Having a baby - going through pregnancy, childbirth and the actual caring for the baby and sleepless nights and putting yourself last - all have a huge impact on your health and well-being. Admittedly way more than I’d ever realised or imagined.
I could go into all the usuals - your weight, tiredness, your boobs, stretch marks, your ‘mummy tummy’ - perhaps in another blog. For now, though, one I never realised, your hair.
Yes, often if people over style their hair - constant dying, straightening, curling and the like - they can damage their hair. But having a baby? Surely the damage is all downstairs?
Those who’ve been through the whole motherhood thing will likely have been told about your hair often getting thick, glossy and full when pregnant and you may find after birth you start to lose hair a bit as it resets itself back again.
But what about breakage and thinning? I’ve always had very thick and fast growing hair. It got even thicker and shiny when I was pregnant with my eldest daughter. I took my pregnancy vitamins religiously and ate very healthy most of the time.
I breastfed my daughter, still taking some vitamins as advised and then suddenly I started to notice these annoying wispy bits of hair at the front of my hairline.
And then they kept coming. It was a nightmare trying to do my hair. I have a side parting when my hair is down, it’d take so long to find somewhere to part it where the wisps didn’t show. Then if I wanted a ponytail or any style where my hair was brushed back off my face - ha, well needless to say it looked awful!
I’ve seen some people refer to it as a ‘baby fringe’ and some articles suggest on average it takes 15 months to return to normal!
My hair otherwise was in good condition and although it fell out when drying it was thick and healthy overall. You know when those annoying wispy bits disappeared? Ooh not long after Olivia turned 1 I’d say. And then what?
I got pregnant again didn’t I? With twins! And so it began again!
This time double the hormones and a longer period of breastfeeding. I still took vitamins before and after, but my twin pregnancy diet was nowhere near as healthy admittedly (I blame the boy for that!)
This time round I noticed the wispy bits pretty early on and there seem more of them. As the twins are around 13.5 months now I was hoping fairly soon my hair would return to normal (it’s certainly not falling out).
According to gethegloss.com and Anabel Kingsley, “During pregnancy, raised oestrogen levels keep hairs in their anagen (growth) phase for longer than usual...after delivery, levels return rather speedily back to normal, causing hairs to switch from their growth to shedding phase (called telogen).”
“Breastfeeding can also contribute to this due to increases in levels of the hormone, prolactin, which is connected with hair loss too,” Kingsley explains.
My hair is still pretty bad and I recently had my hair done and my hairdresser noticed on the left side my hair is actually getting quite thin near the edge.
Anyone else had this, what did you do? Through pregnancy or otherwise I’m sure it makes no difference. I’d love some tips!
For now, I’ve bought some skin, hair and nail vitamins to try. I’m definitely lacking something as I notice my skin is very dry on my hands and feet - something I’ve had since I first had my daughter and she turns 3 in May!
I already know the benefits of drinking water and most the time I stay on top of this (again something I’m trying to work on at the moment in between handling three under 3!)
So today was the first day I’ve taken the vitamin and I’ve bought a tub of 30 so let’s see what happens...I’m hoping by the time I go on holiday in a few months it’ll be back to its old self and I can feel confident with my hair once again. It’s been a long time...
I know from reading the little tufts are simply new hair trying to grow after the loss post pregnancy and birth, and some people feel they look like a troll after, so I’m not alone. At least it’s not breaking as such!
Hey, even popular Mum and author Giovanna Fletcher posted about it.
Hair transplant surgeon Ken L. Williams Jr., a fellow of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, speaking to SELF, explained that hair grows at an average of half an inch a month, so this kind of thing will typically resolve itself once those hairs get long enough to blend in with the rest of your mane.
So basically I’ve got to be patient...let’s just hope it’s solved itself in a few months time so I can soak up the sun so I only need to show off my Mum tum and not my troll head too! Wish me luck!
