Four postpartum women on how they navigated hair loss
image via @tiara.swain/INSTAGRAM
as told to daisy henry
“There’s something about hair tufts that stick up out of your scalp that is a nice external representation of the chaos you’re living daily as a mum to a newborn.”
Motherhood changes everything, from your sleep cycles to your sense of self. But it can also leave its mark in unexpected places, like your hairline.
While pregnancy can leave you with the best hair of your life (thanks to a cocktail of hormones that temporarily reduces hair shedding), the post-birth period can see your hair doing a complete 180. A drop in hormones means that a lot of the hairs you managed to hold onto during those nine months, will suddenly break free and fall out in unison.
For more haircare reviews, check out our Beauty section.
Of course, it can be confronting to witness clumps of hair collecting in the shower drain. And it can be frustrating, even isolating, until you realise how many other people are going through the same thing. Though it’s rarely talked about, postpartum hair loss is a fairly common experience for new mums (one study reported as many as 91.8 per cent of people have experienced it in some form).
To shed some light on the reality of postpartum hair loss, we reached out to four mothers. From styling hacks to perspective shifts, here’s how they navigated the fallout.
Tiara Swain, writer
View this post on Instagram
It didn’t hit me straight away. I thought I’d dodged it, but a few months postpartum, my hair started coming out in concerning amounts in the shower. My baby is almost 11 months old now and it’s still falling out. Honestly, I don’t even know how I still have any hair left on my head. The biggest giveaway is at the front around my face, where little wispy baby hairs stick up as if I’ve randomly chopped sections off. Those tiny regrowth hairs are such a dead giveaway that someone’s had a baby.
I got a fringe and did the classic ‘mum chop’, and life is definitely easier with shorter hair. You’ll also often see me sporting a hat. Emotionally, it felt like another hit. First, you accept your body has changed, then you have to accept your hair isn’t what it used to be either. Other mums keep telling me it comes back, so I’m just trying to ride it out. I haven’t taken any measures to prevent it. It just felt like part of the whole postpartum package. Honestly, life is so busy now with a little one that I don’t have much time to dwell on it. Just chuck on a cute cap and lets go!
The texture of my hair has definitely changed since giving birth. My curls aren’t as tight, and my strands feel finer. I’m hopeful things will bounce back once I stop breastfeeding, but for now, I’m just accepting that this is the season I’m in and keeping it under wraps with a cute French bob.
Lani Robertson, fashion writer
I was fully prepared for my hair to fall out in clumps during postpartum but the reality of it was shocking. I remember washing my hair and feeling my scalp without the ‘padding’ I was used to, and it made me feel queasy. I was lucky to have a good head of hair prior, so it wouldn’t have been super noticeable, but I still lost about half of my hair.
I decided there wasn’t much I could do about the hair ‘loss’ per se (postpartum hormones are strong), but I did focus on preserving the health of the strands that stayed. I cut way back on heat styling, adjusted my diet to include lots of food high in Omega-3, and used nourishing hair treatments rather than gel to slick my hair back on pre-wash days.
Whether it worked or not, it’s hard to know, but I tried to embrace my hair in its most chaotic, tufted state. There’s something about hair tufts that stick up out of your scalp that is a nice external representation of the chaos you’re living daily as a mum to a newborn.
Jameen Zalfen, co-founder of Dyspnea
View this post on Instagram
At first I thought perhaps I was one of the lucky ones and had skipped the postpartum hair loss. You’re juggling a new born and adjusting to your new life, so it’s not at the forefront of your mind… until your hair starts falling out in the shower in clumps.
I was feeling okay about my appearance post-birth but hit a little bit differently. It felt like just another thing on top of everything else. I struggled with it more then I would like to admit – it felt never-ending.
It didn’t feel necessary to take anything to treat it, its a natural progression. Plus, purchasing something felt like another marketing trap targeting first time mums, so I just let it be and mourned my hair loss and slicked back my baby hairs. However, a year post-birth I can safely say I am out on the other side, I’ve recently been to the hairdressers for a colour and cut and things are looking up!
Katherine Ruiz, founder of People Haircare
View this post on Instagram
Around the five-month mark I experienced significant postpartum hair loss. Every time I washed my hair, huge chunks would come out at once, which was definitely confronting. Once the shedding slowed, I was left with a sea of baby hairs, not just across my hairline but right through my crown.
It’s been, and still is, challenging to style my hair. It’s harder to slick it back and when I blow wave it I often look like I’ve been electrified. Owning a haircare brand, my hair is such a big part of my identity and what I do, so this stage has been particularly challenging.
Practically, I am leaning on products and routines that made things easier. The People Slick Styler has become my go-to for taming regrowth and the People All-In-One Leave-In Treatment helps to strengthen my hair and keep it hydrated. Emotionally, I keep reminding myself that these changes are normal and temporary.
But I knew postpartum shedding is largely hormonal and unavoidable, so I didn’t try to prevent it. Instead, I focused on supporting my hair’s health during that time and being gentle with it as well as leaning into nourishing and hydrating products.
Postpartum hair loss has become a huge talking point in the hair industry and I’ve noticed more and more brands releasing products that specifically target women during this stage. While it’s great to see the conversation opening up, I think it’s really important that it’s done with care. For many women, postpartum hair changes are temporary and largely hormonal, so positioning products as a ‘fix’ can sometimes feel misleading or add unnecessary pressure.
For more on postpartum hair loss, try this.
Liked this? You’ll love these...
