Hair Loss Caused by Pregnancy




Pregnancy is a stressful time for a woman’s body and it is always important to be prepared for what might happen. A little baby growing within takes everything it needs from the mother: vitamins, minerals and liquids. This is why almost every woman’s body is affected by pregnancy in some way; either teeth get harmed, nails become thinner, or her skin loses its glossiness and irregular pigmentation appears. One of the most common cases is partial hair loss whether it happens during carrying the baby in the womb, or even a few weeks after it is born.

Women are usually very concerned about their body and changes like this often stress them out, but it is really not a time to worry. Hair loss is a very common thing, because around 40 to 50 percent of women who have had a baby came across this problem. The first thing to do here is to relax and think about this kind of hair loss as something temporary, because it is!

People lose old hair and grow new hair during their entire lifetime: while 90% of all hair is in the stage of growth and development, the other 10% is in a so called “resting phase” getting prepared to fall out. The growing period or “anagen” phase takes a lot of time: usually about 4-7 years. Each month during this time the hair grows longer by 1-2 cm.

After the hair reaches a certain point, it needs a “vacation” from growing, and this is when the resting or “telogen” phase enters in. It lasts for 2-4 months, and in the end of this part of the cycle, the older hair falls out making room for the new ones. During a woman’s normal stages of life when there are no major changes or stress, it is typical to lose about 50-100 strands of hair per a day!

Very rarely do women notice excessive hair loss during pregnancy. On the contrary, a pregnant woman’s hair looks shinier and even a little thicker. And it’s easy to explain why: the excessive amount of the hormone estrogen, which is necessary for the safe development of a baby, “holds” the hair making the anagen phase longer and not letting the “resting” hair fall out as often as it normally otherwise would.

After delivery, the hormonal level returns its previous balance and many hair follicles stop growing.  At the same time, the hair enters the resting phase and in 2-4 months after the baby is born the mother subsequently experiences excessive hair loss.

The good news is that there are still follicles which are prepared to work hard and develop the hair, so the hair loss after pregnancy never gets to the stage where a woman has bald spots. Another good fact is that this kind of hair loss is temporary!  After the fourth month the growing/resting hair balance corrects itself and by 6-12 months after delivery a woman acquires her previous thickness.

Since this kind of hair loss is caused by certain changes in woman’s body, as soon as everything returns to normal, the hair balance restores itself without any additional help. So, even though there has not been any cure developed for this situation, nevertheless there are some things a woman could do to keep good looking hair and reduce hair loss:

•    Avoid any tight hair-dresses: ponytails, braids, etc., because they stress your hair and may even pull out healthy strands;
•    Increase the amount of vegetables, fruit and herbs in your meals: they contain flavonoids and antioxidants which protect the follicles and help hair grow faster;
•    Drink green tea and red wine for the same reason;
•    Consult your doctor who can help to balance out the hormones in your body;
•    Use hair cosmetics (shampoos, crèmes, conditioners, masks) which have biotin and silica;
•    Don’t use blow-dryers, but if you just have to, set them on the “cool” or “gentle” setting;
•    Add various vitamins and minerals to your daily supplement, especially vitamins C and E, B complex, biotin and zinc.

Lynn Street

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Posted on January 18, 2009 
Filed Under Hair Loss, Hair Loss Conditions, Hair Loss Reasons

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