Hair loss immediately after childbirth is common and totally normal. Women are concerned for postpartum hair loss and consider it abnormal. Immediate thinning or hair loss convinces them into thinking that they have a fatal disease or illness manifested in the form of hair thinning.
Studies show postpartum or after pregnancy hair loss is totally normal and a part of regular hair growth life cycle. Your hair grows from hair follicles. Each follicle gives rise to a single hair shaft.
Each hair shaft undergoes a regular life cycle for its development and replacement with a new one. Anagen is the first phase of hair growth cycle in which it grows and takes 2 to 6 years. The longer the anagen phase, the longer the hair you will have.
Catagen is second phase starts just after ending of anagen. Catagen is intermittent or transitional phase lasting 2 to 3 weeks. During this phase, the hair shaft neither grows nor rests.
Telogen Phase is the third and last phase of the hair growth cycle. During this phase old hairs are lost and the hair enters an anagen phase again in order to maintain a normal hair growth cycle. It is this period when you notice hair in your comb and on your brush.
The duration of each phase is influenced by internal and external stimuli. During pregnancy, a woman’s body undergoes uncontrolled hormonal fluctuations, irregular periods etc. It is often caused due to the lack of nutrients needed for healthy growth of cells and completion of pregnancy. Folic acid and iron are essential for pregnancy, while most women lack these due to junk foods and an insufficient diet.
Therefore, postpartum hair loss is usually not a result of fatal disease but merely a result of hormonal fluctuations and lack of nutrients.
To counteract postpartum hair loss, herbal hair loss treatments are often used to meet the nutrient requirements of the hair follicles and normalize severe hormonal fluctuations after pregnancy. These treatments are used topically twice or thrice a day for follicular nourishment.
