Hair before baby and hair after baby are two totally different things. There are a few additional perks to being pregnant other than the obvious midnight burger runs, baby showers and dibs on the thermostat! You are also blessed with long beautiful strong nails and awesome hair. I don’t think anyone lets you in on this because they are too busy sharing food cravings, random dreams, and birth stories for months on end. The increase in the hormones your body produces, combined with the prenatal vitamins you take, gift your head with commercial-ready hair. During my last few weeks of pregnancy, when all I could wear was worn out yoga pants and my husband’s t-shirts, at least my hair was incredible!
Unfortunately for some women, myself included, once the baby is born there is once again a shift in hormones and your hair seems to turn against you. My hair became dry and unruly. Nothing I tried was working and I needed some help. I sought out the expertise of a director stylist, Stephanie Broadwater. I came to her with my “mom hair”, gave her my sob story and she insured me that I had come to the right place. I soon learned she had a ton of knowledge on the subject of women’s hair post-baby, not only as a stylist but as the daughter of an ob-gyn.
Stephanie informed me that as moms we don’t realize that our hair’s health is a direct reflection of what is going on in our bodies. When we don’t drink enough water, we know our bodies become dehydrated, but so does our hair. When the time comes and we stop taking prenatal vitamins, our hair loses out on the vitamins it was once receiving. Stephanie gave me an amazing conditioning treatment to hydrate my hair as well as a consult to introduce products to me that I should be using on my hair daily. She mentioned how all of the articles you read online of “easy fixes” for your hair are usually not so. There’s actually much more to it than that. Everyone’s hair is different and therefore what works for one person may not work for another.
There is not one easy fix but rather a few steps you can follow to ensure healthy hair postpartum:
- Initiate a relationship with a stylist: Meet with a stylist and spend time letting them learn about your daily life. With their knowledge of hair and your routine combined, they can create a hair regimen for you.
- Keep regular appointments with your stylist: 6-8 weeks is about the max you need to go in-between hair appointments.
- Commit to take care of yourself: We as women are usually putting ourselves last. I have found that the times I am my best self, wife, mother and friend is when I take time out for myself.
I am still on the learning curve of committing to taking care of myself and to carving out an hour each month for my hair. This experience was a huge push in the right direction though. I left feeling pampered, taken care of, beautiful and worth the attention!
You look great, Amber! And I have a halo of 2 inch long unruly hairs around my face, that are super hard to tame. Before baby I had amazing hair (..hey its true), and even postpartum up until month 5. THEN! It all fell out! I thought I was in the clear because all I knew was for the first 3 months post you lose your ‘extra hair’. But alas, it got me at 5 months and lasted about 3 months. I lost so much, but only in patches by my forehead. So I couldn’t wear my hair up (hello bald spots!) and couldn’t wear it down without looking like I stuck my finger in a light socket with regrowth. ]
Self-care is the key. I certainly, desperately struggle with this…so thank you for the reminder to make it happen!
…hormones..
Thank Kate! It really is so hard to schedule that time for yourself amidst the hectic day to day a new mom is faced with. It was a good lesson for me to learn that making time for myself benefits my whole family.
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