Pregnancy’s Hormonal Changes Can Lead to Hair Loss After Childbirth

Many women don’t realize the extent of the changes their bodies experience during pregnancy. Books rarely discuss possible hair loss after pregnancy. They tend to talk about common symptoms like mood swings and backaches. Many people don’t exactly understand how hair grows. Therefore, it can be a bit more difficult to understand what happens after childbirth.

Your scalp has thousands of hair follicles embedded in it. Each one goes through three cycles about 20 times during your life. These cycles are:

1.Anagen – this is the growing phase of a hair. Roughly 85% of your hair follicles are currently in this phase of hair growth. Hair grows continuously during this 3-7 year period at the rate of about a half inch a month.

2.Catagen – During the catagen phase which lasts between two and four weeks, hair will become detached from the blood supply causing the follicle to shrink in size. Whenever new hair starts forming, the bulb of the old hair will be pushed upward. Somewhere between 2 and 3% of your hair will be in this stage during any specific period.

3.Telogen – This period lasts about three months. During this time, about 50-100 strands of hair will fall out each day. The hair follicles will weaken and become thinner. After a hair follicle has fallen out, it will be replaced by a new one.

As you can see, some hair loss is to be expected every day of your life. Women who are pregnant will experience these cycles differently. Most hairs stay in the catagen cycle during pregnancy. Your hairs won’t fall out because of the increase of hormones in your body. Therefore, you can now easily see why your hair falls out after pregnancy. Most of the hair that was in the waiting stage will go on to the next one and fall out. It can take up to four months before this happens though and your hair will return to its normal cycle.

It is very common for hair loss to occur after pregnancy, so you shouldn’t stress yourself. After going through its normal processes, your hair should get back to normal within a few months. You can relax now that you know you aren’t going bald.. Doc No. hlsoehasl-sldhgt

Kristie Brown writes on a variety of topics from health to technology. Check out her websites on vitamins for hair loss and vitamins for hair loss

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