Our explainers on the four themes of the June conference: the biology of hair, the person beneath it, the options for restoration and the case for shared data.
From the editors
On 15 June 2026, the Trichollective Conference took place at Whittlebury Park Hotel & Spa. The programme covered four themes that sit at the heart of hair and scalp practice: hair biology, patient perspectives, non-surgical hair restoration, and developing a UK trichology database for clinical decision-making and research.
This edition is not a report of the day. We have not tried to reconstruct what speakers said, and we would not want to put words in anyone's mouth. Instead, the editorial team has written an explainer on each theme, so that members who were there have something to return to, and members who were not can cover the same ground.
Among the speakers, Charlotte Knibbs RIT, Consultant Trichologist at Verve Hair Loss Specialists, spoke on the psychosocial impact of visible difference, patient-centred care and epidermolysis bullosa, drawing on her own lived experience. The Institute of Trichologists has published a review of the conference at instituteoftrichologists.co.uk/trichollective-conference-review/.
Our explainers run from the follicle outwards. We start with a refresher on how hair grows, because almost every conversation about hair loss depends on it. We then turn to the person in the chair, and to why visible difference deserves as much attention in a consultation as any measurement. Next comes a balanced look at non-surgical restoration: what exists, who provides it, how strong the evidence is and what should make you wary. Finally, we set out why a shared UK trichology database could matter to practice and research, and what it would take to build one responsibly.
There is a quiz at the end to check it has all stuck. As ever, tell us in the community where you think we have it right, and where we have missed something.
The Trichollective editorial team
Explainer: hair biology
A refresher on the follicle and the cycle it runs, because nearly every conversation about hair loss comes back to them.
Photograph Kimson Doan / Unsplash
Words by the Trichollective editorial team
Every hair on the scalp is the product of a small organ that rebuilds itself, over and over, throughout life. Understanding that organ, and the rhythm it keeps, is the foundation of good practice in every discipline. It explains why shedding appears months after its cause, why some treatments take so long to show and why patience is often the most honest advice.
The hair follicle is a tube-like structure in the skin. At its base sits the bulb, where rapidly dividing cells produce the hair shaft. Within the bulb is the dermal papilla, a cluster of specialised cells with its own blood supply, which signals to the cells around it and plays a central part in controlling growth. Higher up, the sebaceous gland opens into the follicle, and the small arrector pili muscle attaches near a region called the bulge, where the follicle's stem cells live.
Scalp follicles do not grow hair continuously. Each moves through a cycle of phases on its own schedule, which is why we do not shed all our hair at once.
Because telogen lasts around three months, anything that pushes many follicles out of anagen at once tends to show up as shedding weeks or months later. Shedding is often the end of a story that began months earlier, and that delay is the single most useful thing to explain to a worried client.
“Shedding is often the end of a story that began months earlier.
Test yourself
A client's hair started shedding noticeably this week. Roughly when might a trigger for telogen shedding have occurred?
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