Jamie Otis Shows Off Her 'Bald Spots' Due to Postpartum Hair Loss: 'We Are More Than Our Appearance'
Jamie Otis is getting real about postpartum hair loss.
The former Married at First Sight star, 34, showed off her "bald spots" in a makeup-free video on Tuesday, sharing that "something like this used to get me all sorts of depressed [but] not anymore."
"Here I am completely raw & bare— & balding," she wrote in the caption for the Instagram video. "I have no makeup, no filter & you can totally see my BALD spots."
"I have so much hair loss," Otis — who shares son Hendrix Douglas, 5 months, and daughter Henley "Gracie" Grace, 3, with husband Doug Hehner — continued. "Postpartum has rocked me to my core, affecting me physically, mentally, & emotionally. BUT, every day I am working towards healing my whole body from the inside, out.🙏🏻💗."
The mother of two went on to explain why she was initially reluctant to open up about her condition, saying, "I haven’t talked too much about it bc if I mention it I fear people will think I’m just looking for pity or worse, that I’m not thankful for the amazing babies I have."
"But that’s the thing about depression — you can’t talk yourself out of it, you can’t put makeup on and instantly feel better, you can’t even spray dry shampoo on your bald spots and expect the sadness that you buried to stay down," she wrote, adding that she feels "so blessed in every way" to have her family.
"The only reason I am sharing all of this is because I don’t want to be a fraud and post this video where I seem completely happy with my lack of hair and makeup free face.🙃 I don’t want you to think I’ve got all my sh!t together all the time bc there are definitely days when I don't," Otis continued. "But today I feel good! I’m not letting the hair loss get to me. I’m embracing my freckles & blemishes."
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"The point is, body positivity & body acceptance is not a 'flip the switch and it’s turned on' kinda thing. It’s an on-going personal journey," she added.
The TLC alumna also shared an uplifting message in the video, captioning the clip, "We are more than our appearance. Beauty is an inside thing."
Hair loss is completely "normal" for postpartum women and "excessive shedding is caused by falling estrogen levels," according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association.
In September, Otis opened up about the months following the birth of her youngest child, revealing on an episode of her Hot Marriage. Cool Parents. podcast that she and husband Hehner, 37, "still haven't had sex" since their son was born due to a combination of health-related factors.
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"[Someone] said, 'Jamie, you don't put out,' and I wanna be like, 'Excuse me, girlfriend. First of all, I had a 9 lb., 4 oz., baby tear me to shreds downstairs and then at my six-week appointment, I had to have a colposcopy, so I couldn't have sex again for two weeks," she said. "And then I had the [loop electrosurgical excision] procedure and couldn't have sex again for two weeks."
In addition, "I don't feel like having sex, because I'm frickin' depressed!" the labor and delivery nurse shared. "I don't feel sexy, I don't feel hot; I'm anxious, I'm insecure."
"So you're right, I don't put out," Otis added. "And it's not that I don't love my husband immensely and it's not that I'm not attracted to my husband — it's that I'm not attracted to myself and that I'm depressed."
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