Photo by Franz Grünewald, Art direction by Marta Pucci
Hair changes during pregnancy
There are three phases of your hair’s life cycle:
The growing phase (anagen phase),
The end of the active growth of the hair (catagen phase), and
The final resting phase where the hair is dead and will eventually fall out (telogen phase) (1, 2).
Losing hair every day is part of the natural life cycle of the hair—losing between 50 to 150 scalp hairs per day is normal (2).
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Does hair grow faster when you’re pregnant? Why does hair get thicker during pregnancy?
During pregnancy, some people may notice increased hair thickness. This is because the number of hairs shed daily is reduced. Pregnancy influences hair follicles to stay within their growth phase (anagen phase) longer than they would normally (3).
Other changes that can occur to your hair during pregnancy are an increase in hair fiber diameter—i.e. hair thickness—as it grows from the scalp, in comparison to women who are not pregnant (4). This change in hair diameter may also contribute to feelings of increased hair thickness during pregnancy.
Why does your hair fall out after having a baby? Hair loss is common after giving birth
After delivery, it is normal to notice increased amounts of hair loss, as all the hairs that stayed in prolonged anagen phase change over together into the catagen phase (2, 3). This is considered common and should not be any reason to panic.
Even if it feels like you may be losing an abnormal amount of hair, it is just an accumulation of all the hair you would have normally lost during the time you were pregnant (3).
Learn about how pregnancy actually happens and the early signs and symptoms of pregnancy, to learn what different parts of the body are doing at different times to prepare for pregnancy.
Use Clue to track how your hair changes throughout your cycle, you can track your hair daily as “Good”, “Bad”, “Oily”, or “Dry.” If you want to track more, you can create a custom tag.
