Is hair dye safe while expecting? A colorist (and mom) weighs in
Is hair dye safe while expecting?
I had just started my first job as a hairstylist and colorist at the start of 2007 when I found out I was pregnant with my first child. Naturally, I freaked out. “Would the chemicals I was exposed to at work harm my baby?” I worried. I knew I could find ways to avoid other chemicals like hairspray and perm solution but I work with hair dyes all day long. I get it on my hands, I breathe the fumes, I take my breaks in the same room it’s mixed in, and I have my own hair colored. Colleagues assured me I’d be fine, but I’m a bit of a worrier and I was skeptical. So I set out to find out if hair color is truly safe for pregnant women.
Much to my surprise, it’s hard to get a straight answer. My doctor at the time told me something along the lines of, “It should be fine.” That seemed like a vague response to a pretty important question, given my new profession. I wondered why so little research had been done on a topic that affected so many women. Stylists aside, many women of child-bearing age count on their monthly touch-up or 6-week highlight to boost their confidence. But as I soon found, it’s not the easiest subject to research.
First of all, hair-coloring products including permanent dyes, demi-permanent dyes, and semi-permanent dyes (which wash out over time), not to mention various lightening agents, all contain thousands of different chemicals. In other words, consistency in testing a major issue, according to Cancer.org. Secondly, hair color formulations are constantly evolving and improving. For example, L’Or’al Professionel’s INOA is a relatively new permanent color line that uses no ammonia, so long-term studies aren’t possible yet. Finally, while animal testing has not shown changes in fetal development, humans aren’t identical to animals – and it’s obviously unethical to test on human fetuses.
— Monica Bielanko
— Erin Behan
— Emily Elling
Despite the limited data, it does appear to be widely regarded as safe to use hair dye while pregnant. The Mayo Clinic reports that although a small amount of dye is absorbed through the skin, “the dye isn’t thought to pose harm to a developing baby.” Pregnancy.org states that “many experts now contend that the dyes are most likely safe and that women needn’t be afraid.” My current care provider, Sherri Ruerup, CMN, MS, offered that “when using these products, as long as the scalp skin is not compromised (burned or deeply cut), there is extremely limited systemic absorption. Because there is such minimal absorption, the dyes are unlikely to cause any negative effects to the developing baby.”
Additionally, my industry is dominated by women, many of whom are mothers. In my humble opinion, I think if there was a serious health risk, some sort of pattern among cosmetologists would be fairly evident by now. In fact, the agency that provides information regarding exposures during pregnancies, the Organization of Teratology Information Services (OTIS), has never had a report of hair dye causing any change in a pregnancy.
Still, it is a difficult decision. The ingredients in hair coloring products and lighteners are chemicals, and many holistic doctors are still skeptical about their use during pregnancy. Leading alternative doctor Andrew Weil, MD discourages the use of hair color for all people, not just pregnant women, stating that the artificial colors “are as suspect in cosmetic products as they are in food.”
If you have concerns, pediatrician Dr. Mary Parker suggests following the advice on the American Pregnancy Association’s website. Should you want to err on the side of caution, the site offers a few great suggestions. For example, you may choose to wait until after the first trimester, when key neurological functions are developing. You can also consider highlighting processes, which keep dyes off the scalp. If you color your hair at home, be sure to wear gloves and apply the color in a well-ventilated area.
Now that I’ve been in the business a while, I no longer have anxiety about the chemicals in hair color or their potential effects on unborn children. I know many women who came in for their once-a-month touch-up throughout their pregnancies and went on to have happy, healthy children. My own son is now 4 years old, rarely sick, and he’s in the 95th% percentile for height and weight, passed his vision and hearing test with flying colors, and is smart as a whip. So is hair dye safe while pregnant? As far as I can see, yes.
I feel like you can never know for sure of the dangers of doing something while pregnant because there’s so many factors that go into it! I think if you have any doubt in your mind that it could harm the baby, just don’t do it.
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Fantastic as always!! Thank you for putting this to rest for me once and for all
I continue to dye my hair, but only do so w/the 10min at home solutions, which in my opinion, are not as good as the traditional ones just to avoid prolonged exsposure. It’s not ideal, but I think that’s the best solution for me.
I followed my mom’s advice (shhh, don’t tell her!), which was, “If God forbid anything goes wrong during your pregnancy or with your baby’s development, you want to be able to know that you did everything you possibly could for a healthy baby.” Nobody can make every perfect choice in life (is there such a thing?), but this one was easy for me because hair-dyeing has not been an important part of my beauty routine thus far….
http://www.tunheimfamily.blogspot.com
To the two anonymous commenters, are you also staying away from cars, raw veggies, walking anywhere near traffic and blow dryers? Car accidents are extremely common, there have been several instances of contaminated veggies over the last couple of years, a car might hit you if you’re walking your dog in an area without sidewalks, and blow dryers can emit electromagnetic fields that can theoretically possibly (maybe) be damaging to a developing baby. In short, you can’t bubble wrap yourself for 10 months, and there is no scientific evidence that shows that hair dye, when used as directed and in a well-ventilated area, causes any harm to a fetus. Just like using a seat-belt makes riding or driving a car safer, washing and/or peeling fruits and veggies makes them safer to eat, etc. Common sense and moderation are good things, too.
Hair dye has been shown to likely be a risk factor in causing certain cancers of the baby’s nervous system. A ceratin type of nerve tumor, a neuroblastoma has been shown to be twice as likely in babies whose mothers received a temporary hair dye. The risk is slightly less in people using permament hair dye. This was demonstrated in the Journal of Cancer and Control Vol 6, no 6 titled “Maternal hair dye use and risk of neuroblastoma in offspring.” A simple pubmed search would discover this
Heaterbomb, I did read that study, and looked around a fair amount at other studies. The phone interviews could have been conducted well after the hair dye use occurred, and the study itself concluded that further study was needed if someone asks me a few years from now when/if in June or July of 2011 I dyed my hair, I am not going to be able to tell them (I couldnt tell you conclusively when in June or July I dyed it now, and its October). Also, neuroblastoma has been associated with several other prenatal causes, including folic acid deficiency I didnt see that ruled out in the short summary I could find of the study you mentioned. All the studies I could find were done from the 70s through the 90s, and the moderate increases in anything (usually low birth weights) they showed were fractions of a percent. A lot has changed since then: ventilation standards, protective gear standards, safety standards in general, hair dye and other chemical hair product formulas, the ability to smoke indoors, folic acid consumption, etc. What I did not find in my searches was a study that isolated hair dye exposure from other factors including safety factors (ventilation, glove use), second hand smoke exposure, folic acid consumption, pre-existing family history, living conditions, smoking status, diet or socio-economic status. Did you?
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Its only 9 months that you have to figure out what to do with your hair, if we are so concern about the what if’s maybe it’s better not to do it. And btw testing in animals is also unethical…. Not just humans
a hard question, data is varied and the guilt you feel when you are pregnant to do anything that could potentially be harmful is difficult do deal with. i have black hair with lots of grays and my solution was to wait until my second trimester, and then i went to a stylist during an off-time (so no one else was in there coloring but me) and just did highlights. so she used foil and got as close to my roots as possible, but didn’t touch my scalp. and i went to an aveda salon. of course, there are parts near my roots that are still gray, but i just use black mascara to touch those up in the morning. its the best solution i found to counter my guilt and make me look semi presentable during these nine months!