Introducing: The Power Fol Advanced Multi-Correctional Scalp and Hair Treatment

This December, Maya Chia celebrated our 6th anniversary. Back in December of 2014 we launched with only a single product, The Supercritical Omega-3 Face Oil, and since then we have grown slowly and deliberately over the years.

It’s been quite the journey and we are grateful to be growing with you every step of the way. I bring this up – not to be overly sentimental - but because on our 6th anniversary, we are entering unchartered territory for Maya Chia.

We are dipping our toes into a sector of wellness that is very personal to me, and I am sure to many of you as well – the struggles and insecurities of hair thinning. We are thrilled to be applying our passion and knowledge of skincare to the scalp, or what we like to call “Scalp-Care,” because why shouldn’t we treat our scalps with the same care and attention that we do our face? As it is, quite literally the root of healthy hair growth.

With that said, we are excited to introduce the POWER FOL Multi-Correctional Scalp and Hair Treatment, an advanced scalp and hair wellness treatment comprised of the most advanced clinically-proven clean, phyto-active ingredient innovations to encourage the appearance of fuller, healthier and stronger hair. 

I will delve into the particular science about what makes this product unique in a later post, but right now I thought I’d explain the rationale about why we decided to trek this new ground and some of the impacts stress has, not only on our bodies but our hair as well. Let’s get into it.

When I formulate, I cannot help but formulate with myself in mind based on where I see a need – either in my own life or in the lives of people around me. After struggling with my own stress-related hair thinning, I had been interested in formulating a product to combat hair thinning, and after such a stressful year, it seemed like if there was ever an appropriate time to dedicate to perfecting this product, it’s now.

I think most of us can agree that 2020 has been a strange and unprecedented whirlwind of uncertainty, anxiety and stress. We have been learning how to connect in new ways, facing devastating losses in our families and careers, and really just trying to tread above water as we manage this new world around us.

All of this new stress takes a major toll on our bodies – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually – and one of the places you might be noticing the physical affects is your hair. Stress is only one of many reasons you might be experiencing hair thinning, and often times multiple sources are at play in conjunction with one another.

The Hair Growth Cycle

To properly discuss the impact of stress on our hair, we need to understand how our hair grows. The hair growth cycle happens in three phases – Anagen, Catagen, Telogen.

+ Anagen: The growing phase. Makes up 85-90% of your hair and lasts around 3 years.
+ Catagen: The transition phase. Hair growth slows and the hair releases from the follicle in preparation to be shed. Lasts an average of 3 weeks.
+ Telogen: The resting phase. Hair begins to shed from the follicle and new hairs begin to grow from the same follicle, starting again in the Anagen phase. Lasts about 3 months. The Catagen and Telogen phases together make up about 10-15% of your hair.

Hair thinning becomes a problem when the Anagen (growing) phase of the hair cycle begins to shorten, sending hair into the telogen (resting) phase much sooner and much more abruptly. Let’s relate this back to stress. Experiencing prolonged stress raises your cortisol levels (the stress response hormone), and if those levels stay too high your body could begin to experience problems like troubles sleeping, digestion issues, difficulties concentrating, or unexpected hair thinning.

What people may not realize is that hair thinning from stress isn’t seen until about 3 months after the initial triggering event. The anagen (growing) phase is what is disrupted by the stress, which creates a rippling effect throughout the hair growth cycle. Once the growing phase is shortened, the follicles are sent through to the telogen (resting) phase prematurely. And once the 3-month long telogen phases begins to conclude is when you start to see those pesky hairs in your hairbrush or on your pillow case in much greater numbers than before.

Some examples of stress that may be traumatic for your scalp are illness, giving birth, an overbearing work or home life, or societal events (like a worldwide pandemic, for instance). But don’t fret yet! There’s a silver lining in all of this - stress related hair thinning is not permanent!

However, once the damage has been done, it takes much longer to grow back hair that has been shed than it does to shed it in the first place. We created Power Fol to help encourage the transition into the growth phase and once there, to maximize and encourage the look of hair growth and density, helping to get your hair back to its fullest potential much faster.