Understanding Your Hair Growth Cycles

Did you know your hair is in three different hair growth stages at any given time??

It is! Understanding these stages is key to understanding how sugaring hair removal can make your hair grow back thinner and more sparse over time.

Here’s some information about what the stages are, what they do, and how they play a role in sugaring hair removal!

What are the stages?

The stages are :

  1. Anagen - the active growing stage 

  2. Catagen - the transitional stage 

  3. Telagen - the resting stage 

What happens to the hair during each stage?

To break it down simply:

  • The anagen stage is when the hair shaft is connected to the dermal papilla. The dermal papilla is where your hair gets all of the nutrients that are essential for hair growth.

  • The catagen stage is when the hair shaft detaches from the dermal papilla and develops a club hair to keep the hair inside of the hair follicle.

  • The telagen stage is when the club hair is resting in the follicle and slowly gets pushed up and out of the epidermis as new hair grows. 

How much of the (pubic) hair is in each stage at any time?

  • About 30% or less of your pubic hair is in the active anagen stage 

  •  About 67-70% of your hair is in the telagen stage

  •  About 2-3% of your hair is in the catagen stage

Why is this important to know when getting sugaring hair removal?

  • We’ll focus on the MOST important goal when it comes to sugaring hair removal: removing the hair during the anagen growth cycle.

  • During a sugaring brazilian treatment, the hair in the anagen growth cycle becomes detached from the dermal papilla when the hair is extracted.

What happens to the hair when it becomes detached to the dermal papilla?

  • This detachment damages the root structure over time and deprives the hair of essential nutrients and oxygen to create healthy hair!

  • The lack of oxygen will also create a smaller follicle

  • Since hair can only grow as thick as the space will allow it, the hair will grow back thinner.

  • This effect also makes the hair grow back slower and more sparse.

Only 30% of the hair is getting this effect… what happens to the rest of it?

  • Only 30% of your hair is getting this amazing result, so 70% of your hair will not and will need to catch up! 

  • Since the anagen cycle lasts about 3-4 weeks, we recommend that you get sugared every 3-4 weeks to optimize this effect, maintain your results, and catch every hair while it’s in it’s anagen cycle.

Confused? Here’s a quick summary! :

  • Getting sugared every month = damaging 30% (or less with consistency) of your hair follicles each time

  • Damaged follicles = thinner hair growth and less hair growth!

  • The more follicles that are damaged over time = more consistent results and longer lasting results!