Postpartum Hair Loss- 5 Tips for Managing (and Looking Good Doing It)

Remember the days of pregnancy when you were full of life and A LOT of hair?!? 

About mid-pregnancy you might have noticed your pony tail getting fatter around just as your belly did.  One of the frequently forgotten effects of your pregnancy hormones is a surge in hair growth.  As a result, your hair spends most of its time in the growth cycle and very little time in the resting and falling out cycle so it keeps getting fuller and fuller as those hormones keep working. 

Sometime around 3 months postpartum your hormones work their way back to normal and then begins the very short resting and releasing phase.  At anywhere between 3-6 months postpartum, about 50% of women are likely to feel like they are going to be bald soon. Not to worry, this is normal and is usually done by the time of your little ones first birthday. 

Now that you can take a deep breath and release the worry, what can you do about it??

Here are some ideas:

1. A diet with healthy fats and lots of fruits and veggies – this is foundational for all of our bodies to function properly and can help protect against nutritional deficiencies.
2. Keep up your prenatal supplement – While a healthy diet is ideal, you have a newborn baby and this is real life.  There are many things in your prenatal that are harder to get strictly from diet alone so keep those up.
3. Talk with your care provider about adding in a B-complex supplement.  Vitamin B-7, also known as Biotin, can be helpful in hair/nail growth and health.
4. A shorter new do – What new mom couldn’t use an hour of pampering and a head massage? Go to your favorite salon (ahem... Kacie Pope Hair Design is amazing!) and treat yourself. Having a shorter hair style can make the cleanup of hair loss easier and it will look less thin than a longer style.
5. Bring a comb into the shower – A wide tooth come ran through your hair while it's full of conditioner can help get it combed out before it dries and falls out everywhere.

Follow this all with a large dose of grace for yourself and the knowledge that motherhood is BEAUTIFUL!!

It might not be what you pictured but you have brought forth life into this world!  You feed, love and put every ounce of energy into nurturing that little one. Those things are the purist form of beauty and this is a perfect time to learn to love yourself in a whole new way.

- Leah H.