After Olive, I was losing clumps in the shower. Every single wash. I’d stand there brushing my hair feeling like I kept losing more and more hair. It’s a scary feeling if you’ve felt it.
Here’s what I didn’t know at the time. My body spent an entire pregnancy funneling everything, every nutrient, every bit of protein and iron and zinc, straight to my daughter. She got the first pick of everything I ate. My hair was last on the list. Literally dead last. So a few months postpartum, I felt it just letting go.
Three years later, I still work on my hair health daily. What I have realized is there isn’t a serum, supplement or treatment that can magically make the hair re-appear but I made a huge effort to try a bunch of natural ways to increase my hair. This is also the exact kind of thing I geek out on as a certified nutritional therapist, so once I started digging into the why behind it, I couldn’t stop. Now, I want to share it with you!!
Let me explain it the way I wish someone had explained it to me.
While you’re pregnant, your hormones basically tell all your hair “stay put, don’t fall out yet.” So more hair than usual just hangs on. That’s why pregnant hair looks so thick and glossy. It’s not new hair, it’s just hair that didn’t get the memo to fall out on schedule.
Then you give birth and your hormones crash back down overnight. It’s like someone finally flips the switch back to normal, and all that hair that was “supposed” to fall out months ago falls out all at once. That’s the clump in the drain. It’s not new damage. It’s a backlog.
It’s totally normal to loose 50 to 100 hairs a day. During this postpartum you can lose up to 300 a day. So no, you’re not imagining it, you’re not going bald, your body is just catching up on something it’s been avoiding for 9 months.
It usually kicks in around 2 - 4 months postpartum, gets worse around month 3 - 4, and calms back down somewhere between 6 - 12 months (just approximate timing research shows). Obviously you want to talk to your doctor if you feel like it is falling out drastically.
Doctors usually only check iron if you’re anemic, which is like checking your checking account. But your hair actually runs off your iron savings account, called ferritin, and that number almost never gets checked unless you ask for it by name. You can have “normal” bloodwork and still be running on empty for hair specifically. Ask for ferritin, not just a standard iron panel.
Your thyroid can also get thrown off after having a baby. It happens to about 1 in 10 to 20 women in that first year, and it can pile extra shedding on top of the normal shedding. Think of your thyroid like your body’s thermostat. If it’s out of whack, everything runs a little haywire, hair included. Obvi, if your shedding feels way beyond what your friends describe, mention it to your doctor.
The oils and tools below don’t make your body stop shedding faster. That part is hormonal, it’s happening internally, and it’s going to happen no matter what you rub on your scalp. What they do is protect the hair you still have and keep your scalp in the best shape possible while your body finishes doing its thing. Think of it like watering a plant you already have versus expecting new seeds to sprout overnight. Food is what gives your body the material to regrow. The topical stuff just protects what’s already there in the meantime.
One survey found that over 70% of postpartum moms felt real anxiety about their hair, and just as many said they had no idea what to actually do about it. So if you’ve cried over your hair, you’re not being dramatic, this is a very common thing.
Here’s exactly what’s worked for me:
Scalp oil (code Jazz gets you 15% off!)
Bone broth hot cocoa (JazzLeaf20 for 20% + free shipping!)
Toma Head Spa → if you’re in Florida, I had a great experience at Toma Head Spa (locations in St. Pete, Coral Gables, Boca Raton, and Lake Mary). There are great head spas everywhere. Just google it!
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