Expectations
The regrowth is coming in. Now don’t break it.
Around month three or four of any treatment that is working, a band of short, fine hairs appears at the hairline and along the parting. Women photograph it, send it to me, and then, a few months later, ask why it never got any longer. Usually because it broke. A new hair is the most fragile thing on your head, and it is growing in the place that takes the most punishment.
What a new hair is like
It is fine — the first hair a restarted follicle makes is often thinner than the ones that follow — and it is short, so it does not reach the bobble and cannot be tied in. It sits at the front hairline and along the parting, exactly where a ponytail pulls, a headband rubs, a brush drags, and the straightener plate lands. It has never been cut, so it tapers to a point. And it has a job: to reach full length and thicken with each cycle. Every time it snaps, the follicle has to start again.
The three months that matter
Nothing tight across the hairline. A low, loose ponytail or a plait, with a fabric tie, and the short hairs left out at the front rather than slicked back with water and a brush. If they stand up, let them. A soft headband pushed back behind them rather than over them. Styles that work.
No straighteners on the hairline. The plate on the first inch of hair at the front is where regrowth dies. Straighten from two inches back if you must, and leave the front to a dryer on medium.
Not sure which one is you?
Take the two-minute hair quiz
Twelve quick questions. We tell you what we think is going on, what to do about it, and we say so if it is something we cannot help with.
Start the quiz →Brush from the ends, and avoid the front. A bristle brush dragged from the hairline back takes the short hairs with it. Smooth the front with fingers or a soft baby brush.
Keep the scalp calm. Flakes, itch or a clogged parting at this stage slow the follicle that is trying to build. The scalp guide.
Keep treating. The mistake at month four is to see the halo and ease off. The halo is the follicle’s first attempt; the second and third cycles are the ones that produce a thick hair, and they need the same signal.
What it should look like at each stage
Month 3–4: a band of hairs a centimetre or so long at the hairline and parting, soft, often lighter, standing up. Month 6: three to four centimetres, starting to lie with the rest, the corners visibly filling. Month 9: long enough to tie in, and a second generation of finer hairs appearing behind them. Month 12: the parting narrower on the photo, the ponytail measurably bigger, the front section blending. The timeline article covers the first three months in detail.
How to tell regrowth from breakage at the same spot
Pinch one and run it through your fingers. A soft point that thins to nothing is regrowth. A blunt end is breakage, and if you are finding blunt ends among the halo, something above is still happening. The full test.
Ready to read your own pattern?
Take the two-minute hair quiz
Twelve questions. We tell you what we think is going on for you, and we say so if it is something a GP should see first.
Start the quiz →
