Vanity...oh the vanity

[ffallada]

Hi guys,
I'm very early in my pregnancy (7+3) and my roots are showing (the horror).
The interweb suggests that dying it is not a good idea, but if I don't go to the hairdressers soon

1. People will realise something is very wrong
   
2. People will realise I am not a natural blond
   

No. 2. I can live with, but have no idea how to explain away the unusual root situation

Any advice? What does a girl do?

[PurplePunkPrincess]

I carried on dying my hair with all 3 pregnancies and it has always been fine. The main issue really is the hormonal changes could affect the result, but for me this never happened.

[ImpatientOne]

My hairdresser said it's not a problem to have it coloured as long as they know as they may use different products which may need patch testing.

Congratulations!

[GingerScouse]

I've had mine done all the way through and, although baby has not yet put in an appearance, all my scans and checkups have been fine. Baby is definitely kicking away in there!

[squizita]

In terms of proper research, dying your hair is considered safe by ob/gyns including those who specifically work to prevent 1st trimester miscarriage (such as Lesley Regan and Raj Rai). The chemicals that used to be harmful have been banned by the EU for many years, and generally the chemicals are in such small amounts and applied to skin/hair (not injested) there is minimal exposure.

The NHS doesn't help with some very vague wording: it starts with the facts (research shows it is safe) then waffles about how many women choose not to for the 1st 12 weeks and wearing gloves (well you would anyway??). Many women choose not to do a lot of things, doesn't actually mean a jot in terms of safety. Bit of risk-averse scaremongering there.
www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/949.aspx?CategoryID=54#close

One thing to consider is that your sense of smell is much stronger and your skin more sensitive. If you have a reaction (says my hairdresser) during pregnancy, it can mean you'll never be able to use that brand without a rash again.

I used semi-permanent non-ammonia dye (aka hippy dye like stargazer) in my 1st trimester to add a sheen and cover the odd grey. Henna from somewhere respectable (cheap henna is more dangerous than package dye) such as Lush or Boots is another option if your skin gets itchy easily and the smell of dye makes you feel sick.

After 12 weeks I use the 28 washes 'Nice & Easy' brand dyes, because my skin is still quite sensitive. TBH I could well have in the 1st 12 weeks.

[Eastwiththem]

Unless you drink the hair dye it's safe.

[Pigginnora]

I have high lights. I've highlighted my hair through 5 pregnancies. It's not an option not to!

[Boogles91]

Surely people knkw your not a natural blonde anyway by your eyebrows? I still dyed my hair and didnt even know it wasnt safe...now 29wks and everythings fine just growing a chunky monkeh by the looks of the scans x

[squizita]

Boogles ...It is safe so don't worry!! For some reason the NHS add something about what some women choose to do (not science) after saying it is safe!

The henna advice is nothing to do with pregancy btw. Dodgy henna will literally burn you at any stage of life, where I live it sometimes gets into small/cheap shops although banned in the UK, so proper health shops are the best source.

[RebeccaCloud9]

I would be never recommend dying during pregnancy but dyeing is much safer!

[ffallada]

yes - its dyeing my hair I'm worried about!

Thanks ladies - I'm having a little bit of a hard time sifting through what is actual advice, as you said squizita, what other women chose not to do.

I'm very attached to my hair dye having gone grey at a ridiculously early age, so I'll mention it to my hairdresser and hope for the best.

[rubyinthedust]

I'm 15+4 and have had my hair coloured twice this pregnancy, once at 6 weeks and once yesterday, beautiful results both times. My skin is generally really sensitive so I was a bit worried but it ended up not being a problem. Only reason why I left a gap in between both dye jobs is because I was quite nauseous and didn't know whether I'd cope with the smell. As others have said research has shown that it is safe so I see no reason not to!