After giving birth, four weeks after this miracle, you will notice massive hair loss. Postpartum hair loss is a very normal occurrence that tends to last about 16 weeks, after which your hair returns to its usual state.
However, it is normal to feel a certain panic seeing your hair fall out during the postpartum period, a process that is already somewhat difficult for some people. Furthermore, it is not a loss that goes unnoticed. We will tell you why it happens and how you can stop postpartum hair loss.
Why does postpartum hair loss occur?
Postpartum hair loss has a hormonal explanation related to the functioning of the hair itself.
Generally, each hair has a cyclical hair life pattern, with a life of between two and six years. This life cycle begins with a period of massive growth or stagnation, to finally pass into a shedding period.
During pregnancy, this cyclical pattern is altered by the increase in thyroid hormones, as well as estrogens. These hormones increase during gestation and keep your hair in a growth phase.
After the baby is born, estrogens and thyroid hormones return to their usual levels, causing the hair that did not fall out during pregnancy (as it was in the growth phase) to fall out all at once. Therefore, if the usual amount is to lose between 50 and 150 hairs a day, this amount triples during the postpartum period.
Other factors that cause postpartum hair loss are blood loss, as iron and hemoglobin are also lost to transport oxygen to the hair follicle through the blood; and stress that tends to appear during the baby's first weeks of life, which affects the hair bulb, weakening it.
How to stop postpartum hair loss?
Although it is impossible to skip this stage, there are some tips that can help care for your hair and slow down its loss during the postpartum period:
Take care of your diet, as the hair bulb is nourished by vitamins and minerals through the blood. A healthy and balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables will help slow down postpartum hair loss, in addition to being beneficial for your health. In your diet, try to incorporate foods rich in omega 3 and vitamin D (e.g. tuna, salmon or walnuts), foods rich in protein and biotin (like eggs), foods rich in vitamins A and iron (like spinach or kale) and foods rich in vitamin C and antioxidants (like oranges and berries).
- You can take iron supplements and vitamin supplements. If you are breastfeeding your baby, this diet can be supplemented with vitamin supplements compatible with breastfeeding. In addition, iron will help prevent anemia or recover from it. Today, supplements for breastfeeding are available and are formulated with the necessary amount of each vitamin and mineral, ready to buy.
- Take care of your hair with 100% natural treatments and do not overuse the flat iron or dryer, as these can weaken your hair. If what we eat reaches our baby through breastfeeding, then the toxic elements that touch the surface of our skin will also reach them, since both reach our bloodstream. In addition, using aggressive treatments and brushing roughly with very hard brushes will not help stop hair loss, but will surely make it worse.
Why choose natural treatments during the postpartum period and breastfeeding
During the postpartum period, the breastfeeding process takes place for all those people who decide to breastfeed their babies. However, sometimes this can be difficult due to mastitis, which is an infection of the mammary tissue and produces breast pain due to excessive milk production or stagnation of the same.
Choosing natural treatments during the postpartum period and breastfeeding is not only recommended, but almost mandatory, since, in this way, breast milk will not suffer any type of external intoxication and will not affect the baby's growth, apart from being better for the health of the pregnant person.
In the Real Earth Stories online store you can find different 100% natural products and treatments so you can recover in a healthy and quick way during the postpartum period, avoiding hair loss, repairing your skin from scars and stretch marks, and all this without harming your baby.
Ayurvedic treatments for hair
Ayurveda, traditional Indian medicine, stands out for being a type of holistic medicine based on natural treatments that keep the body and mind balanced. Among its numerous treatments is the hair massage based on marma points.
There are 31 marma points in the head where different arteries, nerves, veins, muscles, and bones cross at the marma pressure points. A hair massage following Ayurvedic teachings will help you achieve strong, healthy, and radiant hair.
For this, the use of cold-pressed oils is recommended, such as argan oil, jojoba oil, castor oil or rosehip oil. You can also hire the Ayurveda introduction service that we offer at Real Earth Stories to learn how to balance body and mind.
Other 100% natural products that will help you achieve strong and silky hair during and, above all, after the postpartum period are Shikakai, Amla and Henna, conditioners and natural dyes that will help your hair stay strong and healthy without the need to apply any aggressive treatment.
