Hairdresser reveals shocking extent of postpartum hair loss faced by many women
Scary, but perfectly normal
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Your support makes all the difference.A video highlighting a lesser-known side-effect of pregnancy has gone viral - and it shows just how shocking postpartum hair loss can be.
Uploaded to Instagram by a Utah hairdresser, the video shows the stylist gently pulling on a client’s hair - and removing clumps of hair at a time.
While some were stunned by the video, many mothers have taken to social media to share accounts of their own extreme postpartum hair loss.
Apparently, the extreme hair loss is actually completely normal.
One mum tweeted, “I’m sure the post-pregnancy hair loss will stop at some point, I’m just becoming concerned that point is ‘total baldness’”
Another mom tweeted that her “postpartum hair loss is so bad, I’m surprised I don’t have bald spots!”
Another mum tweeted, “Post pregnancy hair loss is terrifying. How do I have any strands left? Baby #2 kicked my ass.”
So why the excessive shedding?
Well, while many new mums are shocked when they shed more hair than usual in the first few months after giving birth, it’s perfectly normal.
And it looks like oestrogen is the culprit.
While the hormone is your friend during pregnancy - when your body is producing it like crazy - after you give birth, your oestrogen level plummets, and a lot more hair follicles enter the resting stage.
Gynaecologist Dr Sheila Newman told The Independent: "It actually has a name. Postpartum hair loss is called telogen effluvium and it occurs four to six months after pregnancy. During the pregnancy, when women's hair looks lush, and thick, and beautiful, it is because they are not losing the 100 strands of hair they would normally lose per day. But once they give birth, the hair goes into the shedding stage, and all this hair may fall out. But it grows back, it is completely reversible."
Unfortunately, despite the various hair products marketed directly to women dealing with postpartum hair loss, you can’t actually prevent the hair from falling out.
But the good news is, in addition to having a brand new baby, hair always grows back.
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