How long does your hair rest before it grows back with telogen effluvium?

Sometimes I hear from people who feel confident that their hair is taking a break from growing after recovering from hair loss or hair loss. Since many believe they do not have any medical issues that could cause the loss, most assume that you have telogen effluvium and once it is finally over, you just need to be very patient before the regeneration process begins.

So you might hear a comment like, “I’m pretty sure I had telogen effluvium, although I have no idea what my trigger was. About four months ago the shedding started to slow dramatically and now seems to have stopped. The problem is that it didn’t.” i see no regrowth at all.Though it’s been months since the shedding subsided.A friend of mine said that sometimes your hair hibernates after hair loss so you have to wait for this to finish.My question is how long does it last hair hibernates and when should I see new growth?”

Why the use of the word hibernate is not very accurate: I can see why the friend used the word hibernate. The definition of this word means to rest before being active again. And, when you have telogen effluvium hair loss, the follicles of the hair that has fallen out have technically entered the resting phase. Once the resting phase of each follicle is over, it will go on to the growth phase.

But here’s the thing. Once the hair falls out, the next hair is already in line to take its place. In fact, the growth process begins when a new hair is ready to start growing. For this to happen, an old hair must be pulled out. The new hair literally pushes out the old hair, which is what causes it to fall out. So, technically, new growth starts right when your hair falls out.

The point is that you should see that new hair relatively quickly. Consider this. Hair grows at a rate of about half an inch per month. Therefore, it is quite possible that your new growth will be extremely short and still difficult to see. To test this, pull any section of your hair back under a bright light and look very carefully. Where your hair is pulled back, you should see little new baby hairs standing up, especially if it’s been a couple of months since the shedding started. If the shedding has gone on for months, then by the time it stops, more than enough time has passed for the regrown hair to be a few inches long. The longest new growth represents the hair that fell out first.

Possible indications if you are not seeing new growth: I am not a doctor, but from my research following my research and my own experience, I have learned that this process is quite automatic. It happens without you having to do much more than keep your scalp clean. If it doesn’t happen and you have checked very closely for new growth in many areas of your scalp, then there is a chance that something is going on with your scalp that has prevented new growth. Usually this is a reaction to androgens, as in the case of androgenetic alopecia.

But to answer the concern, the only time it hibernates is when it transitions from the growth phase to the rest phase. Before the hair falls out, it has not been actively growing for a couple of months. This is why hair affected by telogen effluvium can look dull or flyaway before it falls out. But, once the hair falls out, that means it is now in the growth phase and you should see new growth a couple of months later once the hair grows long enough for you to see it.