January Review: Postpartum Hair Care
The shampoo and conditioner updates didn’t carry out as frequently as I’d aimed for last year, but I’m not asking for forgiveness because well, I went through hell and back to bring life into this world during that time. It’s been six months now and I feel like I’m just coming up for air. I am also losing all of my hair which has obviously influenced my hair care, and I wanted to take the time to share.
First off, let’s start where all things start when it comes to hair care. The scalp. I have been producing way more sebum (oil), naturally. That led me to try a few different scalp treatments, which I intend to write a whole post about, but I have to say that I didn’t find much success with any of them. Being a hair stylist doesn’t make me any less of a consumer. You could say I’m just a slightly more informed consumer, but a user like the rest of you nonetheless. Recognizing that it was my scalp causing my oily roots — not something I have ever had the firsthand problem of before — I figured I’d need to rebalance my pH levels, give it a scrub, rejuvenate and reset that first initial layer, but instead my strands got worse. After each treatment they grew extremely greasy and required multiple shampoos to feel clean before stepping out of the shower. The worst feeling. I’ll be sure to link my scalp treatment reviews to this post once it’s live.
Next up, a secondary foundation that sets the tone for our hair care, in my belief, is our haircuts. I had one bad haircut back in June before the baby came and it was solely to take out some of the extra weight I had acquired. When you’re pregnant, in my experience that is, all those strands that you naturally lose just stop falling out. This may be a blessing for some of you, but my hair is already pretty thick. As my face felt like it was getting rounder and everything was more bloated, I absolutely hated carrying weight in my hair as well. Everything just felt so heavy. So I went in to a friend of mine and asked her to take weight out. I walked out with shorter hair, and I was super distraught. Short hair on a round, puffy face… any stylist should know that’s a bad move. I don’t even feel the need to elaborate on why that’s not a flattering gesture. It’s just mean. Anyhow, so I figure it was a one time deal and that I was perhaps more sensitive to things with an extra 60+ lbs in tow and decided I would go back to her last month. I had finally grown my hair out and was loving all the new flexibility I had for more quickie style options and the ability to wear my waves naturally. I went in for some reshaping. I needed subtle layers. A minor lift to support my natural texture and frame my face so all the natural volume didn’t fall into my ends. This is exactly what I communicated. At the first section she took, she asked if she could take some weight out and just how much length I was willing to let go of. My reply was, I really love the length I just want a dusting. Dusting, my friends, is something you should be able to get away with asking for when you want to communicate very transparently that you are essentially in love with your length and needs those frayed ends to go away. Dusting, means the bare minimum. My fault was in saying that I of course want my hair to be healthy and to last me a while since I had baby in tow now…. Despite my bad experience, I still want to use this opportunity to empower you all to use these phrases and feel the freedom to communicate various needs, even if they may seem conflicting. It is the stylist’s job to take all of your needs into consideration, not to have selective hearing and do the same cut they do on everyone else that comes in on the hour. Long story short, my ends are so extremely straw-like and lifeless and a huge contrast to the upper half of my hair near the roots. I’ve been sporting the most pathetic low ponytails ever since and have selected a new stylist for my next trim. It really is so beyond frustrating to feel ignored and dismissed, especially as a new mother with a traumatizing birth story that consisted of not being listened to while I was in the hospital. PHEW. Now that that tangent is done….
On to shampoos and conditioners. I still keep a rotation at all times. Similar to working out and the benefits of switching up your exercises to surprise your muscles and always keep your body guessing, I like to rotate my shower products based on how my hair is doing that day/week. Due to the massive hair loss I’d been experiencing, I was given this NaturalTech Energizing line from Davines that I really appreciated adding into the mix. Every time that I use it, I notice that my subsequent shower is a little less of a Chewbacca massacre. I’ve also kept the OI moisturizing line in the mix. I straighten my hair a lot more when it’s a short - medium length because those lengths don’t complement my natural waves well at all. To make up for the added heat exposure, I make sure I’m using rich moisturizing agents and that I’m keeping a conditioning treatment in rotation. Which leads me to Virtue. I’m taking turns using their Restorative Treatment Masque and Davines' Wake Up Circle once a month. I have kept Virtue in my rotation for a couple years now and I can’t imagine replacing them. I switched from their smoothing line to their renewal line, which they sent me preemptively, knowing that postpartum hair loss was on the horizon and that my hair would need restoration. That’s a best friend level move right there, so huge thanks to Virtue for being such an amazing and loyal friend to my strands. I also have Act + Acre in my shower, but it was much kinder to me before this change in hormones and hair behavior. Now it’s leaving my hair looking dirtier than it did before I washed it, so I think I’m going to set that aside until I’m back to “normal”.
To top it all off, the finishing products I’ve been relying on are the following:
Playa’s Ritual Hair Oil. It is so damn soft and lightweight! My ends are so grateful, especially on the days they’re exposed to heat (flat iron or blow dry).
Virtue’s Dry Shampoo. With all the extra oil production and unsuccessful product trials, a dry shampoo has been a necessary item. I’ve never relied so heavily on a dry shampoo to be totally honest.
Rahua’s Leave In Conditioning Spray. If I opt for the non-moisturizing agents in my shower care, then I’m always sure to spritz a bit of this into my frail ends to keep them locked with moisture.
Hill House Home’s Silk Pillowcase. Let’s just say, my husband has been a lot more cuddly ever since I started using this silk pillowcase. I often shower at night and go to bed with wet hair so laying my mane onto a frizz-less friendly fabric has made all the difference.
Davines NaturalTech Superactive Serum. Using this lotion on my ends is something I should probably do more often to assist with hair loss, but my husband was turned off by its lingering, musky scent so I subconsciously stopped being so proactive about it. Now that I realize it, I’ll be applying this after my next shower because treating my hair loss is far more important than his (non-pregnant) sensitive nose.
That’s all, folks! If you have any questions regarding postpartum hair loss or other product recommendations that I haven’t considered, please share in the comments below!