Why is this happening?

[Hampshirelass]

Is this hair breakage? I don't know how to describe this, and don't have a camera to take a photo so I show you, so I will have to do my best to explain!

All around my hairline my hair is short, probably no more than an inch. It is quite a thick amount and I tend to not wear my hair up very often as it looks like I have had a really short fringe (bangs?) cut into my hair, I really hate how it looks.

It never used to be like this, but after I had each of my children my hair fell out in handfulls - the loss around my hairline was so severe it looked like I had the beginnings of male pattern baldness! The hair has grown back, but not past an inch. I had my last baby 5 years ago, so it should be longer than this!

Is it likely that this is breakage, or can the way your hair grow change after pregnancies? I am hoping it is damage as at least then I can do something about it - I really don't like how it looks.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

[akurah]

Hair around the hairline, in general, will be shorter than the bulk of your hair because it has a shorter terminal length. However what you describe sounds unusual, even given that bit of knowledge. Have you been to a doctor?

[Hampshirelass]

I asked my doctor a while back and she took some bloods, which came back normal. She said that it was probably a result of the pregnancy hormones and left it at that.

You can't see it when I wear my hair down as it blends in, it just shows so much when my hair is up.

[unaspenser]

Do you notice much monthly growth in the hairs aruond your hairline? I had this happen a while back (I've now noticed a pattern in my major sheds/regrowths... they happen every two years for me), and got really discouraged. Measuring those baby hairs every month helped me see that they really were growing out. If it's not growing at all, then likely something is causing breakage. Do you play with your hair? Brush certain spots roughly? Wear headbands/sunglasses on your head? Look for things that could be putting this particular part of your hair under stress.

[Hampshirelass]

Thank you both for your replies.

After reading your reply, unaspencer, I have been really taking notice of how I treat my hair at the hairline and I think I have found the culprit as to why this is happening.

During my last pregnancy I found I had to wear glasses all the time. I have a habit of pushing my glasses up onto the top of my head and using them as a hairband. I had never really thought much about my doing this before but after reading your reply it dawned on me what I was doing! Paying attention to what happened when I do this, as I take my glasses off of the top of my head I can hear snapping where hair is getting caught in the frames and (please don't anyone shout at me for this!!) any hair that is still tangled in my glasses is just yanked out, snapping and breaking as I do so.

I have been doing this absentmindedly for the past five years and I have been assuming that the short hair at the front was to do with the post pregnancy hormone change rather than linking my also getting glasses during this time!

[unaspenser]

I'm so glad that helped, Hampshirelass. I did the same thing with my glasses in college and the nose pieces always got caught in my hair! I also used to have permanent broken spots around my temples from wearing ponytails every day. It took me forever to figure that no-brainer out. :) Good luck trying to grow out. Maybe you can find another place to put your specs and invest in some nice gentle headbands/ribbons/scarves. :)