I know its bad to color your hair while you are pregnant, but mine is starting to look pretty bad, im breastfeeding and was wondering if it has a bad effect on the baby....i don't know if the chemicals go into your breast milk. strange question (and of course i won't be doing my hair around my baby!!)
My stylist said the coloring products are much more gentle now and it is no longer a problem. I did have my hair colored in the 13 mos. I breast fed, and my daughter seems quite normal. She is now three. : )
It is fine to color your hair during breastfeeding.
I started doing my own roots when I was pregnant and use a great vegetable based hair color called Tints of Nature. They even have highlights with no ammonia that work great. My hair stylist uses this on me. I just bring it in. I've never gone back to "regular" hair color and had this tested by an allergist on me and he said it was way better than the L'Oreal and others that I brought in to test. If your stylist will use your own product that is the best!! If they won't, I don't let them color my hair!
I was going to say, go to the health food store and check out the natural hair dyes. Ask the ladies behind the counter if they can be used while breast feeding. It is pretty demoralizing not to be able to fix yourself up, isn't it? I mean, if you are just looking for a better color, maybe you could wait it out, but if you have gray or another problem you use the color for, it's hard to give it up for years on end. I am sure there are safer alternatives.
Coloring your hair is the one thing all the books and reputable experts agree is okay.
I was told it's ok as long as the dye doesn't touch your scalp. So I went to a salon and had it done.
Personally, I was not and still am not willing to risk it. I lived with a god-awful two-tone look for months until it finally grew out enough to cut out the color. But I am still nursing and this world is toxic enough without running the risk of adding more toxins that will inevitably find their way to the milk.
Since bad chemicals in our bodies do go straight into breast milk, I would assume that the chemicals on your hair and scalp would be included. There are hair dyes that don't have most of the chemicals in normal dyes. Here is info on natural hair dye, http://www.idealbite.com/mama/archives/did-your-bond-hair....
Hair color can be "foiled in" without touching the scalp so your body can't absorb it. I used color during both pregnancies and breast feeding - so far so good.
It's actually considered fine now to color your hair while pregnant, so I'm sure it's fine while breastfeeding.
Ask your colorist about vegetable dyes. Some coloring IS safe - highlights are better, because they do not have to touch the scalp. I have a GREAT hair colorist who I changed to 11 years ago when I got pregnant, just for this reason....and have been going to her ever since. She is a member of mamasource too! A mom owned business. She is in Santa Monica. CALL HER! Tell her that you got her name from K. on Mamasource.
Tracy ###-###-####
K.
