Why does hair grow when it is dead?

Answer 1

An individual hair begins under the skin in the root of hair sap called dermal papilla on whose top hair cells are produced. As the hair is pushed upward it "dies," and becomes a hard substance called keratin.
hair is dead once it has been released from the follicle under your scalp, it would be very painful if it wasnt every time you had it cut! When you pull a hair out it hurts, that is because the follicle is living tissue and all the time the hair is connected to it if it is tugged you will feel it. It is also a myth that cutting hair regularly makes it grow faster, how can cutting the end of something dead increase the growth of what comes out of the top???

Answer 2

• Good question! The simple answer is that the hair we see on our head is indeed dead, however, it developed within hair follicles beneath the scalp that are very much alive. Each hair is nourished by blood vessels at the base of the follicle, however, by the time it pushes through the scalp, it has dislodged from its blood supply rendering it dead.

• Individual hairs are randomly growing, resting and shedding on our heads at any given time. They are in 1 of 3 stages of their growth cycle: anagen, catagen and telogen. The complete cycle can last for years and is mostly determined by genetics.
• The first stage (anagen) is the active phase of growth where the new hair is formed as dividing cells are nourished from the papilla at the base of the follicle. As the new hair grows, it pushes a previous hair that has dislodged from the bulb, up and out of the follicle. This phase can last anywhere from 2 to 7 years (mostly determined by genetics) and is the deciding factor of how long hair will grow before it falls out.

• In the second stage (catagen) the hair follicle detaches from the papilla, its source of nourishment. This transitional phase can last about 10 to 20 days.

• The third stage (telogen) is a resting phase. The follicle is dormant, for 1 to 4 months while cells lining the follicle are renewed. New growth begins again as the anagen phase starts over and the mature hair is shed.

Answer 3

Hair is made up of a protein called keratin and originates from hair follicles in the skin. While the hair shaft is technically dead, the hair follicle is alive and produces new cells that form the hair structure. As these cells grow and accumulate, they push older cells outwards to form the visible part of the hair strand.