Hair dye during pregnancy or breastfeeding ? Everything you need to know !
Pregnancy has its share of body side effects, such as swollen ankles or belly stretch marks. But what about your hairs? Your fancy color faded? Gray roots growing since your last visit at the salon?
Don’t worry. You still are in control here. Indeed, you can be pregnant and still keep having a beautiful hair color. However, you may have to be careful and respect some essential guidelines.
Hair dye during pregnancy
So what should I do ?
Here are four guidelines to follow in case you are pregnant and still want to have your color done :
1- You can color your hairs but it is better to wait for the second trimester. (after 12 weeks)
There are not many researches on this topic but the experts all agreed on this point. The NHS, National Health Services in England, explain that even if the permanent hair dye products contains toxic chemicals, it is still safe to color your hairs during your pregnancy. The reason is that the doses of those elements you may be exposed to during the hair coloring process are so low that it cannot cause any harm.
The quantity of chemical absorbed by the scalp during the process is extremely low and is not significant enough to be detected in the bloodstream.
However, for precaution and to avoid any risk, it is safer and recommended to wait after the first 12 weeks. Those weeks are crucial in the development of the baby (organs, muscles, vocal chords are forming or starting to develop).
2- Choose the safest service
When we talk about hair hair color, it can include so many color types. Fancy color, bright, classics, balayage, highlights, roots touch up..
You can check with your hair stylist for advises, but we suggest that you go for the safest and quickest service possible.
So forget for a while the latest trendy fancy color that need your hairs bleached and colored. We recommend you to opt for simple cover hair color, or simple roots touch up. If you want to opt for highlights, go for a single pass and toner.
3- Opt for organic color
Nowadays, there are some very efficient organic colors on the market. And many quality salon also offer this alternative. However be careful and double check the reputation of the salon and the brand they use.
So many color brands pretends being organic and are actually far from it. Remember that a 100% fully organic hair color simply doesn’t exist. You still need a few chemicals to help the color stick in the cuticles.
So if a brand or a salon tells you that they use 100% organic made color, you can just run away, this is is just a big lie.
In our salon we use a famous organic brand from Denmark, Natulique, ammonia free, resorcinol free, PPD free, with an excellent worldwide reputation, EU standards, and results as good as regular colors in terms of shade and longevity.
Note that henna hair colors are not recommended either. They are much more toxic than we think, as they contain high level of PPD, a very toxic chemical also called paraphenylenediamine.
4- Go for a large and ventilated salon
As we’ve pointed out earlier, there’s no harm in the hair colouring process due to exposition of the hair dye product on your scalp and hairs.
However, in the salon where you are going, there might have other customers and other treatments done. Some treatments such as perming and relaxing release toxic fumes in the air during their process.
To avoid being exposed to the fumes and inhale them, opt for a large salon with a well ventilated area. Avoid the tiny and crowded salon that leaves so little spaces between the stations.
Good point is to check with your salon and ask them to book you in a slot with low affluence. Weekly morning or early afternoon are usually the quietest times in the salons.
At Niche salon Bangkok, you can ask for a private room, for your intimacy but also to avoid being in contact with other customers and fumes from other services.
Hair dye during breastfeeding
As a new mom, it is natural to ask yourself whether the chemicals present in the hair dye products will find their way in your breast milk, and therefore in your baby’s system.
You have been carrying this baby during nine months, been through many stages, and now that he is here, you well deserved some pamper time and get your hair color done in your favorite salon.
Let us relieve you, you can ! However you still need to respect a few guidelines to avoid any risks for your baby’s development.
The main guidelines are the same that during the pregnancy : opt for organic color if possible, (or at least non-ammonia), choose a large and well ventilated salon, and stick to a simple cover color or quick roots touch up.
As mentioned earlier, the products used for treating hair consist of chemicals which when applied to the skin can be absorbed into the bloodstream but in extremely low levels.
Using good quality products from trusted brands can lower the health risks if any, but cheap brands with loads of harmful chemicals can cause some harm, whether you are breastfeeding or not. So here you come doing research on quality salon, and the brands they use.
Also, if the products emit harmful fumes like ammonia, the mother could experience minor health issues if she inhales them. So as we recommended earlier, quiet time with low customer affluence is the salon is preferable, large and ventilated space, or private room to avoid any contact with the fumes of other customers services.
We guess that if you just read this article you are expecting or just have a newborn, so we are glad to say “Congratulations !!!” <3
Sources :
– National Health Service, Is It Safe to Use Hair Dye When I’m Pregnant or Breastfeeding?, May 2018.
– National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, Safety of Hair Products During Pregnancy, October 2008
– U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Hair Dyes, March 2019
– Cleveland Clinic, Hair Dye Safety: What You Need to Know About Salon and Box Color, June 2019- .
