Many pregnant women experience less hair loss and extraordinary hair growth.  For this reason, it has become an old wives’ tale that prenatal vitamins are the cause of this lush hair.  This isn’t really so.

Hormones, Not Nutrients

The reason that pregnant women have great hair is that the estrogen levels in their bodies are much higher during pregnancy.  This hormonal surge keeps the hair follicles from going into the resting and shedding phases.  Many more hairs are retained than usual, and the hairs all continue to grow.

When the Baby Is Born

What many people fail to notice is that a few months after a woman delivers a baby, the hair starts to look more like it did pre-pregnancy.  In some cases, women’s hair is even thinner than it was before.  This is because the hormone levels drop after delivery and the hair follicles return to their cycle of growth, rest, and shedding.  All of those extra hairs are shed, and sometimes more.  In some women, the extra loss is only temporary and eventually balances out, but many women notice that their hair is permanently thinner after pregnancy.

Use Your Head

You can see that taking prenatal vitamins for hair growth is not going to be any more successful than taking a regular vitamin for hair growth.  In fact, that prenatal vitamin may be providing far more iron than your body needs.  There are hundreds of vitamins for hair growth available, including specific vitamins for hair growth for women.  Spend your money on the best vitamins for hair growth that you can afford, or save your money and visit a hair specialist who can really tell you what will work for you.  Hair loss occurs for different reasons, and hair growth vitamins may not even help in your case.