Hair Dye & Pregnancy

[Gothgirl101]

Is it safe to carry on dyeing my hair during pregnancy? I'm 6 weeks pregnant.

[willow74]

No one has enough information to promise with certainty that using chemical dyes during pregnancy is completely safe, so many pregnant women wait until after the first trimester. At the same time, no one has any human data to show these chemicals cause birth defects.

Clearly, the chemicals in both permanent and semi-permanent hair dyes are not highly toxic. These chemicals have been around a long time, and no research shows they cause defects in newborns, so colouring your hair during pregnancy is probably safe. Plus, if you apply the dyes safely (using gloves in a well-ventilated room, and not leaving solutions on for excessive periods of time), you don't really absorb much of the chemicals into your system.

One alternative you might consider is highlighting or frosting your hair. You absorb hair colouring agents into your system through your skin (scalp), not through your hair shaft. So, any process � such as streaking � that puts less of the chemical in contact with your scalp reduces your exposure to the compounds in dyes.

Some experts recommend vegetable dyes as a good alternative to synthetic chemical agents during pregnancy. Many of these dyes also contain some of the same synthetic chemical compounds that the major cosmetic companies put in their permanent and semi-permanent dyes. Pure henna, which comes in a number of colours, is the exception. Henna is a semi-permanent vegetable dye considered to be very safe

[Scarlett]

You could look up Herbatint or vegetal colour.

http://www.herbatint.co.uk/

[The Tiggster]

Just to add to the 2 previous answers;

I am pregnant too (8 weeks) and was at my hairdresser's this week. I get highlights done & asked the question about dyeing etc & my hairdresser advised against anything that sits on your scalp i.e. die that goes all over. She did say that highlights are ok, but she still took extra care & didn't put the dye close to my scalp. The downside of that is I'll probably need to go a week or 2 earlier than I normally do.

[Gef]

Yes!