Post partum shed?

[FuzzyBlackWaves]

Hi everyone!

Has anybody with children experienced the dreaded post-baby shed? I thought I'd gotten away with it but my little one is five months old now and my hair has just started falling out in clumps. From what I can tell this is entirely normal but it doesn't make it any less rubbish. My scalp itches and my ends are thin again! If you have been through it, how long did it last for and any tips on coping with the rapid rate of hair loss?

[enterafox]

I didn't go through it, but I fell pregnant again four months after my first, and then again a few months after that. I found that Loreal Fibrology shampoo/conditioner stopped anything falling out in those months! Other than that I have no advice, sorry! Hopefully someone can offer something other than cutting it!

[Cherriezzzzz]

Chagrin valley shampoo bar in Herb Garden :) read the reviews!

[unheardletters]

I lost a lot of hair with all my postpartum sheds. My most recent birth was 7 months ago, my hair started coming back about 3 months ago, I started to lose the hair right after birth and the shedding is finally slowing down now. I didn't need to do anything to cope, but I have a lot of hair so no one noticed except me. I wear it up all the time anyway. My scalp has been itchy lately, I'm not sure of the cause but possibly from new growth.

[MrsDay]

YES. Yes, and yes.
My son was born 15 months ago, and I've only just now been able to start regrowing some of the hair that I lost. I am not exaggerating when it says it looks like I got my bangs cut, but I NEVER did... it's just regrowth from all the hair I lost. I also suffer from an itchy scalp.

I tried to do coconut oil + castor oil hair masks on my scalp as I read castor oil was supposed to help stimulate hair growth, but I found my hair would shed even more due to the oils so I stopped that. I've continued taking my prenatal vitamins since my son was born, and that's helped some I think. I eat healthy and drink as much water as I can manage (in between cups of coffee, because my baby never sleeps). I don't think there is any magic potion to get your regrowth to catch up to your length honestly.

My plan to deal with this is to get to my goal length (mid-back length) and then just maintain my length with small trims when needed while my regrowth catches up. It'll probably take a few years since it's growing in from nothing, but my ends are very thin and wispy since a lot of my hair is so short compared to the length that survived my postpartum hair loss. :(

I wish I had better information or tips! This will just be about patience and caring for the hair the best we can so what hair we have left doesn't decide to jump ship too.

[YvetteVarie]

I lost quite a bit of hair when my baby was 3 months old up until he was 5 months old (he's almost7 months old now). What really showed the most damage was my hairline which became sparse. My advantage is I have always had dense, coily hair so that loss isn't too visible. I only minimized handling my hair, and was gentler with it. Otherwise, I didn't do anything special. Just be patient with it, your hair will recover soon.

[wo]

I had three babies/pregnancies (no twins) in three years, so the timeline all kind of blended together, but every time after birth, the temple area of my hairline receded several inches back. It was extremely noticeable and scary. I got a pixie cut because I just wanted to start over after all that without different lengths everywhere. I don't recommend that of course. But anyway, the bright side to this, is that two years since having any kids, that area has grown back as good as ever. But having kids relaxed my curl texture permanently it seems, from 3b, to 3a with even 2c sections. That's a neutral change to me, not a complaint.

[Lisa-K]

Yes. It was horrible. I seriously felt like I lost one third of my hair. It was crazy each time I walked into the shower. Good God! I took multi-vitamin supplements from the day I gave birth, so it couldn't possibly be a lack of that. I honestly think it all has to do with breastfeeding. When our first little boy passed away right before he was born, I didn't get to breastfeed and I didn't lose any hair whatsoever. When our second son was born, I breastfed for a few days and then switched to formula. Three months after he was born, the postpartum shed from Hell started. So I think the breastfeeding did it. It really did something on a hormonal level.

The shedding slowed down significantly after a few months. Although I don't really notice any short hair (which would mean the lost hair is growing back), so I don't know if it ever will grow back?

Good hair care and proper hairstyling provides enough volume to make it look like before. But I do have to be mindful about my hairstyles so my scalp won't show through too much.

You could try taking Biotin supplements. I only thought about it after the worst part of the shedding was over, so it was already too late to know if it would have helped. But it can't hurt anyway. What also seemed to help a little bit were coffee rinses that I vigorously massaged into my scalp. The caffeine seemed to stimulate hair follicles, and I did notice a slight improvement after a few rinses. But expect no miracles; it was only a small improvement.

[Aliciaspinnet]

I had a fair bit of postpartum loss but I didn't realise until it started growing back and I started to get all these short hairs sticking out of my head! When I went to the hair dresser about 6 months ago she blow dried my hair straight and all the short hairs stood up like a mane - it was ridiculous! It's looking better now that it's getting longer - it's just past my eyes now and seems to blend better and not stick out as much. My son is 2 years old, but I did have some prolonged iron deficiency afterwards so that may have slowed down the regrowth for a while.

[Scherazade]

Yep, it was awful. My hair started falling around 6 months when i stopped breastfeeding. There was so much hair, drifts of it on the floor, on my clothes. I really did think I was going bald and nothing seemed to help. It did stop eventually and start to grow back in. Then I had the problem of a 'fringe'! 3 years later I can still tell where the regrowth is but its not noticable.

Hang in there! It does get better but I don't think there's too much you can do to stop it x

[lapushka]

Not to burst your bubble, but do take good care of the hair you have remaining, and of your scalp.

My mom is one of the ones who got through PP shed with thinner hair, and it thinned again through menopause. She's in her 70s now and has about an index finger's worth of hair, about that where circumference is concerned. She had ii hair when she was younger. Now it's i.

[FuzzyBlackWaves]

Thanks for all of the advice and experience :) It really helps to hear that people have gone through the same thing and bounced back. Just another glamorous part of being a mummy, I suppose! Thankfully the shedding has slowed down now and it's not that noticeable on my head, although my poor drains are another story :lol:

I have noticed that my new growth is a lot healthier although that could just be because I've given up hair dye.

Lapushka I'm sorry to hear that! :blossom: I think most people's hair does get thinner as they mature. It always seemed such a shame to me when the older women in my family cut their hair short for that reason. Like you said, I think it can be important to just focus on the hair that's there rather than worrying about what used to be. Thankfully I am recovering well now but I'm interested to see what the future holds. I think I'd stay long even if I had bald spots!

On a different note, did anybody's hair change colour? I swear mine was blonde pre-baby. Now it's brown. I don't really mind, it's a nicer colour on me, but it's still strange. Or maybe I just never noticed the real colour before because my natural roots were always so short?

[amiaow]

My hair is definitely darker. I had a massive shed 4-5m pp and the hair started to grow in again around 8mo. I ended up cutting it as it was just yuck after the shed but hopefully you'll fare better than me!

[lapushka]

Lapushka I'm sorry to hear that! :blossom: I think most people's hair does get thinner as they mature. It always seemed such a shame to me when the older women in my family cut their hair short for that reason. Like you said, I think it can be important to just focus on the hair that's there rather than worrying about what used to be. Thankfully I am recovering well now but I'm interested to see what the future holds. I think I'd stay long even if I had bald spots!

On a different note, did anybody's hair change colour? I swear mine was blonde pre-baby. Now it's brown. I don't really mind, it's a nicer colour on me, but it's still strange. Or maybe I just never noticed the real colour before because my natural roots were always so short?

Yes, my hair though hasn't thinned much (even though I so wished for that in my 20s, had it thinned out once and: never again). I'm glad to hear you are recovering well! :)

It's normal to have hair grow gradually darker from when you were a baby. I was platinum, then straw-blonde when I was young, now my hair is a darker ash color. It happens to most of us and is pretty common.

[Lisa-K]

Yes, my hair got darker. Definitely. I remember reading somewhere that in most cases, it will just stay that way.

[Vivalagina]

My hair got slightly darker after my first two, but it has gotten much darker with my third. When my husband and I started dating our hair colors were very close, and now my hair is significantly darker than his.