Q&A: What’s with the greasy hair during pregnancy?

Posted in Pregnancy and tagged .

Question & Answer

Lush locks are meant to go hand-in-hand with a blooming belly, but suddenly your hair is limp and loaded with oil. Why is it so?

I’ve always been able to go three days between hair washes but since becoming pregnant I’ve become a grease ball! It’s disgusting, why is my hair so greasy?

Treen, Mum's Grapevine Group Member

It’s all to do with hormone changes – which are pretty much to blame for all the awesome and not-so-awesome things that happen to us during pregnancy. The levels of androgen (a sex hormone) in your system are changing which can cause your skin’s sebaceous glands to enlarge. These glands sit just under your skin and increase the amount of sebum being produced, and this stuff is oily.

How to handle greasy hair during pregnancy

What causes greasy hair during pregnancy and how to make it stop

So what can you do to banish the greasy hair? It seems strange, but actually washing your hair less can help. Washing increases the levels of sebum, so dig out the dry shampoo and give the daily hair washing a rest.

Other mums-to-be swear by ditching the shampoo altogether for a while and just rinsing your hair instead.

Read next …

Having other hair-raising issues during pregnancy? Here are some common pregnancy and post-pregnancy hair-related articles that you might like to read next:

Share On