From thick, glossy locks during pregnancy to those awkward moments in the shower where you wash your hair and find a clump of hair swirling around the drain. It’s full on, and unfortunately, a by-product of giving birth. Not cool, but common.
For context, we can thank heightened levels of oestrogen for that gorgeously thick pregnancy hair. Your body isn’t actually growing more hair but you are losing less hair at a slower rate. Postpartum hair, on the other hand, is a little different.
In the 6 months+ after delivering, it’s very common for women to lose hair and in some cases, a lot of it. Women may experience clumps falling out in the shower or noticing stray strands on their pillow every morning.
Just as hormones affect the thickness and the length of your locks during pregnancy, hormones are also the culprit behind hair loss when the baby arrives. There is a big decline in your oestrogen levels which triggers your body to get back to the ‘normal hair shedding routine’. Rather than losing the regular 80 or so strands of hair per day during postpartum, women can lose up to 400 strands per day!
To explain the hair loss in simple terms, your head is playing catch up. All of the hair that it proudly held onto during pregnancy now needs to fall away sadly. Like many aspects of life with a newborn, it won’t last forever, so hang in there.
