Bryan

 

[Dave001]

Bryan: In the link I provide below, Dr. Sinclair indicates that some dermatologists feel the minaturization of the follicle occurs in one rest period (i.e., telogen period, well... maybe catagen/telogen period).

What are your thoughts on this theory or am I reading that area of Dr. Sinclair's article incorrectly?

The statement I'm talking about is under Figure 2, in the right hand column and starts with the sentence "Traditional models...".

http://www.morphollica.com/research/mal ... opecia.pdf

Btw, I wasn't able to find the D. Whiting study on minaturization cited in the footnote (I think footnote #43).

Is this the Whiting study you're referring to?

 

[Armando Jose]

Probably the study cited is:

Possible mechanisms of miniaturization during androgenetic alopecia or pattern hair loss.
Whiting DA
J Am Acad Dermatol

Armando

 

[grabber]

well lots of my hair that i shed now are thinner at the root... My head of hair has never looked that good to be honnest, so based on my experience, if you shed hair that are thinner at the root compared to the end of it, this is good.
If not, please explain.

 

[Dave001]

Probably the study cited is:

Possible mechanisms of miniaturization during androgenetic alopecia or pattern hair loss.
Whiting DA
J Am Acad Dermatol

I know. That's the one I linked to. Here's the abstract in full:

J Am Acad Dermatol. 2001 Sep;45(3 Suppl):S81-6.

Possible mechanisms of miniaturization during androgenetic alopecia or pattern hair loss.

Whiting DA.

Baylor Hair Research and Treatment Center, Dallas, TX 75246, USA. dad[spam shield]@dallasassocderm.com

In androgenetic alopecia, or pattern hair loss, follicles undergo miniaturization, shrinking from terminal to vellus-like hairs. Traditionally, this process is thought to progress gradually over a number of follicular cycles. However, it is unlikely that miniaturization can be explained only by a series of progressively shorter anagen cycles. Simple calculations show that this process would take too long for significant miniaturization to occur secondary to shorter anagen cycles alone, especially in view of the latent lag period seen in pattern hair loss that occurs between the loss of a telogen hair and the appearance of an anagen hair. Evidence is presented to support a new concept that miniaturization is an abrupt, large-step process that also can be reversed in 1 hair cycle, as has been shown clinically, with confirmatory histologic evidence, in patients with pattern hair loss responding to finasteride treatment. It is hypothesized that the miniaturization seen with pattern hair loss may be the direct result of reduction in the cell number and, hence, size of the dermal papilla.

PMID: 11511857

 

[arjun17]

look at the tip... not the root

Do one thing guys. The next time one of your pubic hairs sheds, pick it up and observe its root carefully. The last 8mm or so will be tapered somewhat , in many of the hairs. And I'm sure that while many of us suffer from male pattern baldness, none of us have PPB (Pubic pattern baldness
Hair tapers when it enters the catagen (involution) phase, well before it sheds. So a thinner root does not necessarily mean anything. What you should worry about is if a large number of shorter (compared to your hair length) and thinner hairs with tapered tips are shed. Tapered tips indicate shorter anagen cycles. A FEW hairs with tapered tips, as long as the rest of the hairs are decently thick, is OK. And a few finer , short hairs (which will also have tapered tips) is also normal, as everyone's head has some amount of vellus hairs as well (the ratio of normal thick terminal hairs to vellus hairs is around 7:1 for an average non-balding guy if I remember correctly).
Cheers,
Arjun

 

[wangho75]

well im not sure what to think of all of this. I find it hard to get any healthy and longer hairs to come out after a pull orthrough combing. Ive been a good responder, hair thickening and getting darker, vertex filling in, temple hair coming in. Ive been on a regimen for 3 and a half months.

After a shower, I notice a good many short, finer hairs in the shower. How am I to determine if this is a shed from my treatment or not? When you consider the theory that hair will come in thicker and better after the new cycle, then it sounds great to be losing mainly the short, bad hairs.

The other theory makes it sound like something to worry about to be losing the short, thinner hairs.

If I had been a treatment for more than a year and half, losing the shorter hairs would seem like a problem. At 3 and a half months, it seems to be a good thing, right?

Just what scenario applies to what amount of time of treatment, or non-treatment?

If I were not on any treatment or over a year treatment, losing the small, thin hairs would be bad? Losing the short, thinner hairs after just a few months of treatment could be good? See how this is confusing?