Your Hair During Pregnancy
A new year is approaching our doorstep and one of your resolutions might be to start a family with your partner. Have you noticed that pregnant women typically have thick, luxurious locks and seem to have the best hair days of their lives? Why do ladies have thicker, healthier hair during pregnancy and what happens after they give birth? Can you undergo laser hair growth therapy while being pregnant? What about when you’re nursing?
Your Locks with an Increase of Estrogen
Pregnancy is accompanied by a boost of estrogen production, a female hormone that causes your locks to linger in the anagen (growth) phase of your hair cycle. Usually, about 90% of your hair is in anagen, while 10% of your hair is either in the transitional or resting phases. Eventually, hair in the resting phase shed while anagen hair form in their place.
Daily shedding is perfectly normal and it’s nothing to panic about. In fact you’re already more than familiar with this phenomenon: for instance, you may wake up and notice some hair on your pillow. Cleaning your shower drain also reminds you that shedding occurs on an every day basis. Sometimes you shed less, sometimes you shed more, and the amount you shed depends on various factors – including what season of the year it is and what hormones are fluctuating in your body.
Since an increase of estrogen gives you extra hair in the anagen phase, you’ll experience longer, thicker hair than usual while being pregnant, along with minimal daily shedding. Some expecting mothers even report thicker hair diameter and a boost in overall fullness and density. The question becomes: how do you keep this extra volume after giving birth?
Your Hair After Pregnancy
The majority of women will experience excessive shedding anywhere between one to three months after giving birth. From a medical perspective, this is because more hair enters the resting phase due to a drop of estrogen levels. Since you experienced very little hair loss during pregnancy, all of this delayed shedding can occur at once. But don’t worry – it probably sounds more extreme than it really is.
This hair loss is usually temporary and once your body stabilizes itself (and its normal production of hormones), your hair growth cycle should resume normally within 6 to 12 months following the birth of your new baby.
Steps You Can Take
Popular hair growth treatments for women today include laser hair growth therapy. However, there are no laser hair therapy clinical studies performed on women who are pregnant or breastfeeding; for this reason, you should not undergo laser hair growth therapy if you fall under one of the above two categories.
If you feel as though your strands are still shedding away during pregnancy, you may have a vitamin or mineral deficiency. Consult your gynecologist and ask him or her about taking prenatal vitamins. Making sure your hormones are properly balanced with a blood test can also help.
Once your gestation and breastfeeding periods are over, you can start undergoing laser hair growth therapy to get your lustrous locks back even more quickly. Wearing a laser helmet, such as the Theradome LH80 PRO, has clinically proven hair benefits that are actually similar to an increase of estrogen. First, laser hair growth therapy is 100% natural and has no side effects, so you can skip chemical formulas, such as minoxidil, and its associated scalp stinging and dryness. On a clinical scale, proven benefits of wearing a laser helmet include:
- A shift of your hair cycle into the anagen growth phase
- Thicker hair shaft
- Minimized shedding
- Increased hair count and density
- New hair growth
- Hair that’s more manageable
On top of wearing the Theradome laser helmet twice-a-week, you can also minimize hair loss by caring for your hair the right way. Avoid harsh chemicals, tight hairstyles and heating accessories, and eat foods high in flavonoids and antioxidants to protect your hair follicles. Under the guidance of a physician, you can also supplement your diet with biotin, zinc, selenium, along with vitamins C, E and complex B.
So if you’re planning to start a new family, remember that Theradome can restore your hair and give you thicker, luxurious locks much more quickly after you give birth. And don’t forget that you can strengthen your gorgeous mane and prevent excess shedding by wearing your Theradome LH80 PRObefore you get pregnant!
