Posted: Monday, June 19th, 2017
As shocking as it may be for new moms to experience, excessive hair shedding is a normal occurrence after child birth. So why does it happen?
Under normal circumstances, approximately 85 to 95 percent of the hair on your head is growing. The other 5 to 15 percent is in a resting stage. After this resting stage, that hair falls out and gets replaced with new hair. On average, women shed about 100 hairs a day!
During pregnancy, the growing stage gets prolonged due to increased levels of estrogen. This results in women having fewer hairs in the resting stage and, therefore, fewer hairs falling out each day. Women who are pregnant often love how thick and luxurious their hair looks.
After giving birth, a woman’s estrogen levels decrease significantly and a lot more hair follicles enter the resting stage. This results in an unusually high level of hair shedding, and mostly seen when showering or when brushing your hair. This excessive hair shedding can last for about six to twelve months after giving birth. Your hair will return to its pre-pregnancy thickness at that time.
Although you can’t prevent your hair from falling out, you can experiment with different hairstyles, products, and styling techniques to give your hair a fuller look during this period of time.
If you have any questions about postpartum hair loss or would like more information about any of the recommendations that The Salon at 10 Newbury has offered in this post, please feel free to call us at 617-247-4900 or email us at thesalonat10newbury.com.