Many women experience hair loss after pregnancy. It may seem like it’s a cruel joke. Women’s body changes a lot during this period, and now they also have to deal with their hair falling out. The truth is that the situation isn’t as bad as it seems at first.
When to expect post pregnancy hair loss?
This is a symptom that not all women experience. However a lot of new moms see their hair falling out 2-4 months after they gave birth. This isn’t something predictable and the specialists don’t really know why some women are affected while others aren’t. It is also possible that you will see the signs after one pregnancy but not the other.
Why does post pregnancy hair falling happen?
You should know about new mother’s hair loss that the hair follicles produce new hair for 3-4 months and then they rest for another 3-4 months. During the resting period the old hair falls out and it makes place for the new hair. On average about 5%-10% of the hair follicles rest at all times.
As a result we always lose some hair and we’re not only losing hair after pregnancy. Because of the pregnancy hormones, the resting patterns of the hair follicles change. This is why during pregnancy women usually have more hair and this fact doesn’t go unnoticed.
After pregnancy the new mothers start losing hair because the hair follicles go into overdrive. Usually this means that the follicles return to the normal pattern, and so for a while it will look like you are losing more hair than before. About 30% of the follicles could go into rest mode in this period.
Can you stop hair falling after pregnancy?
The bad news is that there is nothing you could do to preserve your hair. It is important to have a healthy nutrition and it is also a good idea to have a high vitamin B intake along with proteins. This way you will have healthier hair. However there is nothing that will stop the hair from falling out.
How long does pregnancy hair falling last?
In the majority of the cases, this strange symptom lasts for about 3-6 weeks. Nonetheless in rare cases it may take up to one year for the hair follicles to return to their normal pattern. Until then all you can do is to talk to your hairdresser to find the best way to hide the hair loss.
Although hair loss after pregnancy isn’t an exactly pleasant experience, you just have to find the right hairstyle until your hair starts growing normally again. Unless you have some other underlying condition that makes your hair fall out, even the extreme cases return back to normal after about a year.
As you can see losing hair after pregnancy isn’t the end of the world. Think of the fact that during pregnancy you have more hair than you normally do. This situation can’t last forever and you have to lose all that extra hair at some point.
