The hair growth cycle explained

There are three phases of growth that each hair passes through during its lifetime. Learning about this this cycle is important if you want to be able to explain the science behind hair growth to your waxing clients and sound like an expert.

So what are the three stages and how do they affect your treatments anyway?

Phase 1 – Anagen

This is the active growing phase of the hair where the hair shaft thickens and grows upwards, eventually reaching its maximum length.

Phase 2 – Catagen

Known as the transitional phase, it’s during this stage (lasting about a week or two) that the hair stops growing.

Phase 3 – Telogen

Described as the resting stage, this bit lasts about five to six weeks. The hair stays pretty much as it is but as it reaches the end of the cycle a new follicle begins to grow, which pushes out the old hair.

All this science stuff matters because it helps to explain to a client why their hair might have grown back quicker than they had hoped after a treatment. It’s often the case that hairs in the Anagen phase, which haven’t reached full growth, aren’t long enough to be ‘caught’ by wax. This means it can appear as if the hairs are growing back again very quickly when in fact they’ve just been hiding under the surface of the skin.

It’s important for new clients to come in regularly for a wax because it encourages as many hairs as possible to be on the same part of the growth cycle. If you can synchronise the stages so that the majority of hairs are on the same growth phase each client will have smoother, hair-free skin for much longer until new growth finally appears.