Does hair follicle shrinkage cause hair loss?

When people see a lot of hair falling out, they get anxious and think that there is something wrong with the hair. In fact, the problem is not with the hair, but with the hair follicles. For some reason, the hair follicles shrink, which causes a lot of hair to fall out. Why does hair follicle shrinkage cause hair to fall out?

First, let’s look at the physiological structure of hair.

A hair is composed of the hair shaft, hair root, hair follicle, hair bulb, and hair papilla. The last four are the physiological basis of hair. Without these last four, hair will not grow.

Hair shaft - the hair that can be seen growing on the scalp, which is what we usually think of as hair

Hair root - the part of the hair that is invisible to the eye and grows in the subcutaneous tissue

Hair bulb - the enlarged part at the base of the hair root, which contains the hair follicle and the hair papilla

Hair follicles are the sac-like tissue surrounding the hair root, the inner layer is the epithelial tissue follicles, and the outer layer is the connective tissue follicles.

The inner epithelial root sheath of the hair follicle tightly wraps the hair root and is connected to the epidermis. Its structure is similar to that of the epidermis.

The outer layer of the hair follicle is composed of dense connective tissue. Except for the dermal papilla (hair papilla) with connective tissue and blood vessels, the rest of the hair follicle is differentiated from epidermal cells.

Hair papilla is a connective tissue that is recessed inside the hair bulb. It contains varying amounts of blood vessels and nerves, which provide nutrients for the hair papilla and hair follicles. When the hair papilla is damaged and cannot provide nutrients for the hair follicles, the hair follicles will atrophy and the hair will fall out.

The physiological structure of hair and the relationship between its constituent tissues explain that hair loss is caused by the atrophy of hair follicles.

So, how can you keep your hair from falling out?

It is impossible for a hair not to fall out. Because hair also needs metabolism, those old hair will fall out naturally or with a slight pull. The number of old hairs that fall out is generally between 50-80 strands a day. If the number of hairs that fall out in a day exceeds this number, then there is something wrong with the hair, no, the hair follicles!!!

Hair care starts from the roots

If you want to improve the phenomenon of excessive hair loss, conditioning the scalp is the key - unblocking the scalp's qi and blood and replenishing nutrients. The relationship between the scalp and hair is equivalent to that between the soil and flowers, plants and trees. Only when the soil has nutrients can it provide basic guarantees for the healthy growth of flowers, plants and trees.