Just around the time when your baby might be sleeping through the night, your pre-pregnancy jeans zip up and you’re really starting to feel like you’re rocking this mommy gig, something not-so-wonderful happens: your hair becomes terrible. It gets thin, dry, brittle—maybe it even falls out. After 9 months of pregnancy, the science experiment that your breasts have become, post-partum bleeding and all that jazz you have yet another bodily transformation to contend with? Yep, Mama, you sure do. Here’s how to make the best of this annoying—but temporary—beauty problem.
- First, understand that postpartum hair loss is all very normal.
You’re not going bald. What’s actually happening is that when you were pregnant, thanks to extra levels of estrogen, you grew more hair than your scalp was used to accommodating, and it didn’t fall out during the normal shedding periods that non-pregnant people experience. (You probably didn’t notice less hair clogging the shower drain or in your hair brush, but in fact, you did get a 9-month reprieve from normal hair loss.) And now, you’re simply losing the excess.
- Use a thickening shampoo.
There isn’t a beauty product in the world that’s going to stop your extra pregnancy hair to stop falling out, but you can use a thickening shampoo product like Avalon Organics Biotin B Complex Therapy Thickening Shampoo to give extra “oomph” to the hairs that stay put.
- Try a natural leave-in hair treatment.
Try a vitamin-rich formula like Giovanni Vitapro Fusion to restore health to your tired locks and to protect it from any further damage you might be doing with flat irons, blow dryers—any other instruments of hair torture you might have in your arsenal to attempt to give some style to your less-than-fabulous mane. If your scalp is suffering, try Aubrey Biotin Repair Scalp Tonic to nourish and revitalize – it also helps fortify and thicken strands at the root.
- Try a new, shorter look, or bangs.
If your hair is long, going for a fun, structured bob will instantly add volume. Bangs will hide those telltale “forehead wisps” all new moms get. Or try an oversized, retro-60s headband.
- Stick with natural hair processes only!
Maybe you didn’t color your hair for 9 months out of concern that hair dye could damage your baby? These processes aren’t harmful to your baby now—but they can wreak havoc on already-fragile, baby-fine hair! Go for a natural, non-chemical hair tint instead, or give henna a try!
- Take a hair, skin & nails supplement.
Try a supplement like Vitacost’s Targeted Wellness Hair, Skin & Nails Support, which has a blend of biotin, gelatin, silica and MSM. These nutritional supplements work together for healthy beauty from the inside out. (And why not work towards better nails and a complexion as part of the bargain? I don’t know about you, but I didn’t have time for a manicure or facial when I had an infant to contend with!)