Issue link: https://www.ahpindiestylist.com/i/1547346
44 AHP Indie Stylist Volume 7 Issue 2 UNSPLASH Hair, he adds, is a nonessential structure. Nobody technically needs to have hair. Skin will always be there because the body needs it. Hair and its pigment are optional, biologically speaking, and will eventually slow to a halt in old age, which is why sustained, proactive care matters if a client wants to keep their hair looking healthy as they age. Clients might assume that shedding a little more hair each year is another part of getting older, and they're right, in part, but it's more complicated than that. According to Small, a 17-year-old's follicle can grow hair for up to 10 years at a stretch before resting. By age 21, that drops to around seven years. By age 28, six. By age 32, five. Shorter growth phases mean a higher shedding ratio—not necessarily fewer hairs growing, but fewer growing as long as they used to before they fall out and restart the cycle. Sheikh echoes Small's explanation and frames the follicle side in terms of the hair growth cycle itself: anagen (the growth phase), catagen (a short transition), and telogen (the rest and shed phase). As people age, more follicles spend more time resting, and the follicles can gradually shrink, producing finer, shorter hairs driven by a mix of genetics, hormones, stress, and scalp inflammation. "On the hair sha side, longevity is about protecting the cuticle and the internal protein and lipid structure from cumulative damage—heat, color, sun—so hair that's already grown doesn't become weak or brittle before it's naturally shed," Sheikh says. "Proactively, that means scalp care, keeping the hair well nourished, UV and heat protection, and protein-supportive products," she continues. "Reactively, once density loss or structural damage has already happened, hair can be extremely fragile and needs consistent, daily support just to maintain what's there. It's much harder to reverse than it is to protect from the start." HAIR LONGEVITY CLAIMS: FACT VS. FICTION Because concerns about hair longevity span everything from split ends to hormonal hair loss, the claims attached to it vary wildly in how supported they are, and hair professionals should know the difference before repeating them to clients. Claims around reducing breakage, improving tensile strength, or adding UV and heat protection are the most straightforward to measure and are already well cited in many hair products. e same goes for scalp-level claims, including barrier repair, dandruff reduction, or microbiome balance. Follicle-level claims are where the science gets murkier and where Markos urges the most caution. Cosmetic products can't legally make drug claims,