I’m having my hair cut this afternoon. Since having children, this has become something of a rare treat so I’m really looking forward to it. I feel like having something radical done but I know I’ll regret it, so I’ll probably come out looking pretty much the same as I do now.

Before I had children, I enjoyed gloriously thick and luscious hair. I used to complain about how thick it was actually, and wished there was a bit less of it. Not any more. My hair is so much thinner than it was and the texture has changed too. The worst thing of all, though, has to be all of the fuzzy hair I’ve acquired since losing a lot of hair when my babies were new born.

Hair loss after pregnancy is very common. During pregnancy, apparently you don’t lost the hair that you naturally just lose day to day. This is why so many heavily pregnant women experience the best hair of their lives just before giving birth. I always think that women have such a glow and vitality about them when they are eight or nine months pregnant.

 

For me, my babies were each around three months old when my hair started falling out. I remember washing my hair in the shower and looking down at a huge clump that had just come away in my hand. I audibly gasped! It was really distressing because I couldn’t do anything about it. My hair became very thin all around the front so I felt like it was really noticeable. I was confident it would grow back though, and tried not to get too stressed out about it. It was just one of those things, right? One of the many changes new mothers have to deal with regarding their bodies.

This was a distressing time but it’s NOTHING compared to how things are when the hair starts to grow back. It grows back as fine, frizzy baby hair that just sticks out all over the place. I found myself with little tufts all around my hair line. I couldn’t wear my hair up because I just had these short strands that wouldn’t tame. I had to be inventive and come up with ways to hide it but nothing really helped much. I considered getting a fringe (like our beloved Duchess) but I really don’t think I actually had enough hair to construct one. I would pin the front pieces back but they would just fluff up again seconds later. I found myself stealing my husbands hair putty and slicking my hair back, not something that makes a girl feel pretty and feminine. I’d also clip it down when it was wet in an attempt to train it to dry in a more uniform manner. I was so self conscious about it. Maybe it sounds silly to be talking so seriously about my hair like this. Words like ‘distressing’ and ‘un feminine’ maybe seem a bit dramatic but it really is horrible. Your hair can make or break you as far as how good you feel about yourself. It broke me.

After George, it eventually grew back to pretty much normal again. It took over a year, though, which seemed like forever. I was relieved that I could return the hair putty and blow dry my hair normally again. I got pregnant with Sophie when George was just over a year old and I was nervous of having to go through it all over again. I took pregnancy supplements that were supposed to help stop hair loss but it still happened. This time, it’s even worse. Sophie is almost two and a half and my new hair has just stopped growing. It has got to a couple of inches and just given up. I’m stuck with this frizz and there is nothing to be done. I don’t hold out much hope that it will suddenly start growing again so I need to get used to the idea of this being my hair forever. I’m not loving it, I miss my normal hair. I know lots of women who have been through this now that it’s happened to me but before I had kids I had no idea about it really. It can just be added to list of ways in which we give our bodies to our children. I’ll get used to it, just like I’ve got used to the saggy belly and peeing myself on the trampoline. Those little cherubs are worth it, right?

Gemma