Obviously, there are a lot of changes that happen to your body during pregnancy. But there are a lot of changes—sometimes unexpected ones—that can happen after pregnancy too. Model and new mom Ashley Graham, keeping it real as she always does, showed Instagram one of the changes she's experienced after having her first child: postpartum baby hairs.
The 33-year-old and her husband, Justin Ervin, welcomed their son, Isaac, in January 2020. Now, over a year later, Graham is seeing some new hair growth along her hairline. And on March 2, she posted a photo on Instagram showing off the wispy hairs: "I may not be a bond girl but i can be a bond villain (postpartum baby hairs come through!!!)"
Some Instagram users had never heard of this particular effect that postpartum can have on hair and thanked Graham for shining a light on it. Others said they have also experienced it, including 31-year-old Katherine Schwarzenegger, who is mom to 6-month-old Lyla with husband Chris Pratt. "Omg ME TOO," the author commented.
This growth of baby hairs is actually something that some women may experience after pregnancy. Because, after all, hair loss is a thing that can happen after you have a baby.
Why? Well, a lot of pregnant women get thick, shiny hair. "Increased estrogen levels during pregnancy support hair growth and prevent the typical shedding we experience when not pregnant," Susan Smarr, MD, an ob-gyn at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara, California, previously told Health. But about three to six months after delivery there's a sudden drop in hormones—and with that (along with the return of a more normal hair cycle) comes a noticeable amount of shedding.
When the hair that sheds finally comes back, it may look a little different, as Graham shows on her Instagram post. That "Bond villain" look she's referring to is actually part of the normal hair regrowth process known as the "whispies" phase. "You'll get this halo of hair around your hairline that all grows in at once," Chloe Zera, MD, an ob-gyn at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston previously told Health. And those whispies are more noticeable if you have long hair, because when you try to pull it back in a ponytail (like Graham seems to be doing in the photo), the new hairs slip out, Dr. Zera explained.
Basically, though it can be difficult to style, the new hair growth is a totally normal thing many new moms go through. And even though Graham thinks she might look like a Bond villain, her comments were flooded with people hyping her up, telling her how amazing she looked, including fellow model Emily Ratajkowski: "I mean damn you pull it off," she said.
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