Hair & Root Folicile
The hair above the skin layer is called the shaft, while all that is beneath
the surface is the root. The root penetrates deeply into the dermis and ends with
a dilation called the hair bulb. The only living cells of hair are in and near the hair
bulb. The hair bulb itself sits in the hair bed and grows around a bud of vascular
connective tissue (dermal papilla) which provides the hair with it’s sole source of
nutrition. Neil Naturopathic products are nutrition dense tonics designed to be
left on the scalp for a few minutes to draw out toxins and allow the valuable
nutrients to be absorbed down to the base of the hair root.
The hair follicle is a diagonal tube that contains the hair root. Near the
deep end of the follicle, it widens to form a bulge, which is comprised of stem
cells for follicle growth, and connective tissue containing capillaries and nerves.
These nerve fibers called hair receptors entwine each hair follicle and respond to
hair movements. Further, each hair has a piloerector muscle, a bundle of
smooth muscles cells that extends from the dermal collagen fibers to the
connective root sheath of the follicle. In response to cold, touch, fear, stress or
other stimuli, the sympathetic nervous system stimulates the piloerector to
contract causing various responses. This structural fact is one of several
reasons that collaborate the Neil naturopathic idea that hair is an extension of the
nervous system.