To Dye or Not?

Hi S.-
As a hair-stylist i have several clients that have asked me this question over the years. This is what i respond with...
Of course its ultamitly YOUR decision but here is a little insight of the chemistry of hair color.
The color molecule is LARGER than your pores. It CANNOT penetrate your skin. It can stain your skin but not penetrate it. Of course there is being around chemicals. Hundreds if not more hair-stylist get pregnant and work EVERYDAY with the chemicals, touching them, breathing them etc... and their children have been fine. I have two kids of my own and worked through my pregnancies. My kids were born full term, healthy and happy!
Its your decision but if i can say anything... i would NOT worry about it. And with using aveda demi-color (i work at a aveda salon) their color line is so "soft" compared to other color lines. You are there ...what...every 4-6 weeks. You will be fine and so will baby. But if you feel uncomfortable talk to your stylist, she can maybe keep it off your scalp and or wait till your out of your first trimester.
Good luck and if you have any questions just email me.
A.

Hi,
I'm also a hairstylist and the majority of my clientèle receives hair coloring services. I'm around these chemicals countless times a week.
Like the other stylist said, the color molecules aren't small enough to penetrate through your skin and get into your bloodstream. I was concerned with my first pregnancy and my doctor told me it wasn't an issue. The only concern you may have is the fumes from the chemicals. They won't harm you but if you are sensitive to smells then make sure you are in a well ventilated place.
I never had any problems with either of my pregnancies when it came to hair color. They were both full term, my 5 year old is very intelligent and my 2 month old is thriving.

You should wait at least until after your first trimester and make sure that you don't get any on your skin. Tell the stylist to make sure you don't leave it on any longer than you have to.
Also, because of your hormones, the color might come out different than usual.
Keep in mind your age puts you in a higher risk category though and ask yourself if maybe you can't just live with the gray hair for another 6 months or so just to be on the safer side. :)

Thanks Ashley for writing that down. I too was worried about getting my hair done during all 3 pregnancies. I didn't even get my hair cut while I was pregnant because, God bless my husband, he didn't want me sniffing the chemicals in the salon and getting high. He's so funny. But I have seen plenty of my pregnant friends getting their hair done and their babies are perfect. But this is what happened to me. Kind of the opposite. 15 months after my 1st born I got my hair styled and colored. I was pregnant and 9 months later I had my first son. 8 months after I had him I got my hair done, cut, colored and styled. I got pregnant. November of last year I had my 2nd son. He is now 7 months old. I have no future plans to visit a salon. :)

S.,

I am prematurely gray (since 19 yrs. or so) and when I was pregnant my child mattered more then my dumb gray hair. (Please don't take offence to that) I'm not saying that I didn’t go and get my hair did as soon as I could walk! LOL! But a little gray hair for 9 months was worth insuring that I didn’t do harm to my little girl just because I was to vein to deal with the hair God gave me! You should Google organic/all natural hair products if you just can't handle having gray hair (even though you’re probably beautiful no matter what color your hair is!). My cousin couldn’t handle it and she had a salon do an organic all natural dye job on her, (it didn’t last as long nor did it look quite as good) I thought it was a waist of money but it made her happy for a few weeks. I hope I don't sound harsh I wasn’t trying to be. :0) my hope for you is that you come to the realization that a pregnant woman is a beautiful woman no matter what color hair, skin, or size she is! You are carrying a miracle inside of you and I am sure that you son and husband will love you gray hair and all! Isn’t that all that matters!? :0)

Peace~Love~Light
V.

My ob/gyn hands out a list of dos and don'ts for pregnancy. On it she specifically says that it's fine to color hair, get manicures, etc. It was important to me to look good when I was pregnant, so I did get highlights at least once, though I did stop perming my hair then (I had been wearing my hair wavy for time). I opted for highlights because they use less color and don't get so close to the roots, so you don't absorb as much. I have a VERY healthy 3 1/2 YO now, and I have no regrets. One note: do tell your stylist you're pregnant if it's not obvious, and request to be somewhere with good ventilation if they can manage it. I was lucky my stylist at the time had his chair right near the door of the salon, which was always open. Try to get near a door or fan so you don't have to breathe the fumes -- from your hair color or anyone else's treatments. They can make you nauseous and in some ways the fumes might be worse than the color itself.

I would wait until you are safely into your second trimester. They have found no proof that hair color is or isn't safe during pregnancy, but most toxic exposure happens during the first trimester. Plus, I am not a super paranoyed person when it comes to that kind of stuff (I get a lot of flak for drinking coffee every day while I'm pregnant), and I have colored my hair, I believe, for both pregnancies. I know for sure I did this time (just a few weeks ago), I just can't remember with my first. And, Aveda's the right way to go if you're gonna do it- they have fairly natural products (it still does have the chemicals in it, though).

S., when I was newly pregnant I had this dilemma. I have dark blond hair and my hair was very light blond at the time. My doctor told me to wait at least til the 2nd semester... I read a few actual scientific studies on this topic and I came to the conclusion that there was probably no potential to do any harm to the baby. I just felt that getting my hair colored was something I would wait on. I hated my hair and I looked ridiculous, but everyone knew why my hair was like that and they were looking more at my belly than my hair anyway. Once the baby came, I fixed it right away and I'm happy again. I'm sure it wouldn't have done anything, but I just didn't think it was important enough to me to color my hair. I took a lot of other precautions too though, that most people wouldn't take so I think the answer is for you to do whatever you feel is sensible. For you the answer might be that you don't need to worry as much as me, just do whatever feels natural.

Dear S.F.,

I saw your post in a different thread about being friends with Walter Makechen. He has a book called Spirit Babies and mentions a cabin that is a joining place where spirit babies can join with their parents. It was in California. I was wondering if he had mentioned to you where this cabin was, the name of it. My condolensces for the loss of your friend and I hope alll is going well for you. I have not had a successful pregnancy only 2 miscarriages and would like to find the joining place.

Thanks,

C