Pregnancy Hormones: What To Know + How To Guide Clients Through Changes
Guiding Clients Through Unexpected Hair Changes During Pregnancy
A lot changes during pregnancy, hair included! Read below for info about common hair changes pregnancy can cause and how to navigate around them throughout your client’s nine months to motherhood.
Why Does Hair Change During Pregnancy?
There is a laundry list of changes that can affect hair during pregnancy with one big cause—elevated hormone levels! The increased production of hormones like estrogen and progesterone can prolong hair growth cycles, stunt every day shedding and shift the way hair looks and feels entirely. Texture, color, density—it can all change!
Color Naturally Darkening
If your client mentions her hair is shifting color, it’s totally normal. During pregnancy, the fluctuation of hormones can actually increase melanin production and hair can begin darkening all on it’s own—mother nature’s root touch-up!
You may begin to notice a dark band under your client’s new growth, rest assured, her natural color will likely grow back soon after baby arrives. This hair generally only shifts a level or two and can handle color and lightener as usual, making for an easy touch-up to match with any existing color.
Check out the drastic shift @hairbyamybee found with her client’s hair!
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Growth Spurts
The high levels of estrogen and progesterone produced during pregnancy can prolong the growth cycles of hair, ultimately putting them in an ongoing stage of growth. This results in not only faster hair growth but less frequent shedding as well—because of this, many women see a noticeable difference in their hair length soon into pregnancy.
Encourage your clients to keep their hair healthy with regular trims so there is less upkeep when it’s time to add a babe to the mix!
Change In Hair Texture
Texture changes can look super different depending on each individual. Hair thickness can fluctuate, curl patterns can form and oil production or luster can even become more noticable.
Typically, these texture shifts are not permanent and can also differentiate from pregnancy to pregnancy. You may have a client that loved her shiny, thick hair during her first pregnancy but experienced unmanageable texture throughout her second.
We’d recommend finding an awesome haircut and reliable products that accentuate any new texture with minimal need for styling to carry your client through her pregnancy!
Scroll through the biggest haircut trends of 2021 for some inspo!
Postpartum Hair Loss
Postpartum hair loss is commonly a result from the hair’s shedding cycle getting back on track once hormones balance back to pre-pregnancy levels.
Shedding hair at a noticeable rate the first few months after giving birth is common—your clients may mention clumps of hair in their brushes or more hair going down the shower drain than usual. These are all common during postpartum however, time frames can vary from mom to mom.
If you have a client concerned about the amount of hair she is losing for a prolonged period, there could be an underlying cause. Recommend that she consults her doctor before scheduling any services if hair loss increases or becomes more frequent over time.
Clients With Thinning & Hair Loss? Read This!
