Postpartum Hair Loss: When It Starts, Peaks and Stops

Hair often feels thickest during pregnancy. A few months after the birth, it can start coming out in the shower and the brush.¹

Why it happens

During pregnancy, more hairs stay in the growing phase.² After delivery, a crop of them switches to the resting phase together, and resting hairs fall out a few months later.³ Dermatologists call it telogen effluvium, meaning excessive shedding, and link it to falling estrogen after the birth.¹ It’s normal, and it isn’t true hair loss.¹

The timeline

When	What usually happens
2 to 4 months after birth	Shedding starts3
Around 4 months	Shedding usually peaks1
About 2 months of heavy shedding	Typical length in one review; longer is uncommon, and chronic shedding is very rare3
By the first birthday	Most women are back to their usual fullness1

How common is it?

Here the experts don’t agree.

• A 2019 review estimates a marked, molt-like shed in about 20% of women, mostly after a first baby, and not necessarily in every pregnancy.³
• A 2014 study measured hair in 116 women at different stages. The share of resting hairs was higher at 4 months after birth than in late pregnancy, but the authors found the changes weren’t exaggerated in most women.²
• A 2016 review found no statistically significant evidence that postpartum women shed more than pregnant women, and called the condition poorly defined, with unknown frequency.⁴

So heavy shedding after a baby is common enough to have a name, but how often it happens and how big it gets haven’t been measured well.

Breastfeeding

In the 2014 study, breastfeeding mothers had more growing hairs at 4 months than mothers who weren’t breastfeeding, and by one year there was no difference.² It was a small study, so it doesn’t show that breastfeeding protects hair, and it gives no support to the idea that breastfeeding causes hair loss.

What helps

The shed is temporary and doesn’t need treatment.¹ If it bothers you:

1. Use a volumizing shampoo and a light conditioner on the ends. Skip “conditioning shampoos,” which can weigh fine hair down.¹
2. Try a new cut. Some styles make hair look fuller.¹
3. Keep a simple log: the month the shed started and a monthly photo of your part in the same light, so you can see the recovery.

When to get checked

See a dermatologist if your hair hasn’t returned to its usual fullness after a year.¹ Round bald patches, or a scalp that burns, itches or looks shiny, should be checked without waiting. For other triggers and timelines, see shedding after a fever or COVID, how many hairs a day is normal and why your hair is shedding so much.

Try: “My baby is 14 months old and my hair still hasn’t filled back in. My part looks wider than before I was pregnant. Can we look at why?”

Hair, Everywhere covers this in Chapter 5, “The Shed,” in a section called “After the Baby.” Its Hair Log pairs a dated note of anything big from the three months before, such as a birth, with the same photos every month, and its six-month rule tells you when to compare them. See the book.