"I always say, the higher the hair, the closer to God."
Getting Sticky with Ally Love, Dr. Heather Woolery-Lloyd and Nutrafol.
This post is presented by our friends at Nutrafol, the best-selling hair growth supplement brand trusted by over 1.5M people for hair health. Ally Love and Dr. Heather Woolery-Lloyd are proud partners and happy customers of Nutrafol.
Anyone who has taken Ally Love’s Peloton class can feel her calm, her bubbliness, and her strength. (No surprise she’s one of the platform’s most popular instructors.) And that hair? Well, it’s nothing short of enviable, thanks in part to Nutrafol. Now, she’s the mom of a ten-month old who is working on dismantling her perfectionism, rejecting compare and despair, and leaning into growth in every sense of the word. She talked to us that first Peloton class after baby, avoiding comparison in the locker room (and elsewhere), and below, the best remedy for postpartum hair thinning:
Being on the postpartum hair thinning journey.
“I always said my hair is my best accessory that I didn’t pay for. So I didn’t know that after you have a baby, a lot of women experience hair shedding. There were many things I had no idea about. When it started happening to me, I didn’t want to wait to find out, you know, eff around and find out.
I went to Instagram and I put a post up. I literally took a photo of my hair, where you could see the thinning had already started. And granted, because my hair is so big and curly, I can hide it. But I didn’t want to do that, because I do pull it back for workouts, and I can’t exercise with my hair out all the time. It’s so hot. So anyways, I go to Instagram, I put up this post, and I’m like: What’s up? Help your girl out.
There are a lot of moms that follow me. The overwhelming response for Nutrafol blew my mind. And I was like, great. Let me go buy these supplements. I gotta figure this out. I love that moms help moms.
So shout out to all the moms that follow me, or that saw that post and were willing to pay it forward and not gatekeep. That’s how I arrived here.
It’s been over four months since I started taking Nutrafol Postpartum, and I’ve seen a huge shift. I lowkey wish I would have known about Nutrafol before, not just postpartum, because my hair gets stuck at a certain length, and I always want it to be bigger. I always say, the higher the heels, the hair, the closer to God. I’m trying to be close to God. I’m excited because it’s the biggest it’s ever been now.”
Dr. Heather Woolery-Lloyd, MD, FAAD is a board-certified dermatologist and board-certified in Lifestyle Medicine, and serves as the Chief Medical Advisor at Nutrafol. She’s also a mom to a teenager and a young adult, and that lived perspective shows up in how she speaks with her patients.
As a dermatologist, she talks to women every day about the ways their bodies shift over time—hair shedding, skin changes—and how disorienting those changes can feel when they arrive. It’s a vulnerable transition, and one she reminds her patients is not only common, but often temporary, with real approaches that can help along the way. That same mindset carries into motherhood:
DR., WHY AM I SHEDDING!?!?
“When I think about how difficult the early stages were for me, I remember dealing with so many changes in my own body. I experienced hair shedding after pregnancy, and postpartum thinning is so common for many women. This type of hair thinning can occur after a major stressful event, such as a car accident, hospitalization, general anesthesia, and, yes, childbirth. So the hair thinning we see postpartum is related to both the stress of childbirth and the major hormonal changes that ensue. It pushes the hair out of the active growth phase into the resting and shedding phase, and you can see hair thinning three to six months later.
Hair growth nutraceuticals like Nutrafol Postpartum address key root causes of hair thinning. So if you’re even slightly concerned about thinning after having your baby, don’t wait. That’s a big piece of advice. Some studies say you need to shed 30-50% of your hair for it to be very visible, so if you think you’re thinning, you probably are (sorry).
There are also lifestyle changes that can help with this. I’m board-certified in lifestyle medicine, too, which focuses on how lifestyle influences health and wellness. Managing stress is probably the most important thing, though it’s hard to tell a new mom to manage stress.’
Try to get outside for a walk or fit in any kind of exercise. Even five minutes of guided meditation can make a difference; it doesn’t have to be a big commitment. Just taking a short break from your phone or screen to sit quietly can help you reset. I like to do this at night.
Nutrition is also important. Prioritizing protein is key because our hair grows from the scalp, and we need it to maintain a healthy scalp foundation. The scalp has its own microbiome—all of the bacteria, fungus, and microorganisms that are supposed to be on our skin. The key is to use microbiome-friendly products. Nutrafol’s Root Purifier Shampoo is microbiome-friendly and holds the MyMicrobiome certification, meaning it doesn’t disrupt the skin’s natural balance. Scalp serums like Nutrafol’s replenish hydration to the scalp, providing an optimal environment for hair to grow and thrive.
Avoiding high heat is important, too—things like flat irons and high-heat blow drying. And avoid tight hairstyles! A low ponytail puts less traction on the hair than a high ponytail, so that’s a better option. Claw clips can also be helpful since they create less tension than a tight ponytail.”
Let’s talk. This is more group chat than newsletter, an ongoing text thread you won’t have to mute. Drop a comment, share your story, tell us what you want to see next.
Everybody is a mother.
I love Ally Love! We were pregnant on very similar timelines and I loved growing with her on my screen. Her postpartum energy is literally giving me life.