Integumentary / VISUAL EXPLAINER
Why Does Hair Grow, Rest, and Shed?
A hair follicle changes activity while remaining a living unit. It produces a shaft during growth, remodels its lower part during regression, can retain a club hair during rest, and later renew growth; shedding timing varies.
READ THE IMAGE
What the illustration shows
Medical atlas-style poster titled “Why Does Hair Grow, Rest, and Shed?” with the subtitle “One follicle. Changing activity.” A large skin cutaway labels the hair shaft, follicle and bulb. Across the top, arrows connect anagen growth, early catagen regression and telogen retention, with a return arrow for renewed growth. An enlarged bulb shows living cells surrounding the dermal papilla and forming a keratinized shaft upward. A lower comparison shows a shortened telogen follicle retaining a pale club hair above a pink hair germ and tan dermal papilla, followed by a deeper renewed bulb producing a separate new shaft alongside the old club in the same follicular pathway. An outward arrow marks exogen release and notes that timing varies. The poster states that follicles cycle at different times. Gold text on navy with coral skin, yellow fat and red-and-blue vessels. Footer: AllHumanBody.com. Real anatomy. Real knowledge. A healthier tomorrow.
How to interpret this poster
- One representative terminal follicle, not universal timing or a fixed four-stage clock.
- The small telogen panel uses stylized color; the larger detail distinguishes hair germ and dermal papilla.
- No shedding quota, hair-loss diagnosis or regrowth promise.
- AI-assisted educational illustration; not physician certification, microscopy, a diagnosis or individualized medical advice.
- Fine annotations need enlargement; the full description provides an accessible text alternative.
AI-assisted educational illustration, adapted into web-sized images without changing its composition. This is general education, not an individual diagnosis or treatment recommendation.
EVIDENCE / CONTEXT
Sources and what they support
- A guide to studying human hair follicle cycling in vivo ↗
Human follicle morphology across growth, regression and telogen, including club hair, hair germ and dermal papilla.
- Exogen hair characterization in human scalp ↗
Distinguishes retained telogen clubs from more loosely retained exogen hairs.
Evidence correspondence is limited to the abstract.