hair dye with brush on pink background
Is It Safe?

Is Dying Your Hair During Pregnancy Safe?

By Amy Morrison

What’s that? You want to look attractive during your pregnancy? I’m sorry but we need to see your roots come in so we can tell how pregnant you are – like rings on a tree.

It looks like hair dye, coloring, highlights, etc. are all relatively safe to do while pregnant. Many sites will try to throw the to-be-on-the-safe-side crap and suggest you opt for highlights instead of full coloring because you’ll come in contact with fewer chemicals. One site even suggested frosting as an option but, for the love of Pete, put down the Frost n’ Go kit.

This appears to be one of those cases where the test of time is providing the research seeing as pregnant women have been dying their hair for decades and there hasn’t been an increase in birth defects among their children.

Animal testing hasn’t been very reliable because they’ve been exposing them (I don’t even want to know) to a higher level of chemicals than any human would encounter. Some sites suggest vegetable dyes or henna but many of these dyes contain just as many chemicals as the real deal so, if you’re still twitchy about it, most sites agree that skipping the first trimester should do.

That said, your hormones may alter the way your hair reacts to dye, henna, perming or relaxing so, do a strand and patch test with the boxed stuff to make sure the results and reactions are what you’re expecting – nothing like green hair and an angry rash to compliment your pregnancy.

If you get a pro to do it, make sure you mention that you’re expecting so they can keep and eye on the dye. Thankfully those salon capes generally tarp your stomach so it will ward off any Debbie do-gooders that decide to enlighten you on hair dye dangers too. On the off chance she still launches into a lecture, just widen your eyes and say “do you think I’m pregnant?!” then whack her with the four-year old InStyle magazine you’re reading. That should do er, sassy locks.

Also check out: Is getting a massage safe during pregnancy?



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