Terminal Length: Fact or Fiction?

Hi, Belle. I read this article a few days ago about terminal length and wanted to know if there really such a thing as terminal length?

In short, yes. Terminal length is the length the individual hair grows to before shedding naturally. As I've mentioned before, the hair grows in a cycle of phases. First is the anagen phase or the growing phase. Next is the catagen phase, also known as the regressing phase. And last is the telogen phase which is the resting phase of the hair.

While these are the growth phases, there is also one more phase. It it known as the exogen phase. This phase is when the hair strand sheds from the follicle. Whatever length the hair is at the time is the length it will shed as. Please remember that every single hair on the head is going through a different phase.

While it is not shown in the picture above, the old club hair is shed in the exogen phase. While the club hair is shedding, there is hair already growing in the follicle.

Many associate the term terminal length with an overall length the hair grows before it just stops growing. That, in my opinion, is fictional.