To colour or not to colour??

I seriously need to colour my hair.

I have heard so many yes and no's, so I just wanted to know, for sure .... are it safe, during pregnancy, to have your hair coloured in a salon??

If not, why and then ... what head-cover can I use :p

TIA

I remember reading this for the first time in the American version of "What to expect when you're expecting" and thinking WTF??!!

Many, many people have coloured their hair during pregnancy both at home and at a salon with no apparent ill side effects to their child. However, the cosmetic industry is not covered by ANY government regulations re testing etc. and we don't know the long term effects of all these chemicals on ourselves and our families and unborn children.

And remember no it hasn't been proven it's harmful, but it sure as heck hasn't been proven it IS harmful. My ob. actually laughed at me when I asked him the same question, and said he thought there were a lot more things a mother-to-be could worry about than colouring her hair.

To be honest, I think it comes down to this - if you coloured your hair, and god forbid, your Spikkel didn't make it, would you spend the rest of your life thinking - "if only I hadn't coloured my hair"

If yes - do something else. *
If no - then you go girl.

*I watched Salem Cafe last night and some of those hajib(?) head coverings look pretty cool, or maybe it's just the funky chicks that wear them.
BTW - from my limited experience of hairdressers/hairdressing salons (hair dresser in the family) Salons are more dangerous to the hairdressers who work their almost 24/7 as they seem to develop breathing problems/skin problems etc. but you have to remember this is repeated, intensive exposure over a number of years.

I have no idea is it is ok or not, but it might be worth researching products such as henna which are a bit more natural..

Nadine
I posted this exact tread a few months ago - and Im not sure exact;y which member it wasnow (baby brain) but she is a hair dresser and she said its totally fine - all the sallon formulas they use now dont have the toxic chemicals in them that they used to have - they are all far more natural.
It is still your decision - I spoke to my h/dresser at leangth and we went through what the hair colour was made of and all that jazz and I reserched it - my h/dresser and I then went with a semi perminent as it has less potency than a permient.
I hope that helps.
Kate

Oh lordy - you can't eat the good stuff, have to go to sleep sitting up and you will feel like a heifer at some point of your pregnancy - GET YOUR HAIR DONE!

It seems to be one of the few things we can do :lol: !

I am a hairdresser and while i could say positivly for sure that it wasnt going to do any harm i will say that if its going to make you feel great then do it.

I personally am still colouring my hair and since being pregnant have had about 3 colours and wont be stopping anytime soon.

I have also heard not to colour your hair but I had foils put in when I was about 6wks pregnant, I've had regrowth done once or twice and I'm going to get it done again next week before bubs is born (gotta look good for the photos haha). No harm has come of it. I had my hair coloured with my DS too and he is fine.

Congrats on your pregnancy!

I waited until the 12 week mark and then coloured my hair during my pregnancy, the gave me organic foils though (that's what hairdresser said they were) and they didn't have that strong smell of ammonia. I would say go ahead, no problem here, so much hype on what not to do these days.

Why not try a salon that offers organic colour? If you really need to do it, at least that way you will feel safe.

Personally i dont colour my hair at all (lucky no greys yet!!) LOL.

I coloured my hair (foils) 2 weeks ago and I am 13 weeks pregnant this week. IMO there is nothing wrong with it. The "What to Expect.." book says it is okay as long as you are in a well ventilated area where you will not be breathing in all the fumes. As far as foils go, they don't even put the colour onto your scalp...and so little seeps in anyways when you put full colour. I am pretty laid back about these things, others may disagree with me. I coloured my hair with dd as well and no problems there.

I say if it's going to make you feel good, go for it!

The only thing my hairdresser said is that you should make sure they do a skin test prior to colouring as your skin may react differently to things while you are pregnant. So to make sure that you won't have a reaction do a skin test first.

I coloured my hair all through my last pregnancy and will again - as long as you are in a well ventilated salon and have done the skin tests you should be ok.

well said Nai :)

I am a hairdresser also and have done many pregnant womans hair. Its safe as ppl have said. wont do anything to ur baby. A skin test is a good idea, only because ur body now may react differently when pregnant than before. Try not to pick a salon that is really really busy as there will be more fumes floating around etc. When u have the colour on ur hair.... go outside if u must (they usually have a courtyard or something) they will come get u when ur colour needs to come off..
I hope that made some sense.....

THANK YOU SO MUCH, all of you!! I'll be booking my appointment as soon as my hairdresser has an opening ... wich might just take about a week :rolleyes: