Pregnancy changes a woman way beyond her growing belly. It changes her totality —it can also cause some strange, unexpected changes in her hair. You may notice hair loss some months after delivery but the good news is, it doesn’t go on forever.

Here’s everything you need to know about postpartum hair loss.

“During pregnancy there are lots of hormonal shifts happening and one thing that those hormonal shifts do is promote hair growth,” says dermatologist Sejal Shah, M.D. “They’re actually preventing you from shedding—you shed every day, everyone sheds every day, but if you really pay attention, typically during pregnancy you don’t have that daily shedding. After pregnancy, once your hormones go back to normal, there’s a drop in estrogen. What that does is it sort of triggers that shedding to resume. But keep in mind: You’ve not been shedding for several months at this time. That hair that’s been sticking to your head needs to come out.”

The phenomena is called telogen effluvium. “Generally with telogen effluvium, there’s some sort of event—in this situation it’s giving birth, but there can be other causes—basically a larger amount of your hair than normal is triggered to enter this resting/shedding phase,” Dr. Shah said. “It takes about three months for that hair to shed out. That’s why most people notice shedding around the three-month postpartum mark.

“It’s a very natural process,” Dr. Shah said. “If you have shedding postpartum, it’s quite normal. It eventually will sort of go back to your normal.”