Post-Baby Shedding And Regrowth

see the shorter hairs?

Over the last year or so, I have  gradually noticed what I can only describe as a kinky halo all over my head. It's more noticeable along the part lines and it means my hair never looks neat; after a few days of wearing flat twists or two strand twists, especially if I wet my hair in between, my head is covered in kinky little knots which make the style look weeks rather than days old. Drives me mad. On top of that, now that my hair has got longer, it is much more noticeable (to me at least) that my roots are thicker than my ends, no matter how many trims I do.

I was washing my hair last night and decided to take this picture (not that clear, it was surprisingly hard to take) as I have been wondering whether or not this is breakage. I certainly hope not as I handle my hair with care, moisturise and condition regularly and don't over-manipulate it so I'd be stumped if it was. I believe the most likely culprit is that these were hairs which were shed post-partum and have since grown back. My hair grows pretty slowly, probably averaging about 1/4 inch a month, and these hairs stretched out measure about 6 inches, so if I do the maths, they started growing about 8 months after baby arrived, which is around the time most shedding stops.

Unfortunately for me, during and after my pregnancy I was totally disconnected from my hair. I mostly had it in braids and in between it was blow dried to a crisp at the salon. I wish I was as invested in my hair care then as I am now as I'm sure I would have enjoyed the thicker hair that many pregnant women are blessed with as well as been more aware of post partum shedding.  Since I wasn't though, this is where we are at now, a little guessing and a lot of hoping.

On the plus side it means that my hair will eventually become fuller but the downside is that I'm doomed to suffer wispy-looking ends for eternity. My friend also pointed out today that I wouldn't be able to trim the ends of the new growth as they're shorter so they must be split end city. I'm now faced with a length-chaser's worst nightmare: whether or not to do several mini-chops until the new growth catches up with the old hair. *Scream*

Who else has experienced post partum shedding? Has anyone else noticed this sort of new growth for whatever reason? How did you cope with two different lengths on your head? Please share, I'd love to hear from someone else out there going something similar.