Your hair is falling out and you're starting to panic. You're not alone. Shedding hair at a noticeable rate in the first two to six months after baby is not unusual but it is distressing. Many new mums have no idea what to do about it and worry that regrowth will be brittle and weak.

"A few months after the birth of my third child, amid the sleep deprivation and endless nursing, my hair started to fall out in alarming clumps. I knew it was part of the postpartum process but I had no idea how to deal with it."
Alicia, Mum to Sam, Age 1

Why does Hair Fall after Baby?

Soaring oestrogen and progesterone levels during pregnancy cause your hair to remain in an ongoing growth stage which results in thick, lustrous hair. When your hormones level out in the months following childbirth, hair enters a resting phase before it begins to fall out, often quite dramatically.

Taking care of a newborn is an exhausting time and puts a lot of strain on your body and its resources, as does breastfeeding. Hair needs an abundance of nutrients and energy to grow. Which is why new mums need extra vitamins, minerals and protein to support healthy postpartum hair growth.

 

 

At the very bottom of the bulb on the base of each of your hair follicles is the hair papilla. It contains blood vessels that deliver nutrients to each follicle and hair shaft. Nutrients and oxygen are delivered through the blood vessels and, as such, the hair papilla’s main role is in the delivery of crucial elements for hair growth.

What does this mean for your postpartum hair?

It means that you need an abundance of vitamins and minerals that are essential for healthy hair. Nutrient deficiencies can arise in postpartum women due to tiredness, stress, and breastfeeding which in turn leads to a deterioration in hair quality and poor growth.
Some of the more important nutrients for new mums include:

• Zinc
• Protein
• Biotin
• Selenium

 

New Mums Need More

With a healthy diet, enough sleep and balanced hormones, the scalp will get what it needs to grow healthy, beautiful hair. But the problem for new mums is that during breast-feeding, the body is designed to put your child's nutritional needs first. On top of that, hormone imbalances and fatigue contribute to poor postpartum hair growth. Incorporating a hair-specific vitamin supplement into your regime is often the only way that you can be sure that your hair is getting everything it needs to look and feel its best.

Born:Again is a high-performance hair vitamin supplement blended with hero ingredients marine collagen and biotin that reduces fatigue, rebalances hormones and contains everything you need for the healthiest postpartum hair growth.

Post Pregnancy Hair Loss Mythbusters

Myth 1: Shampoo Less

It’s commonly thought that not shampooing as often will reduce hair loss. The truth is, the frequency with which you wash your hair will not affect the amount of hair you lose. The hair that is ready to fall will fall.

Myth 2: Hair Loss Worsens with each Pregnancy

Your hair loss experience will vary from pregnancy to pregnancy and does not necessarily get worse with each subsequent pregnancy.

Myth 3: Breastfeeding causes hair loss

Breastfeeding does not cause hair loss. Breastfeeding has no proven effect on whether or not a woman will lose her hair after giving birth.