Library · Anatomy
The hair follicle
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The hair follicle is the structure in the skin that wraps around the root of a hair and also builds it: the shaft, the part you comb, grows out of it. At the bottom sits the bulb, widened like the end of an onion bulb, and that's where the work happens. There, the matrix cells keep dividing and are the ones that form the hair, and they do it clustered around the dermal papilla, a small core of tissue that sends them signals and nutrients.
In brief
A hair follicle is a structure in the skin that surrounds the hair root and produces the hair shaft.
The bulb sits at the base. There, hair-forming cells called matrix cells multiply around the dermal papilla, a small cluster of tissue that supplies them with signals and nutrients.
The follicle cycles through growth, regression, rest, and shedding: anagen, catagen, telogen, and exogen.
Sources (2)
- National Library of MedicineAnatomy, Hair Follicle
- National Library of MedicineHistology, Hair and Follicle
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