Oh, my hair.
I have loved it SO MUCH these past few months. I’ve even been accused several times of having hair extensions (as if I wouldn’t excitedly declare CHECK OUT MY EXTENSIONS! were I to actually shell out the money for them)…which is less “accusation” and more “best compliment ever.”
I did not have extensions; I had pregnancy.
And now I do not have pregnancy, either.
Which means that I am not-so-slowly and surely saying goodbye to all that wonderful extra hair (and let’s not even talk about what’s happening to my nails, ughhhh).
For those of you who’ve never experienced this, a quick explanation: pregnancy hormones basically put a halt to normal hair loss for the duration of gestation (and a few months afterwards)…so you don’t have more hair, you’re just not losing it at the normal rate. And then, when those hormones go away (my understanding is that it’s usually around the time you stop breastfeeding; for me it was at the 5 months postpartum mark both times), all the stuff that was supposed to fall out over the past many months falls out…all at the same time. It’s more than a little scary even when you know it’s going to happen…and I didn’t actually know it the first time around, which meant that when I pulled literal handfuls of hair out of my head while showering I completely freaked out.
Both times for me, the majority of the loss has happened at my temples (which is apparently pretty common, based on a quick Google Image search of “postpartum hair loss”). You can see the thin spot in the shot above, since my hair is pulled back (as opposed to in the top shot in this post, where I blow-dried my bangs so that they’re sort of pushed forward).
It is no fun. It’s also inevitable. And manageable.
How To Handle The PostPartum Hair Exodus:
The reality is that you’re not going to stop the hair loss; all you can do is slow it a bit. Some tactics to try:
- Use a detangling spray every single time you comb through your hair (I spray on copious amounts before brushing through wet hair, and even before brushing my dry hair).
- Go for a mild shampoo and conditioner, and don’t wash your hair more often than necessary. (I’m an every-three-days girl, except when I have a newborn. We won’t discuss how often I’ve been washing my hair these days.)
- If you like wearing your hair up, go for a no-snag hairtie and don’t tie it too tightly. If your hair is long, try just twisting it up and putting in a few large bobby pins for a gentle alternative to a traditional ponytail.
If your postpartum hair is looking thin, there are a few things you can do to give it a boost:
- Scrunch a dollop of mousse into wet hair before blow-drying.
- Switch your part to the other side (I cannot tell you what a big difference this makes; if you’ve never tried this, you have to).
- Add a few highlights. The chemical process roughs up hair strands, making them appear thicker, and the visual contrast between light areas and dark areas creates the illusion of depth.
Oh, and we’re not done yet! No no.
Because a few months after all your hair falls out, it will start to grow back, resulting in a lovely little corona of teeny-tiny baby hairs that make you look like you stuck your finger in a light socket every time you pull your hair up into a ponytail. Pretty, right? Anyway, this is handle-able too: just spray a brush with a little hairspray and lightly run it over those mini-hairs to make them sit down and behave.
Fun stuff.
