After having a full crown of glory during pregnancy, how do you prevent hair loss postpartum. Tyrika of mainelement: love give tips and product recommendations to help with the transition after baby.
Hair grows gloriously during pregnancy. We often get to enjoy fuller, longer tresses. We take pride in our appearance during birth, taking pride and care to put our hair up in a protective, yet cute easy to manage style knowing that many pictures will be taken (because let’s be honest, we’re a little vain even during that moment) and knowing that after the baby comes there’s simply will not be quite as much time or energy available to whip up cute hair.
But in the months following birth, the hair we’ve been fawning over seems to turn on us. The texture may change, dryness that wasn’t there before may become a problem, and seemingly excess shedding may occur. Often when this happens we immediately freak out, wondering what we did wrong and how to fix it. It’s important to know that you haven’t done anything wrong. Your hormones are still raging and what they what they are supposed to do as your body normalizes and the outward results are the changes you are seeing in your hair.
Shedding and breakage are the most commonly experienced issues postpartum. It is important to know that some shedding is normal and cannot be prevented. This is because your hair did not shed as much during your pregnancy due to hormonal changes; once those hormones settle back to normal, some of that hair must be shed. Shedding can be minimized, however, by frequent scalp massages and tea rinses. Both increase blood circulation to the scalp which creates healthy hair follicles. Tea rinses also help cleanse and add nourishment to the follicles. Healthy happy hair follicles tend to hold on to their attached hair root better. By proactively incorporating scalp massage 2 -3 times per week into your routine, this can be minimized.
Breakage is most often a symptom of dry hair, which is also a result of hormone changes after baby. This is best prevented by increasing moisture in your hair care routine. This can be achieved in different ways depending on your routine. Increasing the frequency of your washing and/or co-washing and properly sealing afterwards; adding 15-20 minutes of steaming your hair; and frequently misting and sealing your protective styles just to name a few. This will increase the moisture externally your hair receives which will help decrease breakage. You also will want to keep yourself hydrated from the inside as well with at least 8 glasses of water a day.
These changes can be added to your routine as needed. Don’t feel the need to try to incorporate all of them; that could easily become overwhelming and time consuming which is not what you want especially as a new mom. Pick one or two that you feel you can easily add into your existing routine and see what chances you experience. With patience, you should see results and find yourself retaining a lot of the glorious hair that grew in during your pregnancy.
Bio: Tyrika Williams is an aromatherapist who created mainelement: love, an aromatherapy based hair care line for textured hair, after spending years creating products to care for her hair that incorporated essential oils and other botanical ingredients. Her line of products blends a love of hair with a love of nature’s gifts to health. She is also a licensed massage therapist, specializing in prenatal massage, and massage for chronic pain management. She has a passion for women’s holistic wellness and advocates for women to be the master of their overall physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. For more info visit www.mainelementlove.com
an iron supplement as prescribed by your doc.