tips to reduce hair loss after delivery

An average woman loses about 100 strands of hair a day due to hormones, especially estrogen. During pregnancy, estrogen levels in your body are pretty high, leading to less hairfall. After pregnancy, the estrogen in the body falls, and you might be losing about 400-500 strands a day, which is completely normal. The lost hair is going to grow back, maybe not the same texture as before, but you won’t look as bald as you feel in a few months’ time.

Scientifically, hair is either in the growing stage or the resting stage. 90-95% of the hair is in the growing stage and the other 5-10% is in the resting stage. During pregnancy since estrogen levels are high, more strands are in the growing stage. After your delivery, when estrogen levels are low, the resting stage of your hair gets prolonged, which contributes to the 100-500 strands of hair that you’re going to be losing.

Since it’s completely normal, there’s really nothing to worry about and there’s not much you can do about it either. There are a few basic tips you could follow to ensure you’re not losing more postpartum hair than required.

1. Avoid tight hairstyles and use the right products

Tightly tied hair puts more pressure on the hair follicles and cause it to weaken, which could lead to more hairfall. So let your hair loose as much as possible and preferably use a wide tooth comb while combing wet hair. Find the right products that suit your hair so you can avoid chemical damage.

2. Use birth control pills

While this may seem very controversial, but it has been found that these pills boost up your estrogen levels after pregnancy, due to which your postpartum hair loss is reduced. But this is highly UNADVISABLE, especially for the first four weeks after delivery and without the doctor’s consent. Since it’s a natural process, it’s better to wait it out than put yourself on medication to skip this stage.

3. Turn down the heat

Try as much as possible to avoid hair dryers, straighteners, curlers, or any products that artificially style your hair. No amount of serum can change the fact that the heat is unhealthy, leading to more hair damage.

4. New hairstyle

Since the birth of your baby is going to change your lifestyle anyway, why not opt for a new hairstyle to go with the flow? Keep it short so it doesn’t get in the way of breastfeeding and also so you spend less time on maintenance, as you probably won’t have a lot of time to yourself anyway. Avoid stressing over situations as this contributes to hair fall too!

5. Watch what you eat

Fill your diet with as much protein as possible, as hair is made of protein and this is nothing but beneficial. Try inculcating iron in your diet as well as a lot of fruits and vegetables for the anti oxidants unavailable elsewhere.