A LOT of PP hair loss. Anyone else?

[Beauchamp]

At what point should I worry that I am losing too much hair? I'm 13 weeks PP and I lose so much hair every day. My hair is everywhere all over the house! Is it simply normal hair loss, or could something else be causing this? I don't remember *this much* hair loss with my DD.

[scottishmommy]

Have you had your thyroid checked? Sometimes women get hypothyroidism after they've had a baby. It may be worth looking into.

[gitanamama]

I lost a ton of hair starting at about 8 weeks PP. Handfuls of it would come out every time I ran my hands through my hair and, like you said, it was all over the house. It freaked me out but eventually stopped falling out. My hair was a lot thinner for awhile afterward but then it seemed to grow in again. I ended up with funny little bangs--still trying to figure out what to do with them. :)

It might be worth it to have your thyroid checked as scottishmommy suggested, but mine was just fine and I still lost TONS of hair. My midwife said that pregnancy hormones often cause hair to grow and then the body "sheds" the new growth PP. I still have a good head of hair, despite my PP worry that I was going bald!

[Peony]

I didn't lose that much with my first. The next two babies I lost so much. I was fine, just pp shedding. 

[Magali]

Sounds normal to me.  When not pregnant, I lose a certain amount of hair when I shower.  When pg, I stop losing hair in the shower.  Then a few weeks postpartum, it starts coming out like crazy (and I imagine that I will go bald because so much is coming out!)  and then finally goes back to the normal amount I lose.  Then, the hair starts growing back.  So now I have this fringe of hairs about an inch long all over my head, and they are really noticeable around my forehead and look kinda like mini bangs or something.  This also happened to me when I was a teenager and had mono.

[Beauchamp]

Originally Posted by Magali 

Sounds normal to me.  When not pregnant, I lose a certain amount of hair when I shower.  When pg, I stop losing hair in the shower.  Then a few weeks postpartum, it starts coming out like crazy (and I imagine that I will go bald because so much is coming out!)  and then finally goes back to the normal amount I lose.  Then, the hair starts growing back.  So now I have this fringe of hairs about an inch long all over my head, and they are really noticeable around my forehead and look kinda like mini bangs or something.  This also happened to me when I was a teenager and had mono.

Thanks. This sounds almost exactly like me, except I am still losing tons at 14 weeks PP. It's been happening maybe 2-3 weeks, I think. I am so fuzzy on days right now.

[Mulvah]

Originally Posted by gitanamama 

I lost a ton of hair starting at about 8 weeks PP. Handfuls of it would come out every time I ran my hands through my hair and, like you said, it was all over the house. It freaked me out but eventually stopped falling out. My hair was a lot thinner for awhile afterward but then it seemed to grow in again. I ended up with funny little bangs--still trying to figure out what to do with them. :)

It might be worth it to have your thyroid checked as scottishmommy suggested, but mine was just fine and I still lost TONS of hair. My midwife said that pregnancy hormones often cause hair to grow and then the body "sheds" the new growth PP. I still have a good head of hair, despite my PP worry that I was going bald!

This was my experience, too.  I would definitely get your thyroid checked, just in case, but mine did eventually taper.  My regrowth was a different texture than the rest of my hair, so it was frustrating for a while, but it eventually worked itself out.

[peainthepod]

Yep. It wasn't so pronounced with my first baby but with DD, it was ridiculous. I have waist-length hair and it was everywhere, wrapped around DD's little toes and fingers, clogging the bathtub and shower drains, blowing around the house. I felt like a shedding dog.

Then the hair loss stopped and I started to grow a sort of crewcut under my normal old hair, which was basically impossible to hide or style away. It's a little longer now but sticks straight up when I sweat or get windblown and I kind of look like this guy:

I'm 10 months postpartum now and just want that short hair to grow back. One thing that really helped was getting some mini highlights and a good cut from my stylist; he was able to camouflage a lot of the weirdness.

[nia82]

I lost lots with DS, and now a lot with DD! This time it didn't start until 4 months pp, and it is still going (she is 7.5 months old now). I had my hair cut recently and the hairdresser noticed my hm copious hair loss... DH thought I was going bald... And my hair is only down to my shoulder blades.

[mamapigeon]

I was losing huge wads every day, but now I only a few hairs come out in a combing. It lasted for a little over a month for me.