My hair started falling out around three months after Elle was born. And when I say falling out – I mean big clumps of hair that would just come away in my hands. I was one of those people who had lovely hair during pregnancy, so I’m guessing all those hormones or chemicals that were making my mane so glossy decided to stop and just leave me with flat, lank hair and several really sparse patches, which if I’m brutally honest, were practically bald!
Annoyingly the hair all seemed to fall out around the front of my hairline, so it was very much visible. And the go-to hair style of new-Mums (the messy bun on top of the head) really didn’t do anything to help cover it up either.
It stopped falling out with such gusto when Elle was around nine months, but my hair hasn’t really recovered. The sparse patches around my hair line are still there. Apart from in a few places where some new hair has started to grow again, but in delightful little tufts, so that it looks a like I’ve tried to cut a fringe but gone waaaaaaay too short…
You can see in the images above, my hair looks infinitely better while I’m pregnant than afterwards. Hopefully the second photo really highlights the sparse-ness and flatness for you – you lucky things 😉 Obviously both of these photos were taken a while ago now, but my hair still resembles the second picture and quite frankly, I’m a bit sick of it!
Is there anything I can do? My hair definitely needs a good cut and colour at the moment, which I’m sure would help my confidence, and after looking at the images above, it definitely suits me better having it darker and more natural – but I’d really like to get to the root of problem (excuse the pun).
I’ve tried different shampoos, I eat well – lots of leafy green veg and fish, I sleep (as much as you can do with a little one), I exercise regularly and so I’m at a total loss as to why my hair hasn’t recovered yet. It’s making me consider alternatives…should I try a vitamin or supplement specifically designed for healthy hair? Will it make any difference? Are there any shampoos out there targeted at post natal recovery?
Anyone else currently malting a shed load after having a baby?
Fern x
Can’t comment on how to get your hair back to health but the reason it looks so good in pregnancy is that the cycle of hair loss stops temporarily. So your hair is thicker than normal. When the hormones leave all the hair that would have come out goes in a shorter period of time leaving you a bit flat…
Same boat! Fell out in clumps at 4 months and is worse around my hairline. And I’m naturally dark…which means my scalp shines through the patches/wispy bits like a beacon. No miracle cures from me but I am trying Hairburst (you can get from Holland and Barrett) which has good reviews on t’interweb. I’m only a month in so nothing to report yet…
Thanks Sama, I might give these a whirl too!
Let me know how you get on 🙂 and I think it definitely looks worse when your hair is dark, especially when you’re super pasty like I am at the moment – definite scalp beacon syndrome here too! x
Hi, I used to use Nioxin which aims to thicken and increase hair. It started to help but then I fell pregnant and stopped using it. About to start it again as my little one is 3 months but need to check about safety for breastfeeding.
This sounds like the perfect thing actually Hannah as my hair is pretty thin anyway, let alone at the moment! Fingers crossed it’s BFing friendly x
Im so pleased you are talking about this, I was a bit traumatised when it happened to me a few months ago. I knew that post-natal hair loss existed, but i did not expect it to be so severe. I was so fed up of unclogging the hoover and the shower drain (bleurgh!!! sorry everyone, enough to put you off your breakfast!).
The hair loss has stopped now, but my hair has changed completely. It is now really wavy and frizzy along the hairline; when it used to be smooth and super straight with little effort. My sister, after 4 children; has developed a curly section at the back of her head but the sides are still straight…. really strange!!
Not sure what to suggest to improve your hair condition Fern, maybe time for another baby so that you can enjoy those luscious pregnancy locks once more??!?!
I didn’t realise it would be so bad either and can totally relate to the hoover and shower grossness – it makes we wretch just thinking about it!
HAHA – that would be one way to solve the problem 😉
I have long dark hair which has been looking very glossy and thick until very recently. However it’s now falling out everywhere (and is driving my husband mad too)! My daughter is nearly 5 months but I hadn’t expected the hair loss to start until I stopped breastfeeding so was a bit shocked when I noticed – especially when washing my hair it feels like loads is coming out! I will be interested to see if anyone has any tips on this topic! X
My friend recommended I warm a teaspoon of coconut oil and a teaspoon of castor oil in the microwave and put it on my scalp and sleep in it. It’s gross. Beyond greasy but I think it’s helping my bald patches! Sleep on a towel and two shampoos in the morning to get it out.
This definitely sounds worth a try Abbie, I’ve got a vat of coconut oil from Aldi that’s just sitting in the cupboard too. I’m not adverse to sleeping in a pool of grease in the name of beauty 😉 will give and a go too and we can compare notes x
Oh the dreaded hair loss! I found that my hair loss started about two months after having Hector and stopped around the eight month mark – that said it’s still thin and hasn’t regained my pre-pregnancy thickness. I’ve recently (as of the beginning of this week) started to take a supplement of sulphur which apparently is really lacking in our modern diet but which is needed for healthy hair and nails. It’s used in the production of collagen and keratin and in cartilage too. This is what I use https://www.highernature.co.uk/ShowProductFamily.aspx?ProductFamilyID=159&AgentID=115&gclid=CIaK9avN_ssCFQbgGwodjyUDxQ#.VwdpScdeAnU
Whilst I can’t attest to the benefits right at this very moment my mum has been using it for a couple of months and so many people have mentioned how much thicker her hair is so it must work….Worth a try.
Ohh interesting! Do you know if there are any foods you can eat that contain sulphur Lolly? I wonder why it’s lacking in our modern diets?! x
You essentially get it from bones or so I’m led to believe (happy for any dieticians/nutritionists to put me right if I’m wrong though). And since we don’t really eat bones or bone broth or any derivative of this type of food any more we lack it in our diets. For me this supplement is a really simple easy way to get it back into my diet (read lazy!) xx
Oh interesting – another incentive to be more resourceful and make stock with the Sunday roast left overs…thanks Lolly x
Mine has just started falling out (baby is 4 months old) – I’ve always had fine hair so loved the extra volume in pregnancy but knew this day would come! I just hope it doesn’t end up thinner than it was beforehand! I’ve been recommended the Roots hair mask from Lush – haven’t used it yet but looking forward to trying it out this weekend! x
Oh good idea, I quite fancy putting a lovely mask on my hair. Mine isn’t thinner than it was, but definitely takes a lot more effort to make it look voluminous now! x
I have experienced exactly the same thing – my hair has always been fine and now I am practically bald around front and sides 🙁 I was recommended Kerastace Stimulist treatment spray and shampoo by and friend and it does seem to be encouraging the hair to grow back as well as making my hair feel glossier – I found that giving my hair and thorough brush with a wide tooth comb stopped me shedding hair all over the house and going to the hairdressers for a decent cut started to make me feel better – I still avoid tying it up too much, as I hate the way it looks at the sides, but fingers crossed it will get back to normal xx
It horrible. I lost loads of hair after my first son and even more with my second and felt thoroughly miserable both times. Hair loss impacts on your self esteem so much at a time when you’re getting used to changes in the way you look and feel anyway. I also used Nioxin – no idea if it actually worked but it felt like it did – and my hairdresser recommended solid, dark hair colour as that gives the illusion of thicker hair so definitely think about booking that cut and colour. If nothing else, it’s a couple of hours of “you” time. Oh, and just when I didn’t think it would get better, it did, only I didn’t notice for ages because you only obsess about the stuff that goes wrong, not the stuff gets better.
Thanks Jo – your comment has made me feel better. It sounds so silly and shallow moaning about your hair, but it definitely does impact on your self esteem. I’m getting that hair appointment booked and leaving Elle with Matt for a few hours 🙂
This happened to me too from 3 to 5 months. Having naturally curly hair I was used to losing a lot when washing or coming it, but this was about ten times worse. I became very self conscious and tried to keep my hair down, which is obviously a nightmare with a little one, to hide the bald spots all around my hairline. Thankfully now at 8 months it has grown back in but I do still have tufty bits which make me look super glam! I’ve been lucky that it has grown in so no advice to share, just wanted to say that you aren’t alone. Balding mums united!x
Ooh, I’m definitely going to try sulphur. I have really fine hair and it totally thickened up and looked great in the later months of my pregnancy and just after Zoe was born. I knew it wouldn’t last but that didn’t make it any less traumatic when it all fell out! My hairdresser recommended the L’Oreal Serioxyl hair thickening treatment, which you are meant to apply to the roots of your hair before bed. I have a bottle but, quite honestly, kept forgetting to put it on (baby brain) so can’t attest to its benefits. I’m also using the L’Oreal Fibrology range (cheaper than Serioxyl and you don’t have to ‘remember’ to wash your hair!) and I think it’s quite good. Don’t know how much of that is the placebo effect, but Sali Hughes from the Guardian likes it so that’s good enough for me. My regrowth also has all this wispy stuff round the edges and at the nape of my neck, so when I tie it back it looks ridiculous. But at least now I can commiserate with my fellow sufferers! 🙂
Thanks Tracy and yes like Ash says – balding mums united! 😉
Definitely try it Tracy – my mum’s hair is noticeably different so much so that I’ve jumped on board the sulphur train too. I have so many tufts that I have to straighten parts of my hair to get them to flatten down – it’s ridiculous. A friend of mine actually ended up growing a whole new fringe underneath her existing one!
This is something that is doing the rounds on Pinterest at the moment…I can’t vouch for it but I’ve seen it a lot recently:-
http://www.justnaturalskincare.com/hair-loss/grow-new-hair-treatment-hair-loss.html?pp=0
Seconding Lolly’s sulphur rec, plus ‘For the Hair’ capsules from Holland&Barrett. I’m a sucker for a positive review and this gets great guns on their website. I’m definitely happier with my barnet since I’ve been taking them. I also found the hair loss worse with each pregnancy, something to be ready for!
I think what we also don’t get told/don’t realise is that pregnancy and/or feeding can massively change your hair full stop – my corkscrew ringlets dropped a little more with each pregnancy and I now have more of a beachy wave thing going on. It’s nice and all, but I look in the mirror and don’t recognise myself some days!
The things these babies do to our bodies ?
OH GOD! I’m literally going to be bald then! It’s a good job they are so cute hey Maoibh?! I don’t recognise myself and I’ve only had one (!) EKKK
Thanks for the recommendation 🙂
YES YES YES! Great handfuls in the shower, in brushes, all over the house. Run your hand through my hair and it just fell out. However, it started for me when Silvie was about 10 months and is only just slowing now. It was also so greasy and lank, and for the last month I’ve struggled with dry patches too. GROSS! My lovely old faithful Neal’s Yard shampoos were doing nothing to help too in spite of their magic organicness. Weirdly we are on hols at the moment so I just tried a different shampoo and it has made a magic difference- it’s clearly a rip off of Aussie shampoos by the name of Oz, but it’s wizardry (geddit).
I am so glad I’m not alone with the hair yuk.
However… I just found out I’m pregnant again (SUCH EARLY DAYS BUT I FEEL SAFE HERE ON RMF AND ITS KILLING ME KEEPING IT A SECRET) so maybe this has more to do with the miraculous recovery of the last week or so than any shampoo brand ever could.
Wahooooooooooooooo Lucy! Oh huge congrats from a total stranger ? Am a big fan of many babies, totally thrilled for you ?
AHHHHHHH congratulations Lucy! Thanks for confiding in us 🙂 We’re thrilled for you! And yes, probably the baby hormones. How far along are you? Hope you’re feeling ok!
Lovely happy news for a Friday x
Thanks lovelies. I’m freaking out, it doesn’t feel real (I literally took the tests on Wednesday). Two under two, I must be mad, but at least it puts off the hair problem for another while 😉
Lucy I loved two under two – love love loved it. 4 under 3 was a different kind of wtf but I honestly adored the first few months of my girls together. I feel like ‘2 under 2’ gets bad press but might just be me being a tad sensitive ? but honestly it’s LUSH.
Also, buy all the dry shampoo. Stat.
So exciting! You’ll be fine with two under two Lucy! I just about survived to tell the tale and now its ace as they play so well together (well most of the time anyway). Hooray again xxx
I really recommend Alpecin caffeine shampoo, my post baby receding hairline has been growing back ever since I started using it. Only £6 in sainsburys or boots too I think so worth trying!
Thanks Karina, I know exactly the one you mean as it has that silly advert on TV. Sounds like a bargain too x
I can recommend Sea Kelp vitamin supplements for hair growth
Mine has gone really flat and all the regrowth is blinking grey! How is that fair!?
My hairdresser very kindly started to cut it into a blunter shape before it started falling out so it doesn’t look too horrific. Just goes really lank really quickly.
I’m at the hairdresser tomorrow so hopefully I’ll have lovely hair again!
Fern I am so glad you talked about this ! I had no idea that you lose your hair after pregnancy, imagine my horror! I lost loads but strangely what annoyed me the most was when the hair started to grow back. For me it grew back straight and you could see the tiny hair all over my head! Am I making sense? It was horrid!!! And not the kind of thing that only you can see. I had comments from people! So I hated my hair for a good 18 months after birth, never being happy with a new haircut and I just had to be patient. E is not 2 years old and I am back in love with my hair! When you give birth and you look at your body and all the changes that pregnancy have made that you would have never thought about (tummy okay, expected… but the hair???), you think that it will never be back to how it was before. But it does! But what a long process…
I’m so pleased to read all this. I’ve just lost the most amount of hair I’ve ever seen ever. My hair was never that thick before baby number two but while pregnant second time round my hair was amazing. One friend called it ‘over achieving’ and I rejoiced in that daily. Now I resemble one of the ugly/beautiful women in shallow Hal except I’m also the fat one! Oliver is five months old and I see a long road to recovered self esteem before me. I’m off to write a list of everything that has been suggested and try them all…tonight if possible! Coz I’m not getting pregnant ever again..ever…ever!