To henna or not to henna during pregnancy...help please

[mumeroo]

Hello I got through my first pregnancy without doing anything to my greys but now they are looking ruddy awful and it's not making me very cheerful I could do with a bit of a pick me up and have always used henna in the past. Does anyone know if it's safe to use? I bought some from Lush but haven't taken the plunge yet. thanks in advance for suggestions.

That was exactly my situation and I decided to do something as I felt so down. I henna-ed (using a Bodyshop product) when I was three months and it went really well although the smell made me puke. I really needed the pick me up of colouring my hair! Probably best to do a test first just in case.

i would have thought as it is a plant based product and natural, it will be fine, i have used the lush hennas, but the colour not that vibrant i have found !

The thing with hair syes is that they can't rest on pregnant women as it would be unethical to do so. That doesn't mean it's dangerous, just that they cannot prove its safety.

HOWEVER as someone who dyes her hair a lot (as in this morning LOL), I would say steer clear of henna becuase the reason you need to be careful is that teh hormones etc can affect the eway the dyes take in your hair, and henna can (IME) be especially bad for that- a decent branded semi permanent would be far better I would say. And far less of a concern if it doesn't take properly.

well, that is interesting peachy !

Hhm... that is interesting peachy. I'm not convinced about the stuff that goes into chemical dyes though. Even my hairdresser who agreed with me that no one has proved things either way (ie chemicals coming into contact with skin/hair are/ or aren't bad for you) said she personally would steer clear of them but that was just her opinion and of course it was up to me. I was the queen of hair dye from about age 14 (eek) until my mid to late twenties when I had a change of heart about it. Oh dear I'm all confused about it now. I'm so pregnant these things make me get in a right old pickle!

I've hennaed my hair for years (redhead going grey!) and never thought to stop while pregnant. Its just a vegetable colour.
HOWEVER if you are thinking of using it just as a stop gap while pregnant, apart from what peachy said about your hair maybe changing a bit while pg and colours being unpredictable, once you have hennaed your hair most hairdressers won't touch it with a permenant colour, and you shouldn't put a perm colour on it yourself as it coats the hair and the henna colour is totally unpredictable regarding what anything you put on top of it will turn out like.
I should know - after years of henna and it getting brighter and brighter the greyer I went, i am now growing it out.
No hairdresser will touch it for colouring till its grown or cut out (only 2" growth yet!!!) and the temp colours I am putting on mostly at the roots are doing some very strange things on the hennaed parts!
You have been warned!

However if anyone wants to try some Henara Henna in russet red I have them a lot of packs going very cheap...

ooh Flibbertyjibbet - that is a mine of information! I've hennaed a lot in the past and still have remnants of the stuff in my hair... I've had some pretty crazy colour experiences with the stuff after (foolishly!) thinking I could apply other colours to it. In fact a hairdresser DID touch it and the end result was absolutely hideous. Thanks for your advice. I'm going for a darker colour rather than red (have my stash of lush stuff ready and waiting).

I have henna-ed during pg. Hopwever, a friend of mine boils her henna before use because of toxins.
I would definitely steer clear of chemical colourings.

There are some "natural" dyes - try Daniel Field maybe, and Herbatint? Have never used them though.

Watch the lush stuff, there are different shades of henna right through to black. Henna is henna as far as putting anything else over it goes... and if you want it to cover grey, any grey hairs just slurp up the colour and give a more intense shade. Hence me seeing some photos of our October holiday and going 'F* me is that what my hair looks like these days eeeeek' and have not put the henna on it since.

Lets google 'hair colouring while pregnant'. I reckon Julia Roberts only stopped colouring her hair so everyone would say 'ooo is she pregnant'.

bloody hell I'd just let the grey take over...

and what does 'henna is worth exploring mean exactly!' It makes it sound like some sort of fun research exercise which me looking like a crazy loon again isn't. I think I will do a strand test as it would seem henna isn't particularly evil - just a tad unpredictable!

Yes and don't forget to cat me if you want a ton of the red stuff
I mean a ton, I stocked up when someone was selling a job lot on ebay and now tis all in the loft!

I'm thinking of trying it.

The last time I had mine high/low lighted was back in September and it's about 40% grey.

Am now about 4 weeks pregnant and the grey is getting me down, but really can't afford to high/low light it just now as badly need a haircut instead.

Congratulations expat!

I had to keep colouring my hair while pregnant - I was the oldest mother I met when I had ds1 - never mind ds2!! Didn't want to be mistaken for their grandmother (it happened anyway but thats another thread )

You can have a couple of packs of mine to try ffp....

ExP- congratulations , great news

i have chickened out and decided to go with the grey... as I don't want to keep on henna-ing once the baby is born it's probably a good idea. thanks though.