Is Hair Loss During Pregnancy Normal?
Trust me, I know what it is like seeing handfuls of hair falling out and the weird hard-to-tame “baby hair” regrowth around your hairline. As women, our hair is the crown on our heads. It can symbolize our identity as women. It is shocking when our brushes are full and our drains are clogged. We have an emotional attachment to our hair. So when it starts falling out in larger amounts, we naturally have a bit of a freakout. There are two times in a woman’s life when hair loss is most common: post-pregnancy and post-menopause. Two times in our lives with big shifts in our hormones, so let’s dive into why this happens and what we can do to prevent unwanted hair loss.
The cosmetic issues with hair loss are normally what causes the high level of worry. It can also be a sign or a symptom that something biologically is going on with your body that needs to be addressed. We can be experiencing a natural shift in hormones, nutritional deficiency, stress, environmental exposure, or a medical condition.
What is postpartum hair loss?
During pregnancy, you likely experienced a full head of hair that was thick and shiny. This is due to how pregnancy hormones affect your hair cycle. Coupled with your pregnancy nutrition and taking prenatal vitamins, you shed little to no hair. Every hair we grow goes through three phases: a growth phase, a resting phase, and a falling out phase. During pregnancy, our hair stalls at that resting phase so after birth, your hair follicles start to relax and around 3-5 months your hair starts to fall out by the handful because all your hair is now moved into that falling out phase.
Postpartum hair loss is so common and typically only lasts a few months up to one year. However, although it is normal, it is certainly not optimal. (NOTE: If you are experiencing this hair loss far past the one-year postpartum period or have other symptoms that are common to your thyroid, then please explore having your thyroid functions tested. Postpartum hypothyroidism needs to be treated.)
What else contributes to postpartum hair loss?
Low Iron Levels
Postpartum anemia is also very common and can be a reason for your postpartum hair loss. Iron transfers to the baby in utero. Coupled with blood loss during/after birth, your iron levels will be reduced. Consuming iron-rich foods during pregnancy and postpartum will keep your levels up and replenished.
Hormones
During pregnancy, we have an increase in hormones. One of these hormones is estrogen. Estrogen directly affects the hair growth cycle. When our bodies have significant amounts of estrogen, our hair is more likely to stay in its growth phase.
Approximately 24-72 hours after a woman gives birth, there is a significant decrease of estrogen in her body. This promotes the hairs in the growing phase to enter the resting phase. Hairs typically stay in this resting phase for about three months. Then they begin to fall out and a new hair cycle begins.
Low stomach acid
So many of us have low stomach acid from eating a standard American diet including taking antibiotics, drinking sodas, and consuming sugars. When our stomach acid is too low, our bodies can no longer properly breakdown our foods that are so rich in vital nutrients like iron and zinc. This means you are not absorbing all the nutrients you think you are consuming. Supplementing with iron can be difficult. It can be very constipating, and is not very bioavailable. Drinking nettle tea is a great option and I would recommend focusing on iron-rich foods and taking a supplement like a betaine HCL to re-introduce stomach acid production. By far, the best source of iron-rich foods is liver (and if you have read many of my other articles or listened to my interviews you know how much I love liver). Red meat, game meat, oysters, sardines, and dark meat poultry are also very reliable sources.
Stress
Stress can cause temporary hair loss. I know it is easier said than done to avoid stress, especially right after having given birth. However, you are not sleeping, you are not eating as often, your hormones feel like they are all over the place, and you haven’t exercised in weeks. But if you could carve out five minutes of your day to be able to meditate, or close your eyes and do some deep breathing, it will do you a world of good.
Thyroid problems
The thyroid hormone can also affect hair loss. Either too much or too little hormone can result in side effects that affect hair. If you have not had thyroid problems before, you can develop symptoms after you give birth. Some women will experience hyperthyroidism that is followed by hypothyroidism, this is called postpartum thyroiditis. Checking in with yourself, listen to your body speaking to you through symptoms, if you feel like your thyroid is over or underperforming then please look into getting a full thyroid panel done with your healthcare provider.
Toxic hair products
It is time to toss those toxic hair products out! They are drying out and killing your hair while also damaging your hormones. You’d be surprised by the ingredients allowed in our beauty products. There is very little regulation, in fact it has been almost 90 years since the last major law was passed on permissible ingredients! You want to avoid ingredients like sulfates, mineral oil, parabens, alcohol, fragrances, and formaldehyde… you read that right, formaldehyde! Consider a shower filter and switching your products.
How to Keep Your Locks Lovely
We know that a lot of our hair loss is inevitable but there are some things we can do to help it not get so out of control that it brings on more stress.
Continue taking your prenatal vitamins every day. The extra nutrients that were so beneficial to you during pregnancy will continue to support you after especially if you are breastfeeding.
Consume a diet rich in nutrient-dense whole foods and control your blood sugar. Foods that spike your insulin will stress your body. Overtime, too much insulin can increase your testosterone levels which cause facial hair and male pattern baldness….. No, thank you!
Pass on those processed foods, pasta, and bread. Instead consume your carbohydrates in the form of vegetables like potato, sweet potato, and yucca or cassava.
Limit your sugars by removing refined sugars and eat some delicious fruits as your sweets. It is amazing how sweet a strawberry can truly taste once your taste buds have healed from sugar damage.
Consume lean meats like chicken, turkey, and fishes. These are great for balancing hormones and satiating you throughout the day. During your first month with a newborn, it is hard to find time to even eat. Consuming rich and sustaining foods will carry you through your day without any unnecessary sugar crashes.
Try to remove the stressors you can and learn to manage the ones you cannot remove.
Once you are 6-8 weeks postpartum and your medical provider gives you clearance to do some light exercise, get outside to get some sun, go for a nice walk, or do some stretching like yoga. This will help relax you and even out your hormones.
Hopefully, your postpartum journey is without funny ponytails and clogged shower drains.