5 Tips for Dealing With Postpartum Hair Loss

I'm now five and a half months postpartum which means it's time for, you guessed it, hair loss. Yay for bodies being weird!

I actually thought I would escape this unfortunate part of postpartum life, because my hair did not get thicker at all while I was pregnant. But then, lo and behold, two weeks after I had Mia my hair stopped falling out and growing. What?! I mean, really I first noticed because I kept getting confused in the shower about whether or not I had shaved. Turns out I hadn't, my leg hair just wasn't growing! Once again, yay for bodies being weird!

But, since my hair got thicker, that meant that eventually it would have to shed back to normal, and oh my goodness it has been happening. I've been losing hair like crazy (our vacuum even broke - couldn't handle the shedding!!) for the past month or so, from all over my head but especially around the temples and my hairline.

I've actually always struggled with having extreme baby hairs, which really is what postpartum hair loss gives you. In middle school whenever I wore a ponytail I would shellac all of my baby hairs back to my head, and then eventually in high school I gave up and let them fly everywhere in all of their glory. I even cut bangs (and then kept them for almost 10 years!) as a way to camouflage the baby hairs. Over the years, they've given me lots of practice for keeping baby hairs under control.

Here are my top five tips for dealing with postpartum hair loss:

1. Part your hair when it's wet 

A lot of tips for volume include waiting to part your hair until it's dry, but if you're trying to get baby hairs under control that's going to result in them standing straight up! My technique for years has been to get out of the shower and then comb and part my hair with a wide tooth comb while it's still wet. Then I go over my hair again with a fine tooth comb to make sure that my baby hairs are in place (this also helps keep my hair sleek and smooth!) and let them dry that way. I also part my baby hairs closer to the center even though I part my hair over to the side, as this also keeps them from standing up.

2. Change up your part to hide any sparse or bald spots 

If you have any spots that are starting to thin on your part, change it up now before things get worse. That will give that spot a chance to recover without the stress of being directly on your part. Since my left temple is right on my part it has suffered the most, but since I shifted my part a little closer to center it has started to get better.

3. Keep your part when putting your hair in a ponytail

You may have noticed that whenever I wear my hair up, I don't push all of my hair straight back. Instead, I always keep the first inch or two of my hair parted (like here - wow that's a pregnant belly!). This allows my baby hairs to lay flat and stay camouflaged. When you try combing your hair straight back, that means those baby hairs are going to stick out and any sparse spots are going to show.

4. Use a toothbrush and hairspray

If you are trying for a style that isn't cooperating with your baby hairs, try putting hairspray on a toothbrush and using that to brush those little hairs into place! A toothbrush has much finer bristles than a brush or even a fine tooth comb, so it can catch those short little hairs and help them conform to your style.

5. Don't stress it!

Worrying about how your hair looks will just make things worse, as stress can increase hair loss! Just know that it's likely that no one else has noticed your hair, and that things should bounce back to normal soon.

Are there any other tips you've used that have worked? Let me know in the comments! 

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