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Colouring your hair is pretty similar to getting chemical treatments
in terms of pregnancy safety. If you can find a treatment that
doesn’t touch your scalp, you’re most likely going to remain out
of harm’s way and some may be safer than others. The main
chemical treatments at the salon are perms and relaxers, which
also include the popular keratin treatments that women with
frizzy hair rave about.
The tricky thing about most of these chemical treatments is that
there is no definitive evidence to state they’re dangerous during
pregnancy. Here’s what we do know: Keratin treatments (aka
Brazilian straightening treatments ) have been shown to contain
formaldehyde which has been linked to all sorts of nasty things,
including cancer. While long-term exposure to formaldehyde is
most concerning, we’re just not sure what short term exposure
might do to us. When the news broke about the potential
dangers of keratin treatments, many companies rushed out to
create formaldehyde-free versions of keratin. But before you get
excited, testing has shown some of those products might contain
a chemical called methylene glycol, which when heated with flat
irons in the straightening process, turns into formaldehyde.
If you want to play it as safe as possible, why not wait until after
your delivery day and plan a post-pregnancy pampering at the
salon. Go all out and get your hair straightened or relaxed and
your baby can stay safe at home away from the chemicals.
If embracing your greys is a foreign concept to you ( it is to me! ) ,
then just letting them shine bright like a diamond is not going to
cut it during pregnancy. Now, I’m not going to lie, the best and
most foolproof way to cover your grey hair is with hair colour.
As I mentioned, getting highlights that don’t touch the scalp
is considered very low-risk during pregnancy. That’s what I did
and I don’t regret it, but if you’d still rather take a more natural
approach to covering your greys, try these tips:
•
Wear a hat. Ok this might sound obvious, but pregnancy is the
perfect time to invest in some trendy hats. Wide-brimmed styles
will help protect your skin from the sun, while baseball caps
can look cute and casual for weekend days.
•
Find powder or hair colouring sticks. Tonnes of brands make
these now and the formulations are actually much more
elegant than prior incarnations.
•
Tweeze them out. Before you say ‘never’ to this one, let me
start by debunking the myth that hair grows back thicker
and quicker if you pull it out at the root. It doesn’t. If you’re
one of the fortunate ones to have cultivated only a few greys,
it’s not the worst idea to just pluck them out. Proceed with
caution: plucking is not the best practice for your follicles and
my own experience has been that when a hair grows back, it
can stick straight up, which may be worse than a grey hair that
just lies there.
Can I still get chemical hair treatments?
I don’t want to go to the salon now.
What are some other ways to cover
my greys during pregnancy?