Since December of 2006 I have either been pregnant or breastfeeding. During pregnancy, I experienced the fortune of having wonderfully lustrous hair. I kept my hair long because I was having lots of good hair days. I had read about this phenomenon in my pregnancy books. The increased estrogen locks your hair in the growing phase. Hair grows faster, and appears thicker. Also, fewer hairs are in the resting phase and you tend to lose a lot less hair when you are pregnant. I lost almost no hair during both of my pregnancies.
After the birth of my first child, I began to question whether having long hair was the best thing for a new mom. Babies like to grab, especially when nursing. Long hair is the easiest thing to grab onto, and babies have really strong grips. By the third month postpartum, I had started to lose my gorgeous hair. Clumps of it would come out during my showers. Showers were taking much longer because I was losing clumps of hair. I didn't have the extra time to spend in the shower, not with a newborn waiting for me to entertain her.
So, I chopped off my hair. 8 inches, cut off. I donated the hair to Pantene to make wigs. (I never did hear back from them. I hope they were able to use my virgin hair. ) I didn't get what my husband calls the Mom Do (the super short hair do), but instead opted for a chin-length bob. I am an infrequent customer of hair salons (once every 8 to 12 months), so a bob can grow out nicely.
By the time I was pregnant for the second time, my hair was long again. My hair loss stopped, again. And, three months postpartum, I started losing clumps of hair, again. This time around, I decided not to chop off my hair. In fact, I didn't get my hair done until my son was five months old, and it had been over a year since my last haircut. I probably should have cut my hair short, but short hair actually requires more maintenance in my opinion.
My hair grows fairly fast, and to keep a short hair do, I would have to go to the hairdresser every month to six weeks. I can't afford to go this often, and I usually get too busy to remember to go. Long hair can be tied up, back, away. It usually doesn't look bad if you don't do anything to it. I would love to go back to having short hair. I was cute with short hair. But, despite what my husband thinks, short hair is not a low maintenance "Mom Do". Anything that requires styling, and blow drying, is not easy.
I am still losing clumps of hair. I am hoping this will stop soon. I have no idea what is normal because I got pregnant last time, and my hormones stopped my hair from falling out. I keep thinking it isn't noticeable, but on the rare occasion I do go to the hair salon, the hair dressers comment on my hair loss. Sometimes I feel like I am shedding more than my cat!
My question is, what scientific reason would there be to have hair loss after the birth of your child. I suppose the retention of hair during pregnancy is to make the mother beautiful so the father doesn't take off on her (evolutionarily speaking), but wouldn't you want the father to stick around after the birth?
The recommendations I read about helping to curb hair loss is to shampoo your hair less often and brush it less often. Having a shower and washing my hair is the one thing that makes me feel like I have it together after a rough night with the kids. I don't want to actually look like I am barley holding it together. For now, I guess I will have to wait and see when my hair will stop falling out. Maybe I should go and buy some hair thickening shampoos.
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS:
Keep taking your prenatal vitamins for the benefits to skin, hair and nails. Otherwise, you can take specific supplements such as Biotin (Vitamin H), Silica, Calcium and Zinc, which all help with hair growth and strength. Omega fats, found in fish, avocados, nuts, and flax seed, are also beneficial to hair growth (and skin).
Massage your scalp to stimulate blood flow, which encourages the hair follicles to grow hair. You can massage your scalp with your fingers, or with a boar bristle brush. The brush should only be used on untangled hair, or you could cause more hair loss. Also, you aren't supposed to brush wet hair (something I always do, yikes!) because it can stretch your hair more easily.
Keep in mind, the new growth may initially appear to be finer than older hairs, but this is due to the fact that hairs naturally taper at the ends. The short new hairs might seem like baby hair, but once they are cut, the new hairs will be as thick as the original hairs. We just got used to having the nice thick hair during pregnancy :).
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