Your Hair in Pregnancy

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So you're pregnant, and the books are full of all manner of information that you now need to know along with the new rules of life. Diet, exercise and the whole labor experience are covered in great depth, but what about making sure you are looking good. It's so important and your hair is one of the first areas of concern, so we thought we would deal with a few of the myths to do with all issues to do with hair and pregnancy.

Hair Styles in Pregnancy

As a very general rule for everyone both during and immediately after the birth, avoid going too short with any styles. This is because any weight gain on or around the face can be softened with longer styles whilst shorter hair can often exaggerate and emphasize a rounder face.

Once you begin to lose your added pounds and time becomes a valuable commodity, then maybe a shorter look is for you. Not to mention the fact that you have become fed up with releasing 'little Johnny's' fingers from your hair! Remember the golden rule that shorter does not necessarily mean easier and this point should be emphasized in any discussion with your hair stylist. Also pay added attention to how and what is used to style your new look as both will be important when you get home and only have 5 minutes to repeat it all.

Hair Colour and Pregnancy

There are lots of rumours and myths about the effects of hair colour in pregnancy. Basically during the first trimester when the baby is being formed, there may be a slight chance that colour applied directly to the skin could pass through the skin, enter the blood stream and pass to the embryo/fetus. This is all hypothetical and the effects, like with many drugs that are listed not for use during pregnancy, have never been tested (would you want to trial something on a pregnant person?) rather than have any proven harmful effect. But this does not rule out you being able to have a colour that does not come into contact with the scalp like foil high or low lights. This can be produced using the same colour as you would normally have, just applied in a different way. Very useful for those with a major regrowth stripe or grey hairs starting to show.

Once the first trimester is over there is less of a chance that colour can cross to the baby and have any effect but if at all concerned stick with your new colouring method. There is another, as yet unconsidered advantage to this "partial colour method". Because it is not applied to all of your hair, the regrowth is not as noticeable and you can go for longer periods between salon visits. This will become a major advantage once you have the new baby, as time can be very short!

If you are suffering from morning sickness, you will discover very fast if you hadn't already noticed, that hair colour has a very strong smell and so do many of the potions used in salons, so you may want to consider this before requesting hair colour in the first place. The local salon is not one of the best places to throw up!

Perming your Hair in Pregnancy

Hormonal changes during the first trimester and immediately after the birth or following the cessation of breast-feeding can cause your hair to react differently to perming. The result is that a perm may 'not take' so you may end up with a looser curl than you wanted or no curl at all after a few shampoos. As the perming chemicals do end up on the scalp and smell strongly there could also be similar concerns to those expressed for hair colouring.

Perming your hair during the second and third trimester should avoid many of these issues, but if you do take the risk of perming at other times, consider a test strand perm on a single section of your hair to see if the result will be what you wanted.

VirtualHairCare.com is the only place to find out everything you would ever need to know about your hair. From the latest looks and styles and how to maintain them, through to practical stuff like how to get the best out of your next salon visit, what products are best for you and medical conditions of the hair and scalp. For all the latest about hair, check out Virtual HairCare