by Diane Rodriquez
Although many people think nothing is more beautiful than a mother-to-be, pregnancy may leave you feeling pretty unattractive — you’re moody, you’re bloated and swollen, and you’re gaining weight like mad. After childbirth, it takes time (and often much hard work) for your body to get back to its normal shape. And there’s one more thing that might occur — hair loss after pregnancy.
7 Things to Avoid if You Have Hair Loss
Hormones and Childbirth
You already know that being pregnant makes your hormone levels go a little crazy — that’s why television commercials can make you cry (even the ones that aren’t sad) and nearly everyone around you gets on your nerves. But those changes in your hormone levels also disrupt hair’s natural growing and resting balance so that more hairs are in the resting phase and fewer are growing. Increased levels of hormones keep that hair in place — at least temporarily giving you a gorgeous, thick head of hair during your pregnancy.
But about three months after delivering your baby, once you’re finally getting the hang of being a new mom, catching up on a little sleep, and feeling and looking like yourself, you may notice thinning hair. Hair loss after pregnancy occurs because once you deliver your baby, your hormone levels decrease to their normal, pre-pregnancy levels. All those resting hairs fall out, resulting in thinning hair while you wait for the cycle to resume and new hairs to begin to grow.
How Long Will Hair Loss After Pregnancy Last?
Don’t worry — even if you can’t get rid of those stretch marks, pregnancy won’t usually leave you with bald patches or thinning hair for life. Hair loss after
pregnancy is mostly temporary and doesn’t require hair loss treatment; you just have to wait for your hormone levels to get back to normal. You can expect to have your regular, healthy hair within six months to a year after delivering your little one.
Protecting Your Hair After Pregnancy
Unfortunately, there isn’t much that you can do to control your hormone levels during and after pregnancy to stop hair loss. But there are other contributing factors that can cause hair loss after pregnancy (or at any time) that you can do something about.
Even if you can’t stop hair loss, take care of your hair during and after pregnancy with these tips:
Take your prenatal vitamins. Nutritional deficiencies (not getting all the vitamins your body needs) can take a toll on your hair, leading to thinning hair or bald patches. Also be sure to eat a healthy, balanced diet, with plenty of fruits and veggies, to get all the nutrients you and baby need.
Treat your hair gently to stop hair loss. Rough handling or excessive styling, coloring, perms, and other chemical treatments in addition to the daily abuse of hair dryers and curling or straightening irons can cause breakage and thinning hair.
Keep hair moisturized. Pregnancy may change the texture of your hair, so protect yourself from dry, brittle hair that’s prone to breakage with less frequent shampooing and blow-drying and by using a good conditioner.
