Hair growth depends on several factors including age, gender, specific hair type, overall body health, hormone function, access to nutrients, stress, medication use, and illness. There are three steps to hair growth:

1. Anagen: The active phase of hair that lasts 2 to 8 years. At this stage, the hair is growing cellularly, and new cells are pushing the older cells up to remove the hair from the skin. The duration of this stage of hair growth depends on the health of the hair, and the maximum length of hair may vary from person to person. Generally, body hair anagen has a shorter period and therefore body hair grows to a less extent than the scalp.
2. Catagen: The transition phase of hair when hair stops growing. This step takes between 4 to 6 weeks.
3. Telogen: The resting phase of hair that lasts 2 to 3 months and the hair falls out. Thus, new hair begins to grow instead of the old ones.

Obviously, due to the enormous quantity of hairs on the head, practically all three stages are performed simultaneously and each hair can be in a different phase from the other. During a person’s lifetime, no factor can be a barrier to hair follicle inactivity, and it is only cancer chemotherapy drugs that affect follicle activity for hair growth.

Since the main function of hair growth is the responsibility of the first stage, the question arises as to whether it is possible to prolong the duration of the anagen stage?

How long the anagen phase of hair growth takes depends on the length of the hair and the activity of the hair follicle cells for cell division. There is no guaranteed and definitive way to force cell division to continue, but in the meantime, there are ways to strengthen hair and ensure healthy hair for strong hair growth