Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Anyone have hair shedding/loss in pregnancy? Did you get postpartum hair loss?

15 replies

NewbieToThis · 22/12/2023 14:11

posting here for traffic

Hi so I’m currently nearly 28 weeks pregnant and at the start of my pregnancy I had issues with my thyroid being low (I have an underactive thyroid but medication keeps it under control). The doctor had reduced my dose a month before I got pregnant which was fine before pregnancy but I really struggled in my early stages with it. It’s sorted now and I get regular blood tests to keep on top of it. Throughout my pregnancy until after 20 weeks I didn’t realise I had low iron even though I got most of the symptoms of it such as exhaustion. I went to the midwives when my migraines had all of a sudden got worse. I got my bloods done and low iron was to blame. I’ve been on iron tablets prescribed by my doctor ever since and I’ve noticed an improvement in symptoms. Just after the 20 week mark I noticed a bit of shedding more than normal but not terrible but enough to upset me. I have decently thick hair naturally and it’s still thick to this day even though it still sheds a bit more than normal. I don’t want to lose any of it especially after having a baby as I’m quite self conscious of how I look especially when I’m not done up. I have my hair bleached white blonde at the hairdressers and I’m not stopping that especially cos I’m pale and I’m not sure if I’ll even get time to do my tan regularly. My hair isn’t crazy damaged.

My question is did anyone get hair shedding during pregnancy did you get more after or did you not. I’m worried about losing lots of my hair and it badly affecting my self esteem and I know if I did and especially if things get bad again with close family members and I don’t get the support to feel myself I know it will massively affect my bonding with my son and I’m high risk for pnd as I can suffer from low mood and I have had it a bit during this pregnancy. Looking after myself and doing myself up and feeling good is my way of coping with things and it hides my disability and I don’t know what I’ll do if things get bad and I have postpartum hair loss on top of that. I know I sound vain but you can thank pregnancy hormones for that lol. Just looking for some reassurance

OP posts:
NewbieToThis · 22/12/2023 14:42

Bump

OP posts:
NewbieToThis · 22/12/2023 15:06

Bump

OP posts:
Riverlee · 22/12/2023 15:08

I list hair after I gave birth, not before. It wasn’t loads but made a recent haircut look wrong (not sure how best to describe it).

NewbieToThis · 22/12/2023 21:18

Riverlee sorry to hear that. Has it grown back? X

OP posts:
NewbieToThis · 22/12/2023 21:19

Bump

OP posts:
blackpanth · 22/12/2023 21:21

I was lucky and never lost any. I've got such thick hair. A lot of it I naturally shed anyway. Only in the bath when washing my hair.

NewbieToThis · 22/12/2023 21:26

That’s good glad it never happened to you. I’ve thick hair too but very attached to it. Even though it’s shedding it isn’t too bad but I’m hoping it won’t shed or thin out after giving birth as I’m already a self conscious person and I think it would really annoy me especially if my figure doesn’t bounce back quickly.

OP posts:
SarahLHs · 22/12/2023 21:28

If you're shedding during pregnancy then in theory the pp hair loss shouldn't be too bad.

My hair barely shed while pregnant, then all the hair I would have lost in the last few months all came out in the space of a few weeks. I've got a lovely spread of 2 inch long hairs all over my head where it's growing back.

SerCrispin · 22/12/2023 21:29

I lost loads of hair after both pregnancies. It took ages to look normal again (6+ months)

NeverDropYourMooncup · 22/12/2023 21:30
  1. It's absolutely normal for a lot of hair to come out after birth because the normal shedding pattern stops during pregnancy.
  2. Bleaching hair causes breakage, particularly when it's the highest level bleaching. Beach it enough and stuff will come out looking like shedding because it's dissolved at the overprocessed bits.
foxylab2023 · 22/12/2023 21:30

I lost during and after I'm afraid to say. It's still very very thin now and I have to use daily thickening shampoo which has helped slightly

YouJustDoYou · 22/12/2023 21:32

Yes, the hair stopped growing on my legs but I also started to lose clumps from the sides of my scalp. After my ds was born I also started to go grey in clumps too overnight. I retained the supersmell ability though, which was weird.

YouJustDoYou · 22/12/2023 21:32

Oh, hair grew back. Grey receeded, a bit.

Andbreatheee · 22/12/2023 21:33

I lost absolutely loads postpartum, it just is what it is, I had to make peace with it as it upset me so much and I couldn't do anything about it. It's taken about two years for the baby hairs that grew back to match my current length, but my hair isn't as thick/ able to grow as long as before. Everyone is different though.

Popcorn23 · 22/12/2023 21:48

I didn't lose much hair when pregnant but lost loads after giving birth. It lasted for months.... but (and its a big but) it didn't actually make my hair look thinner and more importantly, I was too busy and wrapped up in my beautiful baby to care anyway.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread