Although you could get alarmed by it, experiencing postpartum hair loss is something totally normal a few months after you give birth. You don’t have to worry because you won’t go bald. Even more, by the time the little one will be one year old your hair will have grown back and it will be as it has been before pregnancy.
Information about hair loss after childbirth
85%-95% of your hair is growing, while the rest is in the resting stage. After resting the hair falls out, during brushing or shampooing and this is normal. Women usually lose 100 hairs per day. When you are pregnant the estrogen hormone prolongs the growing stage, so it looks like you have more hair.
During pregnancy because of the estrogen levels you have more growing hair, which means that less hair is in the resting stage so you lose less hair. This is why it looks like you have more hair and you should know that this is one of the symptoms of pregnancy.
The postpartum hair loss is caused by the fact that after childbirth the estrogen levels drop and so more follicles enter the resting stage. As a result you will be losing more hair when shampooing or brushing. Things will go back to normal 6-12 months after childbirth, and you will start losing normal amounts of hair.
Although you may observe hair loss after childbirth, not all women notice this change. Naturally in case you have longer hair, the change is more obvious. If this bothers you, you may be thinking about cutting your hair short. Anyway it will grow back by the time things get back to normal.
What to do about the problem?
In case of postpartum hair loss there is nothing to do to stop the hair from falling out, because it is normal for this to happen this way. Nonetheless as it has been mentioned before, you could experiment with different kinds of hairstyles or try some hair products to make your hair look fuller.
If you would like to delay hair loss after childbirth you should opt for breastfeeding. This is because the hormone levels are kept high during this period and you will maintain your luxurious tresses until you switch to formula. Nonetheless this period doesn’t last forever either.
If you are faced with hair loss after childbirth you may feel sick of gathering hair from the bathroom floor, and it this case it is way better to get a shorter style so you will have fewer problems with hair. Short hair needs less time to take care of, and this is a big advantage when there is a baby in the house.
In case you are wondering about postpartum hair loss and you have long hair that is falling, you should know that it could get wrapped around the neck, wrist, ankle, penis, toes or fingers of the baby and this is quite painful for the little one. In case the baby is crying for no reason, you should check for hair in these places.
Precautions
The women who would like to minimize the postpartum hair loss should make sure that they have a healthy nutrition and you could also take some supplements. In the same time make sure that you are gentle with your hair. Use the shampoo only if you need to and also use a conditioner along with a wide toothed comb.
When being faced with hair loss after childbirth you should avoid using the blow drier, flat iron or curling iron. Also postpone the chemical treatments during postpartum hair loss.
