Are you experiencing hair loss during pregnancy?

Many women experience their hair feeling thicker at around 15 weeks of pregnancy.

This is not because each hair strand itself becomes thicker, but because the hair stays longer in the growing phase of its cycle, which means that less hair falls out than usual. This is due to an increase in the hormone estrogen.

Some women experience more of their hair falling out during pregnancy. This is due to a decrease in estrogen, which may happen as a result of the following:

• stopping the oral contraceptive pill
• experiencing an abortion, miscarriage or stillbirth
• a hormonal imbalance during pregnancy

It is also common for women to experience hair loss after pregnancy when their estrogen returns to normal levels. This causes the additional hair from the growth phase to change to the resting phase, which then falls out more than usual, until around 3-4 months after your child is born.

This hair loss is usually nothing to worry about – as usual hair growth pattern returns to normal by the time your baby is around 12 months old.

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