Today's post is shallow, I'll admit it.  :-)  But I'm posting it none-the-less.

I'm mourning over my hair today.
There's this thing I've heard my mommy friends talk about.  *That of losing your hair after child birth.*  I never had this problem before.  During pregnancy and after, I maintained 'normal shedding levels'.  You know, a strand here or there.  No biggie.

With this one though, yes, there was a definite difference.  Subtle at first, like how I noticed one day while mucho prego that I hadnt made a hair swirly on the wall while showering....those drive hubby crazy.  Or that I wasn't cleaning hair out of the drain. gross.  But it didn't dawn on me that my lack of shedding was due to pregnancy.  And after birth, there was still no difference.

Then one day a month or so ago, I noticed that my long hair was shedding.  hmm, that's weird I thought, I haven't shed in a while.  Now it's out of control!  I am losing hair by the handfuls and it's crazy!  In a week my hair brush has collected enough hair to make a wig. 

I've heard many different myths explaining this phenomenon.  Who knows which is true, but here they are...

1. Your body is suffering through shock from the whole birthing process.  It hits from 4-6 months after child birth and after that, your hair gets back to normal.  weird.
2. hormones.  Your body goes through several different hormone rushes/losses after pregnancy.  The most noteworthy is the one directly after birth.  Whoo, those are crazy days!  Lots of tears at all the beauty around you.  Tears tears tears.  But also weight loss...I like that part!  The first time I got to really enjoy that was this time.  I lost all my weight gained during pregnancy in 6 weeks.  I was happy.  Too bad the flab didn't disappear as quickly. :-/  Another few phases of hormone surges and we hit the 4-6 month phase where your hair falls out, a ton.
3. you don't shed at all during pregnancy, and at 4 months, your hormones get back to normal and all that hair that should have shed, now decides to fall out.  And is supposed to level out at 6 months.

The one common denominator is that 4-6 month mark.

So here we are, days away from Emy turning 6 months (WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?!?!) and I'm hoping my hair will stop falling out any day now.  I'm thankful to have fairly thick hair or else I'm sure I'd have plenty of bald spots...maybe I have some in the back of my head and people are just being nice and not saying anything....

irregardless, I am unhappy about all of this and I'm contemplating going into the wig business.

Also, I'm terrified of my hair falling out even easier, and my hair is so long, it often gets stuck behind me or pulled by other people (mainly EMY!), so I find myself freaking out every time it gets tugged, in worry that a chunk is just going to fall out. :-/  I'm also afraid of going to the hair salon because who knows how much hair they'll pull out!  Not that I really use product on my hair as it is, but I'm product free until this shedding business is over.

I'm over it.  

So here is a shot of my hair collected after my shower yesterday.  The brush was cleared out before brushing and this is how many strands came out afterwards...is this normal? I hope not!  This clump is bigger than the amount collected in the past year!
What hair myths or woes do you have to share?

PS. Told you this post was shallow and would not make you cry!
Vanessa
8/11/2013 10:49:03 pm

Ha! I can't wait for my hair to fall out. Normally I lose hair by the handfuls when I shower or brush my hair. My hair is incredibly thick as it is so I just assumed this was normal. Mike always said between me and the dog there is hair everywhere. Now, however my hair is stuck stubbornly to my head and doing weird, frizzy, humongous poof things that is driving me crazy. Its so thick my brush gets tangled in there after a shower. ARGHHHH!!! So I look forward to having this baby and going back to my normal shedding business because all this extra hair is getting on my nerve. Sorry for your loss though, I'm sure it will pass soon :)

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Tricia
8/12/2013 04:57:42 am

That isn't a "lot" of hair considering how much I get when I brush Samantha's hair. More like a "normal" amount I'm thinking. Maybe it seems like a lot because you went so long without losing any which is definitely not normal. You have beautiful hair.

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