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Stephen Grant Herschel was born in Zimbabwe, worked in London and was trained with Vidal Sassoon Salons. He is a renowned hair designer and hair chemical specialist; he has devoted 23 years perfecting his craft in the art of hair design.
He has devoted his career to knowing how to refine the best qualities of hair and to bring out its natural beauty. Based in Bahrain for the past 12 years, Stephen takes a realistic approach to hairstyling allowing him to create looks that highlight the individual’s best features.
The GulfWeekly will be exclusively running a series of articles written by Stephen on hair care and advice.
For any queries or further help please contact Stephen on 39218575 or email steveherschel@yahoo.com
What actually is hair?
Each hair originates in a deep indentation of the skin called a hair follicle, this contains a bulb-shaped root known as the Dermal Papilla, it is a net of nerves and blood capillaries that supplies the hair with nutrients, here the newly dividing cells force older cells upward where they die and harden to form the hair shaft.
The hair shaft has three layers, the colorless cuticle, the cortex which contains color pigment, and the medulla which gives the hair its weight.
• The Cuticle is the outermost layer of the hairshaft, and is composed of hardened translucent cells of Keratin protein; the cuticle has an appearance like the scales of a fish, one scale overlapping the other. The cuticle provides protection, flexibility, strength and shine. Cuticles are tightly-wrapped around the hair shaft, protecting it for the elements of nature.
• The cortex is under the cuticle and is related to your hair volume, it is in this layer that all chemical processes take place; Perming, coloring, relaxing and so on, the cortex also contains color pigment known as Melanin which determines your hair color.
• The Medulla is the innermost center of the hair shaft containing cement like putty which provides almost 10 per cent of the total hair volume.
Everyone has approximately 100,000 hairs on their head. Normally about 100 scalp hairs will reach the end of the resting stage each day and fall out from the hair follicle. New hair will grow at almost the same rate that the old ones are shed. Eyebrows and eyelashes have a growing phase of one to six months. Scalp hairs have a growing rate of two to six years.
Hair will recycle itself every two to sic years and it is genetically programmed to grow and shed. Your hair follicle adheres to your genetically programmed schedule that includes growth, resting and shedding, during its lifetime a human hair goes through three stages;-
Anagen (Growing Phase) 85 per cent of the scalp hair is in the Anagen phase
Catagen (Transitional Phase) the hair follicle shrinks as the lower portion of the follicle is absorbed by the body and the follicle ceases to produce hair.
Telogen (Resting Phase) this lasts for two to four months after which it sheds the hair shaft. Only 15 per cent of your hair is resting at any one time. The follicle relaxes its hold on the hair and the root of the hair moves closer to the surface of the skin eventually falling out as it is replaced by a new growth cycle.
Are you losing it? Don’t miss next week’s column in your GulfWeekly.
