The Science Baby

Around three months after giving birth, many women are alarmed to find their hair starting to fall out. It’s a kick in the teeth – just as beginning to feel more like yourself, you’re hit with yet another wild and unexpected bodily change. Although this is a pretty ubiquitous anacdote shared among new mothers, the science – where it exists – tells us that it might not be a real phenomenon.

In this episode, Leila and Kim dive into the pitiful research that has been done to figure out if postpartum hairloss is a real thing, and what might be causing it.

What to Expect in This Episode

Like everyone, Kim and Leila have had different experiences with their hair during pregnancy and postpartum. Both of us experienced a increase in ‘good hair days’ when we were pregnancy, but then after birth Kim only had a slight hair loss, while Leila’s came out by the handful. We talk about how losing hair affected how we felt in those delicate postpartum months.

Despite both of us experiencing it, albeit to varying degrees, and many, many of our peers also experiencing it, the science out there leaves a lot to be desired. We talk about a review of literature that looks at a shockingly small number of women, has pretty iffy experimental design, and ultimately concludes that postpartum hair loss might not be real at all – but a product of our delicate mental state post-birth. We chat about what we think about that…as well as the real physiological role that stress can play.

While postpartum hair loss spsecifically might not have been well-researched, scientists have looked at the mechanisms of hair loss in general. We rive a rundown of the normal hair growth cycle, and how hormone changes in pregnancy and postpartum alter that cycle.

Next, we talk about why hair loss might be different between women, discussing research that’s found that breastfeeding women on average lose less hair than nonbreastfeeding women. Also, the remarkable fact that, like other animals, humans tend to shed hair on a seasonal cycle, too.

It’s not just mums that are affected by hair loss in the three months after birth, either. The same hormones that promote hair growth in pregnant women also causes hair to grow in their babies too (and also causes heartburn thanks to loosened sphincters!). But when the baby is born, they’re cut off from the mother’s hormones, and their hair growth cycles are correspondingly affected. As a result, babies tend to lose their newborn hair at about the same time as mum. Then, when it grows back, their hair colour, texture, and other factors are affected by their genetics as their ‘grown up’ follicles start to switch on.

We finish up by talking briefly about what we can and should do about postpartum hair loss. The take home is to not worry too miuch, and embrace this period where you and your baby are connected and gouing through something together.

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