After giving birth, most women like me are experiencing this condition where our hair excessively falls. It’s very common for women that breastfeed and just gave birth. I could say it’s common because it happened to me after giving birth to my first child and also to my second child.

Here in the Philippines, our elders keep on telling us about mythical causes why we suddenly get this excessive hair fall. I’ll try my best to name them down and unveil the real reason why we get this hair fall after giving birth. BTW, this excessive hair fall can happen to others too and the reasons that I’ll be discussing may also be applicable for others.

Related Post: Tips on Preventing Hair fall and how to regrow them

So what are the elders say when a woman experiences excessive hair fall?

#1 It’s all about Binat or Relapse(in English as per Google LOL)

Well, it makes sense that after giving birth you will be weakened. However, it seems like they are overusing the word “binat” whenever someone gave birth. People or most of the elders blame it all to “binat or relapse”. When in fact, this relapse thing refers to a re-occurrence of a specific condition due to being unable to recover from it. SO… if hair fall is binat or relapses it should’ve been a condition you’ve already had. But it’s not.

#2 The weirdest – “Hair fall is happening because your baby started learning how to crawl”.

WHAT? I heard that a lot from the elders and our neighbors. I don’t get their sense about it and I’m not sure if this is some kind of myth in other countries too, but in the Philippines, they say that. That’s sad though.

#3  The baby is pulling your hair while breastfeeding..

Okay. Yeah, the baby keeps on pulling my hair when feeding her. She may catch some hair strands but that only happens whenever she pulls my hair. So basically, the hair fall should only happen when the baby is pulling the hair but after that, it should not be the cause of having excessive hair fall right? But they say it’s the reason for having that hair fall.

Those were the common myth that I’ve heard so far. But what’s the real reason behind having this excessive hair fall after giving birth?

Let’s now talk about the real deal.

#1 Reason is stress

Let’s admit it. After giving birth, even you’re so happy about seeing your newborn, you’ll end up being stressed. This can be because of many factors which can also add up in making your hair fall so hardcore. This is so self-explanatory.

#2 Sleep deprivation

This can be one of the reasons for stress too, which can be a big factor in having an excessive hair fall. Having a lack of sleep can lead to many problems. Like the next one…

#3 Lack of nutrients

When you gave birth and breastfeed your baby, there are high chances of losing the nutrients that your body has because you are giving it to your baby with all your heart. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you need to make sure that there’s still enough for yourself by getting full sleep, eating healthy, and take some supplements if possible.

#4 In addition to that…Do not use hot water for your head/hair

I’m sure if you’re in the Philippines like me, your parents have been advising you to take a hot bath to avoid “Binat”, but take into consideration that hot water can make your hair be detached out of your scalp. When they are removing the hair of the pork or chicken’s feather they pour hot water into them. Warm water can do the same thing on your scalp so avoid using hot or warm water for your hair.

So far those are the real reason why women who recently gave birth is experiencing this excessive hair fall. As I have stated in the first part, this may be applicable for others who are experiencing excessive hair fall too. Make yourself aware of how to avoid these common factors of hair fall, so you can conquer them. I’ll be sharing some ways how to battle with hair fall next week, so watch out for that. If you have something to share, please feel free to comment down below. 🙂

~Miely