OK mom, so you had your baby and you thought all was ok but all of the sudden your hair is acting crazy! Don’t worry, post-partum hair fall is one of those things that no one warns you about before pregnancy. So even though it comes to you asa surprise, alot of women experience it and it is completely normal.
Did your hair look more abundant and feel thicker than usual when you are pregnant?
That’s because your estrogen levels were higher, which prolonged the stage where your hair was growing. In turn, this reduced the length of the ‘resting stage’, meaning that fewer hairs were actually falling out each day.
But all good things must come to an end… and when your baby was born, your estrogen levels took a nosedive. As a result, a lot of hair follicles entered the ‘resting stage’, which is rapidly followed by the (eek!) falling out stage!
And once all this ‘extra’ hair starts falling out, panic can really set in… many of us seem to lose HEAPS of it in the shower, find it all over our pillows, in our hair brushes, and so on.
It can vary from one person to another
…the hair loss can be ‘diffuse’ (all over the head), or it can fall out in clumps. Some women notice the thinning around the hairline in particular. It’s different to everyone but more or else it happens to us all.
Hair fall normalises after hormones levels balance out.
But still excess hair fall is alarming, downright depressing and an absolute pain to have to deal with on top of everything having a new baby entails. So here are some effective things you can do at home to control, manage and normalise your hormones.
- Do maintain a healthy diet. Your body has supported the development of your growing baby (and is STILL supporting it if you’re nursing), so your levels of the nutrients needed for healthy hair growth – such as iron and zinc – may be low.
Furthermore, you may be skipping meals or grabbing convenience snacks because there is little time to prepare meals. So try to have plenty of wholesome food on hand that takes little preparation, such as good protein, fresh green veggies, fruit, nuts, yogurt, oats etc.
- Protein is needed to grow hair and make it stronger. Have whole eggs and don’t throw away the yolk. Enjoy your red meat and fish too. This is something we always ignore. we think protein makes us fat and we don’t eat enough fish or meat. This is dangerous. Amino acids are the building blocks of our body. We need to constantly give our body the protein it needs. So eat protein and watch your hair, skin and nails all get healthy.
- You need healthy fats. Fat makes hormones. Don’t forget this. SO eating healthy fats like nuts, fish and coconut oil is going to make your hormones balanced but help your body use the protein to make new hair.
- Add green colorful veggies and have them raw. Fibre and nutrients are needed to clear out the gut, give vitamins and help you get stronger.
- Drink plenty of water.
- Sleep enough.
And enjoy your baby but take care of yourself too. We rush through everything and forget the importance of our mental wellbeing. So take care of yourself and your baby will be happy too.
Marina Farook 