I was warned cautioned a couple times when I was pregnant that, although I was experiencing a period of very lovely hair, I would probably lose some hair post-partum. I brushed it off as an old wives tale and didn’t really think too much about it. Even after giving birth, I wasn’t experiencing any out of the ordinary hair loss. I’ve always had very thick hair and they say you lose upwards of around 100 hairs a day, on average, anyway. (Who would have thought?!)
Fast forward to 3-4 months post-partum and, well, I would do anything to only lose 100 hairs a day at this point! My hair is literally falling out in barrels full. So much so that I’m scared to even touch, let alone brush, my hair. I used to complain about all of the animal hair that is around the house and the fact that it is impossible to stay on top of. Well, I’m pretty certain I have the animals beat in the shedding department.
Have you ever had that feeling that something was tickling your arm but you can’t find the culprit? Yeah, I used to have that problem too. Now when I feel a hair tickling me, I look down only to find ten “escaped” (it sounds so much more dangerous and exciting that way) hairs resting on my arm.
Have you ever found a hair in your child’s tiny talons? I find them in my babes fingers, toes, diaper, wrapped around her thighs, etc. If I don’t find at least five hairs on her every half hour, I begin to think maybe I haven’t been spending enough time with her.
The fact that I don’t want to brush my hair anymore has left me, at some points, looking like I have dreads. But it’s better than the alternative. My husband has nagged me on several occasions for leaving my hairs in the sink. Little did he know, that I clean them up each time I get ready. I sent him a picture one day (see below) of what it would look like if I didn’t clean up. The few pieces of hairs that he finds in the sink are those nasty hairs that float around the house…much like the animal fur. Blah!
My sink, EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Gross!
But I’m not alone in this endeavor, oh no sir. My sweet little Arabella, who was born with a mighty full head of hair (so much that I joked if we had gone to full term, I would have been able to braid her hair) is now nearly bald. You could say we have a special bond…a bond that is built upon us losing all of our hair. It’s like we are in this together, we are balding beauties and couldn’t be more proud of it.
I had feared that my little was going to lose all of her hair. I had read stories nightmares online about moms waking up to find their babies were suddenly bald…the day prior they had lucious locks and they awoke to cue balls. That seems kind of drastic! I’m really relieved I didn’t have to wake up to find my child laying in a bed of her own hair; that would definitely elicit a scream out of me. She has this darker ring of hair around the base of her head, but even that is beginning to thin out. I keep meaning to snip a piece off before it’s completely gone, just in case it grows in a different color or texture.
It’s kind of like a mullet, a baby mullet? All the party is in the back.
They say both momma and baby’s hair should be back to normal by the first birthday. Well, at the rate I’m going, my hair will be an exact match to sweet little Arabella’s (lack of) hair.
Any other mommy’s experience this crazy hair loss? Was there anything that helped?
xo, Jess
