Pregnancy and Postpartum Hair Loss

pregnancy and postpartum hair loss is a common issue. As your due date draws near, you’re probably looking forward to losing your big belly and extra baby weight.

But there’s one thing you may not look forward to losing: Your thick, shiny pregnancy locks.

It’s not your imagination. Most women find that pregnancy makes their hair thicker. And it’s not the stress of having a newborn that’s making your hair fall out! Here’s what’s up with your pregnancy hair, what you can expect postpartum, and what you can do about it.

How Hormones Affect Your Hair

Hormones are the biggest reason for your pregnancy hair changes and postpartum hair loss.

During pregnancy, your high levels of estrogen prevented your usual rate of hair loss. Normally, your hair falls out in small amounts every day. During pregnancy, your hair loss decreases. The effect is compounded by your increased blood volume and circulation, which also causes your hair to fall out less than normal.

So after your baby arrives and your hormone levels drop, your hair makes up for lost time by falling out in much bigger clumps than it normally does. The total volume of your hair loss probably isn’t more than you would have lost over the last nine months, it just seems like it because it’s happening all at once.

Postpartum hair loss can set in any day after your baby arrives, and it sometimes continues as long as a year. It usually peaks around the 4-month mark, so if your baby is a few months old and you’re still losing clumps of hair, that doesn’t mean it’s time to panic!