Managing Postpartum Hairfall

When I was pregnant with the twins, I didn't have the celebrated pregnancy glow. It was more like shiny oily face for me. But my lack in pregnancy glow was made up for by my thick and shiny pregnancy hair. I've always had thin and dull hair so I was very thrilled about this one "side effect" of pregnancy. You see, during pregnancy, a woman has higher levels of estrogen. This results in less shedding and healthier looking hair. And while I knew it wasn't a permanent thing, I still enjoyed my new and improved locks.

I expected the hair fall to begin right after giving birth especially since I was also in a very stressful situation with my twins being in the NICU for 3 long weeks. But it didn't happen. The twins turned three months old and I had yet to experience the dreaded postpartum hair fall. I figured, hey maybe my thick hair was going to last after all.

Oops, spoke to soon. After a couple more weeks, my hair started falling out. Lots of it. More than the usual 100 strands per day - yes I counted. I would find strands of hair on my pillow after lying down, on my hand (in chunks!) while shampooing, on my hairbrush and on the bathroom floor. In fact, I would look at our bathroom floor wondering how am I not even bald yet? The worst part was having strands just fall around the twins whenever I would change their diapers or play with them on the playmat. Audrey's nanny would pick them up and throw them away while expressing concern over my condition. I told her it was normal and it would stop in a few months. But I was already freaking out because I didn't expect my hair fall to be that much.

So I researched online for ways to manage my hair fall. Here are some of the most common suggestions which I divided into two categories - the ones that didn't work and the ones that worked:

WHAT DIDN'T WORK:

Taking a prenatal vitamin supplement.

My prenatal vitamin is actually recommended for both pregnant and lactating women so I continued taking it even after giving birth. It didn't stop or lessen my hair fall but at least it gave me energy to power through despite the sleepless nights.

Skipping blow dryers.

I followed this and dried my hair using an electric fan which resulted into hair flying off.

Avoiding chemical hair treatments.

As if I had time to go to the salon!

Shampooing only when necessary (2-3 times a week).

Ummm... no thanks! Our humid environment will just not allow this.

WHAT WORKED:

Getting a shorter hairstyle.

I went from beyond shoulder length hair to a pixie cut and it actually made the hair fall less intense but I still had to address the thinning hair on the top of my scalp.

Using gugo shampoo.

Gugo shampoo is supposed to promote hair growth and strength. I tried several brands but the one that worked for me was Zenutrients Gugo Strengthening Shampoo. After using it for a week, I noticed less breakage whenever I finger-comb my hair. The scent is incredible too - minty and fresh, and it didn't leave any buildup unlike the other gugo shampoos I tried. I also find it cool that the bottle has a sheet of gugo bark inside. I guess soaking the bark inside the bottle helps strengthen the shampoo's potency.

Taking biotin.

Biotin is known to promote hair growth which is what I needed since hair fall and breakage were already addressed by my new hairstyle and shampoo. I read up on Biotin supplements and learned that one of the possible side effects is getting pimples but I was really desperate at that time so I still tried it. I figured I could always use concealer to cover the pimples. I noticed baby hair popping out after around two weeks of taking 5000mcg of Biotin per day. Yay! But on the third week, I started to break out. I had pimples popping out in weird places like my nape, the back of my ear and my jawline. That was when I decided to stop taking the supplement because I already had a decent amount of new hair growth which was the goal anyway.

Now that I'm 9 months postpartum, I'm still sporting my pixie cut and using Zenutrients gugo shampoo. My hair fall has normalized and I still have lots of tiny baby hair growing back. You can see them all sticking up straight all over my head making me look like a mad scientist, which in some ways was what I became with all the experiments I tried to manage my hair fall. Now I guess I just have to wait until my baby hair grows long again. Fun stuff!