Postpartum Hair Loss

Hooray! What a fun topic...NOT!

Approximately 6 months after Kenley was born {also when I stopped breastfeeding} my luscious pregnancy hair started to come out in massive clumps. I have always had a ton of hair and have always been a big time shedder, so while it was gross and annoying I wasn't overly alarmed. Plus, I'd heard of this sort of thing happening, so I just went with it.

And then my sweet little nugget got to the hair grabbing stage and unintentionally ripped out what felt like large amount of hair from the front of my head.

Then at about 11 months postpartum, all these lost hairs started to regrow giving me these fun little fly-aways that just could.not.be.tamed.

I loved getting feedback that I wasn't alone and reading your ideas for how to expedite the regrowth process but I'm going to honest, I didn't do a dang thing. And now I really, really regret that.

Here I am today, 22 months postpartum and my cute little regrowth looks like this:

And that goes ALL THE WAY AROUND MY HEAD!
{also, black bra + white tank = super classy}

I have pretty much been self conscious and insecure about my hair for the past year and a half. I have to very masterfully style it to cover up the crazy regrowth and prevent myself from looking like a mushroom head since the top half of my hair is now twice as thick as the bottom. I also have to wear a thick headband every time I pull my hair in to a pony tail because this regrowth doesn't yet fit all the way back but is long enough that it sticks out weird from my headband.

I feel really shallow even talking about this as I know so many people deal with serious diseases that cause hair loss and this is such a minor problem in the scheme of the world. But, I also know there are a lot of mamas out there who are feeling insecure about A LOT of different things postpartum and hair loss is definitely one of them.

You are not alone mama!

So what do we do? Well, I talked to my Auntie Tina who has been a hair stylist for 36 years and has owned her own premier salon in Arkansas for 15 years. She told me that on average, adults lose 100 hairs a day. Boys included! So next time your man gives you grief for hair in the drain let him know he sheds just as much but his hair is so much shorter it's way less noticeable. Anyways, when we are pregnant, as all us mamas know, the babe sucks every single ounce of everything from us to grow big and strong. Once those hormones level out and you are no longer pregnant {or breastfeeding} all those 100 hairs a day you didn't lose feel the need to make up for lost time and therefore we shed BIG TIME. Unfortunately, there isn't a TON you can do to prevent or help it. You can try supplements, vitamins and products to help speed up hair growth and some may work and help but for the most part you can count on your hair growing 1/2 inch each month.

After consulting with my go-to hair professional, I booked myself an appointment to get a fresh trim to keep my hair healthy and growing and also a new style to help cover up some of this nonsense.