Pregnancy brings many changes with it, and some are enjoyable while others are not so much. It can be hard to feel and look your best during these nine months, but many women are concerned about continuing with many of the beauty treatments they enjoyed prior to pregnancy. If you are worried about hair treatments while you are expecting, read on for sound advice about what is safe during pregnancy and what treatments are best left until after the baby is born.

Adding Color

Color is one of the most common hair treatments that women use, and many want to be able to keep their color throughout their pregnancy. There are some mixed reviews about the safety of hair color during pregnancy, but the bottom line appears to be that in most cases, the amount of chemicals that are absorbed into the skin from the scalp area is too small to be a real problem for your baby. To be safe, most health care professionals recommend that women avoid any type of chemical treatments on their hair, including color, for the first trimester when the development of the baby is most crucial.

After the first three months, you can go with a simple highlight or at-home treatment for color if you are still concerned. The chemicals involved with highlighting rarely get absorbed into the skin since the color is restricted to the hair strands only. At-home color treatments generally use a lower concentration of chemicals than salon treatments do, especially if you are using a temporary color. Keep in mind that the pregnancy hormones can change the way your hair accepts color, so be sure to do a test strand before coloring all of your hair.

Adding Curl

The jury is even more divided when it comes to the safety of perms or straightening treatments during pregnancy. In fact, many hairdressers will advise against either of these treatments during the entire nine months. While no one can say for sure if the chemicals used might be harmful to the baby, the other concern is how your hair will accept these chemical treatments while fluctuating hormones are changing the overall makeup of your hair. The usual perm that you get every few months may turn your hair into a kinky mess with the help of pregnancy hormones. It is also possible to have portions of your hair take the treatment well while other areas don`t seem to take it at all. Why chance it? Leave the perms and straightening treatments for a special treat after the baby is born, and stick with color, highlights and a trendy new cut to keep you feeling your best during those nine months.

While hair treatments may be safe during pregnancy, no one can tell you for sure what effect some of those chemicals might have on your developing baby. You may not be able to predict the effect those chemicals will have on your hormone-ridden hair either. If you need a pick-me-up during the part of pregnancy when you begin to feel like a large beach ball, stick with cut and a bit of color, and leave the rest of the hair treatments for later. Your baby is worth the wait!

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