Many women wonder whether hair color and perms during pregnancy are safe. Depending on where you look and whom you ask, you are likely to get a multitude of answers. Some folks say hair color is safe as long as it doesn’t touch the scalp, while others believe that any type of hair color or hair treatment is unsafe.
So what should you do? Should you scale down your beauty routine and give birth to your first baby with unkempt hair, or will it be okay to color or perm your hair during pregnancy and keep your routine intact?
To date, there has been no accurate research that directly links hair color or chemicals used in permanents to fetal damage during pregnancy. That being said, the chemicals used in hair color and perms have been shown to cause cancer and genetic disorders in animal studies when used in high doses (50 times the amounts used in salon treatments). It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that using any and all unnecessary chemicals during pregnancy – especially on the scalp which absorbs the chemicals into the blood stream – should be avoided when possible. That being said, highlighting your hair or getting a perm has never been proven to cause any damage. In fact, thousands upon thousands of women keep up their hair during pregnancy.
Some women feel strongly that their self-esteem is worth the temporary exposure to chemicals. Even more interesting is that health professionals believe pregnant women are exposed to more harmful chemicals from pollution on a day to day basis than they are with a quick hair color touch-up or permanent.
Perhaps the real question is: how will your hair react? It is an undisputed fact that, thanks to hormones, your hair, skin and nails change drastically during pregnancy. You may get a perm only to realize that your hair is not reacting the same as it had in the past. Or your hair may not take color as well as it did before. So perhaps more than worrying about the chemicals, you might be worried about the way you will look after your hair treatments. There are many women who have been getting perms or hair color all their life, only to find out the hard way that their pregnancy hair didn’t tolerate the procedures. (That explains the poodle hair I had during delivery!)
One option of course, is to shop for organic, semi-permanent hair colors and treatments. These options are obviously not as long lasting, but they may be a temporary fix to keeping up your hair while you are pregnant. If you have concerns, you can also check with your physician and gain his or her insight to help you make the decision about whether to perm or color your hair or not.
Did you have any hair catastrophes during pregnancy? Did you use hair dyes or perm your hair?
Written By Stef, Mom of 4 @Momspirational
This information is not intended to replace the advice of a trained medical doctor. Health & Parenting Ltd disclaims any liability for the decisions you make based on this information, which is provided to you on a general information basis only and not as a substitute for personalized medical advice. All contents copyright © Health & Parenting Ltd 2017. All rights reserved.
