Postpartum Hair Loss

Okay, I think I spoke too soon when I said I have not been experiencing any postpartum shedding. My baby is 10 weeks old and I have now noticed, within the past 3 days or so, that my hair is shedding more than normal. I am not stressed at all; in fact, I have been feeling in great spirits. So I am not going to blame the shedding on stress. I do believe it’s postpartum shedding. I cringe every time I run my fingers or a comb through my hair because I know that there will be quite a few strands to come out with every stroke! I don’t like shedding at all, but I really don’t like excessive shedding because I feel as if all the care, maintenance and hard work that I have put into my hair will go in vain if I am shedding tons of my strands.

So if you are not familiar with postpartum shedding, let me explain what it is briefly. During pregnancy, the growing phase of each of your strands of hair is prolonged due to the increased levels of estrogen in your body. Because of this, fewer hairs will shed and many women notice an increased thickness of their hair during pregnancy. After you give birth, your estrogen levels fall back to a more normal range, and a lot of your hair follicles enter a resting stage which eventually leads to those hair strands falling out, or shedding.

My hair is medium thickness. My strands are normal as far as size; they are not coarse or fine, just normal. But the overall amount of strands on my head isn’t very much, meaning my hair is not dense. Because of this, my hair can easily look thin if I have too much oil in it, or if I shed too much, and I am fearful that I am heading toward thin hair if this postpartum shedding continues. If I cannot reduce the amount of shedding, and if my hair starts becoming thin, next relaxer I will go ahead and cut it. Yes, the C word, CUT. LOL. I wanted to wait until I reached BSL to cut my hair but I will not hang on to long straggly ends. 

So, my plan is not to really do anything differently, but just to make sure I am consistent with what I am currently doing including regular scalp massages with oils, taking my prenatal vitamins, drinking lots of water, and getting as much rest as possible. I may look into garlic and garlic products to reduce shedding if it becomes out of control but for right now, I really don’t want to go that route. We’ll see what happens…