Combatting Hair Loss During Pregnancy: Tips & Tricks

Hair loss during pregnancy is not a common concern, because during pregnancy most women face thick and bright hair.

Because during pregnancy, women have high estrogen levels that were present at that period (9 months of time).

But after delivery, it is common in most women due to a sudden drop in hormones, including estrogen, progesterone, and others.

Apart from increased hormones during pregnancy, there are several other causes of hair loss, including medical issues, nutrients deficiency, etc

Hair loss after childbirth, known as postpartum hair loss, where a sudden drop in the hormone, and blood volume, leads to hair loss.

Check – Best Sleeping Position During Pregnancy

Causes of Hair Loss During Pregnancy

If you see hair loss or severe hair shedding during pregnancy, it might due to several reasons which include:

Hormonal Changes

It is the most common reason for hair loss during pregnancy and after delivery due to the high and sudden drop in hormones.

Increased hormones are good during pregnancy and help in child development as well as promote placenta growth and overall health.

Progesterone, oxytocin, and other vital increased hormone levels during pregnancy play vital roles in making pregnancy healthy.

How Do Hormones Affect The Hair Growth Cycle?

As we talked on a previous post, increased estrogen levels during pregnancy promote thick and shiny hair along with increased blood pressure.

But after delivery, this increased estrogen, and blood pressure level decreased, which leads to hair loss after delivery (2)

The hair cycle stage starts with “anagen“, the second stage is “catagen“, and the third phase is “telogen”.

Progesterone can lead to thinner, and weaker hair, which is why some women face thin hair during periods, due to high levels of progesterone (3)

After delivery, most hormones decrease and returns to normal level within 24 hours, but, prolactin remains high due to making milk for feeding.

Overall, hormones affect your hair cycle in many stages of life including during puberty, pregnancy, periods, and menopause.

Nutrients Deficiency

Lack of nutrients during pregnancy affects both the mother’s and baby’s health, leading to anemia, low birth weight, premature birth, etc.

Of course, nutrient deficiency causes hair problems, like hair loss, thin hair, not shining, and other health issues that can arise.

If you face hair loss during pregnancy due to nutrients deficiency, then your healthcare provider may suggest you

• Iron intake
• vitamin B, and D – Vitamin B is found in meat, fish, eggs, beans, green vegetables, etc and the sunlight is the best source of D.
• zinc
• protein

You just ensure that you eat a sufficient diet, including fruits, vegetables, etc to support baby and hair health.

There are following ways that ensure that you are not nutrient deficient, and prevent several health issues such as:

• Eat a variety of vegetables, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, and fruits to prevent nutrients deficiency
• keep yourself hydrate
• avoid processed, oily certain fish that are high in mercury food, etc
• maintain a healthy weight through exercise, and daily housework
• monitor your body, if you find any discomfort, craving, pain in abdominal, and other uncommon things
• talk to your doctor, before jumping into any exercise, or therapy, and facing any discomfort, talk to your healthcare provider.

Stress and Anxiety

I think, stress, and feeling anxious about delivery is one of the most common reasons for hair loss, and other health issues during pregnancy.

Cortisol is a stress hormone that disturbs hair growth, and leads to hair loss, fall, and thinning, also stress leads to telogen effluvium condition.

Which is refer to excessive shedding (4)

There are several ways or things that you can easily your stress during pregnancy including:

• Yoga
• meditation
• massage
• relaxation techniques such as deep breathing

Check Out – Techniques That Will Manage Your Stress

If your stress is reached a high level, so you consult your doctor before it hurt you and your baby to relieve stress (5)

On the other hand, studies report shown that hair loss also occurs during periods, due to excessive stress.

Other Causes of Hair Loss During Pregnancy

Nutrient deficiency, stress, and hormonal changes during pregnancy are not the only reasons for hair loss (6).

There are several reasons which include:

Thyroid issues – If the mother already has a thyroid issue, then it can also trigger hair loss during pregnancy even after delivery.

Genetics – If the mother’s family has hair loss or thin hair issues, then it can be seen in your hair due to genetics.

Medications – Consuming any medication like thyroid medicines, or other medicines can interpret with your hormones and lead to hair loss.

Other medical issues – High blood pressure, and sugar levels can also disturb the hair growth cycle.

Check Out – Hair Loss In Females

If you experience excessive hair shedding, and other health issues during pregnancy, then you should consult your doctor.

Treatment Ways For Hair Loss During Pregnancy

However, apart from other medical issues, there are several treatments for hair loss during pregnancy which include:

Treatment for hair loss during pregnancy depends on the causes of hair loss, which may be the reason for medical issues (7) for example:

Nutrition deficiency

If hair loss occurs due to nutrition deficiency, then you should work on your diet, like eating a healthy diet, if it is not enough (8)

Then, you should consult your healthcare provider, which may provide you with supplements to ensure that you are getting enough nutrients.

Lifestyle changes

It is one of the most recommended ways to prevent excessive hair loss during and after delivery, where you have to adopt a healthy lifestyle (9)

A healthy lifestyle includes – eating enough healthy food, staying hydrated, learning how to manage stress, and avoiding hair chemical treatments.

By adopting lifestyle changes you can prevent hair loss, also do some exercises, and talk to your doctor if see any discomfort during pregnancy.

Medical Treatment

Remember, before taking any medications, you should talk to your doctor, they will give medicine according to your current condition.

Medications can help you with hair prevention during pregnancy, but avoid excessive amounts, and drink enough water.

OTC (over-the-counter medications) can help in hair growth, but it is not recommended, talk to your about OTC, and other medicines (10)

Instead of choosing OTC medicines, you can choose a supplement that has less risk and is recommended by several doctors (11)

We do not recommend any medication for you, because everyone has different hair loss reasons, current conditions, etc.

With benefits medications also has some risks, such as dehydration, miscarriage, birth defects (12), etc.

Topical Treatments

Before, applying topical treatment during pregnancy, you should talk to your doctor, to prevent pregnancy-related complications.

Because topical things also contain chemical, harmful ingredients that are not recommended during pregnancy (13)

Here are well-famous natural topical remedies which are considered quite safe during pregnancy are:

• Essential oil
• coconut oil
• aloe vera

EO is made from plant seeds, where oil is extracted by putting a tone of weight on seeds, instead of heat and any chemical additives.

Hair Transplant Surgery

This treatment is not recommended during pregnancy, because it can cause several health issues, for both the mother and fetus (14)

Several reasons why you should not do hair surgery, especially during pregnancy (15)

• Surgery can disturb hormones
• medication use during surgery increases the risk of pregnancy loss.

Check Out – 8 Real Natural Way To Stop Hair Loss

Prevention of Hair Loss During Pregnancy

As we know, hair loss during pregnancy occurs in some women, but after delivery is its most common concern which can be prevented.

Here are some excellent ways that you can prevent excessive hair loss during pregnancy (16) include:

• hair care, give your hair priority
• avoiding harsh, and chemical ingredients in shampoo and conditioners, especially sulfate.
• using the right way to clean your hair, and avoiding combing on wet hair after a bath.
• avoid excessive heat or chemical products during pregnancy because they speed up your hair loss
• protect your hair from UV rays (17)
• use natural remedies to protect, and prevent hair loss like aloe vera, massage with oil, etc
• follow a well-balanced diet, which is good for both mother and baby’s growth
• avoid triggering things – speed up the process of hair loss, like stress, so make sure to manage your stress

If you experiencing severe hair loss and other health issues along with hair loss, then you should consult the doctor, because it may be concerning.

Precautions To Take When Treating Hair Loss During Pregnancy

Precautions are very important before your hair loss reaches the next level, which ensures both mother and baby safety.

So it is important to take precautions here are some precautions are considered include:

Avoid Medication and Hair Treatments

Make sure, to avoid medication because they may worsen the hair loss situation due to their several side effects (18)

Avoid hair treatment and chemical products which contain ingredients that help in growing hair but for a certain period of time.

Stay Safe Side With Natural-Remedies

Make sure, to use natural home remedies instead of using chemical products, and medication to grow hair fast (19)

If you are experiencing hair loss during pregnancy, you should find natural remedies to help promote healthy hair growth.

Here are some options to consider:

• massage – This promotes blood flow to the scalp, and oil like coconut oil enhances the massage power.
• aloe vera – it is considered safe during pregnancy, which also protects your hair from UV rays
• essential oil – EO not only prevents hair loss but is also helpful in insomnia, nausea, vomiting, headache, fatigue, etc.
• Onion juice – It is good for fast hair growth, and also has antibacterial properties that prevent scalp infections.
• Biotin – It is quite popular for promoting healthy skin, hair, and brittle nails.

A Case study claims that biotin supplements can encourage hair health, but these reports were only in children (20) (21).

You can find biotin in sunflower seeds, Egg, sweet potatoes, almonds, fish (tuna, salmon), cheese, apples, whole wheat bread, etc

However, studies have also shown that biotin is not good while pregnancy.

Consult With Your Doctor

Talking to your healthcare provider, in any case, is a good idea to prevent disease early, through diagnosis, and proper treatment.

Especially, during pregnancy, if you see or experience any discomfort, pain, fatigue, weakness, etc then you should definitely consult the doctor.

Down Line

Hair loss during pregnancy is not common, however, after delivery, hair loss is common due to a decrease in blood level and in hormones.

Several reasons for hair loss, especially while pregnancy and after, like hormones, stress, nutrient deficiency, and others.

Women can easily prevent it during pregnancy, by finding the main reason for their hair loss.

There are several ways that you can prevent excessive hair loss by managing stress, giving gentle hair care, having a healthy lifestyle, etc.