You have a newborn baby and everything feels perfect until you run your hands through your hair and come out with clumps of hair in your hand. What happened? Why are you losing your hair?
It’s called postpartum hair loss, and it’s an issue many women face. If your hair was long, thick and gorgeous during pregnancy, that’s because of the pregnancy hormones. They stop any hair from falling out, even the normal 100 hairs most people lose daily (just not all at once). Many pregnant women can’t get over the luscious beauty their hair becomes while pregnant, but then lose it postpartum.
Why Women Lose Hair after Childbirth
Here’s what happens.
During pregnancy, you have incredible estrogen and progesterone levels. This keeps your hair in the stage. You don’t go through the ‘resting and shedding phases’ during this time. It’s wonderful while it lasts as you have incredible hair. After you give birth, the hair goes into a ‘resting phase.’ You still don’t lose hair during this time, so you still have your luscious locks.
Then the timer hits – three months are up and your hair goes into the ‘shedding phase.’ This is when you’ll see new or short hairs along the hairline. The problem is during the ‘shedding phase’ you may lose as much as 800 hairs a day – it's frightening, to say the least.
The shedding phase should subside by about six months postpartum. If it doesn’t, there may be other underlying medical conditions going on. For example, you may have a thyroid issue or hormone imbalance. Talk to your doctor to find out.
How to Prevent Postpartum Hair Loss
You can’t control your hormone levels or how your body reacts, but you can control how you take care of your hair. Here are some simple tips:
When you wash, brush, and style your hair, use gentle pressure. Don’t pull too hard or use excessive force or you may pull the hair right out of the shaft.
- Sleep with a silk pillowcase
Spoil yourself during this time – you deserve it! Sleeping with a silk pillowcase reduces the amount of hair pulling that goes on when you toss and turn, leaving more hair on your head.
- Your hormones will be all over the place postpartum and your vital organs will take all the nutrients. Now more than ever it’s important to eat right. When you give your body the nutrients it needs, your body’s organs can run optimally and your hair may go through its phases rather than staying stuck in the ‘shedding phase’ for too long.
Having a newborn is stressful, but it’s important to take care of you during this time too. The more stress you experience, the more your hair will stay in the ‘resting’ phase. Try meditating, taking a few minutes every couple of hours to yourself, taking a walk, or taking a hot bath to relax.
How to Reverse Postpartum Hair Loss
You can’t reverse your hormones or postpartum hair loss, but you may shorten its cycle. Just like preventing postpartum hair loss, reversing it requires you to take care of yourself. Reduce your stress, eat right, and be gentle with your hair.
In addition, consider:
Are you low on iron, vitamin C, E, B, or zinc? If you aren’t sure, have your doctor test your levels. Many postpartum women are low on iron and the vitamins. Each of these vitamins is crucial to your hair’s cycles. If you are low and can’t eat the foods rich in these vitamins, consider taking supplements.
You may not be ready for the ‘mom do’ yet, but it may help hide your postpartum hair loss. If nothing else, choose a shorter ‘do to limit the amount of pressure you put on your hair. The less you have to fuss with it, the less likely it is that it will fall out.
- Use the right hair care products
All Hair Restoration Laboratories' products are cruelty-free (not tested on animals), color safe and free of parabens, sulphates, phthalates, and other harsh chemicals that can be damaging to the hair. Our products aim to promote the of healthier and thicker hair by using out potent Technology® to block the effects of hair loss process. Halting Technology® is a proprietary blend of extracts, amino acids, oils, and nutrients that help prevent hair loss, reverse hair thinning and encourage healthy hair.
Our
Hair Restore Shampoo works to dramatically improve the appearance of thinning hair with a blend of plant extracts, amino acids, essential oils, and antioxidants. These powerful nutrients deeply nourish hair follicles, leaving hair feeling stronger and more voluminous while promoting healthy hair. In this shampoo you will find a combination of ingredients that make up our Halting Technology®, working to reduce your hair loss without any unwanted side effects. These ingredients include saw palmetto, biotin, pumpkin seed extract, caffeine, green tea extract, black cumin oil and pygeum africanum bark extract.
Like our Hair Restore Shampoo, our
Hair Restore Conditioner works just as hard for you with a combination of saw palmetto, biotin, pumpkin seed extract, caffeine, green tea extract, black cumin oil, pygeum africanum bark extract, pisum sativum (pea) extract, cayenne fruit extract and oils of jojoba, sunflower and shea butter for luxurious, silky and shiny hair. When used in combination with our Hair Restore Shampoo, you are giving your hair a potent boost to recover and grow, leaving you with fuller and thicker hair. The combination is safe to use daily and one of our best sellers.
Our
Professional Strength Hair Restore Shampoo has been developed for men and women who require an even stronger and more powerful shampoo to help prevent hair loss and thinning, support hair and promote healthier, thicker and stronger hair. This powerful formula contains Hair Restoration Laboratories’ proprietary Halting Technology® in even greater concentrations compared to our Regular Strength Hair Restore Shampoo. This is to maximize nourishment of hair follicles, healthy hair, and improve the strength, thickness and quality of your hair. No shampoo leaves your hair appearing fuller and feeling stronger than the Hair Restoration Laboratories’ Professional Strength Hair Restore Shampoo. Ingredients in the Professional Strength Hair Restore Shampoo includes ketoconazole, green tea extract, biotin, black cumin seed oil, saw palmetto, caffeine, pisum sativum (pea) extract, pygeum africanum bark extract, pumpkin seed oil, cayenne fruit extract.
The
Ultra Strength Hair Treatment uses a formula with FDA-approved 5% minoxidil which helps prevent and reverse the progression of hair loss and thinning. Additionally, the Ultra Strength Hair Treatment contains a number of powerful ingredients that, when combined with 5% minoxidil, significantly improve the quality of your hair and scalp. This includes ingredients like caffeine, green tea extract, biotin, black cumin seed oil, pumpkin seed oil, saw palmetto, vitamin E and vitamin C.
The
Maximum Hair Thickening Serum is a powerful leave-in treatment, packed with clinically-studied ingredients to immediately provide maximum thickness to existing hair, minimize hair loss and maintain the scalp and hair follicles in optimum condition to promote the of thicker and stronger hair and reduce hair loss. Our Serum contains the highest levels of our proprietary Halting Technology® with ingredients like green tea extract, saw palmetto extract, azelaic acid, pumpkin seed oil, black cumin seed oil, caffeine, biotin, cayenne fruit extract and ginseng that work synergistically to stop hair loss and help regrow and thicken hair. The Serum also contains vital hair strengthening, building and anchoring ingredients, such as keratin, hydrolyzed collagen and caprylic triglyceride to dramatically maximize the thick appearance of your hair from the very first application. Ingredients, such as vitamin C, vitamin E, sunflower seed oil, argan oil and jojoba seed oil provide intense nourishment to your hair, noticeably improving the strength, natural shine and vibrancy. Any of Hair Restoration Laboratories’ products will be an excellent choice if you are looking to start treating your hair loss with a topical product containing only the best ingredients in the field. Our products can be used alone or in combination.
What Happens after Postpartum Hair Loss?
After you go through the ‘resting’ phase that causes postpartum hair loss, you’ll likely see ‘tufts’ of hair growing. Some women get them in strange areas on their head, which can be frustrating. The little pops of hair seem to come out of nowhere and take forever to grow. During this time, styling agents should be your friend. Mousse and gel may help to slick hair back or get it into place so the tufts aren’t as obvious. You can also work with your hairstylist to figure out a way to style your hair that minimizes the appearance of the new hair until it gets to a manageable length.
On average, it takes around 15 months for the new hair to blend in with your existing hair. Postpartum hair loss is real and most women go through it, some worse than others. Now that you know about it, you can do what it takes to prevent it or at least care for your hair while you are postpartum. You can’t control how your hormones react, but you can control how you take care of yourself. If you’re worried about what postpartum hair loss will leave you looking like or if you don’t want to deal with it, consider our hair restoration products. You’ll restore your hair to its pre-pregnancy look and gain back your self-esteem during the time you should be enjoying your new precious bundle rather than worrying about your hair.
