I was in Madrid on a hen this weekend and between the sangria and salsa dancing, mostly the conversation turned to beauty. When you get a group of 18 girls together, the beauty secrets swapped are amazing. I love nothing more than snooping inside peoples make-up bags, introducing them to new products and doling out beauty advice. One of the girls was newly pregnant and with my Beauty-Expert-Meets-Mama hat on we went through a crash course of do’s and don’ts during pregnancy (there really aren’t that many don’ts) because, like all of us, she’d heard conflicting advice from various people/the internet and was confused. So I thought that today I’d do a little beauty Q&A for all of our pregnant followers. I’m going to start off this week with hair but if you’d like me to cover other pregnancy-specific beauty topics, just shout!
Ok, so first things first. Obviously when you’re pregnant you want to ensure that you’re being completely safe in terms of everything that you put on/in your body. Of course you do. But the simple answer when it comes to dying your hair in pregnancy is – DO IT!
This is me, at nine months pregnant getting my colour touched up at Josh Woodbefore Leo made a (late) appearance. Josh told me then, and I’m telling you now, "there is no fact behind the rumour that women can’t get their hair coloured whilst pregnant. It’s an old wives tale. It is completely safe." Whilst hair dyes are chemicals, it is not being absorbed by the body. And it doesn’t make any different if it’s permanent, semi-permanent or anything else.
When it comes to colouring hair, these are few things that I always suggest to my pregnant friends:
1) It’s a bloody long time sitting in a chair, which when you’re heavily pregnant isn’t the comfiest. If you’re finding yourself getting uncomfortable the bigger that you get, ask your colourist for ‘balyage’ (hand painted pieces of colour) It brightens up your hair colour in under an hour without having to sit through a full on colour service."
2) If you usually opt for a full head of highlights but you have no idea when your future child will next allow you to go for an appointment, ask your colourist for more of a lived-in, ‘ombre’ look (blending your roots further down). This means that your root-growth will be less obvious and it will buy you some more time between appointments.
3) If you are finding yourself struggling with strong smells during your pregnancy but your blonde is going brassy or your colour is fading then book into the salon for a ‘gloss’. These can be applied at the back wash during a blow-dry appointment and take barely any time at all. If you can’t get to salon, then thisRita Hazan In-Shower glossing treatment will change your life.Apply it in between your shampoo and conditioner (you only need to leave it on for 30 seconds before rinsing out) New to the UK, it comes in blonde, brunette or clear and is an absolute life saver.
4) Use colour specific products if you want to extend the life of your hair colour – this means fewer salon visits (because, hate to break it to you, there’s no time for that anymore!) I use the in-shower gloss one a week and always apply this
L’Oreal Professionnel Mythic Oil Colour Glow Oil
to my hair before blowdrying – both stop my hair from looking dull. Gemma is obsessed with hydrating products when it comes to caring for her newly blonde hair to keep it feeling soft and not dry from the bleach. But remember, expensive doesn’t always mean it’s the best (a lesson for us all) because she decanted this mega-cheap shampoo and conditioner into teeny travel sized bottles when she went to Amsterdam at the weekend. She loves it that much and now won’t use anything else on her hair.
