Can I cut my hair when I'm pregnant?

I often hear people from the older generation say that you cannot cut your hair during pregnancy because doing so will cause all the nutrients in your hair and your body to be removed. In fact, this statement is incorrect. The hair will change during pregnancy, and you can also style your hair during pregnancy as long as you choose pure natural and harmless ingredients.

01: What changes will occur in hair during pregnancy?

A pregnant woman's hair will undergo many changes during pregnancy. For example, many expectant mothers do find that their hair has become thicker. However, this is not because the expectant mother grows more new hair, but simply because the expectant mother loses her hair at a slower rate than usual.

Here's why: Typically, 85%-95% of the hair on your head is in the growth phase, and the other 5%-15% is in the resting phase. Once the resting period is over, these hairs often fall out when you comb or wash your hair and are replaced by new hair. On average, women lose about 100 hairs a day.

During pregnancy, your body's estrogen levels rise, prolonging the hair growth phase. There are fewer hairs in the dormant phase, so less hair falls out every day. As a result, your hair becomes thicker and shinier. But after giving birth, your estrogen levels will drop and more hair will enter a dormant phase and fall out. In addition to having more hair, some expectant mothers also find that the texture of their hair changes and becomes shinier.

But not all expectant mothers will notice significant changes in their hair before and after giving birth. Among mothers who felt their hair changed significantly, the changes tended to be more noticeable in those with longer hair.

02: Will long hair hinder the fetus from absorbing nutrients?

First, let's look at how hair grows. Histologically, hair is composed of dense keratin arranged in regular patterns. The part of the hair exposed outside the skin is called the hair shaft, the part buried in the skin is called the hair root, and the epithelium and connective tissue that wraps around the hair root is the hair follicle. The hair root and the lower end of the hair follicle combine to form an enlarged hair bulb, which is the growth point of the hair and hair follicle. The bottom of the hair bulb is concave to form the hair papilla, which is rich in nerves and capillaries, and plays a role in inducing and maintaining hair growth.

During the growth phase of hair, the hair bulb obtains nutrients from the hair papilla, cells proliferate and differentiate, and keratin is synthesized to form hair. As the hair grows, it is "pushed" out of the skin and becomes the hair shaft we see. Seeing this, we can understand that the part where hair grows is buried in the skin, and the hair exposed outside can be regarded as dead tissue. It does not have metabolism and does not consume nutrients.

Hair is made up of keratin, and protein is made up of amino acids, so hair growth definitely requires nutrition. People with malnutrition often have thin, yellow and sparse hair, but hair growth does not steal the nutrients needed by the fetus.

On the one hand, the growth and development of the fetus and its own metabolism require a large amount of nutrients and energy, for which the mother is fully prepared. The small amount of nutrients required for hair growth is simply a drop in the bucket compared to the needs of the fetus. On the other hand, the growth of hair is not under our control. Cutting hair does not reduce the nutritional consumption of hair growth, and keeping long hair does not increase the nutritional demand for hair growth. It is not scientific to try to "save" nutrition by cutting hair.