Did you know that babies hair changes multiple times as they are growing? Lots babies have a very soft, silky hair texture. As they grow up, their hair tends to become coarser and curlier. This is because the baby’s hair follicles are still immature until about age 8 or 9. Your baby’s hair texture will change until they reach the age of two.
The soft hair texture of baby’s locks often changes into more wavy or straight strands around the age of two. Your baby will have three changes in their hair texture during the first 24 months. The texture of their hair will change quickly from one stage to another.
There are 3 different three phases of baby’s hair:
Phase 1: Lanugo Hair
This is the first phase and all new-born babies have hair that falls out, but they grow back very quickly. This stage lasts for about three months. The baby’s locks are thin because there isn’t much of it at this point in their lives .
Your baby’s hair follicles will produce lanugo, which is a soft, thick hair that grows all over your child’s body and head. Lanugo starts to grow at around 5 months gestation and might play an important role in fetal hormone development.
Babies often lose their lanugo hair during the later stages of pregnancy. Lanugo is absorbed into amniotic fluid, but sometimes your child will be born with it still attached. Typical telogen hairs are present at birth, and most of them are shed in the first few weeks.
Phase 2: Vellus Hair
This is the second phase, and it lasts for about six months. Your baby’s hair will become thinner and less dense because they’re losing their lanugo hair. Vellus hairs are short strands that grow in areas with a lot of sebaceous glands like on your child’s scalp or around their genitals .
Vellus means “thin” in Latin so this type of follicle produces very fine hair that falls out easily. Baby locks at this stage can be wavy but normally stay straight until after puberty when hormones start becoming active again.
Babies often have vellus hairs on their head and body. Such hair will account for up to 25% of a baby’s scalp hair, depending on the current stage of growth. The majority of the remainder consists in lanugo or terminal hair, which is determined by your baby’s age.
Phase 3: Terminal Hair
This is the third phase, and it lasts for about a year. Baby hair will enter this stage around their first birthday, but that might vary depending on your baby’s growth patterns or gender .
Terminal hairs are long strands of hair with tapered ends that grow from terminal follicles in the skin. They’re produced by fully-grown anagen cells which you’ll find mainly in parts where there are lots of sebaceous glands like your child’s scalp.
This growth is a slow process, but usually, when your baby turns 2 years old, you can easily see how significantly the texture and quality of their hair had changed from when they were newborns.
The hair that you see then is stronger, thicker, and darker. This is the adult hair that will keep on growing and shedding as any other adult hair does.
As your baby grows and changes, so do their scalp and hair follicles. Over time the diameter of your child’s follicles enlarges as your child grows. Finally, the follicles develop into their adult form. These follicles are basically categorized into three different sizes.
ROUND: The round follicles lead to having straight hair.
OVAL: The oval-shaped follicles make the hair strand grow in a spiral effect, resulting in curly pr coils hair.
IN THE MIDDLE: If the follicle is not entirely of either shape, then it results in hair strands growing as wavy.
For babies, the initial change that happens to hair is the first two years of their life. First, they get that soft, thin hair replaced by stronger and more textured hair such as wavy, straight, or curly. This is permanent hair that remains the same over most of their life.
During the week 14-15 of pregnancy, the hair follicles start appearing on your baby’s scalp and soon, hair starts appearing. In an ultrasound, you can easily recognize if your baby in the womb has hair on its head or not.
A common scalp condition in babies, cradle cap causes crusty white, yellow or red patches on the scalp. It’s a form of seborrheic dermatitis that isn’t likely to cause your baby discomfort or itching. However, don’t be tempted to pick the scalp or scratch it to remove the flakes, as this can damage your baby’s scalp and hair follicles. We recommend applying our Baby Stimulating Growth Oil to loosen the flakes before you shampoo using our Baby 2-1 Shampoo & Body Gel.
In conclusion, if your baby is born with the bit of hair tuft or not, the initial hair they have on their scalp soon falls out. This hair fall is typical for all babies, as it paves the way for stronger hair. For a short period, it might seem to be a worry for parents because their baby’s hair isn’t growing, but you just need to be patient as follicles are working their way to produce their adult hair.
For tips on how to wash and moisturize your babies hair, please click and read this blog post: