Everyone reading this probably knows what it is like after you have had a baby and you start losing your hair. You had this thick, luscious mane of hair for so long how could it possibly not be permanent? It starts falling out and soon you have bald spot, maybe extreme dryness and whole new level of anxiety.

I would love to tell you that there is a way to stop the hair fall. I would love to tell you there is a magic fix. But I can’t.

There isn’t. This took a sad turn.

What I can tell you, is you can start to rebuild now.

The medical term for the loss of hair after pregnancy is telogen effluvium. It can occur for many reasons but a trauma to the body such as a cesarean section or other surgery can cause it. Many times the act of labor and delivery will also cause it. This type of hair loss is normally not permanent. It is usually diffuse. And it makes you feel awful.

There are things that have been linked to helping. I can’t say that any of them do or don’t work specifically because my hair has been growing back albeit slowly. That said I feel better trying to make sure I have the best environment for hair to grow. Here are the things I have tried and liked and I believe to have helped.

Castor Oil

My first c- section was when I started feeling the serious pain of hair loss. I had it after my natural births too but add a surgery and it magnifies by like, a billion. I started seriously searching for things to help and came across castor oil. Castor oil is known for its healing properties and its ability to help hair grow. I started sleeping with it on my scalp a few times a week. It helps purge impurities from your scalp and delivers nutrients.

Natural (more so) Shampoo

Now, I am one to add baking soda to my shampoo once a week to keep my scalp free of residue. That is not enough. The chemicals in shampoo are often detrimental to your hair. They are also often bad for the environment. They can be bad for your hormonal health. As much as I love the smell of some brand name shampoos I knew this was the end of me using them. I have gone as far as just using baking soda and water. But have come back to a few I like.

One brand that I liked and I felt it was decently healthy is Pura Dor. While I was using it, I got pregnant again and couldn’t handle the smell anymore. I have not actually gone back to it because of that. I would overall recommend it though. I felt like my scalp was clean and nourished.

Edit: My new favorite is Sent from Earth Caffeine and Saw Palmetto shampoo. Both of those ingredients are known to help with hair loss and it is packed with so much more. It smells good AND, AND it makes my hair feel so soft!

New Edit: I am now using a a rice water bar soap by Viori and I love it. Rice water has been shown to help hair grow and I love the more natural aspect. It works so well too. The conditioner makes my hair feel so soft! I am hoping that it also helps it grow but I will have to report back beause I just started using it.

New, New Edit: I don’t think I have seen any change in hair growth while using any of these shampoos. I definitely have seen lots of growth but I am almost a year postpartum and growth would have most likely started anyway. With my most recent baby I started losing hair about 3 1/2 months after he was born. I started to see growth about 7 months and that was about the final month of my excessive shedding.

There could be a relation to the amount of shedding and length of time it happened but I can’t be sure. There is still more growth I would like to see so I am continuing with my natural shampoos because I don’t want any of those harmful side effects. I am also using red light therapy, castor oil, micro needling and scalp stimulation. Plus of course nutrition. Here’s to seeing some real changes now that all the shedding should be growing back in.

Nutrition

The final piece that I am striving to be good at is nutrition. I go up and down with how I eat. Sometimes I am really great. Other times, I only want things that come packaged. If you also struggle with this monster, please don’t beat yourself up. Try to match the bad with good. If you eat the Oreos make sure you have some carrot sticks later.

Part of nutrition can mean supplementing your diet. I currently still take a prenatal vitamin. I am still nursing my youngest. I also take a vitamin for hair growth. I will update you on the effectiveness of this one!

New Update: The hair vitamin I was taking was Nutrafol. From my limited in depth knowledge and research, it seems to be an excellent vitamin to regrow hair. It doesn’t actually claim that it will do that but many people share results that it has for them. That said, the price point is a bit too much for me so I have been using generic hair and nail vitamins. I feel that I can tell in my nails more than hair (obviously) and both made my nails grow more. I think that if you can find a bio available vitamin with the things you want for hair growth, it should work. I also am trying to rebuild my personal stores of vitamins and minerals after being pregnant or nursing for the last decade. For me, that means extra supplementation of vitamin D and K2, Omega 3s (non fishy vitamin here) and my hair, nail and skin vitamin.

Another step that I have added in is trying to make sure my hormones are balanced. That is an entire post in itself so I will make one dedicated to that topic soon.

Basically, I try to give my body everything it needs to make healthy hair and allow it to grow from a healthy scalp.

Do you have any good remedies for hair loss? What do you do for a healthy head of hair?