Dear "Whoops," The typical person has around 100,000 hairs on his scalp in total, and it is normal for 50-100 to "fall out" each day. All of our hairs go through repeated "life-cycles" during our lifetime. For most men, this cycle is around 4 years, give or take a year. This means that every hair on your head takes a three month "vacation" or hibernation period every 4 years. This falling out occurs randomly all over your head. What happens is that the "follicle," which is the living part of the hair (the hair itself is a totally dead organ)shrinks up and becomes barely visible even under a microscope. The hair that was produced in the previous cycle then just sits there in its place, and will then simply disconnect and fall out when taking a shower or brushing through your hair. If you see these long hairs on the shower floor or on your brush, they are nothing to worry about. Actually the hair that you will never see again usually is a very short wispy hair that just finished its last life-cycle. These are usually so small, you don't even notice them. Some events such as chemotherapy or even donor harvesting of the donor hair, can cause the hair to all go into this 3-month telogen phase. Mike Beehner, M.D.
Posts: 168 | Location: Saratoga Springs, N.Y. | Registered: September 07, 2001
