My friend is 20 weeks pregnant and is getting conflicting advice about dyeing her hair. Some say it could harm the baby, others that they dyed their hair when pregnant with no ill effects to the child.

What harm could hair dye cause to an unborn child, or is this just an 'old wives tale'?

My advice when dealing with anything with potentially serious consequences such as this is to definitely talk to a doctor to be sure. That said, the consensus from reputable sources appears to be that it is perfectly safe after the first trimester (and probably before).

Lets see, one is putting chemicals on the head, letting them stay there up to 20 minutes. Some of those are bound to get absorbed into the skin, into the blood which will pump through the developing fetus who is presently a little chemical sensitive since Chemicals are rapidly building a human being.

This basic knowledge of things is enough to cause me pause when it comes to pregnancy and dying.

As Doc at THIS SITE said:

I get asked this a lot, and unfortunately there is no clear answer since there have been no scientific studies done to address the use of hair dye in pregnancy. While there is no actual evidence available that hair dye is harmful during pregnancy, many practitioners recommend not dying hair in the first trimester when the fetal organs are forming. Processes like highlighting, which don't contact the scalp (unlike hair dye), probably are fine because they don't get into the body.


Cheers

David

Thank you both for your help. According to the advice you give she is past the 'danger' time, but I agree with DvdGStwrt. It makes sense that chemicals left on your scalp for any length of time will get absorbed into the skin.

20 mins David? More like an hour and a half for some hair types! Personally I take 45 minutes.

quote:

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Originally posted by Georgia85:
20 mins David? More like an hour and a half for some hair types! Personally I take 45 minutes.

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Though I did die once, I have never dyed so I am not up on exactly how long that one takes

Well for men, apparently it only takes 10 mins. Go figure! But on the beard and mustache dyes that's all it takes. Now if us girls could just have that quality of dye for hair...

And glad you didn't stay dead!