Whether you have short or long hair, most people are curious about how fast their locks grow. While there are many factors that can affect how quickly your hair grows (including genes, nutrition and lifestyle), understanding the basic hair growth cycle can help you gauge what might be normal.

Hair Growth Facts  out of your scalp’s tiny pockets of skin called follicles. Each follicle has a natural lifecycle that begins with the anagen phase, which lasts between two and six years. During this time, your hair grows at a rate of about half an inch each month. This equates to six inches of hair growth each year.

Once your anagen hair reaches its full length, it moves into the catagen phase, which is when your hair follicle shrinks and your hair growth slows. This typically lasts about 10 days, after which your hair moves into the final phase of the hair growth cycle, the telogen phase. During this phase, your old hair falls out and new hair begins growing in its place.

Understanding Hair Growth: A Scientific Approach

During this process, you naturally lose around 50-100 hairs each day as part of your hair growth cycle. But don’t worry! While it may feel like you’re losing a lot of hair, it’s all part of the cycle. The good news is that each time a hair is lost, a healthy new one starts to take its place. That’s why it’s important to keep your hair follicles healthy.