What is this stuff attached to my hair?

[P51]

This could be normal, but since I'm paying more attention to my hair I notice it.

I notice sometimes when my hair falls out I see this hard white stuff attached to the root of my hair. I can easily pull this stuff off.

I'm not talking about the white bulb, this around it.

Is this related to hairloss or no?

 

[talmoode]

http://www.hairlosstalk.com/hair-loss-news/article225.php

The Hair Growth Cycle

To understand telogen effluvium, we need to have some knowledge of the hair growth cycle. Hair does not grow continuously on the human scalp. The anagen (growing) phase for terminal hair can extend 3 to 7 years and is a reflection of the size of the hair follicle. Catagen is the transitional portion of the hair growth cycle, between anagen and telogen and lasts only 1 to 2 weeks. During this time, there is a rapid involution and regression of the hair follicle. The hair follicle then enters the telogen phase, which is a relatively fixed period of time, approximately 100 days, regardless of the size of the hair follicle. There is no growth of the hair shaft during this phase. It is at the end of the telogen phase that the entire hair shaft, also often referred to as the club hair, will spontaneously shed, while a new hair shaft is forming within the hair canal. The white bulb at the end of the hair, along with the loosely attached collection of friable debris gives the shed hair its characteristic appearance.

In the scalp of the healthy, young human adult, approximately 90% of the hair will be in the anagen (growth) phase and approximately 10% will be in the telogen (dormancy) phase. Less than 1% will be in the catagen (transitional) phase. When you consider that the scalp contains 100,000 hairs, with 10,000 in the telogen (dormancy) phase... and 1% of those hairs in the telogen phase will be at the end of the 100 day long phase, you can easily understand why it is normal to shed 100 hairs per day.