While breastfeeding, the breastfeeding hormones may make your hair really dry and dull. Actually, even just giving birth and hence losing the pregnancy hormones, is enough to start losing hair. Not much fun! Many moms are eager to go find a hair salon for fixing their messy hair, yet, HappyMom.Life has got something to tell you right now.

Most new moms don’t have a lot of time to spare at the hairdresser, but some kind of hair treatment might seem like a really good idea to make the boring post-pregnancy hair look better.But is it a good idea? When you breastfeed, a lot of what you put into your body will reach baby through the milk. For example, we all know that alcohol, nicotine, and drugs will reach the baby through the breast milk. Several studies show that some environmental pollutants also gather in the milk.

There are no known reports of negative effects for the baby among breastfeeding moms who receive hair treatments, and most likely for the following reasons:

• The chemicals used in permanent and semi-permanent hair dyes are not highly toxic these days.
• What’s put on your hair will not reach your baby; only what’s put on your skin and scalp
• Even though the skin does absorb substances applied to it, only very small amounts of hair dye and similar chemicals have been found to enter the blood stream. And from the bloodstream, only a small percentage will actually reach the breast milk.
• If you have a healthy scalp, the amount of chemicals absorbed through your skin from the hair treatments will be negligible. (And dying your hair when your scalp is scratched is not much fun anyway – ouch!)

There are no indications, but also no real research carried out on whether chemical hair treatments while breastfeeding may harm your baby, but there are some concerns about hair treatments during pregnancy. Our conclusion – go ahead with your hair treatment while breastfeeding, but do it wisely.

You can fix your hair and still minimize the risk of harmful substances reaching your baby:

• Use henna or other plant-based products.
• Carefully follow the directions on the hair dye package.
• Wear gloves when applying hair dye if you carry out the treatment yourself (or even better, go to the hairdresser).
• Only leave the dye or bleach on your head only for the minimum amount of time necessary.
• Ask for organic products for your hair treatment
• Consider highlighting your hair, by putting the dye only onto strands of hair to reduce chemical exposure.
• Rinse your scalp thoroughly with water after use.

Photo Credit: Pinterest

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