I’ve mentioned this on my insta stories a few times before and it’s clearly something I am definitely not alone in : the lovely postpartum hair loss. That wispy halo of baby hair around your hairline, bald spots and say ba-bye to all that extra hair growth you experienced from pregnancy.
I initially didn’t notice I had hair loss initially, I think I was too wrapped up in trying to find my feet post-birth and navigating life with a newborn.
It’s when it started to grow back that I became confused about where all this baby hair had come from ; there is A LOT of baby hair and it genuinely looks quite ridiculous unless I have styled it somehow or managed to hide it! It’s at about the 1 inch length now so it’s hard to clip / straighten or do anything with. More often than not a good headband does the trick to hide it, and I’m just grinning and bearing it and trying to encourage the growth.
I have been using a couple of the PHYTO haircare products over the last month or so to see if it would help to kick-start the growth a bit but first I want to talk about postpartum hair loss and why it happens.
Postpartum Hair Loss
Is common between 2-6 months after you have given birth but can be delayed, and some mum’s find themselves losing hair after a year or so of giving birth. It can range in severity from losing a noticeable amount that makes you look a little balding in areas (me!) to handfuls of hair coming out in clumps at quite alarming rates.
What causes postpartum hair loss is that during pregnancy, the body experiences very high levels of hormones estrogen and progesterone and THIS is why it is common for pregnant woman to get thicker, more lustrous hair (legit cannot remember this at all!). Once the hormones level themselves out after giving birth, your hair will shed a little, returning to it’s normal state, and the re-growth will show in small baby hairs around the hale of your head.
Thinking about it now, I have been losing a lot more hair in the shower over the last few months but I didn’t really think so much about it, but now it all makes sense. Apparently normal hair will shed around 80 strands a day and postpartum it can be around the 400 mark!
Treatment & Products
It can be a stressful time with a newborn in the first few months (!) but it will grow back and there are a few things you can do to help it including a good protein-based diet and also topical treatments and stylers. I did a combination of the Phyto Novathrix shampoo* and then I also used the Phytovolume Actif* hair styling spray to give me some instant oomph.
The Novathrix shampoo is essentially part 1 of a two-step treatment (I didn’t have the second part yikes!) so on it’s own, I’m not so sure how effective it would have been at helping my hair grow but what it DOES do with it’s various plant-based ingredients is to strengthen the hair with guarana extract, add a thickness to the hair strands with red algae extract and it also contains horsetail extract to ensure a nice, deep and clarifying shampoo.
I get very oily roots and have to wash my hair every other day, so I tend to need a shampoo that isn’t loaded with oils and hydration and this shampoo is perfect for my hair type. It leaves is feeling clean and fresh. I do really want to try the step-2 of the Phytonovathrix range (the global anti-hair loss treatment) as this is the proper intensive hair loss treatment that I’m sure you would see results with. The shampoo alone I definitely couldn’t advocate it as a product alone to help with hair growth ; my fine baby hairs are slowing growing back, but I have no idea if it has been spurred on by this Phyto shampoo or it’s just…..growing back.
Another thing I have been doing and got recommended to by a hairdresser pal of mine is to brush your conditioner/mask through your hair whilst you are in the shower to get ride of shedding hair and also de-tangle.
People suffering from hair loss can be scared to brush their hair for the fear of the hair coming out in clumps but any hair your brush out (not pull!) are ready to come out and will come out anyway. I have been using my fave The Wetbrush * in the shower once I have conditioned my hair and that seems to do the job without snagging or pulling.
The photo below I just had to add in as this was my hair loss from the shower just this morning in one sitting! It’s still coming out quite a lot.
The Phytovolume Actif styling spray is not a treatment but it will give you that instant more-volume gratification. This was really handy when I wanted my hair to look it’s best, going out and events. It gives you lots of root-lift, helps keep your hairstyle in place and it also helps give that much-needed volume boost to my flimsy, sad hair. I use it by spraying it lightly all over, with a bit of emphasis on the roots and then blow drying. It is a heat-activated styling product so definitely use it with styling as opposed to air drying.
You really don’t need a lot so be mindful not to saturate the hair otherwise you will struggle to get a brush through it! Less is more and once you get the hang of the amount you need, it’s a really great volume and styling spray.
Aside from these two Phyto haircare products, I have tried quite a lot from them over the years and have really good results, it’s actually probably one of my favourite haircare brands that I had kind of forgotten about but want to really de-discover : I remember their Phytokeratine range was one of my favourite ever and the mask is just incredible for damaged, coloured and fine hair like mine!
So that’s all bout my postpartum hair loss, I’d love to know your thoughts on if you have suffered before from any form of hair loss? I’m confident it will grow back in the end, I’ve always had very fine hair anyway so I’m kind of used to it.
Have you got any treatments or recommendations for post-shampoo hair loss treatments? I’m keen to try some more products to help this halo hair disappear!
*Press samples
