The reason why you lose your hair after pregnancy

Don't fret, it's completely normal

Swollen feet, morning sickness, uncomfortable sleeps with pillows surrounding every part of your body. Sure, pregnancy can have a few unwelcome side effects, but it also has some pretty amazing ones too, like the fact that your hair practically doubles in thickness during those 9 months and your nails grow like they’ve never grown before. 

But just as your feet deflate after you’ve given birth, so does your hair thin. No, you’re not balding after pregnancy. This is just a temporary phase and there are plenty of ways to make your hair look thicker until it finds its groove again. 

The thing is, you lose around 100 hairs a day during the normal cycle of hair growth, but during pregnancy the increased levels of estrogen in your body freezes your hair in the growing (‘resting’) phase of the cycle. 

Basically, hair that would normally fall out stays put, which is why a lot of pregnant women are blessed with thicker, healthier looking hair. 

But, after you’ve given birth your estrogen levels naturally decrease and so the hair that was ‘resting’ completes its cycle and falls out. Major bummer!

The shedding process is most likely to happen throughout the third or fourth month after you’ve given birth and can last up to six months, during which time it’s completely normal for your hair to fall out evenly all over your head, or in clumps when you brush it or wash it in the shower. It’s also normal to lose a lot of hair around your hairline, leaving you with wispy hairs at the front, which can take longer to gain their strength again.

Keep in mind that this shedding process won’t continue forever, so don’t panic, its just nature taking its course.