Hair Follicle - The Root Of All Hair Topics

Introduction

Hair Follicle Diagram

Courtesy of Wikipedia

When it comes to any topic about hair, regardless where it occurs or doesn't occur on the body, you have to start with the follicle.

If you are in the hair business and don't understand about the hair follicle, you won't know the basic principles about hair.

The follicle, which is pronounced fowl ee kool, is the depression point in the skin containing the hair root. This is a simple enough definition provided by Milady's Standard Textbook Of Cosmetology which was originally published in 1938.

Yes, there are lots of fancier definitions and descriptions on the Web and in various books but bottom line, the hair follicle is root from which hair grows.

To take it a little further, attached to the follicles are sebaceous glands which a small glands that produce sebum.

These sebum generators are everywhere on the human body except on the lips, the palms and the soles of the feet.

At the base of the follicle is the hair root which is that part of the hair contained within the follicle.

Hair Follicles Contain Stem Cells

Besides the sebaceous glands, a tiny bundle of muscle fiber which is defined as the arrector pili is attached to the follicle. This bundle of muscles causes the follicle to protrude about the surround skin. Stem cells are located at the junction of the arrector and the follicle and is responsible for the production of hair during the Anagen stage.

The average growth rate of healthy hair follicles on the head is approximately .04 cm per day.

Currently the tabloids are abuzz about Jennifer Aniston's reported new commercial deal with hair and beauty giant L'Oreal. Although her reps deny it, we all know how celebrities often spin the truth until they are ready to let the public know what they want us to know.

Ironically, it is well-known in the inner hair media circles that Jennifer never wishes to talk about her hair, even though it helped make her famous, because she wants to be known as "a serious actress" and not a hair icon. So why did she agree to do L'Oreal ads in the late 1990s for L'Oreal? Why not. Money always talks in my book.

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