Almost 2 years ago I gave birth to the most beautiful baby girl, ever! The pregnancy and the idea of being someone’s mom was new to me, so I really didn’t know what to expect! I did, however, know all about postpartum shedding and what could possibly happen to my hair after I had my baby. I spoke about how I dealt with postpartum hair loss here. I then began to notice texture changes with my hair.
I like to be transparent with my readers, to let you know what I’m going through in hopes that it may help someone else. As we all know, change can be difficult, no matter how minor or major they’re perceived to be. I’m not going to lie, as I noticed changes in my hair I got a little sad.Before pregnancy
Pre- pregnancy my hair was long thick and I had a looser curl pattern. If I had to type it I’d say 3c maybe.
During pregnancy
During my pregnancy, my hair thrived! This is because during pregnancy, the higher levels of estrogen prolong the growth phase, which results in less shedding and thicker hair. Some women also notice that their hair becomes shinier and more moisturized during pregnancy, or that it changes in texture. Many women notice these changes. For me, my hair was fuller, thicker and doing well. I took my prenatal vitamin everyday and drank lots of water.
Postpartum
I breastfed my baby for 9 months when she suddenly stopped on her own. I began to take post-natal vitamins and stopped taking my prenatal vitamins since I no longer needed the level of nutrition I required while breastfeeding. A few months after that, I replaced the postnatal vitamins with a regular women’s multi.
This is when I really began to notice another drastic change with my hair. My thick hair began to break off, it was less dense and lacked volume. It was growing, but it was now thinner. I thought to myself that it was all in my head. But as I began to look back at pictures it was evident.
What did I do about it?
I had to totally switch up my routine. Things I used to do no longer worked. I noticed that my hair was always super dry. I went from deep conditioning every 2 weeks to once a week, with heat. I always do the L.O.C. method. My hair was so different that the styles I used to do no longer looked the same. I just couldn’t get that same look! So I just started to wear my hair in a bun every. single. day (my way of protective styling”>. This turned out not to be a very good idea because I neglected my ends, and didn’t moisturize my hair properly (bad idea”>. I recently visited the Chicago Curl Collective to get my hair straightened. Moral of the story I had to get 2 inches cut off!
I decided to embrace my new texture and learn to care for my hair all over again. I’ve had to put in place new techniques and take a different approach and it’s okay. This natural hair journey is really a “journey”. I’ve been rocking with it since 2009 and everyday is a new adventure and a new learning experience. I knew that I would experience changes, but I had no idea that I would have to learn care for my hair all over again, with a new texture. Im still learning. My hair may never return to how it was pre-baby and I’m perfectly okay with that.
This article was written by Michelle Thames of HappilyEverNatural.com and published on CurlyNikki.
Have you experienced changes in your hair postpartum? How did you overcome the changes?
