Have just had hair coloured at five weeks and now very worried :(

[cangaroo]

I am five weeks. Have just been to get my hair highlighted, as had read that it is safe. But then I have got back and have read that it is OK but not in the first trimester. Now I am really worried that I have harmed my baby . Does anyone else know anything about why you shouldn't colour your hair in the first trimester, and what the risks are?

[HumphreyCobbler]

I read the other day that there was no real risk at all, sorry can't remember where though!

I honestly don't think you have anything to worry about.

[mrsboogie]

Oh don't worry - there's no problem - I had mine coloured regularly - didn't even think there might be a problem. Can you imagine how many pregnant hairdressers handle the stuff all the time and how many women don't even know they are pregnant at five weeks?

really, do not worry!

[cangaroo]

Thanks so much mrsboogie and Humphrey Cobbler, that is very reassuring.
I hadn't realised that the first trimester is different in terms of the babies vulnerability to birth defects. But like you said, lots of women don't know that they are pregnant then anyway and most babies come out fine.

[skihorse]

cangaroo The EU has passed laws on which chemicals can be allowed in european cosmetics and hair-dyes. If you are in Europe and got your hair done in Europe don't worry! It's the US where it's all unregulated (sorry... mybad, "unproven to cause genetic mutations resulting in genital abnormalities").

This is why when for example you buy cosmetics in the US they'll have printed on them "not for re-sale in EU".

[LynetteScavo]

I think highlights are totally safe. The only condern I would have is when you have colour aplied to all of the scalp (hich I do)

I'm not sure what damage it is supposed to do - but I had it every month throughout my pregnancies. No hairdresser ever sugested it wasn't safe.

[jardins]

Please don't worry LynetteScavo. I'm no expert but I have to admit that I had highlights put in during both my pregnancies in the first trimester and my babies were absolutely FINE. To be honest I didn't even think about the risk. Whoops.

[blinder]

My hairdresser told me it's a complete myth that hair dye is damaging.

Panic over!

[lal123]

I thought the only problem with dying hair in pregnancy is that the structure of your hair can be more porous - so colour can turn out funny?? So as long as your hair's not gone green I wouldn't worry

[proverbial]

It is a complete myth. Think about logically... how exactly could it do any harm? The chemicals aren't absorbed into your bloodstream, and even if they were, it would harm you before it harmed a foetus.

Its perfectly safe, just another one of the scarey myths about.

[skihorse]

proverbial It's not exactly a myth - yes, chemicals absorbed through our skin (and I'm not quite sure why you think they wouldn't be (?) - nano-technology is exactly that )do damage us, or at least have the potential to. Your baby is a fraction of the size of you and is still in the developmental stage and ergo far more likely to be affected in an adverse manner.

There is plenty of research in this area - this is a good place to start: www.safecosmetics.org/ In one book, "Not Just a Pretty Face" a lady, an ex-model, details how she treated herself to a daily manicure and her son was born with an abnormality to his penis which she believes is directly linked to the chemicals within nail polish - and instances such as these are on the rise. There is also plenty of research which shows exactly how many chemicals are in the blood and tissue of a newborn which you wouldn't want in a factory in your town - never mind your baby.

However, as previously stated - the EU (thank you Brussels!) has made the use of the majority of these chemicals illegal within cosmetics in the EU.

[proverbial]

She might believe that nail varnish caused an abnormality, but there is nothing to back that up.
The highly sophisticated filtering system between your blood and that of your foetus is an amazing thing, and those miniscule amounts of chemicals (which are absorbed constantly into out skins from a million different sources, so we have become used to them, they are part of our world)have never been shown to have any influence whatsoever.
If you are really worried about chemicals from everyday life damaging your baby, there are a thousand things you should avoid before worrying about your hair dye. If you really think its a problem, you better not clean your house, wear clothes, make up, use toothpaste, face creams, shampoos, or anything else. In fact you should probably live in a bubble!

[skihorse]

Yes, there is plenty of research to back up her thoughts - it wasn't just a random anecdote, perhaps I should've made that clear.

I personally do avoid all such chemicals, I use shampoo which doesn't contain laureth-sulphate for example, I use toothpaste from hippy shops and I don't spray my house full of unnatural chemicals. I don't use talk or baby powder because there are suspicions that this can lead to cervical cancer.

So yep, I probably do live in a bubble.

[Diege]

As someone who works as a researcher in the field of risk and pregnancy, I can say that there is no research to say that hair dye is harmful to the developing human foetus, quite simply because there have been no clinical trials conducted on pregnant women for ethical reasons. The research that you may be pointing to SKIHORSE is that done in the 1980s on pregnant rats that showed that if you shave said rats and coat their skin in hair for up to 6 hours a day, for a month, then (out of a sample of 6) one rat will give birth to a foetus with an abnormality (urinary tract). Within the scientific community the consensus is that such research is of limited transferability to humans, and also that the chemicals used in hair dyes at the time have now been banned/discontinued. From the research I've looked at for my job, the overall consensus seems to be 'no proven effect' (this of course doesn't mean there's proof of no effect, it's just no come to light either through anecdotal accounts or clincical), and this goes for highlights, all-over colour, in all 3 trimesters. The only known effect is that colours sometimes don;t take so well (or take too well).
Putting my money where my mouth is, I've coloured my hair from BFP to delivery in all 4 pregnancies, all over and highlights, every 3 weeks. If you want to worry about any harmful chemicals, the only one that got me worried from my research was car exhaust fumes - seriously, hair dye is not a biggie so relax .

[Diege]

'coat their skin in hair dye that should be!