Take a deep breath and relax. If hair strands that have fallen from your scalp have white bulbs on the ends, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re permanently losing your hair.

Contrary to popular belief, a white bulb is not the hair root; it’s the part of the hair strand closest to the root, and it’s made up of sebum and other organic matter.

When you see a white bulb, it means a hair was just lost at the root level during the telogen hair phase (more about that later), but not that the root itself was lost.

What Does the White Bulb Mean?

The best way to understand the significance of a white hair bulb is by learning a bit about the hair growth cycle.

The Four Phases of Hair Growth:

Anagen – This is the active phase when the cells in the root of the hair are dividing rapidly. It typically lasts from 2 to 6 years and determines the hair’s length. About 80% of hair is in the anagen phase at any one time.

Catagen – This 2 to 4-week cycle is also known as the transition phase when active hair growth stops and the follicle itself pushes through from the papilla.

Telogen – The telogen phase is a rest period for hair cells. Underneath the skin’s surface (scalp), a new anagen hair is developing and will soon push the telogen hair, with the white bulb, from the follicle.

Early Anagen/Exogen – This is the stage when a telogen hair actually falls out as the newly-formed anagen hairs push through the follicle. This is the stage where, in a normal cycle, 50-100 hairs are lost every day.

Not all the hair growth cycle phases are happening at the same time. Each individual hair undergoes the cycle in its own timing, but generally speaking, at any point, 75-80% of the hair on your head will be in the anagen phase, and the other 20% will be in the telogen phase.

That’s an important fact to remember because it means that, for most people, losing hair happens at a consistent rate (unless you’re dealing with permanent hair loss).  It also means that more new hair is growing under normal circumstances than the amount that’s falling out.