Hair advice for new mothers suffering from hair loss

While many other aspects of new mum life are spoken about regularly such as stretch marks, breast feeding and learning to deal with copious amounts of nappies, others such as post pregnancy hair loss are not publicised as much. After experiencing the thick, lustrous hair that pregnancy can give you, it can be a shock to find that your hair is shedding more than expected. "We usually lose about 100 hairs a day, but the surge in oestrogen levels during pregnancy reduces the amount of hairs lost by keeping the hairs in the growing phase for longer," says Dr Sharon Wong. "This results in noticeably thicker, longer, luscious hair." But things then take a turn when you give birth, "the drop in oestrogen levels after pregnancy causes those hairs that you didn’t shed while pregnant, to then shed at the same time. This increase in hair shedding is called post-partum telogen effluvium and typically appears 3-6 months after giving birth." Here Katie Fitzgerald from Brooks & Brooks Hairdressing gives us her top tips for new mums

Post-Partum Telogen Effluvium Advice

1 Make sure your diet is full of nutrients – vitamin A, biotin and Zinc are particularly important. So eat plenty of orange vegetables, milk and eggs, nuts and seeds, seafood and lentils. 2 As hair shedding takes place, regular trims will ensure hair stays healthy and in good condition. 3 Look after your hair and treat it to regular conditioning treatments. 4 Plaiting hair is a great way to keep hair off the face while looking good. Remove the plaits and you have great texture for the next day. https://www.instagram.com/p/BxNBHHchfUM/ 5 When your hands are full with baby, make Velcro rollers your new best friend as they will add body and volume quickly and easily. 6 Embrace your new texture rather than fighting against it. It will eventually go back to normal. 7 As hair grows back it can be fine, baby hairs so gently control it by spritzing hairspray on a comb rather than directly on the hair. 8 Try not to pull hair into a ponytail – gently use fingers to pull it back rather than a brush which can be too harsh.