You’re standing in the shower, and suddenly, the drain is clogged. It’s a clump. A big one. Your heart sinks because you’ve spent the last few months hearing about the "pregnancy glow" and that thick, luscious mane everyone promised you’d have by the second trimester. Instead, you're looking at a handful of strands and wondering if something is fundamentally wrong with your body or the baby.
Most of the time, pregnancy is actually a "hair gain" event. But for a specific group of women, the opposite occurs. Seeing your hair falling out while pregnant feels like a betrayal of the biological script. It’s stressful. It's weird. And honestly, it’s rarely discussed in those glossy "what to expect" books that focus almost entirely on the glory of prenatal vitamins.
The truth is that your hormones are currently driving a high-speed bus, and sometimes they take a wrong turn. While the standard experience is a stalled shedding cycle—meaning you keep hair that should have fallen out months ago—certain triggers can flip that switch in the other direction. Let's look at what is actually happening under the scalp.
The Science of the "Stuck" Cycle
Hair grows in three distinct phases. You have the anagen phase (growth), the catagen phase (transition), and the telogen phase (resting). Usually, about 90% of your hair is growing while the rest sits around waiting to fall out.
Pregnancy usually jacks up your estrogen levels. High estrogen is like a pause button for the shedding phase. It keeps your hair in the anagen phase longer than usual. This is why many women feel like their hair is the thickest it’s ever been. But, if your body experiences a significant shock—be it nutritional, hormonal, or physical—it can trigger something called Telogen Effluvium.
This is basically a fancy way of saying your hair decided to skip the party and go straight to sleep.
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When Telogen Effluvium hits, a large percentage of those growing hairs suddenly shift into the resting phase. A few months later, they all fall out at once. If this happens during pregnancy, it’s usually because of a massive shift in your internal chemistry that happened about 90 days prior. It’s a delayed reaction. Your scalp is literally living in the past.
Is it your Thyroid or just the Estrogen?
Don't just blame the "pregnancy hormones" and call it a day. Sometimes, hair falling out while pregnant is a flashing red light for hypothyroidism.
Pregnancy puts a massive strain on the endocrine system. According to the American Thyroid Association, thyroid disorders are remarkably common during pregnancy because the gland has to work overtime to support both the mother and the developing fetus. If your thyroid slows down, your hair is often the first thing the body "shuts off" to conserve energy for more vital functions.
It's not just the hair, though. If you're losing clumps and also feeling bone-deep exhaustion (beyond the normal "I'm growing a human" tired) or feeling unusually cold, you need a blood test. A simple TSH panel can tell you if your butterfly-shaped gland in your neck is the culprit.
Iron deficiency is another big one. Anemia is incredibly common in the second and third trimesters. Your blood volume increases by nearly 50% during pregnancy. If you aren't pumping out enough hemoglobin to keep up, your hair follicles—which are non-essential tissues—get starved of oxygen. They just give up and fall out.
The Stress Factor (It's not just in your head)
Stress isn't just a feeling. It's a chemical state.
If you’ve had a particularly rough first trimester—think severe morning sickness or Hyperemesis Gravidarum—your body has been through a war. You were likely dehydrated, malnourished, and physically exhausted for weeks on end.
The body is smart. It prioritizes the uterus. It prioritizes the heart and lungs. It does not prioritize your hair follicles. If you had a period of intense physical stress or sickness at week 8, don't be surprised if you see hair falling out while pregnant around week 20.
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What to do when the brush looks scary
First, stop panicking. Stressing about the hair loss creates a feedback loop that can actually make the shedding worse.
Get a full blood panel
Ask your OB-GYN for more than just a standard check-up. Specifically, you want to look at:
- Ferritin levels: This measures your iron stores, not just the iron currently in your blood.
- TSH, Free T3, and Free T4: To rule out pregnancy-induced hypothyroidism.
- Vitamin D and B12: Deficiencies here are notorious for causing thinning.
Audit your Prenatal
Not all vitamins are created equal. Some are heavy on folic acid but light on the minerals your hair actually needs. If you’re struggling to keep food down, you might not be absorbing what’s in that pill anyway.
Be gentle with the "Mechanical" stuff
Now is not the time for tight "clean girl" buns or aggressive heat styling. Your hair is in a fragile state. If it’s already prone to shedding, the tension from a tight elastic can cause traction alopecia on top of the hormonal shedding. It's a double whammy you don't want. Use silk scrunchies. Let it air dry. Basically, treat your hair like an expensive silk blouse.
Misconceptions about "The Glow"
We need to stop telling pregnant women they will all have amazing hair. It sets a false expectation. For about 5% to 10% of women, pregnancy-related hair loss is a real, documented phenomenon.
There is also the "rebound" effect. Some women stop taking certain medications (like hormonal birth control) the moment they decide to conceive. Coming off the pill can cause a massive shed that coincides with the start of pregnancy. In that case, it’s not the pregnancy causing the loss—it’s the absence of the synthetic hormones you were taking before.
It’s also worth noting that hair texture often changes. Even if you aren't losing volume, your hair might feel drier or more brittle because of how your sebaceous glands are reacting to the androgen shifts.
The Timeline of Recovery
If you are dealing with Telogen Effluvium during pregnancy, the good news is that it is almost always temporary. It’s a "self-correcting" condition. Once the underlying trigger—whether that’s an iron deficiency or a thyroid spike—is addressed, the hair follicles will eventually cycle back into the growth phase.
However, you have to be patient. Hair grows about half an inch a month. You won't see the results of your new iron supplement today. You’ll see them in three to six months.
Actionable Steps for Today
If you’re seeing more hair in the sink than usual, follow this protocol:
- Record the timing: When did it start? Was it preceded by a high fever, a period of intense vomiting, or a change in medication? This info is gold for your doctor.
- Switch to a wide-tooth comb: Do not brush your hair while it's wet and vulnerable.
- Focus on Protein: Hair is made of keratin, which is a protein. If you’ve been living on saltines and ginger ale because of nausea, your protein intake has likely tanked. Try to sneak in collagen peptides or Greek yogurt if you can stomach it.
- Check your scalp: If you see redness, scaling, or itching along with the hair loss, it might not be hormonal. It could be a fungal issue or seborrheic dermatitis, which requires a different treatment entirely.
- Don't buy "Hair Growth" serums yet: Most of these haven't been tested for safety in pregnant women. Stick to internal health and gentle external care until you’ve cleared any products with your midwife or doctor.
Hair falling out while pregnant is frustrating and can feel like you're losing a piece of your identity during a time when your body already feels like it belongs to someone else. But remember: your body is redirecting resources. It’s prioritizing the most important project it will ever take on. Focus on the data, get your bloodwork done, and try to give yourself the same grace you’d give a friend in the same position.