Baby Life Topic

When it comes to your hair washing routine, during pregnancy is a great time to try new things, like more natural hair care products and to play around with simplifying your routine. During pregnancy, your hair goes through changes including getting thicker, it may get curlier or straighter and there's more of it because it stays in the growth phase for longer and doesn't shed as much. It's a good time to err on the side of caution and reduce the chemicals in your hair care products and put off any unnecessary treatments such as dying your hair or chemical treatments at least until your baby is born or you have finished breastfeeding. If you have to dye your hair, choose natural hair dyes and make sure its application is in a well-ventilated room. 

If you are finding that you are washing your hair more often than you want to due to it getting greasy and oily quickly, it could be time for a re-set. You can break the cycle of drying it out with shampooing and then stimulating your scalp to produce more oil to balance things out. Simplifying your hair care routine can be as easy as using an absorbent hair towel and then air drying and/or investing in a good quality hairdryer and brush. 

When you have a new baby, it can be difficult to steal time to wash and dry your hair - that's where having a dry shampoo on standby can be gold. Also, having and a good system for quickly drying your hair when you don't want to air dry will come in handy such as hanging your head down so that you dry off the bottom and back first and then the top layers will air dry.

After you have your baby, your hair changes again where it makes up for not shedding during your pregnancy and starts to fall out in large amounts. If you have long hair, this is a lot more noticeable as you will find hair everywhere. This is where it can be useful to have a good brush to catch the loose hairs or cut your hair to reduce the length and be able to tie your hair back to reduce stray hairs and your baby pulling your hair. If you brush your hair before washing it, you will still have a large amount shed into the drain, but this won't be as much. The clumps of hair falling out can be alarming, but it does settle down eventually as your hormones settle back to normal levels. You may have to regularly clean out the shower drain so it doesn't clog up and live with it for a while until it settles down.

It's worth being aware (be alert but not alarmed!) that your loose hairs can form what is known as a hair tourniquet around your baby's limbs, fingers, toes, neck or genitals which can cut off the circulation to the area. If your baby is upset or seems to be in pain, this is one thing to look for by stripping them down and checking to see if any hair has wrapped around any body parts and remove the hair before it causes any long term damage. 

Please note: Above all, any information on this website aims to provide general ideas for informational and educational purposes only. We encourage users to investigate several information sources, including, where necessary, independent individualised medical advice before making any decisions that could affect you or your child’s health or wellbeing.

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